Who's That?

31 October 2022

Story #1082

R. Linda:

This past Saturday, the family went to a harvest supper at the local town hall. I stayed home, having a bad case of the sniffles. I thought it best not to infect innocent people with me cold. I've been to the harvest supper in the past, which gives the locals a chance to see each other if they haven't during the summer and generally break bread and make merry together.

It was around 7-ish and dark; I was in my office and hadn't turned any of the lights on because I was doing work on the computer and was focused on getting it done, and to be quite honest, I lost track of time. I was staring at a paragraph I wrote, thinking it wasn't exactly what I wanted to say, and as I was thinking about that, I thought I heard the backdoor open. I tore meself away from me project and looked down the hall, but the backdoor was closed. That was when I realised I hadn't put any lights on. Too lazy to do that, and knowing the family wouldn't be back for another hour, I went back to the glowing screen of me computer. I sat there again, trying to reason a sentence to sound better than it did, when I heard a board creak in the hallway. At first, I was oblivious to it, such was my concentration, but I heard it a second and third time and then realised what I was hearing was real.

I got up again, poked me head out the door, and looked down the dark hallway but saw nothing. I stood there for a few minutes, listening and letting me eyes adjust to the darkness. I realised I had turned on the heat to take the chill off the house, and what I was hearing was the snapping of the wood floor just above the furnace that made that noise. I shook my head and went back to me work. 

I had been back at it for under five minutes when I heard another sound. I couldn't quite make it out, so I stealthily got up and looked out the door once again. I turned the torchlight on me mobile phone, which didn't give much light but just enough. I saw two glowing eyes staring back at me midway up the wall. Eyes, R. Linda, glowing eyes were looking back at me. I almost dropped the phone but had the wherewithal to shout, "Who be there?" The eyes didn't move, nor did they answer. "Who are you?" I asked. Nothing came, just that silent staring back at me. 

Poe's poem The Raven came to me as if I was hearing "Forevermore!" How to scare oneself, eh?

I hit my forehead with me open palm; of course, it was one of the dogs! I called, but the staring eyes did not move. They looked like they had gotten larger and more steady in their non-movement. The dogs would come to me in a heartbeat, but this thing never moved. Then I realised the eyes were on a level with me, if not a tad higher, not dog level. The dogs were outside, still on the side deck. So I knew it wasn't the dogs. The torchlight was no help because the light reflected off the outside door glass and came back, blinding me, so I couldn't see what was there. It was then I realised a little late that the eyes were outside, not in the house. Which made perfect sense because all the doors were locked. A procedure Mam practices as if I am a valuable commodity and someone might come in and steal me. Yup, she's set in her ways.

This is what I saw:

Glowing in space

I had the wherewithal of mind to turn the hall light switch on, but the eyes disappeared in the brightness. I turned it off and there they still were, staring back at me, no blinking, just a hard stare in my direction! 

Did I mention that Mam has decorated the abode for Halloween? Yes, there are all sorts of scary things about the place, which made me feeling of being alone shaky. 

Like these 2 in the hallway

By the fireplace 

These two grace me office

The tamer of her decorations

"Forevermore!" I heard that in me head as I stood as if glued in place. I stared at the glowing eyes. They did not blink! Nothing moved; just an icy stillness took me over, and I could feel me heart beating hard. What the heck was I staring at, and worse, what was staring back at me? I slowly forced meself to walk toward the thing. Still, it stayed in place until a gust of wind suddenly appeared, and it swayed in the breeze. I stopped. I didn't like that much; whatever it was, it was moveable. I steeled meself to move closer. The thing was settled back again, still and staring. I got right up to the door, and the eyes were about six feet away from the door. I squinted me eyes, trying to focus on what it was.

Slowly, I put my hand on the door handle and turned it. The eyes continued to stare with no movement. I opened the door, which made a noise but didn't scare off the thing. That baffled me. Indeed, it would flee if it was an animal, but no, this did not. It was standing its ground, and my mind quickly sent images of something flying at me and tearing at me face. I pushed forward, the adrenaline pumping, and out I was. There, hanging from a plant hook, was an artificial owl! I felt like a damn fool I did.

I walked up to it and saw it was one of those solar things that the eyes lit up at dusk. Thanks, Mam! The woman must have decided to take the owl from the garden, and since the garden was done, she found a Halloween use for it. Yup, scare the bejesus out of me!

Floating Owl

Gabe

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