Behind Closed Eyes

A short horror story

It was dark inside my room.

The world outside was lit up by intermittent flashes of lightning. The pulse of the ceiling fan somehow seemed to match my own thumping heart. The bedroom door creaked open due to a sudden draught of air through the window. I craned my neck to get a better look at it, but it shut itself with a bang so loud that it made me jump.

It was almost midnight and my parents still weren’t back from the dinner party.

Alone in my bed, I hugged my teddy bear and tried to sleep.

Suddenly, there was a crash of glass and I sat bolt upright.

I checked my surroundings, but everything seemed alright. The mantelpieces were in their place, the wardrobe door was tightly shut, the teddy bear was sleeping in peace, the light-bulbs seemed to be unbroken and the mirror on the closet door showed a tiny girl of thirteen who looked absolutely petrified.

Shaking off my fear of the unknown, I got back under the blanket and wiped the sweat beads that had formed on my forehead. I heaved a sigh of relief.

And then it hit me.

Teddy bears didn’t sleep with their eyes closed.

If you liked what I write, you might like my book Stolen Reflections — Some Stories are told in verse. It is a story about love, loss and the struggle of starting over from the point of view of a young woman — told solely through poems. I have experimented with over 15 traditional poetry forms, including the ballad, the palindrome, the tanka, and the rondel.

Stolen Reflections was released recently and ended up becoming an Amazon bestseller within four days of its release.

Apart from that, you can follow my poetic journey here.