Fibers: A Science Fiction Conspiracy Thriller

What is in her eye?!

As Anna walked home through the glistening streets of Deeplake, Washington, she adjusted her scarf and wrapped her coat around herself tightly, her breath fogging up the air in front of her. After a brief glance over her shoulder, she quickened her pace, her bag of groceries teetering in her arms momentarily as she adjusted her grip.

She'd been feeling like someone was watching or following her for weeks. At first she just shrugged it off as her own overactive imagination, but the other day, she could've sworn she saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye. When she looked, there was nothing there. That wasn't the first time she had seen shadows. They were always there, just out of sight, their existence never confirmed by a direct glance. But every time it happened, she got goosebumps and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end like it does when you know someone is watching you. It definitely didn't help that they reminded her of the silhouettes in her dreams.

Her left eye began to feel itchy and grainy as she walked, and she cursed herself for not driving. She blinked several times, but after a few moments her eye felt like it had sand in it again. This was accompanied by an unpleasant tickling sensation, which became annoying very quickly.

Her thoughts wandered as her eye got worse. She felt guilty but justified for not mentioning her problems to Casey, who had more than enough on her plate already. She also didn't want to come across as crazy; Anna was certain she wasn't. Some of the recent events in her life were crazy, but she was definitely sane.

Do crazy people think they're sane?

As she got to the front door of her split-level house, she fumbled for the keys with icy hands and unlocked the deadbolt. She closed the door as soon as she was inside, locking the deadbolt, the door knob, and the chain after a brief glance down her street in each direction.

She sighed as she took off her coat, her skin tingling obnoxiously. She shivered as the usual crawling sensation took over. I wish that would just stop, she thought. She rubbed her arm as she wandered into the kitchen, avoiding the sores that had begun developing on her skin several months before.

At first she had shrugged it off as accidental. Maybe she bumped herself while sleeping or caught the corner of some furniture. But these wounds were different. They took an incredibly long time to heal, if they healed at all, and they seemed to be spreading. She just hoped that she wasn't contagious. So far, she didn't know anyone else who was infected, so she assumed that she wasn't.

As she bent to look in the fridge, her eyes got foggy, feeling grainy like she had an eyelash caught in there. She blinked again, clearing the fog for only a moment before it came back.

Annoyed and hoping the knot forming in her chest wouldn't get worse, she closed the fridge and went to the bathroom to investigate what was in her eye.

Flipping the light on, she looked at her gaunt reflection and wondered briefly how she had gotten to look so... old. She'd lost weight and was happy about that, but as she saw herself in the mirror, she thought she just looked sickly.

She inched toward the mirror, hoping and praying that her eye wasn't infected. It was irritated and red because she had rubbed it, but other than that it seemed fine. So why was it so irritated? She felt the tickling sensation again. It almost felt like something was moving around in her tear duct.

Leaning forward against the counter, she put her face right in front of the mirror and looked intently at her hazel eyes, trying hard not to blink away the sensations as their intensity grew. As she watched, she thought she saw her lower eyelid twitch. Am I going crazy after all? She looked closer.

She noticed that her lower eyelid was tinted purple. No wonder I look so sick, she thought, concentrating on her eyes. There it was again! Movement. Like a twitch but more fluid and subtle. Her tear duct felt like it was getting warm. She blinked it away, trying to stay focused.

The heat became more intense. She squinted, refusing to look away. But as her eye burned, it started watering and the pain increased. She tried to keep watching, but the pain got too intense.

Still trying not to look away, she blinked and rubbed her eye again, the pain subsiding just enough for her to catch a glimpse of something blue – was it really blue? – peeking out of her tear duct. The more irritated her eyes became, the less she was able to see. They were on fire! She turned on the cold water and ran her fingers underneath, then patted her eyes.

That helped, so she continued to watch, squinting intently.

It was blue. A tiny blue string.

She swore there was a second thing – she couldn't tell what it was – coming out of her eye. Red?

"What the fuck is going on?" she said out loud, her chest tightening with anxiety.

Whatever it was, it was definitely moving. It was small, so she had to lean in close and squint to make it out, but it was definitely something. She waited for a few moments and splashed more cold water on her eyes. Had she gotten string in her eyes from her scarf or sweater? And if that was the case, why did it feel like it was inside her tear duct, trying to come out? And why would it be moving?

She washed her hands with soap hurriedly and put her index finger to her eye, hoping she could pull out whatever was stuck in there. She was so focused that the pain took a back seat. Pressing firmly against the inner corner of her eye, she quickly tried to scoop out whatever it was with her nail and looked at her index finger immediately, expecting to see blue and red strings under her nail.

All she got was moisture.

She looked back in the mirror and saw that the strings were still there.

She climbed onto the bathroom counter so she could get the closest look possible and snatched her tweezers from a small cup of makeup utensils sitting in the corner. Her hands trembled as she rinsed off the tweezers, adrenaline rushing through her veins as the pain in her eyes vied for her attention. Kneeling on the counter with her face inches from the glass, she pulled down on her lower lid and moved the tweezers toward her eye, trying to be quick without injuring herself.

Wincing slightly, she grabbed the blue string with the tip of her tweezers and started pulling only to feel blinding white pain. She cried out and lost her balance slightly, but went right back to her task. She clenched her teeth and let out a whimper, not letting go of the miniscule blue string.

She pulled harder, letting out a groan as the burning sensation increased and pressure built up in her lower eyelid. It felt like she was giving birth out of her tear duct. Bracing herself with her other hand, she sucked in a deep breath, clenched her teeth, and pulled... hard.

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