Those Eyes

I first noticed him at the Farmer's Market, on a Wednesday afternoon. It was chilly due to the late fall weather and most stations had already closed. I was grabbing a coffee when I noticed him. He was in line behind me, and there wasn't much different about him. At that moment he was just another person rushing to get their last minute supplies from the Farmer's Market.

The next time I saw him was the next week, on Saturday. I was picking up my little sister from school and he was in the parked truck next to me. It took me a second to place him. His brown hair and blue eyes, even his build, was common. I didn't think much of it until I was driving Lucy home. He hadn't picked anyone up, and the school was almost an hour away from the Farmer's Market, meaning one of them must have been out of his way. I shrugged it off, as I had been in both places, it couldn't have been that strange. It was when I ran into, literally, at Walmart two weeks later, that I noticed something off about him.

I was strolling down the isle, pushing my cart ahead of me. I paused for a moment and stepped a few steps back to look at a card. Lucy's birthday was coming up and I still hadn't found a card. This one had a cute lion hugging a lamb with balloons saying "Happy Birthday!" I picked up the card, glanced at the inside and put it back on the shelf. I stepped toward my cart and ran into him. I stepped back, mumbling apologies and rubbing my nose where it had hit his chest.

"It's okay, are you okay?" His voice was deep, but soft. I looked up at him, and recognized him as the stranger I'd seen previously at the Framer's Market as well as the school. Looking at him now, I realised that his eyes, originally thought to be blue, were anything but. They sparkled, quite literally and appeared almost clear. The pupils weren't black, but a deep purple. I gasped and stumbled back a step.

"F-fine. I'm fine." I quickly hurried away, grabbing my cart and racing from the store, trying to shake those eyes off. It must have been the light. No one has clear eyes Natalie, I scolded myself for even believing that was what I'd seen. That night however, those eyes haunted my dreams. They followed me as I ran screaming through a forest, they followed when I ran across a beach and they followed when I finally hid in a basement. However, it wasn't those eyes that I saw before I woke up, shaking in fear. I shrugged it off as another bad dream and pulled my lavender sheets closer to me and rolled over.

I had that dream every night for almost week, when I saw him again. I was picking up Lucy again and he was there, sitting in his truck again. I hurried inside and rushed Lucy out, trying to get in my car before he saw me.

"Natalie." I opened my car door.

"Natalie," his voice was more urgent this time. I sat down in the driver's seat.

"Natalie!" I jumped and felt as though I was peeling myself off the car ceiling from the shock of his voice sounding so loud and harsh. No one had said my name that way since I got in trouble in second grade for sticking gum in Hailey Turner's hair.

"How do you know my name?" I asked, refusing to look at him for fear that I'd see his eyes. Part f me wanted to know that I'd just been imagining them, but the rest knew that if I looked, I'd see the sparkling clear eyes that followed me, everywhere I went.

"Natalie." His voice had lowered back to the soft murmur and I peeked at him. He wore jeans and a blue shirt, now that I think about it, he'd been wearing some blue shirt or another since the first time I saw him.

"Is that all you can say?" I snapped and slammed the door shut. WIth the door firmly closed, I dared to look at his eyes again. They didn't stare back with ocean blue, but clear as glass, sparkling like a disco ball and pure purple at the center. I slammed on the gas, leaving him behind me.

"Who is he?" Lucy inquired.

"No one." I replied softly and drove home. No one wouldn't plague your dreams though. No one wouldn't seem to follow you with their haunting eyes all day, as you went to class, as you went to work, watching as you drink your coffee, as you climb into bed. His eyes haunt me, and I can't get them to go away.

Two days later, I was walking to my car, Goodwill bag in my hand and there he was, leaning against my car. He looked tense and was glancing around, until he saw me. I clutched my nag and dashed to the car, running around to the driver's side. I yelped as I was dragged backward by my arm.

"Natalie," the man spoke softly and looked at me with an odd almost fear in his haunting eyes as he stared at me.

"How do you know my name?" I yank my arm back, rubbing it, hoping it won't bruise through my jacket.

"I have to. It's my job, to protect you." I laughed, even seeing that he was serious.

"I think you need help. What's your name? Where do you live? I can take you home." I started to the car door, but again a bruising grip grabbed my arm. "OW! Would you stop it?"

"Sorry, sorry. I just need you to listen. I'm Leo, your guardian angel of sorts I guess." I just glared at him. I wasn't amused by his stalking, or his odd obsession with insisting he protect me.

"Right. And I'm Queen of Egypt." I roll my eyes, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"They don't have queens, they have presidents." Leo was dead serious, and it began to set in. This dude, Leo, really thought he was here to protect me, he really thought he was my guardian angel.

"Look, Leo, I don't need a guardian angel to protect me from anything but you. I don't need you to keep stalking me, but thanks." I huff and march to the car door, sliding in. I see Leo watching me in the rear view mirror, a sad look on his face. Those eyes, those haunting eyes, are the last thing I see before a knife slices my throat open.