WARNING: Ignorance is Bliss

I?m sure of it now: if I look away from the computer screen, it?ll kill me. I?m as sure of that as I?m sure that my snoring wife will sleep through my silenced scream and choked breaths. She?ll wake in a couple of hours and find my dismembered body, if traces are left. Maybe I?ll have simply vanished, as invisible to my wife and daughter as this creature is to them. Until then, I?m keeping my eyes on the screen pretending I?m blissfully unaware of it next to me.
Awareness is the problem. It may have always been there, hiding at the edge of perception. The mistake I made was taking notice. I woke in the middle the night, mouth dry and throat parched after a fast food dinner. When I reached across the nightstand for my water, I couldn?t shake the feeling that there was someone else in our bedroom. My eyes traveled to the space between our bathroom and closet, where the shadows in the room seemed to gather. There was no one there, just my mind playing tricks on me. I sipped from what little water remained and closed my eyes. I should have sat in that darkness for another three hours, sleep and cotton mouth or not.
But the faint instinct got stronger. I opened my eyes and sat up, failing its first test. Now I could make it out - a long, gangly shape crammed in the corner of the room, its head jammed and stooped between where the wall and ceiling met.
?Do you see me??
It used a toddler?s voice, soft and gurgling. I slid my hand across the bedsheet and nudged Jane awake. ?What?? she mumbled into the mattress.
I climbed on top of her. ?You?re joking,? she said.
?There?s someone here,? I whispered in her ear.
Her body tensed as she processed my words. I rolled off and sat back, staring at my computer desk rather than at the creature at the end of the room. Jane rolled over and surveyed the room. Any second and she?d scream, or grab my hand out of fear.
?Do you see me?? it asked again.
?Where are they?? She asked after a moment. In the corner my eye, I saw both her and the creature turn their heads towards me. I licked my dry lips before I answered.
?False alarm.?
I laid back down, grabbing my wife?s arm and wrapping her body around mine. She went along with it, running her fingers through my hair. I wonder if she could feel my heart pounding in my chest. In the morning the episode would pass and all would be well again.
But no. As Jane woke with the sound of my daughter?s alarm clock, I turned over for the first time in two hours. The creature was still there.
?Can you see me?? it asked.
?You?re still in bed? What about work?? My wife asked.
?Might call out today.?
For the rest of that morning I did not leave the bed. Eventually the water that I worked my way through worked its way through me. The second test had arrived. Either I could try to walk past the creature to the bathroom or walk out the bedroom and use one of the bathrooms downstairs.
The choice was obvious until a thought occurred to me right as my feet touched the ground. What if it notices I?m avoiding it?
?Do you see me??
My daughter was already at school. My wife was downstairs, working from home. ?Honey,? I called, ?you still here??
Silence. Then ? ?Hold on, I?m on a call!?
Her voice gave me comfort and courage. I held on to that as I headed towards our bathroom, towards the creature.
It got excited. Not in the way a boy does when his crush walks into a room, not the way a dog does when its master comes home, but the way a lioness gets excited when she sees a suckling baby antelope.
?You see me??
I had spent most of the night wondering if the creature could move while fantasizing that the sun?s rays would vanquish it. I traced back my initial feelings of being watched and realized they had been emanating on and off from that very corner of the house since the night we moved in, fifteen years ago.
Now, as I watched its rail thin legs bend as if to pounce, as it slowly extended its arms, I knew that motion was not only possible, but imminent.
I stayed the course towards the bathroom, even as I narrowly avoided its skin dotted with pustules, and strands of its hair stuck to my shoulder like a web. From the corner of my eye I saw it relax after I passed.
?Can?t you see me?? It whispered.
For the first day or two, it was manageable. Just feign ignorance. But then it tested me further.
On Wednesday, we walked into our bedroom to sleep and there was the creature, hanging over the headboard. Its yellow eyes were the last thing I saw before I shut mine.
The next morning it was gone. Was the nightmare over? I allowed myself a moment of relaxation that lasted until I walked into the bathroom, turned on the light, and there it was: crammed between my toilet and the tub, hanging from the shower rail.
?Can you see me??
It took me a moment to remember I needed to act natural and relieve myself, and another moment to remember how to relieve myself.
My final failure was tonight, during family night. The thing had crawled its way to our living room. For once, it was not focusing on me. Whenever I dared to glance its way, its eyes were glued on our daughter. I wondered if someone else would share this curse. It took all my willpower to not stare when it finally leaned towards her and whispered:
?Can you see??
?And then you won?t believe what Matt said, ugh I hate him so much OhMyGod.?
She couldn?t see it. That was obvious. Yet I still couldn?t help but react when it reached two lanky arms towards her neck to strangle her.
?Sarah!?
Three heads turned towards me.
?What?? She snapped.
??Nothing,? I said, ?What did Max say??
?Matt said??
The creature crawled away without a word. That should have been the end of it. I should have grabbed Sarah and Jane right there and forced them into the sedan. No bags, nothing other than what we had on hand. They would be safe. We would be safe.
But I am a coward.
I didn?t say anything. Not when I followed Jane into our bedroom for the night. Not when, for once, the creature was absent. And not when, after I got on my computer to check my email, it appeared in the doorway ? standing straight for the first time.
?You see me.?
I didn?t say a word as I opened a new tab in my browser. Not a word as it wormed its way towards me.
?You see me.?
Not a word as it lowered its ?face? to my eye level, its hair tickling as it slid down my shoulders and chest, its warm breath in my ear.
?I know you see me.?
And even now, as my fingers hammer the keyboard, I?m not saying a word. Though I am typing some.
?Look at me.?
I can?t ignore it any longer. It?s raising its arms to my neck; enjoying the game that?s already been won. But I?ve managed a victory of my own, with three things giving me comfort in my last moments:

1. My wife is safe
   
2. My daughter is safe
   
3. You are not
   

I have told you everything about this creature, so soon it will appear to you. You will feel its presence in the dead of night when all other distractions are quieted. I wish you luck remaining in your bed, pretending to be asleep even though your sheets are uncomfortable, or your throat is parched, or nature calls. It will be in the corner of your room, waiting for you to look its way. For years if it needs to.
It?s grabbing me now.
I did not want to be alone. I?m sorry. But I did warn you.
Pus is exploding from the globules on its knobby hands.
It?s licking my hair and turning my face towards it.
maybe u can pull it off
dnt acknowledge it
remember
ignorance is bksius


Source.