Eyes

`

The landscape scene appeared normal enough. Mostly dirt, which painted
much of the high, gently sloping hill, some patches of grass here and there.
An occasional greyish-blue slate rock.

Kerry was about three quarters of the way up, although she wasn't ascending. She
basically just stood in the same spot, almost in a daze.

Why am I here?

What lies at the top of this high and wide hill?

Hoisted over her shoulder was a regular-sized laundry bag, beige in color. If
someone were to approach and inquire of its contents, she wouldn't have
known the answer herself without dropping the relatively light bag to the ground
and opening it.

She was wearing a white, three quarter-length cotton gown, the kind she usually wore
to bed, and her feet were bare.

Long, wavy hair, the color of orange pekoe tea, was gently fluttering with the
soft wind, its bangs occasionally sweeping over her green eyes. It didn't
appear to bother her as she stood firm on the sparse grassy hill.

What did catch her attention was the beautiful blue sky above the hill's
crest, with only two puffy clouds in view.

And then she saw them!

Eyes!

Not in the sky. Not on any person. Not on some barn door or any place so obvious.
No, these eyes were... they were literally in the ground. But wait,
it was more than that. They appeared to actually belong to the ground.

There were no eye balls or retinas that Kerry could see. These eyes were
just empty, except for the white, which filled the insides. The linings
of the eyes were colored blood red, and they were shaped like cats' eyes, 
except narrower.

They weren't really looking at anything, or at least they didn't appear to be.

And yet,  they seemed to be all-seeing. Not necessarily seeing everything
there is to see, but rather seeing what they wanted to see. In other words,
there was something that these eyes were watching and waiting for. They even
blinked twice before their slow ascension towards the spot where Kerry was standing.

Oh please, no. Don't come down here. There's nothing here but me!

The eyes didn't relent, seeming to move faster as they made their way
closer to poor helpless Kerry. And before she knew it, the eyes were
really picking up speed. Closer.

Closer!

Kerry was on the verge of a scream as she abruptly raised the laundry bag
above her head in a ready-to-strike poise. But just as she was tensing her
arms to throw the bag at the eyes, they suddenly left the ground and darted
to the left side of Kerry.

A bright light flashed, and as Kerry shot a gaze over at the light's source,
her own eyes widened in awe as they beheld a huge, snake-like creature
with horrific jaws frozen in suspended animation about five feet above the
ground. The red-lined, narrow eyes were plastered against the beast. And
suddenly, Kerry was enlightened with the reason for the eyes' presence.

As surreal as it may have seemed,  those eyes somehow knew that the
horrible thing with the razor teeth was hunting Kerry, and so they were lying
in wait for just the precise moment to strike.

Just as she realized that the eyes were Good, Kerry's own eyes shot open
as darkness suddenly filled her vision. Apparently, she had let out a slight gasp
upon awakening, and hubby was just returning to bed from his usual 2 AM
nature call.

After lying down beside his wife and covering himself back up, he leaned over
toward her. "Honey? You okay?"

She turned and wrapped her arms around his chubby shoulders, never so happy
since meeting him to smell his unique skin scent.

"Yeah," she replied in a deep whisper. "Just, just hold me, Frank."

The time on the alarm clock read 2:24 AM. Five minutes later, Kerry had inadvertently slinked off of him,
and they were both sound asleep.

The red, slanted eyes had seen that all was well once more, and they
closed for sleep of their own.

Good night, Kerry.