Don't Look

Kairi's footsteps were quick but steady.

She moved with purpose, guided by a single mission: search and retrieval. Soft auburn hair bounced with each step as she ran up the stairs to the second story. She breezed through the hall, passing by open windows with her shadow gliding across the lockers, until her violet eyes locked onto the classroom where she would find her target: Sora.

Sora was a good friend of hers—her best friend even, if only because of geographical convenience. They were next-door neighbors and routinely walked home together. She hardly left school without him, but that was mainly because of Kairi's mom. Her mother held irrational fears that her daughter might fall prey to random acts of kidnap, rape, murder, or all three, so Sora was enlisted to keep a close eye on her. Kairi didn't mind but she was a little irked that she was put on a leash, even one as accommodating as Sora. She was forced to wait for him at the end of school before coming home.

He was usually punctual, but something was off about him this week. On Monday, he arrived ten minutes late; on Tuesday, he was twenty minutes late; and today, it was Wednesday. She had waited in front of the school for thirty minutes but he never showed. He had a lot of explaining to do.

She approached Sora's last period class, grabbed the door, and pushed it open to find him drooling at his desk. Only he could sleep through the thunderous footfalls, excited chatter, and loud bells that signaled the end of school every day.

Brunet spikes spilled messily over the desktop and his baby cheeks, normally round, were flat against the desk surface. His eyelashes fluttered lightly, and she wondered what kind of dreams he was having. His serene face laid in stark contrast to her miffed one. She laid a hand on his shoulder, squeezed it hard, and gave him a hard shove. He jolted awake, slamming his back into the chair, and looked up at Kairi in shock.

"Rise and shine you lazy bum," she greeted, giggling at his reaction.

He blinked groggily until her face clearly came into view. He let out a sigh of relief. "I am so glad to see your face."

She raised an eyebrow. The reaction wasn't quite what she was expecting. She wanted more anger and indignity, not relief. "Did you have a nightmare or something?"

He made a frightful frown. "No, I just woke up in one."

She was about to retort to his puzzling statement but his tired eyes stopped her. Heavy bags dragged the skin down as if his eyeballs were melting. No longer flat against the desk, his cheeks were surprisingly gaunt. She didn't realize how terrible he looked. His sleeping serenity disappeared, and in its place was immense fatigue.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

His eyes darted around nervously before he answered, "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course." What was wrong with him?

He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. His face held heavy exhaustion. "I think I'm going crazy."

"I think we all do sometimes." She chuckled.

His dark expression didn't waver. "That's not it. I really do think that I'm losing my grip on reality. I might be…hallucinating," he admitted.

"What do you mean?" She didn't like where this conversation was going. He wasn't on drugs, was he? Or maybe he was suffering from insomnia?

He turned his head to look outside the window and stayed silent for a couple moments to gather his thoughts. After shaking his head several times, he finally turned around. "It all started a couple days ago, with the release of Final Fantasy XIII-2." That was starting to explain things. He probably stayed up too late playing the game. "You know me; I like to plow through games once I get them. I went on a binge and stayed up late on Sunday night. I didn't even realize what time it was until I saw the time stamp on my save file. It was 1:00 in the morning. Sometimes, a game has you hooked and you can't put it down, but everybody has their limits—including me. I was starting to feel crappy, my eyes were starting to hurt, I had this bad headache, and my body was sore. The whole day was starting to catch up to me.

"It didn't help when we got that writing assignment for the weekend. What kind of teacher does? I was planning on spending quality time alone with the game, but no, the frickin' teacher had to assign an essay due on Monday. What the hell? My plan was to play the game and work on the paper at night, but that didn't work out for me. I wasn't able to turn it in on time. I got half-credit for turning it in yesterday, but whatever.

"Anyways, that was when things were starting to get a little weird. You ever catch something out of the corner of your eye but you turn your head only to see nothing? Most of the time, it's something dumb, like a shadow from a tree outside or your own reflection. I kept thinking I was seeing something but every time I turned around—it turned out to be nothing.

"I tried to ignore it, but I swore I saw something flicker on my window. When I take a look, I find out it's just my reflection. I play with the lights off at night, so the TV's the only source of light. It had me pretty well lit. I assumed I was catching my own reflection. I stared at the window and moved my arms around until I was satisfied that it was only me. I went back to playing for a couple more minutes but I saw that flicker again. I checked it out and it was the same deal, just my reflection.

"That's when I started to get the chills, like how all your hair stands up and goose bumps start popping up like a bad rash. It felt like somebody was watching me, and it was definitely coming from the window. It didn't help that it was pitch black outside. I hate it when it's completely dark. It makes my head go nuts, like I'm expecting something horrible to pop out.

"I got up to the window and looked outside to make sure that there wasn't anything sneaking around. All I saw was the tree between our houses and the street. I'm on the second story, and there aren't any footholds, so it wasn't like anybody could spy on me. I shut the blinds and turned on the lights. It made me feel a little better. It was getting late and I had school the next day, so I turned off the TV and the game. For a split second, I thought I saw something behind me in the TV screen as it died out, but as soon as I turned around, there was nothing. My imagination was starting to get the better of me. I went for a bathroom break and kept the door to my room open a crack so the light could leak out into the hallway.

"I got in and did my business, but I was feeling cold. I washed my hands with warm water. I looked up at the mirror and jumped. I definitely saw something behind me but it disappeared. Was I really seeing things? I tried to shake it off and laugh at how dumb I was acting. I didn't move and just stood there, staring at that spot behind me, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. I started shivering. I dried my hands and returned to my room. Even if I couldn't see it, I could feel something behind me. I ran into my room and shut the door. I knew I was being paranoid, but still, once you start thinking that something's there, it might as well be.

"I did a hack job on the homework. I couldn't focus though. Things were really quiet. The only sound was my pen and breathing. I sat there, training my ears for the slightest sound. I heard a rustle and turned around immediately. I watched the room for the slightest movement, a twitch, anything. Then I heard it again. It was coming from outside. I slowly made my way to the window and prayed like hell that there wasn't going to be a serial killer staring back. I opened the blinds and scared the crap out of myself with my own reflection. It turns out; the rustling came from the tree outside.

"But I still felt like...someone was watching me. I searched the room for anything suspicious, like a hidden camera or something, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find anything. Whatever it was, it was hovering just outside the edge of my consciousness. At this point, I'm like, 'screw it, I'm going to sleep.'

"I turned off the lights, got into bed, and closed my eyes. Eventually, I fell asleep, but it was on and off—I kept waking up and going back to sleep. After I woke up for the sixth time, I tried to see what time it was but I couldn't find the clock—which was weird, because it's pretty bright in the dark. Without it, the room is completely black, especially when I close the blinds. That's when I saw it.

"In the furthest corner of the room was something faint. My eyes were blurry at first, but the more I focused, the more I wish I hadn't. I thought it was moonlight leaking through the blinds but it wasn't. There was no moon that night. When I finally saw what it was, I almost screamed. It was the most horrifying thing I had ever seen. I couldn't—just thinking about it—what I saw—it was this—this face.

"It was pale and gray, floating in the corner. It blended in with the wall, blurry like...it's out of focus or smudged. It was oval-shaped, with no body—just a face. Two pin holes, as if somebody punctured the skin, were where the eyes were supposed to be. They were deep as black holes, almost as if...they were sucking me in. And there was a thin line for the mouth. No lips, just a depression, a flap, like a slit.

"The face was just there, staring and watching me the entire time. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't blink, I couldn't think. I was scared. I couldn't stop my body from shaking. What the hell was it? What did it want? Why was it there? Why wouldn't it go away? I clenched my eyes shut and hoped that it would disappear.

"I opened my eyes again and it was even closer this time. I didn't hear anything. As a matter of fact, I couldn't hear anything. Not myself, not my breath, not even my own heartbeat. The only thing I could sense was the face—it was there, gazing into me. I couldn't forget the face. It was like a mask made out of gray skin. Its eyes stared impassively, absorbing my being, drawing me closer to death—or something even worse.

"I turned over and shut my eyes. I was not going to look back. I couldn't hear anything except for my own silent screams. I tried to fill my head with self-assurances; I was trying to tell myself that everything was fine but… I felt it. On my neck, a frigid air. It was breathing on me. Have you ever felt terror so strong that it paralyzed you? My brain shut down, my mind went blank, and I…I think I blacked out.

"The next thing I know, I see sunlight peeking through the blinds. I got up immediately and looked around. To my relief, there was nothing. I chalked it up to a bad nightmare. I opened the blinds to let the sun in but the face was staring right at me. I screamed and my legs turned into jelly. I scrambled on the floor and tried to crawl away. I looked at the window again. It was gone. It didn't make me feel any better though. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. I ran downstairs and saw my mom cooking breakfast in the kitchen. She asked me if I was okay. I mean, I just screamed and ran downstairs, so my mom was a little worried. I lied to her and said yes. It couldn't have been real. I must've been hallucinating—I had to be. It was just an overworked mind fatigued from too much gaming. That's what I told myself.

"I thought that was just the end of it, but I'm convinced now. I'm either slowly going crazy, or something's haunting me. For the past couple of days, whenever I'm alone, I would catch that flicker out of the corner of my eye. Sometimes I see nothing, but other times… I see it behind me in the mirror. Any reflection would do. I would see it in the water, in empty homes, and even your bedroom window. It was always just the face. No limbs, no body—only a face.

"This face has been following me, stalking me, and driving me insane. I can't sleep at night. I leave the lights and the TV on and close the blinds, but I can always feel its eye on me. It's probably looking at me right now. I noticed something about it though… It would only show up when I was alone. As long as I'm with somebody, it won't appear. That's why I've been sleeping in class. It's the only time it would leave me alone, and I can actually sleep. It's only when I sleep that I can escape this nightmare." He was shaking as he finished the story.

She didn't know what to say. She never saw him so agitated before, so...terrified. His fear seemed genuine. "Sora…I—"

His pupils shifted and he froze.

"What is it?" she said nervously.

He didn't reply as he stared at the window behind her in wide-eyed horror.

She couldn't help but feel that something was boring into her back. She turned her head slowly and saw it.

It was the face.

It was faint but it was exactly how he described it.

She felt something grab her and she screamed.

"Kairi!"

"Let go! Let go!" She threw the hands off and ran for the door.

"Kairi! Wait up!"

She ignored his pleas to stop and continued sprinting through the hallways. She kept running until she heard laughter following her.

"It's a joke! Stop running, I was just kidding around!" At the sound of Sora's light voice, she finally stopped. She spun on her heels and observed Sora jogging up to her holding a transparent sheet in his hand. "You see?" He held up a clear sheet that the teachers used for overhead projectors. It had two dots and a line on it. Now that she looked at it closely, it resembled an extremely basic stick figure face. He grinned at her victoriously. "Why are you so afraid of such a poor drawing?"

She shook her head disbelievingly. She couldn't believe that such a stupid face freaked her out so much. "You're a jackass." She punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" He rubbed the spot gingerly, but started laughing. "Damn Kairi, I never knew you were such a scaredy-cat."

"Shut up, asshole."

He continued laughing at her.

"How did you come up with this stupid story anyway? Did you plan this from the start? Were you being late on purpose?" she probed.

"If my story's stupid, I don't know what that says about your reaction."

She glared.

He grinned. "I wasn't planning on it. The only reason I've been late is because of one too many late-night gaming sessions. I knew you were gonna come looking for me, so I decided to do a little set up. I got myself a blank sheet, drew a face, and put it against the window. You wouldn't see it unless you were looking for it," he explained in good humor.

"You are such a dick."

"I was pretty good, wasn't I? You totally bought it, didn't you?"

"You're annoying."

"But it's not like I'm lying."

"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"Everybody has a face following them. Buried deep in the dark recesses of your mind is something that we absolutely don't want to see, and it's only when we're alone, surrounded by darkness and silence, that it shows itself." He pointed to his head. "That's where the real monsters are."

"Shut up." She had enough of his creepy blathering.

He giggled the entire way home, gloating about his successful prank against her. She couldn't believe how she walked right into it. She hadn't felt this embarrassed since getting hit in the face with a volleyball in PE.

When they parted ways, she kicked him in the legs.

He hobbled away in laughter.

She tried to put the event out of her mind but she couldn't. The more she dwelled on it, the more it pissed her off. She was stewing deep into the evening.

She decided to cool off with a nice warm bath. She lay in the bathtub and recalled his story. She wondered where he got it from, or did he make it up himself? She had to hand it to him, it was a genuinely creepy tale. She dipped her head and looked at the reflection rippling on the surface of the water. Her face distorted with the gentle waves. Sora's words began to creep into her mind. Would a face suddenly appear in the water? Probably not but…maybe it was time to get out.

Just in case.

She stood up and exited the tub, drying herself with a towel afterward.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye.

She jumped, almost falling back into the bath. No way. It wasn't like she was looking for it, it just happened. She slowly turned around and saw herself in the mirror. She chuckled nervously to take the edge off. Despite her constant self-assurances, her eyes were glued to the mirror. It was just her, right? It wasn't like there was something else in there with her…not a ghost, not a serial killer, not a demon, and definitely not a face…

"Damn it, Sora." She closed her eyes. "I'm just being paranoid, there can't be a face...there is no face. That's right. There is no face." She shivered as the air cooled the moisture that clung to her skin. "There is no face," she repeated. "There is no face."

She took a deep breath, braced herself...

And opened her eyes.

In the mirror...

A face stared back.

And she screamed.