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A Watchful Eye

Always Watching

By Laurin AndersonPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Would you want to look through the cracks?

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. However, the eye that follows me gave me my soul. Since I was a child I have seen the golden green eye everywhere. The crack of my door, the slit in the wall, it is everywhere.

This eye belongs to a woman named Gretta. She birthed me, gave me a name, and has kept me close all these years. She watches through hidden holes and cracks. Even though I don't physically see the eye anymore. I can still feel it as a constant reminder of my decrepit life.

Gretta sold her soul for immortality. The price for this is that she could only live off the blood of her children. She has had many children in her 408 year old life. She looks like a beautiful young woman and all of the children, including me, inherited her eye.

Her father stole her other eye when she was born. An all black eye was a sign of evil. She was given a glass eye of blue and kept her golden green eye. Men gawked over her beauty and she was virtuous. At 15 her first child was born she locked the child away and the rules were made.

If you don't follow the rules, then you die.

The rules are as follows:

  1. Never leave the attic
  2. Never be seen or heard
  3. Never argue

The wallpaper in this attic has peeled from the walls, the chains on my ankles are so rusty that I have cracked them. I can move freely through the attic now. The window is covered but I peek sometimes. I am always careful to not be seen.

I want to escape.

At the age of 27, I decide that the time to leave is now. I pack a bag and take a piece of wallpaper. You see, it is made from the skin of my siblings who tried to leave before me. I take a piece for Thomas, Sidney, and Othella. These were the closest to me. I cut my leg and bleed just enough to feed Gretta's thirst.

Gretta hasn't been up in a while and I have been starving for days, so I try the door. It squeaks open and reveals stairs. I sneak down them and look out the other door. She is there, in her rocking chair, just moving back and forth.

What if I just walk out of here?

Gretta is sipping some tea and a glorious smell is coming from the kitchen. I'm salivating and before I know it I am through the door.

I'm standing in the open.

She stops rocking, she turns slowly and looks at me with that eye. My heart stops and I'm frozen with fear.

"I left blood for you upstairs. You can have it if you let me go."

Gretta just smiles and says, "But child, you broke the rules, and now you must join the others."

My legs are moving as fast as the they can. I'm in the kitchen and she is blocking the door with a wicked grin.

"Please do not do this you have lived your life, just let me go."

Gretta laughs, "What makes you more special than the others?"

She throws a knife, it lands in my back. It is this moment, I know I will finally escape this life. My name is Beatrice this is when my life stops.

Years Later: A little girl gets dared to go in the house. She pushes open the door and says hello. The house is cozy and quiet. She can hear some humming coming from up the stairs. She follows the sound, opens the door, and finds an old attic with a woman and a baby. She watches her sew some skin. Startled, the girl jumps and knocks over jars full of green eyes. When the girl looks up, the woman is not where she was but right in front of her, watching for what she will do next.

Gretta says, "You have such pretty eyes. Can I have them?"

psychological
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