The scar

He ran his fingers through his grey beard as he released a long-drawn sigh and opened his eyes to reveal the milky white pigment they held. The little girl speaking with him let out a slight gasp of shock that quickly turned to an obvious fascination with her subsequent exhale. The man let out a chuckle before he removed his hand from his beard, raised the sunglasses in question, and answered “That, that is why I am wearing these sunglasses indoors little lady.” He paused to give her a moment to absorb the information before he continued, “You see, I am blind. My vision failed me quite some years ago...a little too late if you ask me but that is up for debate.” His voice was gravely, deep, and felt as though it was housing some great pain, which of course it was. “Now, do you have any other questions you’d like to ask me? And before you do, know there is no great story on how I became blind. It just happened over time until one day, I couldn’t see anymore.” He replaced the glasses onto his face before reaching into the breast pocket of his tattered flannel shirt and removing a pack of cigarettes as well as a book of matches.

As he lit the match and set his smoke aflame, a nurse walked by and cleared his throat. “Sir, I’m afraid you’re not allowed to smoke in here. I’m going to have to ask you to put that out and go outside if you wish to continue.” The nurse’s voice showed he was clearly irritated but he did his best to remain calm.

“But of course my good man, my apologies. I didn’t see the signs.” The blind man let out a hearty laugh interrupted only by his throaty cough as he extinguished the cigarette onto his already quite ruined shirt and set it back into the pack.

As the nurse walked away with a groan and the blind man placed both the matches and pack of smokes back into his breast pocket, the young girl finally spoke, albeit faintly. “How’d you get that scar?” Her voice was pure, innocent, and filled with the curiosity they warn cats about but was also earnest as she meant no disrespect in her lack of manners.

“I was hoping you would at least ask my name, it’s Charles by the way, but you’ll have to be more specific dear. I’ve many scars, some with stories and some without.” He gestured to the various scars along his arms, hands, and neck before giving the miss a yellow-stained grin.

“That one, the one on your cheek,” she tapped her own cheek as if he could see for reference, “it looks like a little letter ‘i’.” She added for additional clarification.

“Ah yes. You’ve quite the eye, out of my many scars you picked the one with the best story...well relatively speaking that is. While not the reason for my current loss of sight, it’s the reason I wish my sight had been lost sooner.” He ran his finger over his cheek, sucked on his teeth, and let out a cough before continuing, “Very well miss, I will share this tale. I haven’t much time left in this world and this is the one story I’ve never told before. Whether you believe it or not is up to you but whatever you do... if you see the face of evil, don’t be afraid... because that’s just what it wants and it’ll kill ya if it thinks you are. I was lucky to be young and dumb at the time, it’s the only reason I can tell you this now,” he pauses a moment in thought “so perhaps I was wiser than I realize come to think of it.”

Charles placed his hand on the pole holding his IV as he told his story. “You see, I was about...19 or 20 years old. Not even old enough to drink, not it that stopped me, but I was home on break from college. I lived on the other side of the country at the time, moved as far as I could get after everything transpired so don’t worry that this happened anywhere near you but… I was staying with my parents for the summer. Dad was a car salesman and my mother, bless her soul, was a nurse. A strange couple I know but both were busy people so I was alone throughout the day. My old man begged me to get a job for the summer, told me it would not only build character but would also help me pay for my schooling. Of course, I disagreed, I just wanted to party all night and sleep all day. The only problem with that though was the bars all closed on Sundays since it was a small christian town so just like every Sunday there was nothing to do.”

The blind man began to cough violently into a cloth for several minutes before revealing small amounts of blood. As the girl began to call for help, he dismissed her “No no, it’s alright. It’s passed… I’ll be okay. Now, where was I? Ah yes! The Monday of the incident. Since the bars were closed Sunday and I had nothing to do but to crash early, I woke Monday bright and early without the slightest headache, it was disgusting. Since I needed to pass the time until my local establishment, which didn’t card, opened, I decided to go for a walk through the town. It was mostly uneventful but the heat was sweltering and I was sweating like a pig. Knowing most places would kick me out for soliciting and not wanting to spend what little money I had on anything but booze, I sought a cool-looking building to crash for a couple of hours to escape the heat. That’s when I came across the old high school. It shut down because it didn’t have enough students so all the kids were sent to a bigger school in the next town over and in the heat, it looked perfect.”

The girl listened intently to his story, enthralled in every word. “I managed to find a busted window and climbed in, somehow without injury given that the floor on the other side was covered in broken glass. I felt instant relief from the blazing sun and decided to explore the halls I roamed only a few years earlier. The first thing I did was go to my old locker from my final year and on the way there I heard a skittering sound. Being a young man without fear, I decided to check it out and followed it into the once science room. Slowly I peeked my head in to find nothing more than two raccoons. Nothing crazy, yeah? It was when I turned around I was met face to face with a homeless man holding an empty needle. I don’t know what this man saw when he looked at me but it certainly wasn’t a young college student. He screamed louder than I’ve ever heard anyone scream in my life but it wasn’t out of fear...or anger...I think he was more confused than anything but he began to chase me throughout the school. I ducked through halls and darted through different classrooms, it wasn’t too hard to lose him. Soon enough I was crouched down trying to find the window I came in from without being seen by the homeless gentleman.”

Charles paused, appearing more distraught. “Normally I’d end the story here, I’d say I found the window and scratched myself on the way out on the broken glass...but...I’ll tell you what actually happened. You see, I saw a light coming from one of the lockers before I left. I opened it to reveal a partially illuminated stairway leading down towards some basement. Only problem was, I had never heard of the school having a basement. Much less one hidden behind some random locker? Naturally being young and dumb, I followed it downwards. Quickly it became much darker and the stairs went a lot deeper than I had anticipated. After what I can only assume was a couple of minutes of walking downstairs in complete darkness did I see another light at the bottom. It revealed a single red door like that at the front of a house. Surprisingly I tried to open it and equally surprising, it wasn’t locked. So, like a fool, I went in. While not as dark as the stairs, it was still very hard to see. I placed my hand on the stone to feel it was slightly wet and sticky… I looked down at my hand to barely be able to make out the crimson tones clinging to my skin, blood. Most people would’ve been smart enough to not break into the school in the first place or to have left at the sight of the homeless man… surely at least smart enough to turn around at this point. Not me though, I pressed forward in equal parts curious and stupid. It seemed to be a maze of sorts with twisting walls and corridors and I was lost very quickly.”

The blind man stopped “Are you sure you want to hear this? I’m giving you a chance to turn back, little lady.” He asked hoping she would say to stop.

“It’s okay, you can keep going” the little girl replied. Charles took a sip of water, cleared his throat, and continued.

“Well, I was lost until I heard a sound. A hum of sorts, musical almost. I followed it until I came to another door with a bright flickering light both underneath it and piercing the keyhole. I tried to turn the knob but this one was locked. So, I dropped to my knees and decided to look through the keyhole. I can still almost feel the damp stone against my shins, the moisture seeping through my jeans and to my skin. That was however the least of my concerns. When I looked through the hole I saw about a dozen or so people dressed in red robes. They were surrounding something that I couldn’t immediately make out and were humming in unison. I watched for several minutes, unable to look away. I watched as one of the figures broke from the circle and approached whatever it was they were all surrounding. It was then I saw, bound to a chair, the homeless man from upstairs. He was dead, perhaps for days. Maggots fell from his neck where there was a giant gaping wound. I fell backward in utter confusion for I had just seen the man only moments before. At the sound of several screams, I stumbled back to my knees to look through the hole again only this time was a single white eye looking back at me. Until now I had seen nothing outside the realm of man but this...this was not human. I jumped back, ready to run but instead, I gazed as a thick black ichor oozed from both underneath the door and through its keyhole. It grew into a large puddle of sludge that morphed into some sort of creature covered in both eyes and mouths. Its shape, constantly shifting as it approached me and the sound it made is indescribable as I have not heard anything comparable on all of the earth. With its shriek, the door flung open to reveal all the figures in red, dead and drained of all color to their skin.”

Charles looked at the girl with great intent “It took me years to figure out why it didn’t do anything. It ‘stood’ there and stared at me and I did the same. I just watched the figure, unable to comprehend what was going on. I simply turned and began to walk away and it followed. The sound of it sloshing behind me was unsettling but I remained calm somehow. simply walking all the way until I found the stairs again though it remained close behind. As soon as I was at the first step, I broke into a furious and panicked sprint and it matched. I dared not look back until I bound through the open locker where I spun around to see the eyes all red and the mouths bearing fangs but it stopped as it reached the threshold of the locker. At this point, I was pouring both in hot and cold sweats but I roared in victory, slammed the locker shut and, listened as it sloshed back down the stairs. I had won...or so I thought. I turned around and came face to face with the homeless man once again and his needle. Only this time the syringe was full of the same black ichor and this time I was too slow. The needle penetrated my neck and he pumped the slime into my veins...soon enough darkness overcame me and I collapsed onto the ground. I woke up in front of the school with no one else around, the sun still sitting overhead and burning down on me. I partially believed I passed out from the heat and hallucinated the whole thing but part of me knew it was real. I rushed to my father’s car dealership, stole a vehicle and, ran. Right as I was leaving the town I saw a figure rush from the woods and into the road. I could have sworn it was the homeless man and I struck the figure with the car at full speed. The impact was rough and as the figure rolled over the top of the car, I veered off the road and into a nearby tree. The airbag blew and shards of broken windshield sliced me up, although the gash in my cheek was the worst of it and I was overall not too worse for wear.”

The blind man takes another drink of his water and sighs. “I managed to clammer from the car and go back to look at the figure. It was just a deer. I hit that thing with intent to kill and it was a poor animal. I looked back, the car was totaled but I wasn’t going back so I just kept walking until finally, a truck picked me up. I hitchhiked from there all the way here. Eventually, all my cuts healed and only the gash on my cheek scarred from this event. I may not be able to see but I’ll never forget the look of that homeless man or the inky black creature. He was tall, looming even, and thin. A patchy beard, missing half of his teeth, had one blue eye and one brown. The creature, however… is nigh indescribable and I won’t even try to describe it more than I already have.”

He let out another sigh before coughing violently once again into his cloth. When he finished the little girl noticed something odd, the blood this time was not the normal red but a deep and thick black. She went to look the man in the eyes as he removed his sunglasses once more and before what was a milky white was now a similar shade of black. “It’s amazing how we see what we want to see before we know the truth, my girl. You can see now, can’t you?”

His question was obvious and the meaning clear as she nodded before answering with a soft “Yes.”

He let out a laugh “I don’t know what was in that syringe but it’s been killing me since. Health issue after health issue and now...well my time has come. But you… you can escape and I need you to do something for me. Listen, truly listen to what’s happening around you. Well...that and see. Your mom’s not coming back from that room they took her to, your only hope is to know the truth and run before that nurse comes back and if you see him, you’ll know why.”

As if on cue, the nurse came back. She couldn’t believe her eyes, she knew it to be him due to the nametag he wore but he looked completely different. Now he was tall, looming even and thin. A patchy beard, missing half of his teeth, had one blue eye and one brown. His mouth moved but for some reason, she couldn’t hear him speaking. Slowly the young girl blinked as the full range of sounds began to flood her ears. The sound of a flatlining heart monitor overwhelmed her as she looked back to see the closed curtain separating her bed from the one next to hers. She opened the curtain to reveal Charles laying back, dead. He was surrounded by medical personnel now cleaning up the scene after having tried to resuscitate him. As they shut off the heart monitor she could now hear the nurse speaking to her. “Miss, I’ve got another shot for you. I’m just going to put it into your IV, alright?” She looked back to see the nurse pick up a syringe of black liquid and insert it into the IV. She watched as the tube was filled with black but ripped out the part piercing her arm before it could reach her. The nurse grew a coy smile “What did he tell you?” he asked before a sloshing sound could be heard behind the young girl. She turned around to see an inky black figure, morphing and covered in mouths and familiar milky white eyes.

“I’m not afraid Charles” was all the little girl said.