Stepping outside for the first time felt like a distant memory as he remembered the sound of rock and stone under his feet. He stepped down the stairs of his home, noticing that his downstairs neighbors had boarded up the door and windows and someone had spray-painted the words “Don’t Look” on one of the windows. Sho turned, feeling as if he was being watched, looking at the street and the adjacent house, not needing the camera as his eyes had grown comfortable in the pitch-black darkness. The feeling of being watched made Sho feel helpless and his fear sent him into a panic as he ran towards his neighbors home, opening the unlocked door and tripping over a suitcase. He locked the door and peered out a window, looking for whoever was watching him, not spotting the culprit but feeling the sense of dread wash over him as he realized the house he stood in was the same that he saw the black-eyed creature weeks ago. Sho turned sharply, not seeing anything out of the ordinary but hearing the static of television that sounded like it was on the second floor. Sho moved up the stairs quietly, not making a sound as he moved through the house, noticing no signs of people. He made his way to the second floor and noticed an open door with a white light shining through, a room that wasn’t visible from his apartment. The light was incredibly bright but Sho had begun to walk towards the room, squinting and trying to get his eyes to adapt. 

Sho slid the door open fully, the room was a standard bedroom, the tv flickered with static and white noise, shining upon a body that lay peacefully on the bed. The body was of a poor girl and it had begun to decompose, the wrists were slit completely but the expression on her face made Sho uneasy. The girl had died with her face twisted in absolute terror as if the last moments of her life would haunt her even in death. The smell had begun to get to Sho and he stepped back, landing in the door behind him that swang open bringing him to fall in a bathroom. He brought himself to his knees and began vomiting in the toilet next to him, the stomach acid burning and his eyes swelling as he cried. The first person he saw since the world went dark, and she was a corpse. Sho rose to his feet, noticing his reflection in the mirror, something he hadn’t seen since the world went black. His eyes were oval in shape and darker than black, almost negative. His hands poked at the skin on his face that was thin, unhealthy, and cracked. His body felt cold as he didn’t recognize the person in the mirror, his nails now digging into the skin on his face as he felt blood starting to build under his fingernails. Sho was disgusted by his sight, feeling the need to peel off his skin as if his face sat underneath like a mask. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Sho feels his body lock, screaming in fear but remaining completely still, unable to comprehend the fact that someone had just spoken to him. His eyes darted into the side of his head, ready to look at whoever stood in the hallway, staring at him. He felt their eyes looking at him, examining him, he felt their smile. Sho’s body began to operate without him as he moved his head slowly to the left, his eyes tracking and following, waiting to see who was watching him. The original black-eyed person stared, smiling with large teeth and huge eyes that resembled that of a fly. Sho began to stutter as the sound of his heart pounding filled his ears. Sho backed himself slowly, feeling nothing behind him as stumbled on his footing sending him through an open window. The moment of fear was quickly replaced by pain as he landed on his arm. Sho screamed in pain, noticing his wrist was completely bent in the opposite position and his arm dislocated, the injuries quickly causing him to pass out. 

Sho tasted blood in his mouth and felt his entire body screaming in pain. He used his good arm to prop himself on his back, feeling his entire right arm completely unable to move. He knew he was running on adrenaline, and with how malnourished his body was, it wouldn’t be long until he started to run into major problems. Sho used his left arm to push himself to his feet slowly as he whimpered, his feet dragging and shuffling as he headed to his apartment. 

His arm felt like it was crumbling and the pain was intense, growing more painful with each step up the stairs. He reached the top, noticing Mustard running to him and jumping into his left arm, the cat shaking in fear. Sho looked up to notice the same black-eyed man standing in his home, smiling far too widely at him once again. The remaining adrenaline in Sho’s body kicked in as he ran down the stairs, his breath cutting his lungs as he gasped and sprinted down the street as quickly as he could. His cracked lips bled as he gulped for air, unable to keep his speed and slowing down. His eyes watered and he began to cry, thinking about the horror that was now his life as he dropped to his knees. He looked up to the skies, praying for them to open and shine in a sea of blue. Instead, he saw the same horrible blackness. Something caught his eyes as he noticed, once again, the same negative darkness in the sky. He followed the traces of pitch darkness with his eyes, seeing tentacles that looked to be wrapping around the town, and more tendrils that reached towards the sky as if the world itself was being engulfed by fingers of shadow. As he stared on, his lips could only muster one word. 

“Beautiful”