The Staring Woman

Kiseki Hashimoto

AKA. Hatoba

I am a child, but I am still aware of my surroundings. I may even notice things you didn't notice. Though I use most of my observing prowess to figure out what's going to happen in the movie I'm currently watching or to warn my siblings if our parents are cranky and if they are in trouble, I can use my observation in other ways.

I normally don't feel as though someone is watching me during the day, but at night I can feel like something is there. Even though I feel as though I am cursing myself by writing about these types of things, I also feel like I'm going to regret it if I don't.

My mother likes to hang her nightgown on her bedroom door. Just for clarification, she hung the gown so that it was facing the inside of the room and I am currently sleeping in their room. In the daytime, everything looked normal, but as night came, the robe turned into a woman with a lonely expression. However, I could see more than loneliness. I saw anger and sadness in her eyes. I was afraid that she would take me to some terrifying place, where no one could find or see me. I have had these feelings before, so I knew to ignore them. But I was still frightened, I could still feel its presence, as well as a few others. I could still feel it staring at me longingly. I came to the conclusion that it was a mother who was looking for her child that died tragically. The other presences were most likely onlookers, waiting to see if the child "sleeping" on the floor mat would make a wrong move and be dragged off to a faraway place, never to be seen again.

As I felt their stares intensify, I sandwiched myself between my two body pillows and didn't look at the door until my parents came into the room. When my parents finally entered their bedroom, I felt most of the presences leave. However, the assumed mother was still watching me and one more onlooker lingered about the bedroom. The two presences watched me until dawn.

I stayed up all night and into the next morning. The presences disturbed me at night, and my neighbor's broken sprinkler kept me up in the early mornings. Sleeping with my parents has allowed me to fall asleep easier. Mostly because of the few, and sometimes no presences lingering about their room. I am scared to return to sleep in my room, for the fear of being watched even more so by the presences. I am scared that they will haunt my nightmares and not give me any rest for months. Well, at least I can stay with my parents for a while. Winter in Arizona comes late in the year.