The Optician

As with most of the small towns in the world, not much out of the ordinary happened in the quaint town of Westvale. Indeed, the city itself was little more than a few rural streets dotted with residences, farms, and a few businesses and other amenities, such as a courthouse, a small hospital, and a modest police station. The ground in Westvale was fertile and green enough to grow crops, or at least enough crops for the little town to prosper, but the surrounding land out of town was more desolate. Much like the ground beneath them, the people of Westvale were a tight-knit and isolated community. Everyone knew everyone else, and they liked to keep it that way. Over the years, the people of Westvale naturally resisted change, and so it was as if the rest of the world had almost moved forward without them. Even so, the people of Westvale were happy in their own world, isolated from the bigger, more progressive cities and towns that weren’t quite so far away. And, presiding over this quaint town was Mayor Linus Redford, a slender, bespectacled middle-aged man who had been appointed as mayor of Westvale only a few months prior.

On a particularly chilly Monday afternoon in mid October, the mayor sat in his office chair, putting away the last few pieces of paperwork for the day, when he was interrupted by a loud rapping at the door. The mayor sighed and sat back in his chair. “Come in.” he called. When the door opened, the mayor watched as a group of five people paraded in, two of which were the chief of police and his deputy. The mayor scratched his head. “Oh, hello Cramer… This looks… chaotic. Something amiss?” he asked, pushing his square-rimmed glasses back on his nose as his brown eyes surveyed the party. Cramer nodded. “Afraid so, sir. Sorry to bother you at the end of your workday, but this seems urgent.” he said. “Well… urgent and bizarre.” he admitted, scratching his head beneath his blue policeman’s hat.

The mayor sighed again and gestured airily to the few chairs in the room that were centered around a rectangular wooden table made from stained wood. “Well, make yourselves at home, I guess…” he said in his usual casual manner, as each of the visitors settled into a chair. “So uh… what’s the matter, exactly…?” he asked, his gaze fixed on the police chief again. Cramer nodded. “Well… It’s about Mrs. Billings, here…” he began, motioning to the older lady sitting in one of the chairs. The middle-aged woman looked pale and visibly shaken, and was perpetually wide-eyed as she rocked back and forth in place, giggling to herself intermittently. Her husband sat next to her, an expression of clear worry on his face. The mayor’s eyes widened just slightly. “Oh, my… You don’t look well, Mrs. Billings.” he admitted, giving her a concerned look.

The police chief continued. “Yeah, that’s the thing… She burst into the police building earlier, sobbing and laughing hysterically, going on about something we couldn’t quite follow and screaming about how the town’s new optician is a witch or something. We had to restrain her. She seems to have calmed down considerably, but getting any information from her about what happened might be difficult… And her husband hasn’t had any luck getting her to talk, either.” At this, Mr. Billings sighed and shook his head shamefully. “Sorry, sir… he’s right. My wife just wouldn’t calm down… She was going on about cursed glasses or something, but she was so manic that she was just babbling half the time.”

The mayor seemed mildly surprised at this story. “I see… Well, you’re right about one thing Cramer, this does sound bizarre.” he admitted, leaning back in his chair and looking pensive, wrapping one hand around his wooden, silver-tipped cane that currently laid against his chair. “I suppose that’s why you brought the optician with you, then?” he asked, looking over at the final member of the company, a younger woman in a white doctor’s coat. She had medium-length black hair that was tied into a simple ponytail, and wore simple, round glasses in front of her gray eyes. She gave off the air of an intellectual type who liked to keep to her work. The optician nodded. “That’s right. Mrs. Billings came to see me this morning. Her vision is rather awful without glasses, so it’s no wonder her husband’s always been driving her everywhere… So, I took some measurements and gave her some suitable glasses. I believe she has them with her.”

Suddenly, Mrs. Billings shook her head and stammered. “N-no! These glasses aren’t ‘suitable’ for anyone!” she yelled, brandishing a pair of black, square-rimmed glasses wildly in one hand. Her husband tried to calm her down, to little effect. Finally Cramer spoke to her sternly. “Calm down!” he commanded. Mrs. Billings blinked and suddenly sighed, going limp in her chair as she returned to her semi-calm state. The mayor extended his hand, tacitly asking for the glasses. Mrs. Billings obliged, her hand shaking as she handed the spectacles over to the mayor, who held them up to the ceiling light and inspected them. “Hmm… Well, they’re glasses alright.” he concluded with a shrug. “I don’t understand…What’s the issue?”

The optician interjected. “Apparently, she claims that the glasses make her see horrific, unspeakable things. Though she refuses to explain exactly what it is she sees. Her face goes pale and she starts laughing hysterically or sobbing uncontrollably. Or both.” she said with a shrug. “I don’t get it. The checkup was fine. The glasses help her vision immensely, or so she says. I think she’s just seeing things, frankly.”

Mrs. Billings interrupted again. “I know what I saw!” she said stubbornly. “So many things… I can’t… I…” she stammered, before beginning to rock in her chair and laugh to herself again. Cramer sighed. “We worry that she may need psychiatric evaluation…” he admitted quietly. The mayor set the glasses down on his desk and sighed, taking a drink from the glass of ice water sitting nearby on the desk. “Well… I doubt these glasses are the cause of your concern, Mrs. Billings… You may be seeing things. After all, if you couldn’t see at all before, then maybe you’ve been seeing things for a long while! You just didn’t know it.” he reasoned. “My thoughts exactly.” the optician agreed. The mayor continued. “I’m quite curious about what it is you saw that’s left you this disturbed though…” he admitted. You’re sure you can’t tell me anything? Anything at all?” he asked. At this, Mrs. Billings’ husband spoke up. “Well, actually she managed to tell me a thing or two about what she saw, which made her think that the glasses are the cause of the troubles… Before she became too hysterical to talk anymore, I mean.”

“Oh good, now we’re getting somewhere!” the mayor said with a strange smile. “So, what did she tell you?” he asked. The others listened in curiously to the concerned husband as Mrs. Billings still sat shivering in apparent shock. “Well…” he began, “she went out shopping after having gone by the optician’s office. Everything seemed fine for a while, and her vision was quite good with the glasses. She hadn’t seen that well in years, so I imagine she was excited at the time. But, she did tell me she looked behind herself after having bought something at the outdoor food market, and she nearly dropped what she had. She said there was an unnaturally tall and thin man… or, she thought it was a man… Whatever it was, she insisted that it was dressed in tattered dark robes, and that it was watching her from about ten feet away. She turned and hurried on, trying to distance herself from it. But, each time she looked back, it seemed to be following her at a small distance. She said it had an unnatural way of moving… Its gait made it look as if its legs were two tall, narrow tree limbs or something… Stranger still, no one else seemed to even notice the thing, according to her. At any rate, she said she broke into a run, making her way out of the market and up the street towards the house… We live up that way, you know. After a while, she looked back again to see that the wretched thing she had described was gone. After catching her breath, she continued on home. She apparently got home just fine, but when she opened the front door and made her way into the living room, she turned back to close the front door and saw the thing looming right in front of her, standing on the doorstep. I was asleep at the time, but I recall her screaming bloody murder, so I hopped out of bed and ran down the stairs as fast as my legs could carry me. When I got there a few seconds later, she was wide-eyed and shaken with fear, and the front door was still open, but there was no one and nothing there. At least, not that I saw. From what I understand, she said that the thing had reached out some… appendage of some kind, and removed her glasses. I remember her mentioning its arm… She said its arm was like a thin but sturdy slime-coated tree limb of some kind… And that its touch was cold, slimy, and icy, like it could suck the soul out of you… But, apparently when her glasses came off, the thing she was running from vanished immediately.”

As Mr. Billings concluded his tale, there was silence in the office for a few long moments. Finally, the mayor spoke again, now eyeing the glasses with distinct interest. “Hmm… Well that’s not a story you hear every day… No wonder you’re traumatized, Mrs. Billings! Who could blame you?” he asked, examining the glasses as he held them up to the light. “That’s all I could get from her… Apparently there were other, even more terrifying and bizarre occurrences too, but… Well, you can see the state she’s in. I don’t think it’ll be easy to learn anything else… I’m sorry…” he said, scratching his head. The optician shook her head and scoffed. “Hmph. I think you should go be seen at a hospital and be checked for hallucinations, Mrs. Billings. Surely you don’t think a pair of glasses is causing you to be chased by nonexistent entities.” she said dryly.

Mrs. Billings suddenly glared at the optician. “Don’t you mock me, you evil woman! I’ll bet you knew perfectly well that these accursed glasses would do this, you witch!” she yelled angrily. The mayor suddenly interjected, more forcefully than usual. “Hey, hey! Look, I understand you’re upset, Mrs. Billings, but I won’t have anyone shouting obscenities here. I’ve only been the mayor here for a couple of months now, but I can already see that the people of Westvale seem to dislike new people for whatever reason… That’s no real concern of mine, but please don’t scare off our new resident already, okay?” he asked wearily, leaning back and taking another drink of water before continuing. “Besides, I just recently gave her clearance to move into town. She just started practicing the other day! Your name’s… Yumi, right? Where did you set up shop, again? By the big lake, right?” he asked. The optician nodded. “Yes sir, that’s correct. I’m Yumi Fischer. I signed for the building next to Westvale Lake, at the end of the shopping district. Quite a scenic area, if I may say. There’s even a bench outside that faces the lake! I was quite lucky that that location was available.”

The mayor nodded. “Right, right… Yes, the lake is quite nice…” he said rather absentmindedly as he coughed and shuffled some papers on his desk. Mrs. Billings seemed to wince at the mention of the lake, and her husband spoke again. “Oh, that’s right… There’s uh, one other thing, Mr. Mayor… The lake, you see…” he started. The mayor gave him a quizzical look. “The lake? What about it?” he asked. Mr. Billings scratched his head as he thought about how to explain. “Well, sir… My wife says she saw… something… just beneath the water’s surface. Again, she was so hysterical after that first incident that she didn’t do a great job of explaining, but… Apparently it was some sort of… ‘creature’, if you will.” he said, struggling for an explanation. The mayor laughed and nodded. “Well, creatures certainly live in lakes, Mr. Billings.” he said jokingly. Mr. Billings shook his head solemnly. “No. Or at least… not like what she described. She said she saw the reflection of something enormous. Upon getting a look, she saw what she thought was a writhing mass of tentacles. Just before she turned away, she realized that the entire thing seemed to be staring at her, like a gargantuan face under the water. She says it frightened her so much that she was rooted to the spot for a few moments, until the face seemed to flicker in and out of her vision for a moment, just before she turned and ran as fast and as far as she could from it. I don’t… care to describe the thing in any more detail, sir.” he admitted with a shake of his head. The mayor still seemed puzzled. “Hm… You seem a bit rattled just from your wife’s explanations, Mr. Billings…” he murmured, as he fiddled with the glasses. After a moment, he removed his own glasses and put Mrs. Billings’ glasses on, looking around the room. “Geez… Well, your prescription is certainly stronger than mine, I can hardly see a thing… But other than that, seems pretty normal to me.” he admitted with a shrug, as he removed her glasses and put his own back on.

Yumi scoffed. “This is ridiculous. Look, I still need to go close my office up for the day. I’ll be open again tomorrow if anyone has any more questions. I strongly suggest you get some rest, Mrs. Billings. If you don’t want to wear the glasses, then don’t wear them, and just keep your poor vision. That’s your decision.” she said rather harshly as she stood up to leave. The mayor shrugged again. “That’s fine… I’m just finishing up as well. You may go, so long as the police are done with you.” he said. Cramer nodded. “Yeah… Sorry for keeping you, Miss Fischer. You can go.” Yumi rolled her eyes. “Just call me Yumi, please. I’m not that old, you know… Thanks. I bid you all goodnight, then.” she said with a slight bow, before seeing herself out of the office. After she had left, Cramer and his deputy stood up as well. “Well, sorry to bother you, sir. Mrs. Billings seems stable enough, I guess. We’ll be getting out of your way now. Shall we take you home, Mrs. Billings? Think you’ll be alright?” he asked. Mrs. Billings sighed and shook her head without saying a word. Her husband nodded, speaking for her. “We should be okay. Thank you, officers. Come on, dear. We should be going.” he said quietly, offering her his hand as the two of them stood up. The mayor nodded. “Well, I know you and your deputy don’t have to go far, at least.” he said with a laugh. The town’s modest police station happened to be located right next door to the mayor’s office. Cramer laughed. “Neither do you!” he said with a grin. Consequently, the mayor’s office was just one large room of his own home. The mayor bid the group farewell before everyone else filed out of his office. After they had departed, he chuckled to himself as he stood up and stared out of his window. “Huh… A strange creature in robes and a thing in the lake, huh…? Interesting… I wonder what that could mean…?” he mused to himself quietly. After a few minutes mulling these odd occurrences over, he grabbed his cane and made his way to the other side of the building, his actual living quarters. “Well, no use pondering over such things for too long.” he reasoned. The rest of that night would be rather uneventful, as would the next couple of days, until Wednesday afternoon, when more guests would show up at the mayor’s door.

It was roughly three in the afternoon, another cold October day. It happened to be raining lightly today. As before, the mayor sat at his desk, dealing with a small stack of the usual mundane paperwork that his job entailed, when there was a knock at his door. With a sigh, he set his pen down. “Come in.” he called. His office door opened, and in walked a traumatized looking boy and his concerned mother. The boy had short, brown hair and eyes, and looked exceedingly pale. It was clear that he was visibly shaken. He appeared to be struck with some type of staggering terror. His eyes were wide and he seemed to be almost hugging himself as he stumbled to a chair and plopped down before another word was spoken.

The mayor looked up in puzzlement at the young boy, and then his eyes shifted over to the concerned mother, who had a mix of fear and anger on her face. “Um… Can I help you, ma’am?” he asked casually. The mother nodded, her voice shaking slightly. “Yes, you can. I’m here to file a complaint about a new resident.” she said angrily. The mayor sighed and sat back in his chair, capping the pen he was holding and toying with it. “Let me guess. Is this about the optician who recently moved in?” he asked knowingly. The mother nodded, slightly surprised. “Yes, it is… I assume you’ve been getting more complaints?” she asked. The mayor nodded, looking at the young boy again. “Yeah… Well, just one, a couple of days ago… So, what’s the matter?” he asked, as the boy looked up at him nervously. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was too terrified to speak, as if some malevolent force would swoop down and enact its vengeance if he were to speak.

The mother sighed and began to explain. “My little Brian just had a school dance last night. He had been looking forward to it for weeks! He even asked the girl he liked out for the dance! So to celebrate, I took him to that… witch, to have her prescribe some contacts. He normally wears glasses, you see. He wanted to be able to go to this dance without them, so we had contacts prescribed to him as a gift. He tried them on and they worked great, until…” The mother trailed off, her voice beginning to crack as she looked down at her scared looking little boy again. The mayor gave her a quizzical look. “Yes…? Until what?” he asked. The mother took a deep breath and continued, painfully recounting what her son had told her. “Until he attended the dance, and began seeing these… things, all over the place… They were like… creatures of some sort, apparently. The way Brian described them was… horrible. I don’t care to repeat it, but… you can see the state that experience put him in! He ran out of the dance hall screaming and fearing for his life, and he’s been silent and rocking back and forth in fear ever since! This is completely unacceptable! In fact, you can give these accursed lenses back to that evil woman!” she concluded angrily, nearly slamming the small blue contact lens case down on the mayor’s desk.

The mayor eyed the case curiously, and then shrugged, picking it up and opening it carefully, peering at the two contact lenses inside. “So… You want a refund?” he asked with a shrug. “No I don’t want a refund! I want something to be done about that woman! Look at my son!” she yelled. The mayor sighed and shook his head, speaking more firmly. “I understand your anger, but I’d sincerely appreciate it if you’d keep it down, thanks.” After cutting the woman off, the mayor continued. “So, you think contact lenses are making your son see… creatures…? I don’t mean to sound rude, but you do know how ridiculous that sounds, don’t you?” he asked with a puzzled look. The woman scoffed. “I know it, but my son’s state should speak for himself! Just look at him!” she demanded. The mayor brushed off her comment. “Well, if he’s that shaken, why don’t you take him for a psychiatric evaluation? Have you considered that?” he asked casually. The woman shook her head, fuming with anger. “I will do no such thing! I am certain that something is horribly wrong with these contacts, and with that vile woman! And apparently I’m not the only one! You need to do something about this, and soon!” she screamed. The mayor spoke up sharply again, putting his hands over his ears. “Ugh, your yelling is giving me a headache! You can keep it down, or you can see yourself out!”

With a long sigh, the mayor leaned back again, looking pensive. “Now then, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not one to chase away a new resident. Westvale is hardly on the map as it is, a new business is a real breath of fresh air for this backwater town! I’m afraid a couple instances of people seeing things is just not enough to warrant disowning someone and chasing them out of town, miss. I’m sorry. I can refer your son to a great psychologist in a neighboring town though, if you’d be interested.”

The mother looked appalled, and she immediately stood up. “Hmph! The former mayor would never have stood for this! Come on, Brian… Let’s get you home. This mayor isn’t going to help us.” she said bitterly, helping her son to his feet. The mayor sighed and shrugged, ignoring her comment as he continued to toy with the lens case. As the boy stood up, he suddenly spoke. “W-wait, there’s one other thing, too…” he said nervously. The mayor eyed him curiously. “Oh? What’s that?” he asked. The boy took a deep breath, looking traumatized as he recounted another experience. “I also… saw something in the lake. Something really really big and… scary…” he said, clearly uncomfortable talking about it. The mayor gave him an odd look. “You too? The woman who came in the other day said the same thing… Huh. Strange.”

The mother scoffed again. “Pft, like you care! Come on Brian… Let’s get you home.” she said, giving the mayor a spiteful look before the two of them turned and made their way out of the office, nearly slamming the door behind them as they left. Once they had departed, the mayor sat and fiddled with the lens case for a few more minutes, before standing up and looking out the office window. The rain was still falling lightly. “Hmph. These people are so unruly sometimes… I guess that’s what it’s like with these backwater towns…” he mumbled to himself. “More creatures… I wonder what that could mean… It’s quite curious. Maybe I should give Yumi a call. Eh… Maybe tomorrow.” he finally said with a shrug and a yawn, deciding to call it a day.

The next day was a cold and uneventful Thursday, followed by an equally mundane Friday. The sky was gray and foreboding on this particular day. The workday proceeded as normal until roughly four, when the mayor was in his office packing up for a weekend road trip he had been planning. As he sat in his office, having just finished his packing, there was a knock at the door yet again. This time, he heard a collection of voices from behind the door. “Hm? Come in, please.” he called. The door was opened by Cramer, the police chief, who was leading a large group of about nine citizens. The mayor recognized Ms. Billings and her husband, as well as the concerned mother from just the other day among the citizens. “Mayor Redford? Do you have a moment…? This is rather important…” he admitted, sounding concerned. Intrigued, the mayor nodded and motioned to the table and chairs around his office. “Hmm, this seems serious… Please, make yourselves home. What’s the matter?” Cramer cleared his throat. “Well… We’ve had more and more instances of people seeing things after getting glasses and contacts from the new optician… Now, I know how ridiculous the idea of glasses and contacts causing visions is, but after this many cases, I feel that I can no longer deny it, myself. These people, as well as quite a few others, all agree with me. We’ve come to ask you one last time to do something about it. We’d like to keep things civil, you understand. But, this trauma has to stop. I’ve made a promise to these people. If you won’t do anything, I will. As the chief of police, I hate to resort to force when I don’t have to, but I will if I must. I’ve gotten a warrant for Yumi Fischer’s arrest on the grounds of the extensive mental trauma she’s caused the people of Westvale. We plan to go ask her to leave town tonight. Hopefully she complies. If not, I’ll have no choice but to take her in for processing. I hope you understand.”

The mayor seemed slightly surprised to hear this. “Hm… Is this really that much of a problem? It’s hard to believe that the chief of police would believe the notion that glasses are making people see things! But, I guess I admire your consideration for the citizens…” he admitted, toying with a pen. One of the citizens, a younger woman, spoke up angrily. “It’s a huge problem! How can you be so nonchalant about all of this!? Don’t you care about your people?” she asked. There was murmuring from the crowd, and Cramer spoke to them sharply. “Hey, hey! I understand your frustration, but there’s no need to berate Mayor Redford. No more outbursts, please!” he demanded. After the crowd quieted, Cramer turned to the mayor again and sighed. “Well… There you have it, mayor. People are scared, and at this point, I don’t blame them. I have to step up, one way or the other. Will you do something, or will I have to handle it myself?” he asked plainly.

There was silence for a long while as the mayor furrowed his brow and quietly reflected. After a few moments, he looked up, and swept his eyes across the crowd of people, noticing their concerned and angry expressions. Finally, he sighed and sat back again. “Well… I understand what you’re saying, but I’m afraid my hands are tied, Cramer. I’ve said this before, but Westvale is hardly on the map. Having an optician move in is a great boon for the city! And, frankly, all she’s done is her job. I can’t in good conscience kick her out of town for just doing her job. But, you are the chief of police, so if you think it necessary to handle, then you can do it yourself. I won’t stop you, if you insist.”

Cramer sighed, and there was dejected mumbling from the crowd. “Spineless mayor…” one huskier man whispered. Cramer raised his hand to quiet them. “That’s enough, people. Very well, Mayor Redford. I’ll take care of it myself, then. Either she leaves willingly when we ask, or we’ll remove her by force and throw her in jail. Either way, she has to go. Business for the city doesn’t mean anything when the business is giving people these horrible visions. I’ve heard reports of unimaginable horrors. I’m sorry sir, but I have to do my job.”

The mayor laughed and shrugged. “You’re a good cop, Cramer. I won’t hold it against you. You can do as you wish. But I will urge you to reconsider… Not because I don’t believe in your reasoning, but because I think this endeavor will end badly for you. Very badly.” he said ominously. Cramer seemed confused by the mayor’s words. “Oh? Why do you say that?” he asked. The mayor shrugged and squared a messy stack of papers on his desk. “Oh, just a hunch, really. Let’s just hope she leaves willingly, shall we? Good luck, Cramer.” he said with a smile.

Cramer nodded, collecting himself and standing up. “Very well… Thanks for your time, Mayor Redford. Have a nice weekend. Come on, everyone. We’ll regroup with the others outside and head to the optician’s office immediately. Let’s hope this doesn’t get violent… I’ll lead the way, just in case. This way, folks. Goodnight, Mayor Redford.” With that, the crowd of citizens filed out of the room behind the police chief, mumbling and talking amongst each other excitedly. All of them seemed eager to drive the optician out of their small town. After they had departed, the mayor sighed. “Huh… Well that didn’t take long… She sets up shop for one week and an angry mob forms. Ha! Guess I better let her know…” he mumbled, as he fished his phone out of his shirt pocket and dialed a number. The phone rang four times before a woman’s familiar voice answered. “Hello, Yumi Fischer speaking.” “Hey, Yumi. It’s Mayor Redford. Just wanted you to know, the police chief is leading an angry mob of citizens your way. They say they’re going to ask you to leave peacefully first, but then they insist on driving you out of town at any cost.” There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment, and then Yumi laughed. “Ha! Wow, that was fast… I swear, backwater people like this don’t appreciate the truth when it’s literally right in front of their eyes…” The mayor nodded and laughed. “I know, I know… Believe me, I know what you mean.” Yumi scoffed. “Hmph. Well, alright, thanks for letting me know… I’ll take care of it. You’re heading out of town now, right?” she asked. The mayor nodded. “Yep, just finished packing. I’m about to drive out now. Talk to you later.” “Yeah, alright. I’ll call you later, then. See you.” The line clicked, and the mayor hung up, before standing up and grabbing a tweed hat from the hat rack by the door. “Ugh, what a job this position turned out to be... Well, time to go find brighter skies for the weekend and leave this tiny town behind!” he said with a laugh, as he grabbed his suitcases and made his way out of the office, locking the office door behind himself.

Meanwhile, after leaving the mayor’s office, Cramer had rallied a mob of nearly forty townspeople at the town square. He stood addressing them. “Now I know all of you are concerned, which is why you’ve insisted on coming along with me tonight. Let’s remember to keep this civil, so stow your pitchforks and torches, alright? Now follow me, and let’s bring our quiet little town back to normal.” There was an audible cheer from the citizens, who followed Cramer as instructed. Cramer led them up the street leading to Yumi Fischer’s office. The clambering of the crowd could be heard clearly against the still night air. Something strange seemed to be in the air this particular night; the town was more still than usual, and a light fog pervaded the streets. Not to be deterred, Cramer pressed on through the foggy city street, passing quaint businesses and restaurants until eventually reaching the large lake at the end of the street. The optician’s office stood silently at the end of the street, and the sliver of moon’s argent light reflected luminously against the still water’s surface, penetrating the foggy air. Cramer prepared to knock on the door of the optician’s office, before one of the citizens behind him addressed him. “Uh, Mr. Cramer…? Look over there… Isn’t that her?” the citizen asked. Cramer turned back to see him pointing toward the lake. As Cramer’s eyes followed where the man was pointing, he caught sight of a slender woman in a white lab coat with long black hair, who was facing the lake, standing on its shore silently. Cramer scratched his head. “Hmm… Well, it does look like her…” he mumbled, before shrugging and addressing her. “Hey, you there!” he called. After the woman failed to respond, he sighed and stepped away from the office building, walking over toward the misty lakefront. “Hey!” he repeated. Suddenly, the woman seemed to hear him, and she turned around. Sure enough, it was Yumi Fischer, the optician, who seemed to be admiring the lake. “Hm? Oh, hello Mr. Cramer… It’s a nice evening, isn’t it?” she asked with a smile. “Forgive me, I was just admiring the lake. I really was lucky to get this location for my office, don’t you think?” The crowd of citizenry behind Cramer began to murmur angrily amongst themselves. “That witch needs to go!” one woman said angrily. Cramer raised a hand to silence them. “Quiet.” he said plainly, as he approached and waved to Yumi. “Hello, Ms. Fischer… Actually you’re just the person I was looking for. I’ll get right to the point. An overwhelming number of citizens have experienced horrific things since using your glasses and contacts… I initially gave you the benefit of the doubt, but you should really see the gigantic pile of reports sitting on my desk right now… I’m afraid I have no choice but to ask you to leave town. Don’t take it personally, but the safety of the people of Westvale is my job. I hope you’ll understand. Either you leave willingly, or we’ll have to use force. I’m afraid staying here is no longer an option for you.”

Yumi gave Cramer a quizzical look. “Oh? You too? Yes, I’ve gotten numerous angry complaints and furious curses from the lovely townsfolk this week…” she said with a roll of her eyes. “So you’re convinced that my eyewear is causing hallucinations, too? I don’t believe you’ve ever come to see me yourself, have you? How do you know these people aren’t just lying to you to make you use force, Mr. Cramer?” she asked with an odd smile. One of the citizens, a younger woman, yelled angrily. “Are you kidding me!? Like all of us would be lying! It’s all of our words against yours, you devil!” Cramer raised his hand again. “Silence!” he yelled. He then turned and sighed, shaking his head. “Sorry Ms. Fischer, but it is about a hundred words against just yours at this point… Regardless of what the mayor says, I’m afraid you have to go.”

Yumi laughed, and then shrugged. “Alright, alright… I guess you got me.” she said with a strange grin. “That’s right. My eyewear is very special indeed. It not only corrects vision, it overcorrects vision! Not only do you see again, you see the truth! These horrific beings that you all claim to see… They’re always there! My eyewear doesn’t create them, it just reveals them!” she said with a cackle. “My work is to hand people the truth! The real, ugly, horrifying truth!” The citizens could hardly believe what they were hearing. “What? Those monsters are real!? N-no way! You’re lying to us!” “Yeah, it’s just another lie! Your glasses are cursed!” For once, Cramer himself was also at a loss. “Wh-what did you say…? All these… things that people have been reporting to me… They’re real, you say!?” After a moment of disbelief, he spat and shook his head, drawing his pistol. “You’re off your rocker, woman. I think you’re the one who needs a psychiatrist. I’m taking you in and submitting you to a mental hospital. Now put your hands up. Don’t make this messy.” he demanded. Yumi simply rolled her green eyes. “Bah, fine… I can’t believe I hand you the truth and you respond by arresting me. So you’d rather go on living just blissfully unaware of these invisible beings, huh? You backwater people really are hopeless...” she muttered. Cramer trained his pistol on her again. “That’s enough. Hands up, now!” Yumi shrugged and grinned. “If you say so.” she said, raising her hands slowly and looking to the sky as if she was praying to someone. She began to quietly mumble some incomprehensible garble, and Cramer gave her a puzzled look. “Hmph… This girl needs professional help…” he mumbled, as he moved in slowly.

Suddenly, Yumi’s green eyes seemed to spark, and turn an eerie, unearthly yellow color. There was an audible gasp from the crowd as the foggy water of the lake behind her began to churn and heave violently, seemingly for no apparent reason. The water foamed and crashed as some unseeable entity seemed to writhe in the dark water of the lake. Yumi laughed and shook her head. “Not all of these creatures are so passive when you know how to talk to them! Just take a look! Not that you can see anything without the glasses or lenses I gave you… I’ll bet you wish you had them now!” she said with a crazed laugh, as she pointed forward, and a deafening crash was heard. The crowd of citizens screamed as a large swath of them were suddenly flattened on the spot, as if they were crushed by an enormous, invisible hammer. The other citizens began screaming, some of them running immediately. Yumi cackled wildly. “I tried to prepare you for this, but you didn’t want any help! Too bad, huh?” she asked mockingly, as she pointed at her office building, the entirety of which was suddenly crushed flat by the same massive, invisible force, leaving a devastated ruin behind.

With wide eyes, Cramer jumped back and aimed his gun squarely at Yumi’s chest. “Jail’s too good for you… Rest in peace, demon!” With that, he fired repeated rounds directly at Yumi. Strangely, the bullets seemed to stop in midair, before disintegrating on the spot. Yumi shook her head. “Sorry, captain! These creatures can be protective, too! If you wanna know where to aim, you’ll have to know what you’re fighting! Why don’t you put these on? Go on, I’ll wait! It’s the least I can do in your final hour!” she said with a sinister grin, pulling a spare pair of glasses out of her lab coat’s pocket and tossing them to Cramer, who grunted. “Tch… Guess I have no choice…” he muttered, as he unfolded and put the glasses on.

Putting the glasses on, Cramer was immediately greeted by the sight of an unspeakable creature in the lake. It was an enormous, writhing mass, covered in every possible angle, and some impossible angles, by massive tentacles and strange, alien appendages, the functions of which would likely never be known. Cramer could see that his bullets had been intercepted by one of the being’s gigantic tentacles, which was draped protectively in front of Yumi. The creature was unimaginably, impossibly enormous, its unspeakable form stretching up to the heavens. There was no way even a large lake like this one could ever contain such a being. In the face of such an earth shattering creature that was clearly not of this world, Cramer began shaking, and eventually began laughing maniacally, his mental faculties failing him. He fell to the ground, unable to move. Yumi smirked. “Well, you tried.” she said plainly, as she snapped her fingers and pointed toward Cramer, and the creature brought down another huge tentacle, crushing Cramer beneath its weight. The other citizens had all surrendered and began running from this gigantic menace that they couldn’t see. Yumi sighed, staring at Cramer’s flattened corpse. “What a shame… You were a decent person, Cramer. It’s too bad that not even you could handle the truth.” she murmured. “Oh well! Time for some demolition!” she said happily, as she began walking forward, pointing this way and that to direct the otherworldly creature, who continued to brutally smash buildings and structures alike into flattened rubble. Having been awoken by the awful crashing, other citizens were now flooding out of their homes, running for their lives. This horrific display of wanton destruction continued, with the mayor’s office, the police building, and every other building in town soon being reduced to ruins.

Eventually, the town of Westvale had been entirely destroyed, reduced to a mass of rubble, with its citizens either dead or homeless. Finally, there was a profound silence as the nighttime fog rested on top of the heaps of wreckage and debris. With a sigh, Yumi pushed her glasses up on her nose and waved her hand dismissively, signaling to the enormous creature, which emitted an inhuman wailing noise as it slowly withdrew its tentacles and extensions, eventually managing to somehow sink back into the lake. Soon after, the water of the accursed lake calmed, and the night was still. Yumi looked out among the silent ruins of Westvale for a few moments, before sighing and pulling her phone out of her coat pocket, dialing a number. After a few rings, someone picked up. “Hello?” Is that you, Yumi?” Yumi nodded. “Yeah, it’s me. Looks like things ended with a pretty big mess… No one could handle the truth. Also, I’m afraid there’ll be no town for you to come back to. Guess you’re not the ‘mayor’ anymore, huh?” she asked with a smirk. The man on the line sighed. “Huh. Yeah, I guess not… Man, another town wiped out… That’s the third one now. Oh well… We’ve been doing this for a while now, I never hold out much hope for these backwater towns.” Yumi nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean… It’s a shame. But someday we’ll find someone else who actually wants to see the truth. You know, the neighboring city of Caras might be a good spot! Maybe they’ll need a new mayor soon?” Redford laughed. “Ha! Yeah, I’m sure we can make that happen…” he said thoughtfully as he drove down the open road. “Oh, I need another pair of glasses from you, mine are getting old. Still working great though!” he said, as he pushed his glasses further up on his nose and looked out over the open road, admiring the terrifying, skeletal bird-like creatures soaring overhead. “Let’s hope we find someone who can handle the truth soon. These beings need more friends.” Yumi nodded. “Yeah… Well, I’m taking the weekend off. So, guess I’ll see you in Caras on Monday, ‘new mayor’?” she asked with a laugh. Redford chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, alright. See you then. Let’s hope the next town doesn’t form an angry mob quite as quickly. Usually it’s a few weeks before that happens! Dealing with dead bodies is a young man’s game.” he said, as he hung his phone up with a smile, admiring the frightening, otherworldly beings that only he and the optician could see.