Eyeballs

Mademoiselle Valen loved to collect all kinds of antique items for her shop. The stranger, older, or scarier they were, the more she charged for them. For as long as she had been selling wares (twenty-seven years to be exact), she had never seen an item she didn't want. Until tonight.

~

It was nighttime, and Mademoiselle Valen was closing her store, Ancient Antiques. After a long day of selling peculiar wares to people, she was ready to call it a night. As she was heading upstairs, something started scratching at the front door. It appears Gilamesh had returned from his night trip. With a sigh, Valen descended the stairs and opened the door. Gilamesh, her eight-foot Komodo/Gila monster hybrid, sat on the concrete step with an item in his mouth.

“Hello, Gilamesh,” Valen said. “What do you have there?”

The orange and black lizard lowered his head and deposited the object on the step. It was a porcelain doll, an ugly porcelain doll. Cracks covered its pale face, and stains dotted its faded pink dress. It was missing three fingers on its left hand and a shoe on its right foot. The doll had an unnaturally wide smile and two small holes where a nose should have been. Valen recoiled in disgust and looked at the lizard.

“Gilamesh, where did you get this?”

The hybrid lizard stared at the doll, then looked at the street and flicked his tongue. Valen didn’t need words to understand him, as she was fluent in the language of lizards.

“On the side of the road? No surprise there. If this were my toy, I’d throw it away too."

Valen frowned and picked up the doll to examine it. Suddenly, its eyes rolled into its head, and a recorded laugh played from its back. Startled, Valen dropped the porcelain figure. It plummeted to the ground, arms wide open as if to receive a hug from the concrete. Instead, it got the full force of gravity, and its head shattered from the impact like a ripe pumpkin. The eyes bounced out of its open head and rolled into the grass, where Gilamesh chased after them.

Valen wrinkled her nose and poked the doll with her foot. Two shards broke from its damaged head as the laugh tape played again. How creepy. She shook her head and looked at the one who had delivered the doll. He was sniffing at something in the grass.

“Gilamesh! Come here.”

Gilamesh came running over, carrying the eyeballs in his mouth. Valen held out her hand, and Gilamesh spat the eyeballs into the offered palm. After pocketing the eyeballs, Valen went inside to fetch a broom. Once the doll remains were stowed away in the trash can, Valen took the eyeballs from her pocket and examined them. The green eyes were a little smaller than a golf ball and felt like glass. But they looked too real for a pair of fake eyeballs. Strange. Why would a doll need realistic eyes? Valen shrugged and placed the eyeballs back into her pocket. It didn’t matter since the broken toy was in the garbage. She would keep the eyeballs as merchandise. Perhaps she could tie a string around them and sell them as earrings. Or market them as unique marbles. Smiling to herself, Valen turned out the lights in the shop and went upstairs to prepare for bed.

~

Hours later, Valen settled into bed and waited for Gilamesh to climb into his bed before turning out the lights. She pulled the covers up and closed her eyes, eagerly awaiting visions of ancient items. Just as she was beginning to doze off, something crashed from downstairs.

Valen's grey eyes flew open, and she looked at the bedroom door, listening for another sound. When nothing happened, she shrugged her shoulders and went back to sleep. Just as Valen was beginning to drift off, another sound awoke her.

"My eyeeeeballssss. Where are my eyeeeeeballssss?"

She threw the sheets off and scrambled out of bed. The voice sounded like that of a child, but Valen lived alone. Was someone trying to break into her shop? She tiptoed across the room and pressed her ear against the cold wood of the door.

"My eyeeeeballssss. Where are my eyeeeeeballssss?"

It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. But there weren’t any windows or doors that a burglar could use to enter the kitchen. And why was this person talking about eyeballs? She turned from the door and looked at Gilamesh. He immediately looked away. Suddenly, Valen understood what was happening.

"You brought a cursed doll? Gilamesh, how many times have I told you to check these things before bringing them home?”

Gilamesh blinked, then sprang from his bed and climbed into Valen's bed, an action he always undertook when he was frightened.

"Oh no, you don't!"

Valen rushed to her bed, tossed the sheet off him, and pointed to the door.

"I'm not dealing with that by myself. You brought it here, and you're going to help me remove it."

Gilamesh tried to hide under her pillow, but Valen wrapped her arms around his stomach and yanked him from her bed. When Gilamesh started to thrash about, Valen said his six favorite words.

"I'll give you a chicken leg."

He froze, seeming to contemplate the offer.

"Help me, and I'll get you a bucket from the Kentucky chicken place that you like."

That did it. Gilamesh wriggled out of her arms and charged towards the door, eager to help. Valen smiled and walked to her closet, where she opened the door and grabbed the first weapon she saw, a Hello Kitty baseball bat. She moved to the drawer by her bed and opened it. The eyeballs rolled forward and sat there as if waiting for her. She plucked them out and placed them in her pocket. Fully prepared to face the haunted doll, she approached the door and opened it.

~

The hallway was dark, too dark to see anything. If this were a horror movie, Valen would have to rely on her senses to guide her through the house and find the doll. However, thanks to the power of technology, the sound-activated lights helped her avoid that situation. She whistled, and the hallway light turned on, illuminating the peach-colored walls, carpeted stairs, and the headless doll standing at the bottom of the stairs. Well, almost headless, for only the right side of its face remained. Without warning, Gilamesh hissed and raced towards it. Although the doll didn’t have eyes or most of a head, it scrambled from the stairs and ran into the kitchen. Once Gilamesh reached the bottom of the stairs, he turned and charged towards the kitchen.

"Gilamesh!” Valen called. “Hold on!"

But Gilamesh ignored her and ran inside, claws scrambling across the linoleum floor. A moment later, the sounds of dishes breaking and pots falling filled the air.

“Gilamesh! You better not break any of the china plates!”

Valen grabbed her bat and ran downstairs. On the last step, the headless doll ran out of the kitchen, with Gilamesh behind it. They circled the living room and disappeared through the doorway of the salesroom, where all the merchandise was. Oh no!

Valen leaped from the stairs and ran into the room. She saw Gilamesh chase the doll around the room and onto a countertop that held dusty medieval-aged books. The doll hopped over the books with ease, but Gilamesh crashed into them, sending books toppling towards the floor. Valen dove across the floor and caught the falling books; a ripped page or dented cover would ruin the value of the books. As she placed them on another table, Gilamesh chased the doll onto a shelf full of polished snow globes. The headless doll grabbed one of the round trinkets and raised it to throw at the oncoming lizard. A speck of dirt fell from its dress and landed on the shiny glass. Three hours of polishing, wasted.

Valen’s last thread of patience snapped. She jammed her hand into her pocket and snatched the eyeballs out.

“Hey! You, worthless piece of porcelain! Look at me!”

The doll froze and turned towards Valen, its empty socket trained on her. Valen held out the eyeballs and the doll’s body seemed to tremble.

“My eyeeballsssss,” it whispered.

It chucked the snow globe off the shelf, and Gilamesh caught it with his tail. The cursed doll leaped from the ledge and moved towards Valen with the speed of a cockroach. Not wanting to damage any more of her priceless items, Valen bolted out of the salesroom and ran outside the shop just as the doll was closing in. She dashed into the parking lot, slipping the eyeballs into her pocket and picking up two smooth stones. Then she stopped and faced the doll. It raised its arms and walked towards her.

“My eyeballs. Give them to me.”

“You want them? Take them back to Hell!”

Valen tossed the stones into the air and hit them with her bat, sending them far over the parking lot and into the night sky. The doll shrieked and ran in the general direction of the "eyes". As the doll ran past her, Valen slammed the bat on its head. Before it could get up, Valen hit it again. And again. And again. By the time Gilamesh came out of the house, Valen was smashing and kicking grounded pieces of porcelain in all directions. Gilamesh watched her for a few minutes, then turned and went back inside.

~

Valen dumped the powdered remains into a plastic bag and threw the bag into the trash can outside. To ensure the doll couldn't escape a second time, she wrapped duct tape around the lid. Satisfied, Valen went back inside, planning to throw the doll into the nearest lake in the morning. She reached into her pocket and took out the eyes again. After all the trouble she'd gone through, she would keep them as a souvenir. She entered her bedroom and frowned when she saw Gilamesh laying on her bed.

"Gilamesh, get out of my bed."

Gilamesh flicked his tongue three times, begging to let him stay in her bed. Valen shook her head as she carried him out and dumped him in his bed. When she placed the eyeballs on the dresser, Gilamesh hissed and arched his body.

"Gilamesh, they're just eyeballs. And I doubt these will cause as much trouble as the doll did."

When Gilamesh didn't move, Valen walked over and scratched the sweet spot under his neck. Slowly, he closed his mouth and relaxed his tail. Valen tucked him into his bed and kissed his scaley head. Then she climbed into bed and turned out the light.

"Goodnight Gilamesh."

She heard Gilamesh shift himself in his bed, trying to get comfortable. Valen smiled and closed her eyes, finally able to drift off to sleep. Neither of them noticed when the eyeballs turned their pupils from the wall and towards Valen, watching her sleep.