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I stood against the wall as my dad finished setting up an air mattress in my new room. This would be the last one. He already set up the ones up for he and my sister, Emily, in their own rooms. My dad took Emily and I from Montana and moved us to Oregon. We left with only our important stuff like clothes and personal treasures. So, the air mattresses were the closest we had to a cozy, warm bed.
“Thanks, dad,” I said, as he got up to leave.
“No problem, Eli,” said my dad. “Get you some sleep.”
“Dad, please,” I said. “You know I hated when mom called me that.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” said my dad. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s fine, dad.”
“Well, I’ll make up for it tomorrow,” said my dad. “I’m taking you guys sight-seeing.”
My dad left and closed the door behind him. Just great, I thought.
I laid on the mattress, staring at the ceiling. I couldn’t help but to think about our old home and all the things I missed. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach at the memory of the “Welcome to Oregon” sign. I would’ve done anything to get my dad to turn the car back around and go home, but I couldn’t. Could any 12-year-old? If only we hadn’t lost mom. I know she would’ve preferred Montana, too. I just wanted to sleep. That would at least be the same.
But then, I heard a creak.
It was like the creak came from the walls, as if they were made of rusty floorboards. I got up from the mattress and I crept out into the hallway towards dad’s room. I moved slowly and made as little noise as possible, but it didn’t help. Right behind me, I could hear footsteps that weren’t mine. They took my every move. I turned around. Nothing. The noise stopped and there was nobody there.
“Emily?” I called out. “Are you awake?”
I walked to Emily’s room, right next door to mine. I peeked my head in to see Emily, snug in her covers with her favorite stuffed bear.
I heard someone sprinting down the hall. I followed the steps past dad’s room, down the stairs, and inside the kitchen.
I step very lightly. “Who’s there?”
No answer.
I thought I was too tired from the drive, and it was making me paranoid. I went back up the stairs and into my bedroom to lie back down. I laid on my back, eyes staring at the ceiling. My eyes began to close. I could almost grasp sleep with my fists, and then in an instant, my blanket was ripped from me quicker than I could open my eyes. I sat up from the air mattress and looked around. Still no one. Only the darkness.
“Who’s there?” I tried.
“It’s us,” said a voice. “We’re here.”
I heard the same footsteps from earlier. They were in the room. The footsteps emerged from the darkness of my room where I could see. My eyes followed up to the height of about six feet, and there it was right before my eyes.
My hands began to sweat. My bottom lip clashed with my teeth, losing terribly. My eyes started to water, but I couldn’t move to dab at them. It was like the entire room had been engulfed in flames. There was air, but it wasn’t the fresh kind, and it was a struggle to breath. The walls closed in on me and I wanted nothing more than to speak, but a lump was stuck in my throat. I closed my eyes and opened them again. Maybe it would disappear.
It didn’t. I pinched myself because maybe I was asleep, and this was all a dream. This thing, this figure, had arms that were like rope, very long and twisted. It had a head with only a mouth, and it was no sight that would ever leave my brain. It would haunt me forever, the image. It was missing eyes, yes, but as it walked to the foot of my air mattress, millions of eyes lurked behind in the shadows behind it. Out of the many, there was one that was blue-colored.
“Fear not,” said the thing. “We’re not going to harm you.”
I managed to stutter, “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing, Eli,” said the thing. “We just wanted to welcome you to your new home.”
“Huh?” I asked. “What do you mean welcome me?”
“Well, this is your new home, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I said. “But what does that have to do with you showing up here?”
“These eyes here, Elijah, they see everything for me.”
“Is that why you travel with just eyes?”
“They aren’t just eyes, Elijah. But you couldn’t handle seeing what they truly are.”
“What are you? I asked. “How do you even know who I am?”
“Let’s just say that we have a common friend, Elijah,” said the thing. “And they insisted on our help.”
“Who?” I asked.
“I can’t speak specifics, or I could get into trouble, but everything will be okay.”
“Is there anything they may have said?” I asked.
“Actually, yes,” said the thing. “They said that everything will be okay. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“You’ve been saying that yourself,” I said. “Is that it?”
“That’s it,” said the thing. “Now finally, you can sleep.”
“Wait earlier...” I started. “You called me Eli.”
Again, the thing said, “Finally, you can sleep.”
This calmness had suddenly come over me. The room wasn’t suffocating anymore and the thing while still very frightening, brought lots of comfort. I laid back down on the air mattress, staring at the ceiling once more while those eyes stared down at me, in the shadows of my lonely room. I took my attention once away from the ceiling, to see the one blue eye. Before sun-up, I drifted off to sleep.