The Midnight Hour & Other Scary Stories

Side Eye

Berma hadn't been with the agency long. She was a capable agent and had handled a number of high-profile cases in her short stint at the office. Despite that, Burma wasn't given a seat with the other agents. Instead, she was put in the back of the office, at a place where one light swung as though pushed by an invisible breeze.

Berma didn't like it there. For one, she was far away from the other agents. But, more importantly, she felt as though she were being watched. Berma didn't know why she felt this way.

She wasn't a paranoid person. Yet, every time she would start work, she could feel eyes on her from somewhere in the room. This happened day after day until Berma felt it the strongest at the swinging light. She stared hard at the light and whatever was there stared back, though she couldn't see it. The feeling made her skin crawl. Her throat tightened a little.

Then, not long after, she found a note from the person who had her desk last. The previous owner had written it on a scrap piece of paper. It seemed like a warning.

Once you see it, it can't be undone.

Once it's in, it can't be outrun.

The Side Eye will follow and you will try

To escape, to hide, but you will die.

The note bothered her so much that Berma asked her boss if she could move.

"I don't like it there." She said to him. "I'm creeped out all the time and whoever had my desk last left this eerie note."

After reading the note, her boss sighed. "I thought we got rid of all of those." He said. When Berma looked at him, confused, he explained. "The Side Eye. It was a rumor circulating around the office."

Berma was surprised. Just what was the Side Eye?

He shook his head. "Everyone we've put back there says that they keep feeling like they're being watched. One of them, the employee you replaced, says that they saw something."

"Something?" Berma asked. She felt goosebumps prickle up and down her arm.

Her boss nodded. "Yes." He said. "They said that you couldn't see it when you looked directly at it. You have to look at it out of the corner of your eye. That's why they call it the Side Eye."

Berma shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Is that true?" She asked. "What happened to the employee before me?"

Her boss's face clouded. Again, he shook his head, "We don't know. One day they were just gone. They did mention the Side Eye quite a lot before they disappeared though. Their desk was filled with those notes. It was all they seemed to think about."

"You don't believe in it, do you?" She asked.

He smiled ."No. I'm sorry you had to find that note. I'd be happy to move you. Thank you for telling me, Berma."

She thanked him as well and finished out her day at the desk by the swinging light. Just before collecting her things and leaving, however, Berma thought she noticed something out of the ordinary. It seemed as though something were sitting on the light!

Berma saw it out of the corner of her eye. She quickly looked to the light but whatever had been there was gone. Or so it seemed. Though she couldn't see it, Berma could feel the eyes of something just out of sight. Her throat tightened again. She quickly left for home, doing her best to forget the story her boss had told her.

But she couldn't forget.

During the car ride home, she kept seeing something on the fringes of her vision. She couldn't make out what it was but if she had to guess, it was something like a person. Sometimes, it sat on the tops of houses. Others, it was much closer to her car.

It was so distracting that she almost had a crash.

When Berma got home, she quickly locked the door behind her. She told herself that it was just an overactive imagination. She had been working hard lately. Maybe the stress was getting to her.

She tried not to think about the Side Eye, but the note's warning played over and over in her head.

Once you see it, it can't be undone.

Once it's in, it can't be outrun.

The Side Eye will follow and you will try

To escape, to hide, but you will die.

Cooking always took her mind off things, so Berma set to work making some soup. Before long, it smelled very good and she relaxed again. Berma was going to pour a bowl, when she thought she saw someone standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

She let out a scream of surprise and spun to find the doorway empty. At least, it looked empty. She could feel eyes on her. Very slowly, she turned her head so that she could only see the doorway out of the corner of her eye.

There was nothing there.

You're acting like a fool, Berma. She scolded herself. Her heart was thundering.

Despite her logical side trying to calm her down, Berma ate her soup nervously. Though not as strong as before, she could still feel the eyes on her. Eating quickly, she finished the soup off and sat down to watch a movie. It was a romantic comedy, one of her favorite genres.

Berma was having trouble paying attention, however.

Her skin began to crawl. Invisible eyes were waiting in the dark of her house. The empty doorways chilled her. She stood up from the couch and closed all the doors to the living room. After that, she turned on all the lights.

That was better.

She pulled a warm blanket around her and sat down again. Berma felt very tired. Her eyes began to droop. Before she realized it, she had fallen asleep.

She woke up several hours later. The TV and lights had been turned off.

The doors were open.

Berma felt something looking at her. It stood between the couch and the TV. Very slowly, Berma turned her head.

She could see it out of the corner of her eye; the tall figure of a person. The figure did not move and seemed very dark. It stood perfectly still in the moonlight, fixed on her with a magnetic grip. Her throat tightened. She couldn't breathe.

"What are you?" She asked through trembling lips.

But the Side Eye said nothing.

"What do you want?" Berma croaked.

The Side Eye lifted one of its long arms and pointed at her. Berma leapt from the couch. She threw herself down the hallway to her bedroom, running as fast as her feet could carry her. A moment later and the bedroom door was locked. She pushed herself into the corner.

The warning echoed in her mind.

Once you see it, it can't be undone.

Once it's in, it can't be outrun.

The Side Eye will follow and you will try

To escape, to hide, but you will die.

She didn't sleep. All night long, she kept the door in her peripheral vision and her eyes open. The Side Eye did not appear, however.

But Berma didn't move. She was so scared that her body refused to, because, on the other side of the door, she could still feel its eyes looking at her. And the more Berma looked at the door, the more her throat constricted.

She couldn't breathe.

Days later, her boss called the police to find out what had happened. When the officers arrived on the scene, they found Berma in her bedroom. She had locked the door and taken refuge in the corner. From what they couldn't be sure. One thing was certain though. The poor woman had died of asphyxiation. Her face had been frozen in horror.

When the officers were leaving, one of them thought they saw something out of the corner of their eye.

"Must've been my imagination." They said.