They say that home is where the heart is. I can’t exactly relate to that saying, though. When I was 2, my family and I left our small hometown in a hurry and never looked back. They’ve always refused to explain when whenever I tried to ask about it, and eventually gave up on asking. I managed to dig up when we left, which was December 21st, 2003.
When I say my hometown was small, I mean it. Maybe a population of 100 or less. We made due as a small community, or so I’ve been told. All I know, location-wise, is that it was somewhere in Maine. I managed to find an old map with the town on it (confirmed by parents). Doesn’t even show the name. Other maps don’t even show it, like it vanished.
About a month or so ago, I began to pack stuff up for a trip. Without telling my parents, I planned to go visit the town. The goal was to try and find out if still existed, and find out why we left. I’ve been planning this trip for a few years now.
I’ve been saving up money to be able to go, and pay for gas. We live in Virginia right now, so 12-ish hour drive. I’ll just skip any other background details, along with the drive itself. I’ve been in my hometown for about 3 days at the time of me, shakily, typing this out.
Not much seemed off when I arrived, other than my GPS shutting off when I reached the town. My wi-fi also cut off, so thank god for data. Other than that, my first day was simple enough. The town’s population had nearly halved in the 2 decades I’ve been gone, but they seem to still be going strong. I was given an empty home as a makeshift hotel.
It was weird during those first few hours. I got the house, was given a short tour and left to my own. I didn’t even have to pay for anything. They said that they “already knew who I am”, and they welcomed me with open arms, almost like I had always lived there. The house itself wasn’t anything special, wasn’t really lived in but had furniture.
Going to the local shops I found that the streets were empty. Not a soul in sight. The only people I saw were cashiers, and even then they had an empty feeling. Like staring into a chasm with no sense of a bottom. Their pupils were almost as dark to match. They just stared while I shopped, not saying a word. It was pretty eerie.
I had bought some random vegetables and spices to try and attempt making a meal, but it ended up going wrong so it doesn’t matter. The first actual thing to scare my shitless so far happened when I left the shops.
The street I was on had everyone on it. They were all just… staring at me. The entire time I went back to the donated house. They even followed to keep staring.
I felt my heartrate rising as I approached the house, some were getting closer. I turned the knob and slowly opened the door. Then I looked back. And they were all gone. Not vanished, but there were less people, and they were behaving like regular people. Just walking around town. I quickly entered the house and locked the door after that.
After that whole fiasco, I decided to call my parents to tell them how I was doing. I had to keep up the ploy that I was actually in Wisconsin. I had to choose somewhere basically as far as the town. They always seemed to act strangely if I ever mentioned the town, no less visiting it. So I thought it was best to go in secret.
The call went smoothly until my mother asked me, in a suddenly stark tone and hushed voice, if I had seen something she referred to as “The Stars”. She said they weren’t literal stars though, they were eyeless people who would stalk people for years on years, right until that person entered their hunting grounds.
She told me she knew where I was, and I wasn’t safe.
Then she laughed it all off and went off about that all being nonsense. But something tells me that it wasn’t. I grew up knowing everything happens with a reason.
That night I set up my phone to record the front door while I was asleep, but it was limited because I had to keep it charging throughout the night. I had a hunch that I needed to record at least something, anything. So, with the thought of those things she mentioned, I left my phone to record.
On the second day, I immediately went to review that night’s footage. It absolutely tore through my storage, so I knew I could only record that one video. Throughout the night, things came in and left my house. They looked like townsfolk, specifically those that were staring at me, and they were staring at the camera the entire time. They knew.
I felt my anxiety starting to grow while I watched the footage. If there weren’t any streetlights, they’d probably look like little stars moving around because their eyes glowed in the dark. Not like they were being reflected, no. They produced light, they made silhouettes of each other, their eyes were bright enough.
And one of them went upstairs. Where I was. I recalled a sense of being watched in my sleep. I know now that I was. They all eventually left when the sun began rising, but they did leave something for me.
I found a slip of paper when I woke up. It had 3 drawings on it. Scratch marks, some eyes, and then a grave. They were each marked with a date. Yesterday was the scratch marks. Tonight will be the eyes. Tomorrow is the grave.
I sorta freaked out a little bit when I saw the paper, but it was mostly confusion. I did have a decent bit of anxiety for the night though. Other than that, I wasted the day reviewing the footage from the previous night. What a stupid mistake. I wasted time trying to figure out what happened, I went to bed pretty late, and hungry.
I had a dream last night, the day of the scratch marks. I was sorta flying in the sky over the town. It was a cold night, snow covered the ground. A little bit into the dream, the stars above me suddenly started falling into the ground, sinking through the earth. One of them grabbed me and dragged me down with it.
It was like a person, but with giant glowing wings. It was so bright I couldn’t see its face, but I could just feel those eyes staring at me. It screeched and started scratching me all over. My face, my arms, stomach, legs, everywhere. Everything except for my eyes. It did something to my eyes. Tore them out, replaced them, then I woke up.
I woke up screaming and in a cold sweat. And in pain. Lots, and lots of pain. Something had broken through the window of my room and attacked me in the night. There were long, thin scratch marks all over my body, not deep enough to bleed but just deep enough to be red. The drawing came true. My dream was true. I had a horrible feeling.
It had stolen my eyes. I was sure of it. I don’t know what did, but it did. Those stars did. I sorta panicked about that all morning. At the time of my writing this, its almost 5 pm. My eyes seem normal. I found some basic medical supplies in the house, so I sorta treated the wounds in hope they didn’t get infected.
I’m too scared to leave now. I feel like whatever those stars were, whatever those people who stare are, they’ll follow me. I’m scared for my mom and dad. I should have just trusted that the town wasn’t a place to return to. I’m scared they’ll go for my parents. God dammit.
I’ll be staying through the rest of today and through tomorrow. I managed to get all of this rambling to one of my friends, thank god again for data. I told her as much as I could and, after I post this, my account is forfeit to her. I don’t want them to have this account. I will return whenever I leave this town with the truth.
Until then, I hope I can see you all soon.