Eyes of lurker

Part 1

Nick DE Bach pulled his greyish car into the backyard. He is sported with tan skin, masculine built and a fair look. Even though he was roughly in his mid-fifties, he had his fair share in good looks. Fishing the keys in his pocket, he stepped out of the car and breathed in the frosty winter breeze.

His job has been transferred to a small town in Washington, Dc, when he was promoted to chief organiser of the NGO he works for. Walking inside the pale white house the NGO has given him, he surveyed the surroundings. A huge, gorgeous chandelier was being hung in the centre of the long entrance. There were many antics and expensive furniture laying lazily around the house. Perks of being the chief organiser, he guessed. The house is pretty big for one person, he thought. Unpacking his luggage, he settled down to decorate the house for his short stay. By the time, he was done, it was already dark outside. Deciding that he should have dinner and may be go to bed earlier than usual, he headed for the kitchen.

Midway through his dinner, he noticed he didn't have water on the table with him. And it was strange because he had put the glass of water on the table by himself. Heaving a tired sigh, he reached for the tap to run the water into his glass. Strangely, the tap wasn't working either. Frowning at the malfunctions, he walked up the stairs to upstairs, where his bedroom and his luggage were. He stepped onto the hard wooden pavement to the hallway and with a grunt, forced his tired body to walk forward. His room was by the end of the hallway. When He reached, he twisted the doorknob and stepped inside, only to find himself staring at someone-something? His brows knotted together forming a frown. He was home alone, then who? An unwanted intruder?

His breathe hitched when the figure in front of him twisted its neck backwards and stared directly at him. The thing that was in front of him had two pairs of white eyes and a hollow mouth that opened wide. It was staring at his soul as if it would lunge at him at any moment and devour him right there. He stood there with his heart hammering inside his rib cage. He cautiously stretched forward to turn the lights on. He didn't know if the thing was following his movement or not, but it felt like it was. Just the moment he was about to touch the switch, something shifted in the room, and he froze. His eyes darted slowly towards the creature that was in his room. The creature was now smiling weirdly. His eyes have squeezed into a curvy white line, and his lips have curled upwards. The curl of its lips almost reached its eyes. Parting the crusty lips-he didn't see or touch the lips to find them crusty. Rather, he could tell from the sound it made-a slow hum made its way through them. Some kind of humming. The creature kept humming and humming until the humming came to a halt and it leaped towards him. Nick screamed and smashed the switch board hard. Eyes shut and hands covering his head, he bent down to protect himself from whatever it was. A defining silence went by, and nothing happened. He slowly opened his eyes and was met with nothing. In front of him lay his luggage and his coat. Perplexed, he grabbed the luggage and picked the coat off the floor. Had he been imagining things? He thought. Without thinking too much, he left the room hurriedly.

He didn't have dinner last night. He didn't sleep that night either. Massaging his temple, he ran through his clipboard, which apparently held all the necessary information on the sector he would be working on. He found the statistics quite strange. This town was wealthy in many ways. Most of the people here make a good living. None of the buildings or sighting areas needed extra care and attention. In a word, the town was fine. He didn't see any need for any NGO to be working here. Another thing he found strange was the people of this town. Everyone was always smiling. He found not a single trait of other emotions laced on their face or present in their behaviour.

Little did he know things were about to get crazier.

Finishing up the paperwork, he closed his laptop and tidied the table before he left to get lunch. Once at the lunch hall, he examined the menu. But everything seemed so unfamiliar that he decided to see what others were having. He walked up to one of his colleagues and peeked over his head to get a look. He froze and stumbled backwards. He covered his mouths from gagging. This person in front of him was eating a hand. A human hand. He snapped his head away and around to check on others. Everyone in this room was eating humans. The hall sprang, and Nick was once again trying to refrain from gagging. There was no way what he was seeing was true. It's impossible. He ran out of the hall and outside the office. He inhaled a large amount of air and forced his mind to stop reeling. He was trying so hard to wrap his head around what just happened that he didn't notice the whole street filled with the same creature from his room, staring and smiling at him. He felt a cold sensation on his elbow and instantly whipped his head back.