Nighteye

Story found on Inunah's blog, and is credited to a user by the name of Roobios.

The Pasta
My family and I recently moved into a new house, and as I did most of the moving things around, I ended up putting some boxes in this small three by three little storage area that could be accessed inside the back of the upstairs closet, which was in the bathroom. It stretched about twenty feet along the side of the house, and had wood flooring and a single bare light bulb on the wall near the entrance.

When I first entered this little cubby, I couldn't help but notice the dead ants. There were at least one hundred of them, just laying all about the floor, more condensed against the farthest wall. I instantly felt cold, and had a sense that someone was near me. "Why hello... I just moved in. Nice to meet you." I don't know why I said it, it just felt right.

I didn't get a response, of course, and went about my business. After a few weeks, I couldn't help but notice that same presence every time I went into that bathroom, which was pretty often. One day, I decided that I should do something with it. This was also the day I found my plastic owl.

I'd been on /x/ a lot lately, and reading about different things like summoning spirits, manipulating energy, and other weird stuff. I decided to blend some concepts, and in an attempt to astral travel, I met the presence from my bathroom. I asked him if he could at times possess my owl and face towards malicious spirits that entered my bedroom, and in return I would do whatever I could to help it out.

It instantly pushed into my body, which startled me a lot, and I awoke to find my owl staring directly at me from my dresser across the room. "GET OUT OF HERE, I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!" I practically yelled this into the open air, and right before my eyes the owl turned to the window, and then back to its normal position facing straight back to the wall across from it. I assumed this was the position it would take when no bad spirits were present, and made note of that.

It worked. I couldn't believe it at first, but it actually worked. "Thank you, I won't let you down. You have my word." I don't know if the spirit ever heard. I decided to name him Nighteye, since I had been playing Oblivion a lot lately, and owls can obviously see well at night. I liked it.

Over the next few weeks, Nighteye always looked a certain way, and then I told whatever was there to leave. I don't know why that worked, I just supposed bad spirits didn't like being found out. And if I'm not afraid of them, what do they have to gain? I always knew when Nighteye found one of the bad spirits, which I called wisps (more Oblivion, as it seemed appropriate), because he turned quickly, making an eerie creaking noise from the plastic bottom scraping the wooden dresser top. The noise bothered me at first, but after a while it didn't any more, and it even became almost comforting. Almost.

I don't know if I'm crazy. I've thought about it, but never come to a conclusion. I saw these things happen, so I believed they were real. Sometimes I questioned it, it didn't make any sense. But I decided in the end it didn't matter. After a while, I began speaking to Nighteye. He never responded, of course, but I believed he heard me. I would just talk about my day at work, how the weather was weird, about a cute girl I saw earlier, just anything.

I spoke to him like I would a friend. I considered him a friend. We helped each other out, didn't we? Sometimes I would go astral, and I'd see him. But for some reason every time I did, he'd push my back into my body right away. I would ask why, but the only thing I ever got for an answer was a whispered "not yet.." that I would only realize I heard upon waking up. I didn't know what he meant by that, but he was helping me, right?

After a while, not a lot of wisps showed up anymore. After all, I lived in a relatively small mountain town, and how many wisps could be wandering around this small place? I was happy. I don't know if the wisps ever did anything to me before I did all this, but I was generally happier, it seemed.

I always made sure to tell Nighteye how much I appreciated what he was doing for me, and that I promised I would make it up to him. After I while I began to think, how could I do something to help a spirit from my closet? I couldn't think of an answer, and it began to worry me. I thought about it more and more, becoming less focused at work and whenever I played games or did anything. I would be happy and fine, and then I would remember. It was like the thought appeared in my mind on its own. Was Nighteye doing this? Did he want to make sure I didn't forget?

For a whole week, no wisps showed up at all. Each day that one didn't appear, I began to worry more and more. I wasn't really afraid of anything, but with every day, the terror that had begun to grow in the pit of my stomach began to grow. On the night of the seventh day that no wisps came to my room, I didn't go to sleep for a long time.

I didn't even remember work, and as soon as I got home I just laid in bed for hours. It must have been around 3 in the morning when I finally fell asleep. I remember I was dreaming, I don't know what about, but it was very pleasant. I remember feeling content and happy, more so than I had ever been. Suddenly I was ripped from my body, thrown into being astral.

This wasn't right, as I looked down at my body. Any time I had gone astral, I did it willingly, and knew ahead of time it was happening. I didn't do this. I turned from my happily sleeping body, and faced directly at Nighteye. He wasn't in the owl anymore. "What are you doing?" I managed to think to him. "You promised to help me" was all he said, and he kept repeating it, over and over.

Each time he said it, he moved closer to me. He seemed angry at first, but with each repeated statement, he began to sound sad. Why was he sad?

I felt a tugging at the back of my head, and remembered the tether. I made a chain of sorts, and attached it from my real body's head to my spirit's. I didn't know if it actually did anything, but it made me feel secure. Whenever it tugged at me, I knew. I wanted to go back to my body, and my body wanted me back. I turned to face Nighteye again, and he was very close now, and sounded very sad. I didn't know what to do, and I couldn't move.

"You promised you would help me.." The thought echoed through my being. He was right in front of me now, and I was more terrified than I had ever been in my entire life. Suddenly Nighteye hugged me, and as I looked over his shoulder, my eyes fixed onto the eyes of my plastic owl. They were staring directly at me. I felt a strange releasing sensation, and I knew right away what had happened. Nighteye had severed my chain.

I spun around as fast as I could, but there was nothing I could do. Nighteye pushed me hard, and as I flew backwards through the walls of my room, my bathroom, and into the closet, I saw him lower into my body. I'm not sure what happened to me then, I know I lost it though. My mind had been broken from despair and confusion. How can I lose my body? What will happen to me now?

These thoughts enveloped me, as I sunk into the far end of the cubby in the back of the closet. I was in a deep depression and all I could do was sit there and cry, and think. Think. Think. I never slept, only my body could. I missed sleeping. Time began to not matter to me. At some point, the light turned on. It was blinding at first, but I adjusted eventually. When I could see again, I saw the boxes of things I had put in the cubby. But they looked different than I remembered, they seemed unfamiliar.

I must have forgotten things from the material world, since they had no reason to matter to me anymore. I heard some shuffling and sliding. My body was going through some things, perhaps? My sadness began to fade instantly at the memories forced into my mind, and it turned instead into a boiling rage. What right did he have to do things with my body?

I stood up suddenly, spreading my presence in the cubby, filling it with my cold rage. My body looked up and glanced around, and appeared to shiver. It seemed sincerely afraid. He should be! I will make him pay, I thought to myself. I continued to look at him and imagine the things I would do if I had real hands. My body looked strange, unfamiliar.

The boxes were one thing, but had I forgotten even my own body? It was no longer mine, I supposed. I can't do anything now, I thought. I filled again with sorrow, and sat. My body left, apparently done with whatever it was doing. I had to do something, but what could I do like this? I began to form a plan. A very dark plan.

I began to act out my dark plan immediately. I would have my revenge. Since time was no longer relevant to me, I had developed an incredible patience. Over the next few weeks, I began to show him as best as I could that I was there. I wanted him to realize I was still around. He must have realized he would have to deal with me sooner or later, for after a few more weeks he went astral himself and summoned me. He spoke to me as if we had never met, and asked if I could do a favor for him.

Did he not remember? Had he seriously forgotten what he had done to me? He asked me to stay in my very own owl, how ironic! I was amused at this point with his faulty memory. I would play his silly game, I thought to myself.

Over the next few weeks, I acted as his 'ghostcrow', pointing to bad spirits that came into the room. He would yell things at them, and they didn't understand. I told them to go scare someone else, that I had much darker intentions for this one. They shrugged and left. And he thought he made them leave! Pompous fool. I would have my revenge, when the time was right.

Sometimes he would go astral himself, a ballsy move in my opinion. But I couldn't win that easily. I needed more time, I wanted him to suffer. I would push him back into my body, and tell him "Not yet, not yet..." each time. He seemed confused. How could he not remember? I didn't understand how he could forget the awful thing he had done to me.

Over time, he began to talk to me. He must be crazy, I thought. He must be taunting me. But he couldn't be, if he had forgotten.. Something seemed strange. I didn't understand what was going on, but I didn't care anymore. I was so full of anger and rage that nothing could phase me now.

Over time, less bad spirits came, since they all knew me by now, and knew it was futile to try anything. That only made things easier for me. After all, my plan was perfect. When I agreed to help him out, I had made him promise to help me in return. He didn't seem to mind. He must have truly forgotten, I began to think. That would make this so much sweeter when he did finally remember. Over the course of a week of no bad spirits showing up at all, he began to become terrified.

I could see it in the way he acted, the way he seemed less interested in what he was doing. I kept pressing my thoughts onto him, trying to remind him of his promise. I didn't want him to forget. No, this he would remember.

Seven days after no bad spirits had shown up at all, I decided it was time. I could wait, but why? He was scared out of his mind, and I wanted revenge. I entered his mind as he was sleeping, peacefully for once. I suddenly felt very peaceful and happy, like I hadn't felt since I had my body. It was a familiar feeling. He was running through a field of flowers, holding hands with a cute girl.

She looked familiar. They were young, this must have been a couple years ago. But he didn't have my body then, why would he have this memory? Why did she look so familiar? My thoughts bothered me, and I decided action was the best course, I would not forget what I had come here to do. I backed away from my body and his mind, grabbing firmly ahold of his spirit as I exited. I had ripped him straight away from my body, and backed away a bit to watch his horror unfold at what I was about to do to him. I was so angry, remembering what he had done to me.

This was my moment. He was confused and scared, and I relished in it. "You promised you would help me." I said to him, and I repeated it. I wanted him to remember everything. I kept repeating the phrase and moving closer to him each time I said it. But I couldn't stop thinking about that happy feeling in the dream, the cute girl that seemed familiar.

Why was she so familiar? I kept repeating myself, trying to keep my mind away from those thoughts I didn't understand, but I didn't feel very angry anymore. I felt sad, and I wasn't sure why. I didn't want my sadness to reflect in my speech, but I couldn't help it. As I moved closer to him, I noticed he had placed a chain connecting his spirit to my body. Familiar. Why? I remembered the girl. I knew her. I remembered the happy feeling. It was my feeling. The memories came rushing back to me all at once, and I knew instantly what was happening.

This wasn't Nighteye I had brought forth. It was me, and I was Nighteye. I was very sad, because I knew I had to continue. It was my body, and what would happen if I didn't take it back? I became completely anguished as I approached myself, knowing what I was about to make myself experience. I couldn't tell him though, I couldn't explain. I just kept repeating myself, letting him know just how sorry I was for what I was doing through inflection.

I didn't know how I could possibly console him, and now that I was immediately in front of him, I did the only thing I could think to do. I hugged him, and knew that he looked over my shoulder. And I knew what he saw. It was the eyes of the owl. I was the bad spirit they pointed at. I reached around his head, and severed the chain. He turned to face me, and I swear I have never seen such sorrow or fear. But I knew he would be ok in the end. I pushed him as hard as I could, wishing him the best, and sank slowly into my body, enveloped in sadness.

Suddenly, I felt warm and happy, like I had before, and I awoke in a field full of flowers. "I'm back here?" I said aloud, and a girl appeared at my side. She offered me her hand, and said "Where were you? We have to go home now." "Oh... ok. It's so nice here though..." I replied. "I know, but we have to go. We have to go..."

She repeated that over and over as she pulled me away, and the field began to fade. I awoke suddenly in my bed, drenched in sweat, but feeling completely at peace. I felt like I had been asleep for a very long time. Oh well, I thought to myself, as I got up and began a new day.