Let's Not Meet Again

His Eyes Were The Worst

As of writing this, it is around 3:00 in the morning in Ghent, Belgium. I'm a college student currently living in the city. I tend to make the most of my student life while at the same time keeping things calm by often throwing small parties or get togethers with my friends at my place since they all have roommates and the like. Today, or better said yesterday since it's past midnight, was one of those days that I would throw a little party.

I invited around four friends for dinner and drinks and we had spent most of the evening and night talking or looking up bullshit videos on youtube. Eventually though, starting at just after midnight, the party began to end with people slowly leaving until only me and a female friend remained. She always leaves last because she's afraid of walking home alone in the middle of the night due to a bad experience with a drunk creep who followed her a while back. So every time after I invite her over, I walk her home.

I enjoy walking and the entire trip usually lasts a little under an hour (thirty minutes to get there, and thirty to get back). Nothing ever really happens, Ghent is a lovely city ninety percent of the time and the trip to her place takes us basically right through the centre.

This time was different though, after twenty minutes walking we passed a little park by the waterside which I refer to as the dreidelpark since there is a massive stone dreidel that's the key feature of the park right in the middle of it to commemorate the jews that died in WWII. Normally there's nothing here during the night, when the sun's out some students smoke pot there, but once it gets dark the place is always completely empty. Well, almost always.

This night a man was standing next to the public bathroom by the side of the park. He was dressed in a strange suit with black pants, black vest, black shirt and white tie. He was tall and had broad shoulders, yet oddly enough his arms and legs seemed extremely thin for the aformentioned shoulders. He had brown hair of medium length and held a chain of keys in his right hand, twirling it around his finger and catching it in his palm again and again. At first I thought he was waiting for a friend to finish his piss and move on, but once we got close enough I could see the restroom was completely empty. The fact that he was simply standing there seemingly wasting his time twirling his keys I found odd enough, but what was truly unnerving about him was his stare.

At first I couldn't see his eyes since it was dark, but I could see he was staring at us, when we were close enough I could see his unflinching eyes relentlessly gazing at us. His right eye ever so slightly bigger, or better said more open, then his left. It was subtle, but it gave his gaze that extra nudge on the creepiness factor. When we passed him, I could feel his eyes on my back as we walked away.

I didn't think much of it after the initial encounter and simply dropped off my friend and retraced my steps back to make my way home. When I made it to the park however, he was still there. I didn't see him at first, but that sound of him twirling his keys echoed ever so slightly through the street and I knew that if I passed the restroom I could see him standing there.

Sure enough there he was, twirling and watching. Again I passed him, not even acknowledging his existence this time and simply kept walking, eyes on the road. But again I could feel him watching me. After about twenty meters the sound of his keys suddenly stopped and out of curiosity I looked over my shoulder to see why he now decided to stop considering he had obviously been doing that for a while.

He stopped because he began walking. In my direction. I didn't think much of it at first since like I said the trip took me through the centre, but I crossed the street since I did feel a bit uncomfortable.

As I kept walking I occasionally gazed in the windows of shops or stores to subtly look at the reflection behind me and every time I did he was still there. In truth I didn't really need conformation, I could still feel him watching me.

I have to cross one of the rivers that run through the city twice on my road, I can't simply keep following it since the streets don't accommodate for that. The first time on the way back, the road across the bridge actually leads deeper into the centre and heads for the centre proper, the second time you're actually leaving the centre to the point that one more minute walk you're actually in the outskirts of the city, which is where I live. So when he followed me across the first bridge I didn't think much of it, but the second time I starting feeling the chills.

The moment I walked down the street that basically exits you out of the city and realised he was still following me I began to quicken the pace in the hopes of losing him. But as I said, he was tall and every regular step he took was basically one and a half step for me. When he noticed I was trying to lose him, he was closing the distance between us and that's when I heard him hum this accursed tune. high note, lower note, same high note then a short pause followed by the same three notes much slower. Then the same three notes like at the beginning followed by two lower notes with the second one being even lower than the first at a slower pace than the original three. He hummed this tune over and over and over again to the point I now can't get it out of my head.

I decided I shouldn't let this guy know where I lived so I went down a different street to take him in circles, hoping to eventually lose him. I must've walked in circles for fifteen minutes, him constantly behind me before he eventually stopped humming and began giggling. And I don't mean laughing, I mean actual, schoolgirl-esque giggling. Followed by him saying "I love games." his voice was deep, but not in a creepy way, but more soothing. it was heavy in bass like a blues singer's voice or perhaps jazz at times. It was in fact so soothing, it actually made me uncomfortable.

Despite what he said, I think he must've been tired of my games for now he rapidly approached. He didn't run or jog, he merely walked faster than me until he at last stopped closing in mere centimetres from my back. I could always feel his eyes, but now I could feel his breath as well. The gusts from his breathing moved the hairs on the back of my head and neck.

It was fight or flight at this point, and I chose flight. I ran like a bat out of hell down the street and praised whatever God was listening at the time I was a fairly decent sprinter and managed to outrun him to some degree. I guess his fancy suit shoes don't work well in terms of athletics. I was happy that I could outrun him, but the reality of the matter is that I have close to no endurance when it comes to running, so I was quickly tiring. I ran back toward the city centre, which at that point wasn't far anymore, and the moment I came close I saw a tram waiting at the station ready to leave. I jumped on just as the doors were closing behind me and gazed at the lights on the door button until they went out which meant the doors were locked.

As the tram slowly started to go I looked up and saw him standing at the station stop gazing right back at me with a faint smile on his face, keys in hand twirling and while I couldn't hear I was sure he was humming that damned tune Over and over again. I truly hope I never see him again.