A/N: I've never thought writing in the present tense was this hard! Maintaining a conversant tone was easy, but keeping the story-telling parts (that have essentially occurred already) in present tense was a challenge against redundancy and sense. I'm never doing this again. ;) I do hope, however, that you like this little piece of effort and review before you go. :D

The theme is somewhat similar to "Afraid of Light". The difference lies in the extent of physicality (and the level of detail and poetry...). That was abstract; this focuses on a concrete instance, as our Heinz will describe after these messages. ;D

Disclaimer: Why do you think this is on FFnet? ;)

Eyes

Cezille07

It must be a dream. Dreams are always useless and scary mental idealizations. And this fits flawlessly into the description.

I am tied to a black wall, and my arms and legs are stuck at ninety-degree angles. I cannot move, much less scream—because it seemed pointless anyway. There are no ceilings and floors. I am surrounded by endless black walls housing this cold ambience, and only two spots of light are visible from my awkward vantage point.

Hang on, those aren't spotlights...they're...eyes! Two huge eyes! And they glow! In this darkness, it's so weird, standing out like...a spot on white cloth. The eyes are looking at me, and I swear it feels like they want me dead. Like they say when a look can kill? Or something like that?

I yank my petrified gaze away, and only then do I realize they're Doonkleberry bat eyes. I hate those things to death. I blink back an upset tear and look again. But I see that the eyes are morphing before me. They're human now, small, dark, and still quite angry.

Father. Dammit, I don't want him looking at me like I'd been born to bring shame to the proud Doofenshmirtz family. I never wanted that name anyway. The same way you never wanted me. Next, mother's eyes. She never knew how much I struggle to remind her I'm a son, not a stranger. How long I try to love her, only because it seems like everyone else's families looked close, perfect, like that. I've never understood families anyway. They mean nothing to me! I've decided: I don't care, so it won't hurt me. There, that was easy.

The eyes stare in angry reproach, and they change again. They squeeze and stretch into the even more repulsive eyes of my brother. Roger's eyes always stir a sort of indigestion in me. I loathe him too! I wriggle as hard as I could, but to no avail. Forget escaping. If I'm stuck here with a barrage of eyes that hate me, then fine! Fine! I could really care less! Kill me with your sickening expectations, because that's all you seem to want me to fail at! Fine!

The eyes finally turn into a smile. Hmph. Stupid Roger, I despise you so much. The smile grows eagerly. I churn inside for a reason to faint. Or wake from this psychedelic dream—no, nightmare. The smile taunts me with its complacency. I curse, feeling a sort of familiar escape. Curse you, evil smile! The smile seems to understand that I don't need its mockery, and it begins fading slowly. I am alone again in this black infinitum.

I suddenly feel two small hands grip my shoulders and shake me. I open my eyes to find the smile was back. My sight clears. I'm home, in my living room, sprawled on the warm carpeted floor. I hear a homey chirping sound. Perry the platypus observes me heartily before retrieving a glass of water from my kitchen. He carefully hands it to me, and offers another smile.

Oh...it was his smile, I note bitterly. I find myself immobilized; I still feel trapped by those fixtures on the black wall, and my limbs are stiff blocks of lead. As I drink up the water, he looks at me as if he were...concerned. I throw the glass toward the window. "I need no concern!" I yell as the glass breaks. But I cannot tear my bewildered eyes away from his deep brown ones. I remember how the eyes of my parents, and ultimately everyone else that entered my life, how they scorn me. No other eyes can ever look at me without shame.

Hot tears spill from my eyes, and Perry instantly wraps his short platypus arms around my neck. The warmth relaxes me. I respond with the only action I wasn't too stunned to perform. I mirror the embrace, thinking that finally...I belong somewhere. Home in his smile, in his eyes.

END