The shadow eyes
Something truly odd has been happening here for months now, and I haven't been able to explain it at all. So I'm going to tell you my story, and hope that somebody out there can help me find a rational explanation for the whole thing.
Before I start, let me tell you a little something about myself. I was in college for a few years, and graduated this year. So, as a result, a lot of the things in my apartment are mostly old — hand-me-downs from relatives and things like that.
I was so busy as a college student in the past that I didn't even have time to go out and buy new things for my apartment, even though I could afford it, so I would mostly use other things like blankets to cover my windows with.
This brings us to the important part of the story. Keep in mind, this takes place over a whole span of two months and a half.
It started one June morning when I woke up to the feeling that I was being watched.
I looked around the room, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I was puzzled as to why I kept getting this feeling, until I looked up at the ceiling. Near the window, there was a single shadow shaped like an eye, and it appeared to be looking directly at me.
I did find it somewhat creepy, but figured that it was harmless. After all, it was just the shadows making odd shapes, which they always did here. So I ignored it and went on with my life.
However, as the days passed, that eye didn't go away. And what's more, it seemed to be multiplying. After one week passed, there were now five shadow eyes surrounding the area around my window.
The feeling that I was being watched continued to intensify, too, much to my annoyance. The realist in me kept on saying that it was only in my head, that it was only the old blankets I used as my bedroom curtains that were causing those eyes to appear. After all, the old blankets did have those tiny holes in them, which could easily cast all sorts of weird shadows.
But despite this rational explanation, I still found myself feeling completely disconcerted by those eyes. Especially when they started to blink and move their pupils around, as if they were alive.
As the weeks passed by, the eyes continued to increase in numbers until they covered the entire ceiling.
I've enclosed some photos of them that I took with my phone camera, so you can see for yourself that I'm not lying about the whole thing. Unfortunately, it doesn't show the other half of the ceiling very well, due to poor lighting conditions. Still, it shows you exactly what I wake up to every morning now.
After a month, I had gotten used to them and simply resigned myself to the fact that they would always be there. It got to the point where I started ignoring them again and going on about my business as if they weren't there.
This is kind of embarrassing to admit, but after I had gotten used to them being there I stopped being self-conscious about doing things like masturbating in front of the eyes. I basically thought to myself, “What the heck, they're only shadows! And I'm horny as fuck... I need some release!”
This was when something somewhat weird would happen. The eyes on the ceiling seemed to react to my actions at this point. They would all blink furiously as they “watched” me pleasure myself. The weird part? There seemed to be an increase in the number of eyes as I did it, although that could easily be all in my head. After all, it's not like I took the time to count them all.
Around July 16th, my mom decided to stay the night, considering how she had to get up at like 3 am for work. My place was much closer to her workplace, since she lived in the next town over, so it made sense for her to stay here instead of driving for an hour in the dark.
So I agreed to let her stay the night. However, my apartment had only one bedroom, so I had to let her sleep in my bedroom while I took the sofa in the living room.
The next morning, she looked completely unsettled. When I asked her what was wrong, she mentioned that there was something strange on my ceiling.
I smiled, saying something to the effect of: “Oh yeah, the eyes. They've been here for a month. I did find them creepy at first, but I've gotten used to them.”
She became even more upset at this, and demanded to know why I didn't call her right away when they first appeared.
I just shrugged, saying I didn't see what the big deal was. It's not as if they were real eyes to start with. It was just an optical illusion that the old curtains were causing.
She just shook her head, and told me that they were not your everyday, ordinary illusion. That I apparently had caught the attention of some creature called Gottbeäugt.
Shadow eyes on the ceiling
At this point I couldn't help but roll my eyes, thinking: “Oh, here we go again.”
You see, despite the fact that she's a nurse, who's good at what she does, she still believes in the old superstitions.
Her great-grandparents were immigrants from Norway and Germany. They migrated here to America long before World War I and World War II happened.
I guess they couldn't help but entrench their children in the old Pagan ways and beliefs. And so three generations of the family were highly superstitious, and that couldn't help but rub off on my mom.
I, of course, do not believe in silly nonsense like supernatural creatures, bad luck or any of that stuff. I tend to believe that there is always a rational explanation for everything.
Anyway, my mom was explaining to me about Gottbeäugt, which roughly translates to “God Eyes” in English.
People in ancient times used to think that they were the eyes of their gods or goddesses watching them, which is why they named it that. However, a few people believed that those were the eyes of some supernatural stalker, not a deity. Apparently Gottbeäugt was like some sort of voyeuristic spirit that often got obsessed with any living thing that happened to catch its attention.
And just like with human stalkers, it often formed a strong attachment to the person that it was stalking. They would often become violent towards anybody who they thought were purposely getting in the way between them and the object of their affections. That often meant spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, and family members. And it would always follow the object of their affections around, until the person died of old age or something else.
I responded that it was certainly an entertaining story, but that was it, just a story. I explained to her that it was only the curtains casting those weird shadows. Nothing more.
I thought that if I gave her a rational explanation for the eyes, she would shut up about it. But she didn't. She kept on bringing up the topic about me getting a priest to exorcise the whole apartment, so that Gottbeäugt wouldn't come back.
She also kept on coming back almost every day to check up on me, to the point where I almost had no privacy at all.
It was like had moved in with me.
Around July 29th, I was completely fed up with my mother's foolishness. Thanks to my temper, I made the worst mistake that I had ever made in my life.
I decided to rant about the whole thing to my silent observers, the eyes. I ranted about how idiotic my mom was being about them, and how she kept on trying to talk me into getting a priest to exorcise the whole apartment to get rid of them. I told the eyes that I believed them to be completely harmless, that they wouldn't ever hurt anybody... that's why I was fine with them being there.
After I cooled down, I felt completely stupid for talking to shadows on the ceiling. I swore to myself then that I wouldn't let my mother's foolishness get to me. I was almost starting to think of the eyes as a living entity, for Pete's sake!
It was then I decided that I would go out shopping for a pair of new curtains. After all, it wasn't like I was a poor college student anymore. I could afford some new curtains, and get rid of the eyes on the ceiling. It would shut up my mother once for all.
I came back with a pair of red blackout curtains which had this really nice velvet feel to them. I took down the old blankets, and installed the new curtains. It was sundown by this point, so after I was done with it I went to bed.
The next morning, I noticed that the eyes weren't there anymore. I couldn't help but smirk mentally, thinking: “In your face, mom. I knew it wasn't a supernatural entity!”
I texted my mother about how I got new curtains, and also about how the eyes were gone now. So she didn't need to worry about me anymore.
She didn't respond back, and didn't visit me anymore for the whole week. In fact, she dropped all contact. At first a part of me was slightly worried, but I just put it off as her being really busy with work.
After all, sometimes she would become a huge workaholic at the hospital where she worked, so much so that she had no time to check her text messages or stop by to see me. It was basically normal activity for her.
But one early morning by the end of the week I got a call from my dad. Apparently he hadn't seen my mom all week long, but he had gotten a written memo from her about staying at my apartment if her work required her to come in at 3 A.M. So he didn't really worry too much.
However, he started to miss her. So he called mom on his cellphone, but nobody answered. Then he called the hospital hoping to get a hold of her, but they told him that she hadn't come to work in a few days. Now worried, he called me and asked me if I had seen mom in a while.
I told him, “Of course I haven't... she's been busy with work.” But then he told me what the hospital told him about his wife not coming in to work. We're having the police search for her now. God, I really hope nothing happened to her.
Now for the worst part of my story... the eyes came back after we reported her missing!
Creepy Eye in the Living room
They appeared again one early morning, acting as if they had never left to start with. Now they stare down at me, watching my every move.
They're not just confined to my bedroom anymore. The eyes have started spreading to the rest of my apartment. They first branched out into my bathroom, so that they could watch me bathe and do my business.
I have to tell you, it's really difficult when you feel like you're being watched.
After they were done conquering the bathroom, some of them moved into the kitchen, then the living room.
Now there won't be any place in my own home that I could hide from those eyes. I've thought about moving, but... what if my mom was right?
What if it really is Gottbeäugt, who intends to stalk me everywhere until I die?
No, there has to be a rational explanation for this... Right? Maybe I turned into this insane person and just didn't know it. But maybe that's even worse. What if I did something to my own mother and then forgot about it?