Chapter Text
Today was rather dull.
Then again, narrowly avoiding death on a day to day basis wasn’t exactly “normal,” so to say, but it had become the norm for you.
Nearly being crushed by a falling piano? Normal, but it’d probably be smart if you actually questioned why a piano would be falling in the first place. Surely no one in their right mind is purposefully pushing a piano off a ledge. Instead, you shrugged the situation off and went about your day once you calmed down and confirmed you were unscathed.
Almost being hit by a truck? Normal because Truck-kun seems to have second thoughts about running you over. At the time, you stared at the oncoming truck as if you were a deer in headlight–technically, you were–but it miraculously swerved at the last second. Once again, you were untouched, although you were definitely frightened and a bit bewildered.
The list could go on, dating as far back as your middle school days. It’s no wonder why these lethal events don’t bother you anymore. You’ve summed it up to your brain just tuning it out due to how frequently these scenarios happen to you, which admittedly is quite detrimental to your survival, but you always end up unharmed somehow.
However, these events have suddenly halted a few days ago, and you were able to go about those days without something inexplicable happening to you. This amount of normalcy felt uncanny to you, but nothing else was out of the ordinary.
In any case, it was currently nearing midnight. The world outside your home has quieted down by now, being replaced by a sense of tranquility due to the lack of humans being out and about. And yet you are still wide awake, tossing and turning on your bed. You told yourself that you’d go to sleep earlier today in order to wake up earlier. You’re not exactly sure why you were struck with this idea, but you did want to try to see if you could break your habit of sleeping in for too long.
However, it has now been at least an hour or two past the original time you’ve set for yourself. And damn was it boring not being able to fall asleep, especially since you have run out of things to occupy your mind with.
Your adorable, little beast was sleeping peacefully beside your legs, so you didn’t dare disturb your pet (because your beloved creature looked so cute, and because you feared retaliation).
You have tried to occupy yourself by doomscrolling, flicking your finger up the moment you saw something that didn’t interest you, but you soon got tired of the content on your screen, and the position you were in wasn’t that comfortable.
At some point you decided to walk around your home, so you lazily slipped out of your covers and let your feet touch the floor once you sat up right. The coolness of the ground immediately startled you awake completely, and you let out a groan since getting out of your bed had the complete opposite effect than what you wanted.
Why were you even still awake? You might be asking yourself.
The reason was simple, yet infuriating. Recently, no matter what time of day, you have been getting this feeling that something or someone is watching you. The best part about this? It’s most prominent at night. Thus, you’ve been kept awake every single night because of this suspicion. Coincidentally, it started the day when the near-death experiences disappeared, and ever since then, you have been metaphorically ripping your hair out due to the anxiety it has brought you.
You’ve searched every surface of your home for any holes, but you ultimately ended up feeling crevices that didn’t lead to anything. You were also certain that all of your mirrors weren’t one-way mirrors too, but you tested them for assurance.
You’ve investigated if anyone has been spying on you through your devices, but you’ve come to the conclusion that that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t like you could absolutely confirm it, but there weren’t any reasons for you to believe you were being watched from your own devices. You’ve checked everything you could’ve checked with your knowledge of electronics.
You’ve even checked if the unseen eyes came through your window. You’ve opened the window to peer out of it, only to not spot anything strange. Furthermore, you’ve even blocked the window, and somehow you could still feel that knot of uneasiness in your stomach.
There was something you noted during this observation out your window, as you also managed to hold eye contact with an owl for a few seconds; its black feathers and its white facial disk caught your attention. It wasn’t particularly strange for an owl to be in a city, but actually seeing one baffled you, much less making eye contact with one. A few seconds later, you snapped out of your trance and ended up lowering the blinds in frustration from uncovering nothing about your dilemma.
It was safe to say you were at your wits end. You contemplated buying some sleeping pills during the day, but you just stood outside the store before concluding that you wouldn’t need them. You regret this decision now.
It’s ironic really. You have no problems facing life or death situations, and yet now you’re being bested by a sensation that could just be a figment of your imagination.
How ideal.
Checking the time again, you sat up all of the sudden and threw your hands to your head, fighting the urge to scream. For the next few seconds, you stay in that position, thinking through everything you did today before all of your thoughts leave your mind.
You slowly step out of the comfort of your bed, careful not to actually disturb your pet as it was resting, and go to your wardrobe. Why? Because you decided to have the bright idea to take a walk. At midnight. You should’ve assumed that trying to tire yourself out wouldn’t work based on your last attempt, but you reasoned that it was because you did it in the confines of your own home previously.
So, grabbing the closest outerwear within arms reach, you drift towards the front door and head out on your little excursion. Until you walked out the door and you remembered the elevator was broken. It’s surprising that you forgot since you were literally there when it broke the day you decided to use the stairs instead.
Now you were starting to reconsider this whole walk because it meant you would need to use the stairs twice.
You live on the fifth floor of your apartment building.
Great. Absolutely wonderful. If it weren’t for the fact that you were literally trying anything to make yourself tired, you would’ve just turned back around and returned to your bed.
Alas, you are now descending down the stairs to get to the bottom of your apartment building, wondering when the elevator will be fixed because you’ve walked up these stairs a few too many times already. However, now that you were going through the actual motions of walking down the stairs, all of the complaints you had left you as your body entered autopilot.
By the time you reach the bottom, your mood has actually lifted somewhat: you’re less irritated. Then it hit you: the prickly feeling of being watched. You had completely forgotten about it until now, and you feel a shiver run down your spine when you find nothing as you turn your head around to see if anyone was around–any onlookers might think you were deranged, twisting and turning your body to search for something where there was nothing.
Not being able to know where something originates is much worse than finding out its origin. At least you could see what had come at you after the life-or-death situations you were put in, but goosebumps ran up your skin as you continued to question whose eyes were on you.
Despite all of this, you continue on. You’ve already walked all the way down the stairs from the fifth floor, so you might as well just continue on your walk.
You didn’t necessarily have a specific destination in mind, but what was life without a touch of flexibility and freedom? So, you let your feet take you wherever they wanted to go.
The next few minutes pass by without anything notable happening. At least it was a good night for a walk: there was a light breeze, it wasn’t as hot as it was during the day, and the environment around you was lit up like one of those aesthetic pictures people post on the internet while they were out at night.
Soon, you look upwards at the stars, wanting to judge if they really were as pretty as people say they were. You couldn’t help but let yourself get lost in the tiny white dots that littered the dark sky. Unfortunately, there was a lot of light pollution in the area you lived in, but the stars still looked stunning, even if they were incredibly far away.
While mentally adding “stargazing” on your mental bucket list, your gaze returns to the path in front of you before wandering to the trees in the vicinity. Your eyes drift over the leaves in a line, slowly getting to the trees farther away before a dark silhouette catches your eye. It wasn’t a particularly big silhouette, but you step closer towards it out of curiosity.
It was that owl you held eye contact with not too long ago, and once again, it was just staring at you. You stared right back at it.
What a creepy owl.
During your first encounter, the owl felt like a normal owl when you held eye contact with it. Sure, you weren’t expecting it, hence why you were rather perplexed, but it was just an owl. An owl that just happened to lock eyes with you. Nothing else.
This time, however, something about the owl felt off. You couldn’t exactly put your finger on it, but its behavior wasn’t like a normal owl, nor was it like a normal animal. It’s been stationary for too long. It’s almost as if it had been perched up on the tree and kept its eyes on you the entire time you were here.
It was also too coincidental. You suddenly get the feeling of being watched one day, and this owl has the habit of just staring at you.
What a cute owl.
It was certainly an odd owl. Rather than acting like an animal, it just stays still and stares. It was almost… cute; you wanted to get closer to it and give it a little pet on its head. You may have your own pet at home, but you couldn’t help as the impulsive thought filled your mind. It probably isn’t a good idea, but you couldn’t help but wonder how its feathers felt in your hands. Maybe you could even give it a nickname seeing how this is your second encounter with the owl.
However, after a few moments, you slowly come to realize something. You’ve never seen this owl before you started to feel like someone was watching you, and it also just so happens to only keep its eyes on you.
The uncanny feeling makes it feel like the owl might’ve been the one watching you for the past few days, and it felt like it was expecting something from you; however, those thoughts were absurd.
An owl? An owl that was sentient enough to be the one stalking you? You’d probably be better off trusting the judgement of the internet if you’d go as far as to say an owl was the reason why you felt as if you were being watched. Why would an owl want to follow you anyway? You definitely weren’t prey–you’re way too big to even fit in its beak–and you never did anything to give it a reason to be around you.
You decide not to ponder on it any longer, and you turn your body away from the owl and return to the excursion you were supposed to be taking. Hopefully, it will take your mind off the owl.
Given the time of night, you came to the decision to take ten more minutes before you head back to your apartment. However, the rest of the walk was certainly not as unnerving as your encounter with that owl, and your thoughts inevitably end up being engrossed with the owl.
Geez, you’re just constantly thinking about that owl. Your pet might end up jealous if you keep this up.
Suddenly, there was a quick fluttering noise from above you. Something was rustling the leaves from the trees in the area, and soon some leaves cascaded downward–some of the leaves even fell onto you, but you quickly brushed them off right after.
Although it was sudden, you chalked it up with it being some animal just running on the branches, causing the wood and the leaves to shake. However, just seconds later, you hear this quiet creaking noise underneath all of the rustling.
You investigated the sound
Being the curious, and cautious, mortal you are, you decide to look up and see what was causing all of this commotion around you.
It was a good thing you did since you also noticed how one of the trees seemed to lean a bit too much, leaning towards you.
Due to all of the observations you made, you decided to take a few steps away from the area you were standing in, and then–
Crack!
You get front row seats as a tree snaps near its base and falls directly onto the area you were just standing in, and then you just stare with a dumbfounded expression.
You probably should’ve expected something like this, but ever since you started to feel like you were being watched, the randomly routine near-death experiences stopped all of the sudden–not that it was a bad thing. You definitely weren’t prepared for it, but at least you still survived this time too.
For another moment, you continued to stare at the tree before you slowly took a step back, then you fully turned around and decided to let someone else deal with the tree. It’s not like you really could do anything, especially given that most people wouldn't want to worry about something–for example, a fallen tree–during the middle of the night. It wasn’t blocking the path, so you told yourself that it shouldn’t be that serious.
You ignored the sound
You don’t care all that much about the sound and shrug it off. Surely if it was really that important, you would’ve heard louder, more concerning noises rather than something that could’ve just been caused by an animal.
You’re about to pick your leg up and continue walking before suddenly–
Crack!
The sudden snapping sound caught your attention, and the moment you move to look towards where it came from, you suddenly find yourself surrounded on all sides by branches and leaves. You even received a small scratch or two when the tree fell down.
You were rather spooked by the sudden tree falling, then you were dumbfounded. Why would a tree suddenly just fall on you?
You probably should’ve expected something like this, but ever since you started to feel like you were being watched, the random, but routine, near-death experiences stopped all of the sudden–not that it was a bad thing that it did. You definitely weren’t prepared for it, but at least you still survived this time too.
Carefully, you get yourself out of the branches and leaves that have encompassed you, and you just awkwardly shuffled away from the tree. It’s not like you really could do anything about it, and the people who could do something about the tree were likely asleep.
At least you weren’t flattened like a pancake.
By now, more than ten minutes had passed, but honestly, you were heading back home since today–or rather tonight–has been eventful enough. Reflecting back on your day, maybe the fact that it was boring during the day really wasn’t that bad in contrast to almost getting hurt–or worse, dead.
You took the same path you went on during the walk to get back home, and sooner or later, your apartment building was in view. Seeing that your home was so close, you couldn’t help but let out a sigh before taking one last glance at your surroundings, making sure that owl didn’t follow you back.
Once you assumed that the cost was clear, you started making your way towards the stairwell.
The only thing that separated you from your comfy bed was five flights of stairs and a door. You should really send a request to get the elevator fixed sooner, because all you wanted to do was fall into your bed and let the night pass by.
Surely tomorrow wouldn’t be as dreadful.