Eyes by Peri Gordon, 11

I lay in my bed late one night, eyes shut tight, trying to fall asleep and failing. I was unusually tense. I breathed in and out and tried to think pleasant thoughts. But every time, an image would transform into another. A lake would become an ocean storm, a rainbow would split into two giant…what were they? I opened my eyes, and I could still see them. They looked like two eyes themselves. Then they disappeared. I must have imagined it, I thought. But…they were so real. I got out of bed and went into the kitchen. Got a snack. I looked both ways every two seconds like I was crossing a street. I couldn’t stop myself from checking for danger, though I didn’t know why. I had never believed in any sort of fantastical dangers before. Dreaming? I pinched myself. My hands were cold. I flinched at their touch, as if it were someone else’s doing. I went back into bed. Shut my eyes tighter than I normally do. Pinched myself again. No I didn’t…my hands were at my sides. I saw the rainbow split into the two eyes again, and I opened my eyes, and they were still there. They looked at me accusingly, and then they vanished. My heart was beating rapidly. What was going on? I sat up. My lungs were breathing rapidly. What was going on? Maybe I was afraid of the dark. My eyes were blinking rapidly. What was going on? I tried to walk towards the light switch, though my legs were trembling. Rapidly. The eyes appeared and melded into the face of my least favorite movie villain from childhood. I shrieked. That alerted more eyes, more villains from nightmares years ago. Then I become one of them.