Creepy Tales of the Night---The Eyes

 Well with the Halloween haunting season upon us, I thought it'd seem fit to do some creepy tales. Let me know what you think, and maybe I'll do a few more.  So turn off the lights, pull out the flashlight and get ready to not sleep tonight.

         The clouds were a thick grey mass, ready to burst at the seams. Slowly one by one, rain drops started to fall on the windows of the hospital, tapping as lightly as could be, almost in an apologetic way to the people inside. In room 205, sat a woman crying near a hospital bed, tears rolling down her cheeks, lighter than the rain that fell. The hospital bed contained a figure t
hat was ever dear to her heart, and her mother came into the room and started rubbing her shoulders. “Oh dear, please keep your head up, everything will work out”, her mother said, but with doubt in her old raspy voice. “I just don’t understand how this could happen” said the woman, “It’s just not right”, she turned around and hugged her mother tightly for comfort. They stayed that way for a long time in dead silence, only the small beeping noise of the heart monitor was barely heard.

               

                 He opened his crusty eyes, and groaned with the idea of having to get out of bed. It was about four p.m., the sun high in the sky at this point. The world was already awake long ago. But to Max this was a normal work day. He rolled out of bed and stretched his back, it cracking multiple times. He sighed with relief, being a janitor for over twenty years has taken its toll on him. He was in his mid-forties and not the happiest of people at times. He had been in the work of cleaning since he was in his early twenties. His job he has had for the past fifteen years, had him working alone as well. He was one who always had dreams and aspirations, but never quite got to pursue his passions. He was however fortunate enough to marry the woman of his dreams. Her name was Kate, and she had a day job at an office, being a secretary for a doctor’s office. With their conflicting schedules, they really didn’t get to see each other at all during the week, only on the weekends. This was a tough life, but Max saw no way out really, he had no other skills at this point and made decent money to help take care of them both. But maybe it was his lack of ambition these days that held him back.

                 

                He spent his afternoons alone, just watching TV or going for a walk every now again, and maybe play a video game once in a while.  A very dull life indeed, and at times it was a very lonely life for Max. He took a nap today and it was about time to hit the road and get to work. Max was slightly overweight; he had some stubble going on, on his face. But figured there was no point in shaving, nobody was going to see him anyway. He had short plain black hair and a big protruding nose in the center of his face. He was nothing that would catch any one’s eyes. Contrary to what TV likes to show us, not all janitors wore full body jumpsuits, with a hand stitched name tag in the chest area. He wore regular clothes, just a plain black shirt and a pair of jeans today. He slowly walked to the door, patted his cat on the head and started to head out. But before he did his wife Kate waltzed through the door with a big smile on her face, and holding a pizza box in her hand. “Hey you’re home early” he said with a smile back. It wasn’t often they met like this on a week day. “I know I wanted to surprise you with a pizza, although I don’t want you to be too late to work”, she said back. “Eh who will know any way?” he said with a grin and grabbed the box from her, and set it down. Pizza after all was his favorite dish. Kate was also in her mid-forties, they had been together since they were both in their twenties. She had blonde hair and a smile as big as the room. They ate some food together, laughing about some work stories she had.  Then as she was talking it was as if time stopped. Her laugh and smile in slow motion, Max staring, as if seeing her for the first time all over again. “What are you looking at?” she said now noticing this, almost blushing a little. “Nothing, I’d just be lost without you” he said. She then grabbed his hand and led him to their bedroom.

                 

                 Fast forward hours later, Max was at work now. It was late, and was going to be a later night for him. As per his usual shift, it was dark as the night could be. The darkness never bothered him, he was so accustom to it, and it really never fazed him. He did most of his work in a giant office building. He wasn’t even sure what they actually did there. He rarely saw employees, and when he did, it seemed he was invisible to them. He was in high spirits tonight though; it almost seemed he had the perfect day earlier on, which was very rare. He usually barely saw his wife or had good food during the week he thought to himself, as he whistled away wiping down the front doors to the building. The building was three stories high and mostly full of office cubicles, and every inch of it was Max’s responsibility to clean. The building was nestled just outside the town, tucked away in the trees and not visible from the main road. He walked outside in the brisk air, and rubbed his arms for a moment, “Damn cold out here for a summer night” he thought to himself. He started wiping down the outside of the doors and noticed the numbers on the side of the building. “Hm odd” he said out loud to himself confused. “I always remember the numbers saying 321”, as he walked inside brushing off the thought, and the doors slammed shut behind him, and 205 was present on the buildings front wall.

              

                  Another hour rolled on, it was reaching that time where the world was silent, and everyone had checked out, and was nestled in their beds, safe with their families. Everyone except Max of course, who was cleaning away. He waltzed up the stairs slowly, his footsteps echoing loudly off of the empty filled staircase. He opened the door to the third floor, and almost fell over in fear, right in front of him were two eyes staring at him form the darkness. He let out a scream, but flipped on the lights right next to him. Only to his relief, it wasn’t eyes at all, but two blinking lights from a computer monitor. He caught his breath, and grinned at himself, “haven’t scared yourself like that in quite some time eh?” he said to himself, chuckling. He finished up the floor, and turned back off the lights and turned around to see eyes staring at him again! He said “Ah not this time” and flipped back on the lights, only to his shock this time the eyes disappeared. His face went pale for a moment, “No”, he said thinking he was scaring himself now, and flipped back off the light, only to see the eyes come back. Now he started to freak out. “WHOS THERE!?” he shouted, barely getting the words out in fear. He went to turn back on the lights, only this time they weren’t working, the eyes steadily on him. Just staring, not moving or blinking. There was no figure to be seen in the shroud of the darkness, just the eyes. One was Green and one was red, they were beady little eyes. He couldn’t even make out pupils or anything else for that matter, but he was also more afraid now than he has ever been in his life. He turned around and shot out of the door, running down the stairs, as fast as one can run down stairs. He got down the first flight, but still had to make the second. He looked up to the third floor door, only to see in the small glass window on the door, the two eyes still on him steadily. He whimpered in fear and started down the second flight, but with his attention on the eyes, he tripped and tumbled down the stairs.

              

                    Everything was black and spinning around in circles, as he slowly opened his eyes. He lay at the bottom of the stairs, face down into the carpet. He slowly regained himself to his feet, his right leg in pain and his head pounding. “Must have knocked myself out”, he said holding his head. He stumbled out of the door in front of him, to the second floor. He cautiously peered around looking for what may be lurking, looking for those eyes.  Luckily he had left the second floor lights on. He quivered in fear looking all around, all the same. With or without lights, he was deathly afraid as anyone would be. He noticed however a window was open to the left of him, he was puzzled as he did not remember opening one, or there one being open before. He walked over and peered down to the black top below, and his eyes got as wide as they could go, on the ground lay a person, not moving at all.  He screamed down, “HEY!” the person still not moving. He raced towards the stairs to the first floor, limping a little with the pain in his right leg, and busted out the front doors once he got down there. He ran as fast as he could to the side of the building where the person would be, running out of breath now. He started to once again get confused, he was right under the open window on the second floor, but there was no person. He looked up to check to see if he was in the right place once more, but this time the second floor lights were off and the eyes once again were back staring at him menacingly. He backed away from the spot shaking now, not breaking contact with the eyes. “WHAT DO YOU WANT!?” he shouted up at them. The eyes showing no emotions, just looking on.

               

                   Max now started to panic more than ever, he ran his hand across his hair, messing it all up. “Ok fine I’ll just call the cops” he said thinking on his feet. He whipped out his cell phone, only to his displeasure, it was dead. Nothing on the phone would work at all. “FUCK” he shouted and threw the phone across the parking lot. He looked over to his car and said “Fuck I’ll just drive out of here! Duh!”.  But when he searched his pockets for his keys they weren’t there. “They must have fallen out!” he said in anger, starting to run out of options. He looked up the eyes still on him. He looked at the building, the first floor lights were still on, “I can run in, call the cops from a phone inside and run out, I am not staying in that building any longer than I have to”. He had his plan, and he wanted to stick to it. He looked back to the eyes just to make sure they hadn’t moved. He sprinted off directly after into the building, and raced to the first desk he saw; he picked up a phone and dialed 911. But to no avail, because the phone also was dead. “This can’t be happening” he thought to himself. But he hadn’t much more time for thinking as the lights went out on the first floor now. The floor he was on.

               

                  He started to sweat profusely, and cowered underneath the desk he was at. He peered around from underneath looking for the eyes. He saw nothing for a few minutes, he thought to himself “OK I just need to make a run for the door and keep on running once I’m out, this is my last chance”. He bolted from underneath the desk, making all sorts of noises. The front doors not too far off, he was close, he turned around to see the eyes on the other side of the room watching him. The discolored eyes never blinking or turning away. “GO AWAY!” he shouted at them and ran straight into the front doors, but the double set of glass doors were locked, so he bounced back onto the floor. He groaned in pain but shot back up, he grabbed his ring of work keys, and started to file through them as quickly as he could, searching for the one to unlock the doors. But to no avail, as the eyes were coming closer and closer every second, every inch they got closer, his heart felt like it gave out a little more and more. He pounded on the glass doors, screaming for help. But being so alone and isolated, not a soul heard. But just then the alarm started to go off in the building. He was relieved for a moment; the alarm would send the police his way he thought to himself. But the alarm sound was deafening to his ears. He grabbed his ears in pain. The eyes coming much slower but still coming towards him all the same, the floor so dark, he still only saw the eyes, no figure attached. He scurried over to the alarm box and tried punching in his code to at least turn off the sound; his ears could barely take it. It was so high pitched, but he quickly gave up on that when he noticed the eyes were only a few feet away from him.  He pressed his back up against the glass window to the outside, trapped in a corner of the building. Tears running down his face from the fear, the eyes being so close, his heart starting to fade slower and slower. “What do you want?” he mumbled out in sobs, “Why me?”

               He could tell the eyes were still coming towards him, just much slower now, he turned to face the glass, pressing his face up against it and pounded on it, everything going mind numbingly silent in his head. It almost seemed it was all in slow motion now, his life started to flash before his eyes. He saw his beautiful wife Kate smiling at him, all of their memories they had shared over the years. The first time he met her, their first kiss, the first time he ever told her he loved her, their wedding day, one of the best of his life. He thought of his family and friends that he barely kept in contact with, all of the wasted time he never used to be with them. His parent being so old now, that he hardly swung by to say hello in the past ten years. He thought of all of the pets he had over his lifetime and how precious they were to him. He had many regrets in a single moment, but not regrets of not making enough money, or any regrets of what stuff he had at home. But regrets of all of the extra weekends he took on, all of the time not spent being with loved ones. He had spent more time in that building than he did with his wife. Not getting a new job and moving forward with his life, and enjoying life as it was meant to be enjoyed. His biggest regret was wasting all of that time. He pounded away on the glass more and more, he was on his knees now losing energy. He looked up to the bright full moon outside and the trees swaying in the wind, tears rolling down his face. As his heart started to grow fainter and fainter, he whispered “Kate I love you”. Everything came back at once as he turned around, the alarm louder than ever, he was face to face to with the eyes, hardly any life left in him, as the eyes disappeared as did his life.

                She stopped hugging her mom for a brief second, “I just don’t know why these things happen to us, we’ve always had the worst luck”, she said as she wiped tears from her face. “Oh Kate” said her mom also wiping tears from her daughter’s eyes “He can still bounce back, it was only a second story window”. “I hope you are right, I just wish he would’ve listened to me long ago, I told him working alone wasn’t a good idea at his age”. Then the heart monitor hooked up to the man started going flat. The sound was deafening to the ears. Nurses rushed in and a doctor, as they tried to revive him. She screamed out in agony as her husband lay lifeless on the bed. “MAX!” she screamed, her mother holding her back. “No god, please no!” she fell to her knees as everything fell apart all at once, she looked up to the heart monitor, tears rolling down her bright red cheeks, through her teary eyed vision, she saw a green and a red light on the bottom of the monitor , and they just went out.