Eyes of Reason

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

I turned around to see Dusk running towards me as fast as his little legs could carry him. With his arms spread apart for a wide embrace and his curly short hair bouncing with every step, he jumped into my arms, screaming my name. I smiled at him. I am so lucky to have such an adorable brother. What could possibly have been scaring him?

I looked beyond my terrified brother’s face and had to do a double-take. It was me. I saw some figure that looked exactly like me chasing after my brother as I grabbed him.

“Dawn.”

I heard a demonic voice call my name. It sounded like all of hell was screaming to escape. Frozen with fear, I could only let 2 whispers come out of me.

“Go away...”

Still clutching on to my brother who was holding on to me for dear life, I looked at the other me. It just shook its head and pointed at my brother, shivering in my arms. He looked up at me and I quickly threw him off me. His eyes were glowing a bright red like the holes of hell. They pierced straight into my soul and all I felt was my body burning. I tried to scream and scream, but no sound came out of me. I felt myself collapse to the ground withering in pain and saw my brother’s face over me.

“Dawn! Look at me, Dawn!”

Despite the pain searing through my body, slowly killing me, all I could think of was the voice calling out to me.

“Dawn! Dawn! Dawn! Wake up, Dawn!”

My eyes shot open and all I saw was my brother with a concerned look on his face. Dusk tried to reach out to me. “Are you okay, Dawn?”

I flinched as his hand touched me, remembering the dream I just had. I looked around and found that I was in the backseat of the family car driving to our new house. I felt all sweaty, probably from the nightmare. Note to self: Take a long shower once we get there.

Staring out the window, I could tell that we were getting close to the new place. Everything outside made it look like the whole world was asleep. The trees were drooping, and the grass was all yellowish. Wow! This place looks like it needs a visit from Mary Poppins.

It was the middle of August and there was nobody playing outside. One would think that there were no kids in this city. I sighed as we started to pull into the area that we would now refer to as our neighborhood. Now we just had to find the house: 13 Hollowsway Road.

We moved here since Dad got a new job opportunity with the elementary school here: Middletown Public School. They offered higher pay, so I was forced to say my goodbyes to all my friends very suddenly. I’m starting my senior year at a nearby high school, but the thing is I don’t know anybody. There were both pros and cons to this situation. The pro was that I could start fresh and make myself someone everyone wanted to be around by the end of the week. The con is that I might be targeted as the ‘new girl’.

I turned around to look at my brother as he scrambled out of the car to get a better look at our new place. I laughed at his smile when he looked up at the house. He is so lucky.

Going into grade 1 would be easy because everyone was starting out new. He was a good-looking boy, with his curly hazel hair and beautiful green eyes, all of which he inherited from our mother, Amelia Saltzman. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were girls all over him when he got into high school.

“Alright kids, go unload the car while I open the door.”

I looked over at my dad, Robert Saltzman, gazing at my mom. They both met in high school at a dance when their dates ditched them both. Apparently, Mom made the first move by asking if he wanted to meet up later for coffee and soon, their relationship grew. They stayed together through it all and got married. Mom got pregnant with me a year later and Dusk 9 years after that. Even though they’ve been married for about 16 years, Dad still looks at Mom like it’s the first time he has seen her. When I was 6, he said that every time he looked at Mom, it was like he was falling in love with her all over again. Of course, I was disgusted at the comment back then, but now I realize how cute my parents’ love story really is. Dad is a handsome person for a guy at the age of 38. Dad was born in Great Britain and Mom was born in Spain, but they both grew up here in Canada. He has long straight black hair that he usually wears tied up and had these hazel eyes that seem to have a spark every time he laughs. People say my looks come from him.

After getting the last box from the car, I decided to sit out on the porch for some fresh air. I saw another car roll onto our street and pull into the neighbor’s driveway. A guy got out of the car and I decided to do a little rating on him. He’s cute, but also well built.

His hair was a dark shade of brown with these striking grey eyes. He looked up at me checking him out and gave me a smirk as he walked towards me. I started blushing a deep shade of red. I can’t believe I let him catch me staring!

He laughed at my reaction. “Enjoying the view?”

“I’m sorry, I kind of just got lost in space. I’m Dawn. Dawn Saltzman.” I said as I gave out my hand to shake, still as red as a tomato.

He grabbed my hand and said “It’s alright, you guys are the new neighbors, right? I’m Tyler Gilbert.”

“Yup, we moved here since my dad got a higher paying job at the elementary school nearby.”

“That’s cool. My mom is the principal. Which school are you going to attend? I hope you’re going to attend Mistville High School.”

“As a matter of fact, I’m starting grade 12 there this September.”

“Great! So am I! You want me to give you a tour of the place tomorrow? I’m free after 4:30,” He took a slip of paper out and wrote down his number, “Here’s my number.”

Taking the slip, I could hear my dad calling me from inside the house, telling me that it was time for dinner. I turned back to Tyler and replied “Sure, 4:30 is fine. I have to go for dinner, so I’ll see you tomorrow?”

He winked at me while saying “Cool, it’s a date then.”

I sighed as I watched him go inside. It hasn’t even been a whole day since I moved in and I already had a cute guy taking me on a date tomorrow. I started heading into the house and a flower fell onto my hair out of nowhere. It smelled like the ocean.

As I walked into the house, I looked to the left to find my dad peeking out through the curtains suspiciously. He was probably very cautious about a random boy he didn’t know, talking to his teenage daughter. I silently rolled my eyes. Classic Dad.

I quietly sneaked up behind him and whispered “I’ve come for your soul...”

That made him jump out of his skin. “Jesus Christ, Dawn! What did you do that for?”

I rolled my eyes at him again. “Oh, no reason. Just for fun. What are you doing hiding behind a curtain and looking outside like you’re trying to make sure nobody uncovers the dead body you hid in the trunk?”

He grinned mischievously. “Oh no! You caught me! Don’t tell your mother or brother. Come on, we can bury the body out in the back!”

“Sure! While we’re at it, let’s go rob a bank as well!”

My dad then attacked me from behind and tickled me like there was no tomorrow. When he stopped, I couldn’t breathe from all my laughter. “You’re so weird, Dad.”

I’m super lucky to have a father like him. I was closer to him more than anyone else in our entire family. I love my entire family, but I relate to my dad better than anyone else. He’s been my best friend since birth.

After we both had our good share of laughs, he helped me up from the floor. “Come on Kiddo. Let’s head to the kitchen before your mother drags us by our legs.”

I loved that name he used. Kiddo, I mean. I called him Pops and they were nicknames that we only used for each other. Our special thing.

Mom had ordered pizza since there was nothing in the fridge obviously. Dusk was already at the counter, munching down on a pepperoni pizza with a huge grin on his face. Dad ruffled his hair and went over to Mom. He placed a sweet kiss on her lips, and I watched as my brother’s face scrunched up in disgust. I wish I had my camera right now to capture the perfect moment with my perfect family.

When dinner was done, I decided to go explore the house a little. It was a big 2-story house, so there was a lot to see. I started heading upstairs to go see the rooms. There were 5 rooms: 3 master bedrooms and 2 normal ones. I was going to have the master bedroom that faces the backyard, and it had a balcony. There was a balcony on Tyler’s house that was connected to mine and right next to my room. I wonder if that room is Tyler’s room.

My room had a triangle-shaped ceiling and had its own bathroom attached. The walls were painted a beautiful shade of royal blue, like the depths of the ocean. My brother was going to take the normal room next to mine and my parents were taking the master bedroom in the back. The rest of the rooms would be for guests, according to Mom. I went downstairs to check out the backyard. It had a huge pond and a beautiful view of a sunset. A nice gazebo was placed in the center with plenty of space to play badminton or soccer. It was big compared to normal houses. I sat out there for a while and then heard a voice call from somewhere. “Hey, Dawn!”

I looked around to see who was calling me. Then I heard it again. “Look up here.”

I turned around and looked to the balcony at Tyler’s house. He was standing there waving. “Which one is your room?”

“It’s the one with the balcony. What about you?”

“Mine is the one right next to yours.”

I heard someone call his name from inside his house, then he said “My dad’s calling me to help him in the basement. I’ll see you tomorrow on our date.”

“Yup, no problem. See you then.”

I wanted to go check out the basement as well, so I went inside. I saw Dusk just standing there in front of the door to the basement. My little brother has been afraid of basements ever since he was born, so he always needs me to come with him to confirm that it’s safe. Half of me thinks that he just brings me so that if there were something, then he could use me as a distraction while he escapes. “Come on Dusk. I’ll go with you.”

He held my hand as I led him down the stairs. It was pitch black. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bear down there.

“Wow! This place is kind of creepy, bud.”

When I turned on the lights, the basement was instantly bright and didn’t seem scary at all. It was large enough to hold a big party in. It had a couch off to the side and a beautiful mirror in the corner with angels carved on the frame. I walked over to it and got this weird vibe from it. I looked into the mirror, but I couldn’t see my reflection properly because of how cloudy the glass was. I turned and looked around the room, wondering how to put this place into good use. Wait! We could make this place Dusk’s playroom. It was big enough and we could clean it up quickly if we needed to hold a party.

“Hey, bud! Why don’t we make this your playroom? Bring all your toys down.”

My little brother nodded his head eagerly and went to grab his things. I went up to go tell Mom and Dad what my plan was. They were on the porch, but by how tense the air felt, I could tell they were talking about something serious, so I ‘waited’ behind the curtain. “I’m telling you, Robert. There is something wrong with this house. I always feel like someone is behind me, but when I turn around, nobody is there.”

Dad held my mom’s face in his hands as he said “Amelia, it’s nothing. You only feel this way because of how empty the place feels. Once the truck arrives the day after tomorrow with all our furniture, the house will be filled.”

“I’ve thought of that possibility as well, but still... It feels eerie like there’s some supernatural presence.”

“Don’t worry. You’re tired and that’s probably doing something to mess with your head. Get some sleep.”

At that point, I had a feeling that they would figure out that I was eavesdropping if I continued to stand there. Mom is intuitive, but sometimes it can get creepy, like psychic creepy. I remember when I was 12 and she somehow knew that I had made it into the Badminton team before I even told her and nobody else had told her either. Believe me, I asked around. And what’s weirder is that she knew all the names of the people who made it, so ever since then, I have never doubted her when she said something.

I came out from behind the curtain and approached them and I could tell Mom was hushing Dad and telling him that I was coming. “Hey guys, I just had a great idea! Why don’t we make the basement Dusk’s play area? We could always clear it out when we hold parties or gatherings, but this might be a way to help Dusk get over his fear of basements. What do you think?”

Dad widened his smile and looked at Mom. “Well, that’s brilliant Dawn. Let’s get to it. Your mother and I will be down in a bit. Why don’t you go clear the area and dust it a little, so we can arrange his toys down there.”

“Alright, Dad!”

I went back down to the basement to see the mirror on the floor. It probably fell over. I picked it up and looked at how dirty and cloudy it is. The first thing I should do is clean this mirror.

I went back up to get some cleansing wipes and a glass cleaner. At some point, I got super frustrated since everything was in boxes and I couldn’t tell where they were. “Ugh! Where the hell are those cleansing wipes and the glass cleaner? I can’t find them!”

I finally found them in the middle of Dusk’s room, but nobody was in there. “Dusk! Why did you take these up here?”

After not getting an answer, I gave up and just headed back to the basement. It’s awfully quiet. Where is everyone?

“Dusk! Hey buddy! Where are you? Mom! Dad!... Seriously, where the hell are you guys? If this is a joke it isn’t funny.”

You know what? Leave it! They’re probably sitting out on the porch.

I started down the stairs and went to the mirror and to my surprise it was on the ground again. That’s weird. I just put this up. Maybe the wind blew it down.

Then I realized an essential thing. What the hell? There aren’t even any windows in the basement.

I picked the mirror up again and laid it against the wall beside the couch, so people could not see it when they walked in. I started wiping and dusting off the frame, then the actual glass. Then I looked in the mirror. Holy shit!

I turned around, but there was nobody there. I saw myself freaking standing right behind me with red glowing hell-like eyes. I looked back at the mirror, but nobody was standing behind me there either. Oh my god! I swear another me was standing behind me.

I shook my head. I’m probably hallucinating. It’s getting late, so I better finish quickly.

I finished dusting fast, so I could call Dusk to come put his toys. I kept glancing at the mirror constantly, half-expecting something to happen again. It gave me the creeps. After I was done, I went upstairs and looked all over the house for the rest of my family, but they weren’t anywhere in the house. I got a little worried. Where would they all leave to in the middle of the night?

I then heard a police car’s sirens ringing outside of our house. I ran over to the front and nearly fainted after the sight I saw. Hanging from the roof right in the front of our house was a dead black cat. I heard a scream, then realized that it was me. My dad ran over to slowly take me off the porch and to the grass where the rest of my family was. “It’s alright Kiddo. You’re okay. Don’t worry. Pops is here.”

“What happened? Why is there a freaking dead cat hanging in the front of our house?”

A policeman came up to us. I felt like I already knew him. “We suspect it might be one of the neighborhood teenage pranksters. They might’ve been using this as a welcome to the neighborhood.”

I saw Tyler come out of his house. He glanced over at me and gave me a smile, then went over to the policeman. “Dad, who would do that? This neighborhood is barely ever attacked by this sort of stuff. Plus, those guys wouldn’t go as low as murdering a cat. That’s just plain creepy, which is not their style.”

Oh, so he was Tyler’s dad. That makes sense. They look so alike, especially their eyes. I could imagine Tyler looking like his father when he is his age.

“Well, it’s the only lead we’ve got so far kid. Why don’t you take Dawn and her family back inside their house? Take her through the back. We don’t want to scare them more than they already are.”

Tyler nodded and took my hand. Normally, I would have been blushing at even the thought of a boy holding my hand, but right now, I am way too startled to even think. We walked through the back gate, into the backyard, and through the back entrance. Mom and Dad went into the living room, with us following, and sat on the couch. Dusk still had not let go of Mom. Dad looked at our worried faces and put on a bright smile, obviously trying to brighten the mood. “Come on guys! It was just a little prank. It’s nothing to worry about. Why don’t we go down and finish Dusk’s little play place? Eh, bud?”

He walked over to Dusk and ruffled his hair. Dusk smiled up at him as Dad turned to Tyler. “Are you expected at home right now, Tyler? We wouldn’t mind another pair of helping hands.”

“Oh no, Mr. Saltzman! I’d love to help.”

“Let’s get to it then.”

We all headed down to the basement to find all Dusk’s toys already downstairs and all set up. What! There weren’t any toys here before. Let alone, already set up!

Dad had a concerned look on his face. “Dawn, did you already set things up? You didn’t have to do it alone. We would’ve helped.”

“Actually Dad, I didn’t do this. I was done cleaning and didn’t know where everyone was, so I came looking for you.”

Then, we all heard a sound coming from the closet next to the fireplace. Dad held out a hand in front of us and motioned us to go back and told Tyler to come. Tyler grabbed a baseball bat, while Dad signaled us to be quiet. It was dead silent like a pin drop could be heard. Dad stalked towards the door like a tiger hunting its prey. Then the closet flew open and confetti flew everywhere. “Surprise!”

When I turned to face the direction the voice was coming from, I could see a very confused Tyler stopping himself from hitting our dear Aunt Gilda with the bat only inches away from her grinning face. She was not fazed by it at all. Typical Aunt Gilda.

We all ran to embrace the aunt we had not seen in 5 years.

I looked over at Tyler, who looked kind of cute just sitting and staring at the ground with a confused look on his face. He was horrified at the fact that he almost took out my aunt with a baseball bat. He looked up at me and gave me a wink. “You really like staring at me, don’t you?”

Embarrassed, I turned away. Geez! Why do I keep doing that?

I rolled my eyes at him. “What? No! I wasn’t staring at you. You’re just full of it.”

I watched Dusk playing with the new toys Aunt Gilda had bought him from all her travels. Aunt Gilda is my dad’s twin sister, so she looked exactly like dad, except she had long hair. She was a marine biologist, which meant she had to travel a lot and could not see us as often. I glanced over at her talking to my parents in the backyard. “Tyler, are you bored?”

“No, of course not.”

It was obvious he was lying. He was fidgeting in his seat and kept looking over at me. He probably wanted me to say something. After all, we were both just sitting there watching a 6-year-old play with cars.

I put on a big smile and said “Come on. Let’s go upstairs to my room. I need to unpack, and I wouldn’t mind some help.”

I saw his shoulders finally relax and he stood up with a grin. He placed one hand on his bicep and said “Sure, I can help you with all the heavy lifting.”

“The only heavy lifting that there is lifting my stuffed animals.”

We laughed as we headed up the stairs. When we were nearing the top of the spiraling stairs, I saw it again. I saw that thing that looked like me. I could feel its eyes in me, and I felt my chest sting as I lost my footing. “Ahhhh!”

“Dawn!”

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and we fell down the stairs ending with me landing on top. My head hurt like crazy. “Ugghhh... What happened?”

“I should be asking you the same thing.”

That’s when I realized that I fell on top of Tyler. “Oh my God Tyler! I’m so sorry! I saw something and then I lost my footing and-”

“Hey, calm down. It’s alright. You aren’t that heavy. Pretty light actually.”

The adults ran in, while we laughed. If looks could kill, Tyler would have been dead from the look Dad was giving him. “Dawn, would you like to explain why you both are sprawled on the floor on top of each other?”

Oh Shit! We’re still lying like this.

I quickly got off him and looked over at Tyler, who was laughing at my humiliation. “Sorry, Dad. We were going to go set up my room and I tripped and fell while we were climbing the stairs. Tyler actually caught me.”

That’s when we all heard a scream from the living room.