'The Weathered Man' & other works by Diego Reyes

Who's Watching Lucy?

"Lucy, turn the light off!" Benji whined. Luckily, I was just finishing a chapter of A Series of Unfortunate Events: Bad Beginnings so I did not mind him. Switching off the lamp on my nightstand, I wished my little brother a good night. The room was all but dark. The only source of light came from the window above Benji's bed which was straight across from mine. He hates the dark and only tolerates natural lighting. Our room is located on the side of the house, so the neighbor's outdoor lights have made it difficult for me to sleep over the last 6 years. Tonight's no different from the last ones, same dead quiet noise, occasional muffled barking from outside, and me staring at the ceiling until it all goes dark. I take heavy breaths, a little ritual I do before falling asleep. I clutch on my blanket, feeling the soft cotton texture to convince myself I'm on a cloud. My eyelids have grown too heavy to bare, so I let them fall. All black now. All quiet.

Until I heard the steel gate slam shut.

The gate is what separates the front yard from the back and the only entrance way is on the left side of the house. Benji and I are on the left side of the house. I can feel my heartbeat pulsing making it the only noise in the room. Boom. Boom. Boom. It didn't occur to me that something entered until I realized there was no storm nor rough winds. Just silence. I slowly opened my eyes, but only allowed them to squint. No blurry movement from the window. It was a runaway dog, I thought. The dumb thing most likely bumped it's head at our gate. There was still no movement from the window, just the leaves from the large bush separating us and the neighbors doing their usual swaying.

I felt it safe to open my eyes just so it can cure my curiosity. Slowly I opened them, following every pulse my heart is making. Boom. Boom. Boom. My heart stopped.

I quickly shut them after seeing a silhouette of a person. I had no time to figure out their facial features. They blended perfectly within the shadows. Maybe it was just my imagination? From the man in the book I was reading. That had to be it.

I opened my eyes once more. I froze in terror.

The face of a pale white man is now at the window. His lips, I can see, are white and chapped. Powdery, almost. His mouth slightly opened as if he, too, is in a state of shock to see me. There we were both staring at one another. I could feel a tear building at the corner of my eye. My hands have grown numb and my breath shaky. He's just standing there. I slowly cover my nose under my blanket. He gravitated close towards the window. His eyes lowered at my brother, but at a jagged fashion. Then they went back up to stare directly at me. The man's entire head was covered in a white powder. The hairs of his eyebrows sticked out in every direction. His face was stone still.

I could not scream. I feel a physical lock stopping me from screaming. It's as though this stranger's presence controlled the gravity in the room.

I jumped as he shot his hand up. The fingers unlocked themselves and are now twitching in movement. His ring finger, which was the longest, tapped at my window.

Tick-Tick-Tick.

I quickly got up on my bed and smashed my body to the wall as if it was going to stop this stranger for getting me. "MOMMY!" I kept screaming. I banged my palm on the wall repeatedly. This forces Benji to wake up and with a jolt he looked at the stranger and screamed. He jumped off the bed and scurried backwards towards the wall next to the door. We were yelling but it was not with words. It was so animalistic, and raw. We were crying out.

I hear stomping from the hallway and mom entered the room. Turning on the lights, she too, sees the stranger that has her children crying. She cursed and grabbed Benji and I by the arm and ran. Before leaving the room, I caught a glimpse of the stranger, who floated away from view to the direction of the backyard. He wanted to be seen.

My mom called the police and they arrived around four minutes after. There was no man in the backyard, and they promised to patrol the neighborhood to find a "white powdery man."

From the energy produced by the screaming and terror, only my brother and I could sleep. I knew my mom was awake because I repeatedly woke up due to her shaking and the sound of her biting her nails.

A week and a half have passed since then. I forced my brother to shut the window blinds now, even if it meant that he needed to sleep by my side. Every night in a row I felt my mom opening the door to check on us. Though it did wake me up sometimes because of her heavy breathing, I appreciated the extra security.

My mom insisted on my brother and I to visit a therapist in fear that Benji and I have faced trauma. The police only came by for two nights after the incident. One to report that there was no sign nor any other report of a strange "white powdery man" and the last to say they felt "confident enough to end the search. Whoever it was probably got the hint with the police cars."

The therapist, Mrs. Whilma, was a nice woman. I related to her that now I suspect something is watching me at every moment. When I'm alone in the bathroom, I feel that he's in the air vent. When I'm in class, I could swear Mr. Ford is staring at me, and only me.

After my second session, Mrs. Whilma called my mom into the room to speak in private. Benji and I held hands as we heard our mom's muffled cry. I looked at Benji who was just staring at his feet which were dangling in the air. I know as a 9 year old that I can handle situations like this better than 7 year old Benji, but he's battling it in silence.

I tried to hear the conversation happening in the next room but I could barley make out anything except for something that kept on being repeated. "Pair...Noya." Grown-up stuff, I guess. When we left I tried asking Mom about it but she told me not to worry. We got pizza and took it home. Benji and I prepared the table, Mom got the drinks, and we all sat down. The three of us never had dinner without the TV but I guess Mom wanted us to talk.

"Isn't Mrs. Whilma nice?" My mom smiled, but it wasn't enough to hide her puffy eyes. Benji said "yeeaahh" in his cartoon-y way. "She listens a lot." I admit. There was a moment pause after all of us chewed on our slice. "Mom," I started. She wiped her mouth and nodded her head. "Can you do me a favor? When you come to our room tonight can you be as silent as possible?" Benji and I laughed. I guess he, too, noticed mom's heavy breathing. She chuckled but also wrinkled her eyebrows. "Sure but, why do you ask that?"

I looked at Benji who's pizza-sauced mouth smiled at me because he knew I would say something. "It's that, every night when you check on us you're sorta loud." Benji nodded. My mom jerked her head back. "Baby I've been sleeping in the living room this whole time."

I looked at her and stayed silent. Confused, mostly. "Must be Benji sleep-walking." Benji protested but I wanted to break the awkward tension. I didn't want to think anything further of the situation. We ended dinner on a light note which numbed us for a moment.

I showered and got ready for bed. Benji was already laying on his side, and he made no trouble with the lamp light.

It was now dark and I found myself resting my face towards the wall and away from the door. I had just woken up from a brief dream and now I await to fall back to sleep by doing my occasional heavy breathing ritual. That is, until I heard the bedroom door creak open. My heart started to pound as I remember my mom's words at dinner. Still, I tried to act natural and continue with the heavy breathing. Boom. Boom. Boom. My heart did not give rest, and the noise it made echoed to my ears. Yet, I can still hear my heavy breathing. Though, it amplified in noise. It sounded deeper than usual and filled the room unlike before. I tried to convince myself that the door creaking was just my imagination.

My heavy breathing was not the only sound in the room. There was now a second pair, as if my breaths mutated into a duet. Whoever was in my room synced our breaths at first and is now commanding attention. I tried to not think of it. It's only my mom. It had to be. Benji wasn't sleepwalking, he's wrapped in my arms. I held him closer for security. Boom. Boom. Boom.

My eyes jolted open and are the widest they have ever been once I heard the heavy breathing in sharper clarity. It was shaky in exhale. Still, I kept my tempo. If it was my mom, I wanted to convince her I was asleep so she could leave the room. It had to be my mom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

My heartbeat must be the second loudest thing in the room.

I then felt the strands of my hair flick from the strange breaths, as if whoever it was, God please be my mom, was inching closer to my face. From the corner of my eye, I saw some sot of movement going towards the wooden bedframe. It was a shaky hand, with a long finger stretched out. Tick-tick-tick.