Have you ever paid attention to your dogs eyes?
You know. Like the way they look at you?
I don’t think I can ever really have an animal again.
My mom always liked to have a companion. It’s been years since my dad died. I guess she just liked the company. To help with the loneliness we used to have an old labrador named Cinnamon, everyone loved her. She had a good life, plenty of love. But after she eventually passed, I think my mom took it harder than the rest of us.
About a month later she came home with a new pup. It was a mini schnauzer, like my grandma used to have. She was all black, with white paws. My brother and mom immediately fell in love with her.
“Why don’t we call her Boots?” My mom asked.
“Ooh, or what about Ms. Meows!?” My little brother beamed.
I laughed to myself, two very different names. But I guess that’s just how my family dynamic was. You would never guess that we’re all related if you didn’t know us. I stared at the new pup, trying to come up with a clever or witty name.
Her eyes locked onto mine.
They were different, somehow. A beady black. But just as quickly as we caught eyes, she ran off to go sniff the next exciting thing. I chalked it up to nothing. I was excited for a new dog, although I did still miss Cinnamon.
I guess my thoughts distracted me from my brother who snuck up beside me. Hd giggled and hugged himself. It was an old habit of his. He shot a smirk in my direction and asked what I thought we should name her.
“Uhhm.. we could call her Miss?” I was never good with names. He rolled his eyes.
“I guess if you want to be bOring” He replied, and wandered back towards the dog.
We settled on the name Boots after all. She was a good dog, i really couldn’t complain. But I never liked her eyes. Its not like they were human, that’s normal. It’s almost as if they just.. weren’t there.
I started to notice things that my family didn’t. I remember coming home from school after an otherwise typical Tuesday. The lights in the house were off which was strange, but not unusual. Mom worked from home and took frequent naps when she had the opportunity. But when I came into the living room, I noticed Boots frozen in place. Her gazed fixed onto the very door I just came through.
It must have been the dark, because for a moment..
I could’ve sworn she didn’t have eyes.
It was the middle of summer, and yet chills ran through my entire body. Every hair on my body stood upright. Just as quickly as the wave of dread arrived, it was gone. And so was Boots. I’m not sure how long I stood in the living room, because when I came back to my senses, she was gone.
I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of my mind, but I also couldn’t find reason in the fear. It was just a dog, nothing more.
For a while after that, life went on as usual. But an eerie tension grew within our family. Mom was always an outgoing person, the kind to make conversation with a stranger in a Wal-mart. But now she seemed more reserved than I had ever seen her. Her eyes looked tired, sometimes bloodshot. Even my brother seemed almost.. depressed.
I think I was still shaken up from my previous experience. At dinner one night I proposed finding a different dog, and was met with a piercing look from my mom. Which shouldn’t surprise me, I suppose.
But I wish she had listened.
Oh god how I wish.
Even now, I’m not sure why I was the only one to notice it. What was happening. Things around our family were just.. wrong. Little things. I don’t think ive seen my mom eat in.. weeks. She wasn’t losing weight, and yet she would refuse all food or water.
Sometimes I would catch her just.. sitting there. Her eyes weren’t focused, glazed over, and empty. She was a healthy weight but her cheekbones seemed so much more pronounced. Like her eyes were deflating.
The house lights were hardly ever on anymore. My brother would complain that they hurt his eyes. I started to lose sleep, living off of 2, or at best 3 hours a night. Sometimes I would hear my door open, or a quiet bark, but nothing would be there when I opened my eyes.
I felt insane. Hell, I feel insane just talking about this.
I decided that I couldn’t take it any longer.
It was a Monday, and I had decided to skip school. I had a plan, my last effort to have my family back. My brother was at school, and I was confident my mom was asleep. I found Boots in the kitchen. The lights were on, for once. And I saw her..
No. It’s eyes.
I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before.
They were gone.
Two empty sockets, carved into its skull. They weren’t black, they just weren’t there at all. Boots was completely still. Frozen in place. And yet an uncanny, gutteral growl came from it’s throat.
Every bone in my body was screeching in terror. But I pressed on, and picked the creature up. It didn’t move, not a single muscle. It just stared with those empty sockets, peering into my soul.
I grabbed a knife off the counter. My hands were shaking, but I knew what I had to do. I lifted it above my head and closed my eyes.
I felt cold flesh around my neck.
Skin and bones.
I opened my eyes to see my mother, grasping my throat with her thin, spidery hands. Her cheekbones came into sharp points. And her lips were thin and cracked. But it wasn’t those that caught my attention.
It was her eyes.
Or I guess.. the lack thereof. Instead of eyes, two empty sockets sat in their place.
Her grip tightened around my windpipe with a frightening amount of strength. I made a silent gasp, begging for air. I only had one real option.
I thrust the blade, still clenched in my hand, deep into my mother’s stomach. And I have felt no remorse the way I have that day.
I miss her. I still do.
The cops found me, lying in a pool of my mothers blood. I was taken to court, where I pled guilty to first degree manslaughter.
Years later, I sit in my dimly lit cell, allowed to write one final warning by the prison wardens. The silence here broken only by the faint echo of my own heartbeat. The memories still torment me, the faces of my loved ones forever etched in my mind. But I no longer feel despair. I share my story, not as a fairy tale to be forgotten, but as a desperate warning. Pay attention to your pets’ eyes. Look for the spark of life, the warmth of affection.
If you see emptiness.
A void where eyes should be..
Run.
Watch their eyes.