Behind You

Goodbye Family

Dad was the first to die. It was from a heart attack. None of the neighbours seemed to care too much when my mom was wailing in pain at the discovery of her husband on the kitchen floor. Poor mom. We had a funeral. A few relatives that came by, but that is it. A lot of people began to distance themselves from us as I got older. I didn't have a lot of friends in high school. There was Scratchy Jim and Hot Jane. I did have a thing for Hot Jane. I don't think she really knew. She always liked the pretty boys. My acne-infused face probably wasn't much of a turn on for her. Scratchy Jim and Hot Jane tried to keep me distracted from the death of my father. It worked for a while, until my mom took her own life. I'll always remember the silhouette of my mom hanging from the ceiling in the garage. That silhouette, a human shape, all black, just like the Lightless Ones... always at the corner of your eye.

She had left a suicide note. It talked about them, the Lightless Ones. The silhouettes. The whole letter was about five-and-a-half pages long. Most of her words seemed like ramblings. Probably because of the empty bottle of Jamison's on the floor beside her hanging body. I still have that last note to me. She mentioned that she saw them all the time. It is why she wanted to keep me safe indoors. That explained the homeschooling. My dad convinced her to let me go to high school. He believed it was good for me to interact with other kids. Mom was too scared and now I know why. In the note, Mom mentioned that the Lightless Ones spooked my father, causing the heart attack. My mom was tired and had given up. She apologized greatly in the note and said how much he loved me. Yeah... she loved me so much she left me to deal with them on my own.

My parent's deaths were only a couple months apart. This was a year after high school. I inherited the house and all of their possessions. Technically, I was an adult now so I was on my own. I had considered postsecondary education but was too depressed after their deaths. I continued working at the grocery store down the road. I took the same route there five days a week, passing through the neighbourhood, the bar, and the apartment complex.

Mom and dad were gone. I had a home. High School was over. That's when I started to see the Lightless Ones more frequently. That tingling sensation. I swear my ears twitched anytime a rattling sound occurred. I can't even make them move – they did that on their own. I would frantically spin around, trying to see where the sound came from. Sometimes I'd see one of the Lightless Ones, as always, from the corner of my eye. People would watch me, thinking I was crazy. At first, I felt ashamed until I realized that they weren't just any people. These people were familiars of the Lightless Ones. Or maybe they weren't and just wanted to watch a delusional freak spaz out. Either way, all eyes were on me. Especially when I was shouting at the Lightless Ones to stop following.