Black-Eyed Child

I’m sure you heard the myths about black-eyed children. Some people say they are an urban legend. Some people say they are true. Others wonder how they came to be. Are they extraterrestrials? Are they vampires? Are they some kind of weird experiment that went wrong? No one really had the answers as to where they came from and why they are here. Some say they’re evil and bring bad luck and death. Some had no idea of who they are.

I want to say the black-eyed children are real because I actually saw one a couple of years ago. Here is my story.

It was late in the month of August. It was hot as Hades even though the hour was approaching midnight. I lived in the City of Angels, Los Angeles. I was walking down to my apartment after a late shift with a private security firm I worked at. Some starlet was being stalked and needed a security guard with her at all times. The guy who was to relieve me was running late for some reason or another. I didn’t ask since it was none of my business. I was tired and it was late.

Just as I approached my door, I heard a slight noise behind me. All my years of training went on red alert. My body was tense and I was ready for some action. I slowly turned around to face whoever it was that was following. My first thought it was the starlet’s stalker but it wasn’t. It was a red-haired girl with her head tilted downward. She appeared to be around eight years old. The one thing I noticed was her clothing. They appeared to be out of style and out of date. Her long hair also appeared that it hadn’t been washed in almost a week.

I just stood there puzzled at what I was seeing. The girl stood a few feet away from also frozen staring at me. We stared at each other for several seconds. I can feel a tingling sensation at the back of my neck and deep inside of my mind. She turned and ran down the corridor. I started to go after but it seemed as if my feet didn’t want to move. I stood there staring down at my feet confused at why they didn’t want to move. Several seconds later, I was able to move. I cocked my head to the side before unlocking the door to my apartment.

I stepped inside and closed and locked the door. I turned on a lamp standing by the front door then moved further into the living room. I stopped suddenly when I realized something that I hadn’t noticed it before. The girl’s eyes were black. A cold chill washed over me and I shivered slightly. Then I shrugged it off and continued on my down the hallway toward the bedroom as I pulled off my work shirt.

After a quick shower, and changed into a pair of sweats, I walked down the hallway and into the living room then into the kitchen. Just as I reached out to open the fridge—the doorbell rang. I whirled around and faced the front door. It was really late and he had no idea who it could be visiting this late at night.

My outstretched hand fell to my side as the doorbell rang once more. A cold chill washed over that I shivered slightly. No one should be ringing the doorbell this late at night. I walked out of the kitchen and through the living room. I looked through the peephole and didn’t see anyone standing there. I took a step back. The doorbell rang again when I was two feet away. Puzzled, I walked back to the door and opened it. There was no one in the hallway. I looked one way and the other way. Still didn’t see anyone in the hallway. No one could move that fast in a few seconds to have disappeared. I ran a hand along my cheek before taking a step back into my apartment then closed the door.

Without a second thought of what just occurred, I walked back into the kitchen. I opened the fridge door and peered inside when the doorbell rang again. I slammed the door to the fridge shut and stormed back to the door. I swung it open and was about to yell whoever it was only to find the girl I saw earlier standing there with her face turned down. The anger that was building up inside of me had disappeared. Instead, something else overcame me. An overwhelming sensation of wanting to help this poor little girl washed over me.

I knelt in front of her but she looked away from me. “Do you need some help?” I asked in a gentle voice.

It took almost a minute before she could reply. “Some water, please,” she murmured.

“Okay,” I said then stood. I went back into my apartment and pulled out a cold bottle of water. As an afterthought, I grabbed a small bag of chocolate chip cookies. I went back into the hallway and handed the items to the little girl. She grabbed them and then she took off running down the hallway and disappeared. I was left wondering if she was the one who rang the doorbell twice earlier. Just as soon as the thought entered my mind it went out when I walked back into my apartment.

I ate a sandwich and drank a bottle of water before heading to bed. I was overcome with sleepiness all of a sudden. That I feel asleep just as my head hit the pillow.

I woke up sometime in the afternoon. I checked my phone and noted there were several messages. I couldn’t help but wonder how I slept through the ringing. There were a lot of missed calls.

One of the messages was from Dan, my boss. It was urgent and I was needed immediately. That call came in a seven in the morning; several hours later after I went to bed. The second call was from Dan; again, it was still urgent. There was a man down and something was happening with the starlet and the stalker. The stalker was making his move on the starlet. I noticed there was something in Dan’s voice that was almost like he was excited about the whole ordeal. The next message from Dan; his voice appeared to be sad. The man that went down earlier had died and the stalker was taken into custody and it was over. I am to wait for the next assignment.

I turned on the TV and turned it to the news channel. They were talking about the starlet and the stalker. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from the newscaster. There were several men that were hit in the crossfire with the stalker. A couple of men had died.

I could have been one of those men, the thought crossed my mind.

I put the phone down as I stood. I walked over to the window and peered outside the window. The city below was buzzing down below. I placed a hand on the glass as I thought about the girl from last night; the girl with the black-eyes. There was something about her that I couldn’t figure out. Something had crossed my mind. The stories I heard as a teenager; the stories of black-eyed people. I shook my head in denial. They couldn’t be true. Could they? The stories aren’t real. But the little girl? She had black-eyes.

I thought black-eyed children brought misery and death but the little girl saved my life? Could those stories be true?