The Eyes

           It is said that the eyes are the windows to a person’s soul. Literally, this means that you can recognize certain characteristics about a person by staring into their eyes. As true as this may be, Steven was about to find out that there is more to this phrase than what he realized.

           It all began a few days ago. Steven Parker, a paramedic with Capitol City Ambulance Services, had stopped at his favorite coffee house for a steaming cup of cappuccino to give him that extra boost before his next twelve-hour shift.

           He patiently stood in line waiting for his chance to place his order with the barista. There were four people ahead of him in line, so he took that opportunity to read a few of the headlines on his phone’s news app.

           The first few stories consisted of the same daily trash about political leaders and the scandals revolving around them. The fourth story had caught his attention, however. It was about the mysterious disappearances of several adults in and around the city. He felt this story disconcerting, realizing that many of these missing people were from his neighbourhood.

           “Can I help who’s next?” Steven heard, breaking him from his stupor. He ordered his drink to go and headed to the station.

           His shift started off busy as it usually does. The crime rate in the city had increased substantially over the last few months due to an unprecedented oppression. Capitol City was once a peaceful, family-oriented city, admired by leaders and residents of other surrounding cities and towns. Lately, however, with many of the businesses closing due to lower-priced competitors, the economy took a downturn. Many residents were forced to leave their homes and move to more affordable housing or were left homeless.

           The first call took him into a district where even police rarely travelled. The whole area was overrun with gang activity, drug deals, and prostitution. Steven and his partner received information that a woman in her mid-to-late-twenties had possibly overdosed on an unknown substance and was convulsing on the floor.

           When the arrived at the scene, they grabbed their gear and hurried up the rotting stairs of the ramshackle three-story apartment complex, watching each step they took. They found the apartment at the end of the hall. The door was ajar, so Steven rapped loudly upon the door jam and announced their presence.

           Moments later, a man with long, straggly, greyish hair, opened the door. His eyes were dark and sunken, yet there was a look of fear within them. Steven looked toward the man’s forearms as he leaned against the door. They were lined with dozens of track marks from obvious needle injections, likely heroin. That was the drug of choice in this neighbourhood. Highly addictive and easy to find.

           The man told Steven and his partner to follow him to the bedroom where they found a blonde woman, half dressed, with a rubber tube still tied around her left upper arm. A syringe laid upon the ground with the needle broken off. They soon discovered the missing needle still piercing her skin.

           The men went to work, assessing the situation and making lightning-fast decisions to try and save the woman’s life. Steven quickly injected the woman with a shot of naloxone to temporarily reverse the effects of the heroin until she could be transported to the hospital for further treatment.

           Steven raised the woman’s eyelids to check her pupils for reaction to light or movement. He was slightly taken aback when he noticed the extremely pale-blue tone to her iris. It almost appeared light grey. He felt drawn to them somehow and was unable to break her empty gaze until his partner nudged his shoulder slightly.

           They loaded the girl onto a stretcher and carefully made their descent to the street. As they exited the door, two teenage boys took off running away from the side of the ambulance. Steven looked to see the partial name of a local gang spray-painted below the name, “Capitol City”. It was supposed to read, “COBRAS”, but they only had time to paint the letters, “C-O-B” before being caught. Steven just shook his head and thought how the maintenance crew would react when the returned with more graffiti for them to remove. It was beginning to become a weekly occurrence among their fleet.

           The rest of the day consisted of a couple of false alarms, several heart attacks, more drug overdoses, and a few vehicle accidents. It was certainly eventful. When his shift ended, Steven still couldn’t get the overdose victim out of his head. He felt compelled to check up on her condition, so he stopped off at Capitol City Health Centre. The doctor who was treating the woman was familiar with Steven, so he filled him in on her condition. He said that it was, in fact, a heroin overdose, and that she would be in the hospital for the next several days until the drugs were out of her system.

           She was currently sedated and was restrained with leather straps around her wrists and ankles due to a violent outburst earlier which sent one of the orderlies to the emergency room for lacerations to his right cheek.

           Steven entered the room. A security guard sat nearby. The woman laid quietly on the hospital bed. She looked older than what he had originally thought. Dark circles around her eyes were emphasized by her pallor complexion. He noticed that her fingernails were jagged as if they had been nibbled upon, and her hair was dishevelled.

           As he approached her bedside, the woman seemed to sense his presence and began to wriggle around slightly within her restraints. Steven stood over her and a moment later he saw her closed eyes open in a flash. Once again, he felt himself drawn in, but this time, he could not pull away.

           The next few moments were a blur for Steven. He felt as if he were travelling through space down a wormhole into another part of the Universe. Flashes of lightning shot out from the swirling black clouds that circled around him. He felt weightless, and yet felt as if he were being dragged by his ankles into the unknown.

           A few minutes had passed, yet it seemed like hours. When the world around him stopped spinning, Steven found himself in a room of some sort, yet it was absent of any color or substance. He was able to walk, yet saw, nor felt anything beneath his feet. All signs of the dark vortex that brought him there was now gone.

           Steven wandered around looking for any clue as to where he was. It was several minutes later that a voice appeared out of nowhere.

           “Fear not, for you are in a safe place. Nothing here can harm you. There is no violence, no pain, and no despair,” the disembodied voice said.

           “What is this place?” Steven demanded. “Why am I here?”

           “It is thanks to you that my body still exists in your world. That body is merely a vessel for me to travel among your people without worry of discovery, observing the habits of your Earthly ways. You an interesting species. I found that you are each unique in your own individual ways.”

           “So, you claim that you are not human, is that correct? So where are you from?” Steven asked.

           “My race originated from a planet several-thousand lightyears from your Earth. Its name is not possible to pronounce in your language, but it was much like your planet, filled with vegetation and beautiful oceans. We also had a large variety of wildlife, though a great war had taken place on our planet, ending the lives of many of the inhabitants. Only a few thousand had survived and made it off the planet before its final destruction. We searched several universes in search of other planets like our own. When we found Earth, me, along with forty others, embodied the empty shells of your deceased around the planet, and began our research.”

           “So, the body that I saw was once a dead woman? How did you regenerate her dead tissue and reanimate her bodily functions?”

           “The woman’s body was only deceased for a matter of a few hours when I merged myself with her. Her soul had already passed on to another realm so, to put it simply, I replaced her soul with my own. In fact, where you are right now is within my soul. All that I am, ever was, or ever will be is converted into light and is spread throughout this realm.”

           Steven pondered the spoken words and asked, “If I am here right now, what happened to my body back on Earth?”

           “Your body will remain there in a state of stasis until you choose to return. Although, if you choose to remain, as many have already, you will be free from all evil, all sorrow, and all death for eternity.”

           “You said that others have chosen to remain in your realm. Were some of these people from my neighbourhood? I mean, there have been a lot of disappearances lately. When someone chooses to stay, what happens to their bodies?”

           The bodies of those who choose to remain are used as vessels for more of my kind whose current bodies are failing or have aged and outlived their usefulness. If at some point, you choose to rejoin your Earthly beings, you will be given that option as well, though it will be in a different body.”

           Steven seriously considered this opportunity. On one hand, he would be free from all the violence that he sees every day plus be given immortality. On the other hand, he would be leaving behind his family and friends and would be left with a world of nothingness.

           “I deeply appreciate the opportunity, but despite the world being filled with hatred and destruction, there also remains an abundance of love and kindness. I would miss the chances to hold a newborn baby in my hands that I helped deliver. I would miss the late-night calls from my mother asking if I made it home okay. I would miss the sounds of nature on a warm summer afternoon in the park. Thank you, but I choose to remain on Earth.”

           “As you wish, Steven. I will return you to your physical body.”

           Moments later, Steven felt his knees give way. He quickly reached out and found himself grabbing onto the bedrail of the young woman’s hospital bed. He looked once again at her face, and she smiled. Steven smiled back. “Thank you,” was all she said before fading back off into a drug-induced slumber.

           The days, weeks, and months that followed left Steven with a new perspective on life. The things he once dreaded, he now embraced. He had forgotten much of what happened that day in the hospital room, but he will never forget those eyes.