Let me start this off by saying no, this is not some PTSD-induced incident. No, it's not the stress. No, I'm not crazy and you need to listen to me before, this happens to someone else. It all started several weeks ago during the best day of my life. The day I found out that I was pregnant with my first child. Everything was amazing, we called both of our parents. We threw a party. We celebrated, and we were filled with joy and amazement. Then we went to the doctor, everything was fine with the child, but there was a problem. You see when I was 8, I was diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder and prescribed Alprazolam. This could cause complications with the pregnancy, and I could no longer take the drug. Instead, I would swap over to a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that would still work without affecting my baby. So, I swapped over to the new medication and went on with my life. Now it didn't work as well as the previous ones and I would still find myself being overwhelmed, but I could cope with it.
During all this Greg, my husband, was amazing. He did everything to help make my life easier, from the big things like taking over most chores around the house to small things like rubbing my feet after a long day at work, just staring into the deep wells of his bright sky-blue eyes would make my worries disappear, he was my rock. Then we got an unexpected phone call. Greg’s father, Travis had a nasty fall in his garage, damaging his spinal cord. He needed emergency surgery and even in the best case, he would stay wheelchair-bound for several months. Travis lives alone down in Florida and he had no one to take care of him. So we did the only thing we could. Greg took a leave from work and flew down to Florida to take care of him while he recovered from his surgery. And while this might sound selfish, I was really worried about what I would do without him. And soon, that tiny house we lived in began to feel like a giant, empty mansion. And I never felt as alone as I did in those weeks. I would come home every day after work. From some microwave food or order out from some delivery service. And then I would sit alone on the couch and watch TV until I fell asleep. Wake up and do it all again. Not the healthiest thing for an expecting mother, I suppose.
And then one particularly stormy night, as I was coming home from work, The rain was cascading down it seemed like it was some sort of torrential rainfall or some terrifying storm that was blowing in. The wind was howling. Thunder cracked in the distance. A freezing gust breeze blew through the neighborhood. The trees swayed, bent, and cracked under the weight of that wind. It seemed like it would be one hell of a storm. And then I saw it. Sitting in the corner of the driveway. This little cat. It was a tiny black cat. And he looked so small, and drenched by this torrential downpour. And I felt so bad for the little guy. He must be so cold. So I got out of the car. Quickly ran over to him and surprisingly, he didn't flinch or run away. He just sat there staring at me with those large amber eyes. I quickly scooped him up into my arms and carried him inside. He looked a bit malnourished. He was thin and scrawny, with his fur matted against his body, completely soaked. So I got out my hair dryer and a towel. I set it to a low heat and dried the cat. I then got him some food, an old can of tuna we had in the cupboard. Now at first, the cat was somewhat catatonic. It seemed that the severe cold and malnourishment left him in a bit of a state. But I tried to be very gentle gave him some food and I put him in an old cardboard box with a blanket inside, and left him alone so he could rest.
After my escapades with this animal, I made myself a quick microwaved dinner, turned on the TV, sat down, and flipped to one of my shows. Eventually, the pictures on the screen began to blur as my eyes began to droop down, with the relaxing pitter-patter of the rainfall and howling winds outside. As my eyelids drooped lower and lower down I drifted off into dreams.
But this dream was different. it was a strange dream, something I'd never felt before. And I awoke with a start, terrified. My heart was beating out of my chest and my breath was coming hard and fast. It was a nightmare like I've never felt before. Now, I don't remember any monsters or people hunting me or anything like that, not even any visual from the dream. The only thing that I could recall. Was a feeling of something watching me, something very, very hungry watching. And I jerked open my eyes looking around in a panic. And froze, as my blood ran cold, sitting next to me on the couch was that cat. Staring up at me with those large amber eyes, but these eyes weren’t normal. There was something wrong with them. Something all too human in them. I freaked out, jumped up, and backed away from it. Now don't judge me too hard for this, But I ran out of the room, opened the front door, grabbed a broom from the cupboard, and chased the cat out of my house into the dark cold rainstorm. Then I slammed the door behind me locking it tight. Only when that strange animal was outside could I relax again. Eventually, when I sat back on the couch and started thinking it all through, I felt so stupid. It was just a cat. That weird human-like intelligence behind its eyes, that that was just my imagination, just something left over from that nightmare and I honestly reacted badly and I shouldn't have chased him out. Well, it's too late now, and after about an hour of sitting on the couch again and watching some more shows, I eventually fell asleep again.
Now when I woke up in the morning, I had all but forgotten of the cat. So I woke up, got off the couch, and did my normal morning routine. I had a shower, got dressed, made myself some breakfast, and then got ready to leave. When I reached for the handle to open the front door, something was wrong. I heard something moving outside the door. It wasn't big, it wasn't a loud sound. It was as if some small animal had started running away from my front door, and I remember the cat and felt really bad. The poor animal must have been out there all night trying to avoid the rainstorm. I could hear him running away, and I couldn't do much at this point. So I opened the door, took my keys, and went to work. From then on though it kept happening. Every time got home from work I would hear the cat around, always outside of my eyesight, but I could always hear him there in the background. When I would leave for work, he would run away from the front door. When I got back, he would run away into the bushes in the corner of the driveway. I didn't really see the cat again, not for at least two weeks. But I could always hear him, and it bothered the hell out of me. I did try to befriend him again. Getting some catnip from a local pet store and some cat food which I left outside. I hoped maybe I could repair the damage I did to my relationship with this cat. But things didn't get better. In fact, they got a lot worse.
But eventually, I did see the cat again. I was making dinner for myself, and outside the window of the kitchen, I saw it sitting there in the corner in the shadows. Those large amber eyes stared up at me from the bushes. And it filled me with some strange dread. Those eyes look wrong. The moment our eyes met he bolted back into the shadows, disappearing from my view. And this pattern continued. At times when I would think I was alone, I would get this strange feeling of being watched. I went I would take the initiative and start searching. I would always, invariably find those large amber eyes staring at me. Through a window, or a crack in the door. The only place I felt safe was in my bedroom. So I stopped watching TV at night. And then even that changed. You see, after a particularly bad day at work when I was feeling so overwhelmed. I got home, I got in bed and I just wanted to fall asleep and forget the world. Then I heard some scratching. That wasn't possible. I was on the second floor of the house. There was a window, but there were no trees outside of it. There was no easy access to it. It isn't something you could easily climb or access. Yet I heard something at that window. And when I looked over, I saw a pair of large amber eyes staring at me. Which then bolted, dropping two stories to the ground miraculously and then running off into the shadows again. This was not possible. However, the hell did it get to my window?
At that point, I had had enough. I called the pest control specialist and told them there was a stray cat in my yard and I wanted it gone. Their large, burly man came one day in a beat-up truck. Screeched down the driveway, pulling in and stopping for Huff. The man peeled himself out of the car a large and overweight man that seemed covered in scratches and scars from who knows what. He seemed perfect for what I needed. I told him there was this cat and I needed it to go anyway, doesn't matter how. He looked at me and I could tell he was thinking I was on hysteric Karen, but I didn't care. He said with a grunt. Sure, I'll handle it. I'll put up some traps outside. It’ll be gone in the morning.
But the strange thing was I never did see that man again. He did place some traps around my yard, but he never did collect them. I called his company's number, but nobody ever answered, and I had to assume he'd probably fled town for some or another reason and forgotten all about my job. but to his credit, the cat didn't show up again. At least not for the next week. But when he did return it was so much worse. You see, he stopped hiding as much from me. I would catch him watching me more often, and when our eyes met, he would wait for a bit, watch, and turn around and walk away. The more he watched me, the more I watched him back, and the more I noticed strange things about it. Yes, it had those strange human-like eyes, but there was more to it. Now that I started paying attention, I noticed that its front paws were longer than they should be. They honestly look a lot like the length of human arms would be. it just tucked them into his fur so you don't notice normally. Then there were its paws, I could swear it looked like there were almost thumb-like growths on the side of them.
Honestly, at that point I was pretty scared, so I called another pest control specialist. Which sent out another person. After a few days, they told me there were no cats around, they couldn't find anything and there was nothing to remove. Bloody idiot. So I tried another company and then another. At that point, I had tried at least seven different pest control agents and none of them could find this bizarre cat. But strangely at this point was starting to get less scared of the creature, it did deeply disturb me, but at the same time, it was always at a distance. It never approached me. Sure, it did watch me, and that scared me. But it never did anything. So even though I saw it, I stopped feeling threatened by it. I just felt that it was wrong. So, I decided that I would put it out of my head that this was a source of stress I didn't need and I would just ignore the animal and forget about it.
It largely helped. Even though I kept seeing the creature, I stopped getting scared and I stopped really doing anything about it. I just figured that it's a weird cat and I'll leave it alone. But that was a mistake. I should have gotten the hell out of there. I should have gotten a gun and shot the bloody thing. I don't know what I should have done, but I shouldn't have done what I did. Because the cat started getting more comfortable, it stopped running when it caught my gaze. It stopped fleeing every time I was around it. I would find it watching me for longer, but I just kept ignoring it. And then one night, I awoke in the early morning, but something was very, very wrong. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. It was dark, but I could still see a faint light coming in from the curtains. But I couldn't move.
My arms wouldn't respond. My legs didn't move. I couldn't roll over or move my head. I could just lie there and blink. Now at first, I panicked, and I was freaking out, I tried desperately to figure out what was happening. But after a few minutes, I realized this had happened before. When I was a child. There were a few nights when I was affected by sleep paralysis. Where I would wake up and for a few minutes I wouldn't be able to move until eventually I would regain control of my body and I'd be fine. So, I just have to wait it out and not stress.
So, I lay there for a few seconds. Until a sound, broke the dead silence of the night. The sharp sound of breaking glass, but no footsteps, no sounds of people, nothing like that. It was just breaking glass. And then? The door handle moved. But there were no sounds of footsteps, just the rattle of the handle. The door slowly pushed open with a loud creek as a small black form slithered into the room. A pair of glowing amber eyes caught my gaze, and I could swear you could see a small furry grin appear on its catlike muzzle. At that moment, I could see it in his eyes. Not just a human-like intelligence, but a hunger? Next, the creature did something so bizarre, it stood up on its hind legs and slowly with the grace of an old-timey gentleman sauntered over to the bed, disappearing from my view. Then something slithered up onto the bed underneath the covers. I could see it, I couldn’t move or even scream, but I could hear the crinkle of the bed sheets as it pushed its way toward me. Then an excruciating pain filled my stomach, the pain was unbearable and never-ending it felt like something was tunneling through my flesh until eventually, I blacked out.
I awoke in a blood-soaked bed; with a shaky hand, I grabbed my cell phone and dialed an ambulance. After hours of tests, the doctors told me, I had a sleep paralysis incident, leading to a panic attack which caused a miscarriage. I was in a horrible state, full of fear and a deep hatred of that monster, I wanted nothing more than revenge. So, I left the hospital and went to a gun store. Apparently, I couldn’t get a gun that day, but I could get a crossbow, So I bought what I could get, a hunting crossbow with some bolts, and headed home. But that thing didn’t show up. I waited for hours. So I sat down at my computer and started writing this, crossbow at my side and waiting for the familiar feeling of being watched. After hours I finally did feel it again and looked up out my window to see not one but two pairs of eyes. One glowing amber pair and one sky-blue pair, the exact same shade of sky-blue I’ve seen a thousand times before. I froze staring at the uncanny human intelligence of the sky-blue eyes and felt a strange familiarity to it. After a few seconds, the pair fled back into the shadows leaving me sitting here in tears. What should I do?
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