Short Story Sunday 132: Watchers (Part Four)

            I swallowed a hard lump in my throat. As much as I wanted to believe there was no such things as monsters like Dad said, I knew he was wrong. There was nothing in my closet that would trick me into thinking a pair of yellow eyes was staring at me.

Nothing in my closet changed to add a second pair of yellow eyes. And nothing changed still in order to add a pair of red eyes. They multiplied every time Dad came into the room and told me there was no such thing as monsters.

This was not my imagination. I was not dreaming. This was not nothing. There were monsters in my closet and I had to get rid of them somehow. If Dad couldn’t see them, then I was going to have to do something about it.

I shifted my weight on my bed and sat up tall on my knees. I bit my lower lip. All three pairs of eyes were staring back at me. Neither one of them moved, none of them groaned. I was at a loss of what was going on.

“What…” my voice cracked and I cleared my throat. “What do you want with me?”

The six eyes blinked in response.

“Where did you come from?” I asked again stepping down from my bed.

They blinked again.

“Are… Are you friendly at least?” I choked out walking towards my closet again.

The more monsters that entered my closet, the more times I called my Dad to check my closet, I felt less afraid. They weren’t doing anything. They hadn’t done anything in the past week. I wasn’t sure if they were biding their time until something big or if they were just camping out for some reason.

It didn’t make sense to be afraid of these monsters anymore. It was time that I confronted them. It was time I confronted my fears.

“I’m not going to be afraid of you anymore. Just tell me why you’re here and what you want.” I sighed exasperated. They must have wanted something if they kept hanging around to watch me sleep.

All six eyes blinked once more. I grunted in response and stopped in the middle of my bedroom. I didn’t want to get any closer. I didn’t want to touch any of the monsters again. They growled at me last time, who knew what would happen if I accidentally bumped into them again?

I raised an eyebrow at the six eyes staring at me blankly. “Hello?” I shrugged. I knew they could move since they disappeared whenever Dad entered the room. I knew they could communicate in some form since one of them growled at me earlier. I didn’t expect answers to my questions, but I expected some sort of response other than blinking.

Yet, as soon as I said that, all six eyes shifted to look at each other. I clamped my mouth shut and took a few steps back. Okay, I clearly got their attention. But now what were they doing?

In just a couple minutes, all the eyes turned to me once more. The yellow pair, the first monster that first appeared in my closet a week ago, seemed to come forward. My bedroom shook and I latched onto the edge of my bed to keep my balance. Holding onto my mattress for my dear life, I took a few more steps back.

The eyes lowered as though the monster was ducking in the doorway of the closet and then they got higher once more as if it stood up tall again.

I craned my neck to look up as the monster took hard steps closer to me. My bedroom continued to rumble after each footstep. I glanced at my bedroom door wondering where Dad was. Surely he could feel the house shaking! Wasn’t he going to come check up on me?

The monster stared down at me while the other monster with the narrow yellow eyes repeated what the first monster did. The whole house shook again under his steps. He stood beside the first monster, both of them staring down at me.

Then it was the red monster’s turn. It seemed bigger than the other two monsters as his eyes were closer to the ceiling and his footsteps were so heavy that I thought he was going to fall right through my floor breaking my house.

I climbed back on top of my bed as though that would help me get away from the three monsters. I was suddenly afraid of them again. They had never left my closet, though they still didn’t speak and they still continued to stare at me. What were they doing and what was I supposed to do to retaliate?

I stood up willing myself to be brave and stand before them as though I wasn’t afraid, even though I felt like wetting my pants. I hoped they weren’t the type of monsters that were able to smell fear. If so, I was in trouble.

“Wh—What do you…” my voice shook and I had to clear my throat again. “What do you want?”

The monster with red eyes took another step forward shaking the entire room. The lamp on my nightstand beside my bed vibrated so far between the monsters moving that it fell off the stand and crashed to the ground with the bulb popping like a balloon.

I let out a quick scream turning to the sound of the lamp. Then I immediately turned back to the monsters and the red eyes were directly in my face.

I held my breath trying not to panic. I could feel a warm air breeze by my face as the monster breathed on me.

“Maria.” A deep, raspy voice rang out through the room.

Then my Dad entered my bedroom for the third time that night.