Deep Ocean Blue Eyes

~~Ashley’s POV~~

“Ashley!” I heard the pestering hail – I knew to be my mom’s – for the umpteenth time a few paces away from behind the door. Well, it was expected as I had adopted the lifestyle of remaining indoors 95% of my day if not 100. Whatever I needed was brought to my room; I only left the comfort of its four walls when it was inevitable. Away from the world, behind closed doors, I remained and helped the police on Makayla’s murder case.

“Ashley!” I heard it again and immediately squeezed the paper I was using to draw at the time, then added it to the litter on the floor. “Ash…” “Coming,” I cut in sluggishly before dragging my feet to get the door.

“Were you asleep?” she asked kindly, walking in to drop the tray of medicine on the table. I scoffed silently before replying, “As if.”

“What’s all this?” she asked me, bending to pick one of the squeezed papers lying everywhere on the floor. “’Deep Ocean Blue Eyes’” she read aloud what was written on one. “You’re still on this? I told you the police would handle this…”

“They can’t handle it, mom!” I retorted almost at once. “There’s no information whatsoever they have about him!”

“Do you think you could help by drawing different shades of blue eyes? How do you expect this to work?” she paused a bit while observing my countenance closely before continuing, “I know it’s hard baby. But you need to take it easy.”

“I need to try something, Mom!” I exclaimed with ensuing whimpers as I fell back to my bed.

“Honey,” she called soothingly before taking the spot beside me.

“I need to try something. I can’t sit here and watch him roam the streets free after killing my best friend!” I lamented, teary-eyed.

Without saying further, she pulled me into her bosom. “It’s okay baby, you’ll be fine,” she solaced, caressing my ruffled hair. “Why don’t you take your drugs, get some sleep, and we’ll talk about this later?” the distressed woman suggested innocently.

I’d been on medications – I knew nothing of – for the past month following Makayla’s death. The doctors who gave the prescription said they were for my anxiety disorder, insomnia, and all other messed up medical terms they used to brainwash my parents. Nevertheless, my condition remained the same. My insomnia which was a result of recurring nightmares continued, and my “anxiety” became my closest company at the time. So taking the drugs was useless and I’d sometimes flush them down the drain. My mom eventually took note and took it upon herself to personally administer them. After much talking, I yielded on the condition that she remained beside me.

***

“Makayla!” called from nowhere, a voice recognized to be Jordan’s while we walked home together. In response, we both turned around to see him grinning from ear to ear a few paces away. “Do not forget to turn in your assignment by the weekend!” he reminded her of an overdue project.

“I sure will!” Makayla said in response, wearing a sheepish smile. It was damn obvious those two had a serious crush on each other.

Randomly shifting my gaze, I locked eyes once again with the strange dude in a hood and nose mask standing near the pole adjacent to the general math hall. It was the fifth time that week being in such an eerie atmosphere. Without any interactions or contact, a few paces away, dude just rained lours on me concealing his identity, leaving only his deep ocean blue eyes to my knowledge. On the first and second occasions, I attached no strings to his presence, brushing off whatever suspicions I could have harbored as “just a random weird dude on campus.” However, the third and fourth occasions slapped reality to my face somewhat – I was being stalked! Naturally, my excitement was washed away immediately. Deeply engaged in the depth of his glare as though he was digging into my skin, I totally forgot my company.

“Ashley!” I heard Makayla holler, standing right next to me. She’d probably been calling my stupefied state back to normalcy. “Are you okay?” she asked warmly when she finally gained my attention. Before long, she too could also sense my nervousness by virtue of the sweat that became imminent on my face as that hardly ever happened.

“I… I saw him,” I muttered shakily.

“You saw who? The guy with deep ocean blue eyes?” she sought clarification with the only information divulged to her. Following the trail of my stare initially, she redirected her gaze only to meet the pole as it was.

“He’s gone,” I muttered under my breath. ‘Am I seeing a ghost?’ the thought breezed in as Makayla for one had never caught a glimpse of him before. My ensuing shivers were put on hold the moment I felt Makayla’s hand slide into mine. As always, she held me to help pull my thoughts together.

“It’s the summer starting tomorrow, Ashley!” She reminded gleefully in a bid to replace the uneasy feeling with something exciting. Scratch that, it was the last day of school for that session, what could possibly outweigh that fulfilling feeling for average students like ourselves? With that in mind, my cheeks bulged in formation of a wide smile. “Shall we?” she held on tightly and received a nod as a response from me.

To kick start the summer break, we headed to Makayla’s. She lived alone, and I had already told my parents I’d be late. So here we go!

Backing the refrigerator, Makayla held up a bottle of whiskey on one hand, and a shot glass on the other. The 21-year-old alcohol fanatic was ready for another episode. “C’mon Kayla,” I stressed.

“You are so taking this with me today,” she shuddered my mild riposte at once, closing our distance. “You’d love it,” she placed it directly before me on the dining table.

“Just a shot glass?”

Without as much as a sound, she raised her brows twice, driving her message home. “Not again Kayla,” I sighed. Apparently we were going to play a game she called “the shot glass.” Whoever had the most resistance to the alcoholic beverage wins and gets a wish granted by the loser. Makayla was very well aware of my low resistance but always insisted on that as it was the one thing she could ever beat me at. Well, here goes nothing! With a shot of whiskey, the game was set in motion.

“Wh… why do you look like that?” she managed to ask amidst hysteric laughter watching my dramatic scowl on the fourth shot. With a thud on the table using the glass, I passed the baton to her. “Here you go!” Excitedly, she took the fourth shot without as much as a flinch.

To be honest, spending time with Makayla made up the most exciting moments of my life. Not to mention how much my life changed after meeting the wild fellow, our friendship blossomed nonetheless. She was more of a sister than a best friend to me; one of the few I could open up to without worrying of a third party. Having said that, the evening shortly closed in on our wasted selves on the floor of her living room.

I jolted with sudden, not realizing how fast asleep we had fallen. Still drowsy, my eyes met with pitch black darkness indicating the night’s presence as the lights were off. Still under the influence of alcohol, my bones and muscles felt weak to a fault to move. My impaired vision made it harder to find my phone.

Summoning whatever strength I could, rubbing the floor around me with both hands, I searched for nothing in particular, just something useful. Hol’up… I paused abruptly when I felt a subtle change in texture and temperature. The smooth, cool surface of the tiles became irregular and slightly sticky beneath my fingers. “What the fuck is this?” I thought. There and then the skies clamored, shedding light – through the lightening that struck – on the grottiest scene I was yet to behold. “Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!” came the shriek that shook me out of stupor to a sober state as I dashed in search of the lights switch. Thinking aback, we never put the lights off in the first place. But all of a sudden, even the doors and windows were also wide open.

“Makayla!!!!” I yelled on top of my voice seeing her body in the pool of her own blood. “Makayla!!!!” I hollered, pressing both hands against her stab wounds that kept trickling blood. With my mind kept hazy with many perplexing thoughts, I struggled to keep up with the countless openings as I only had two hands at my disposal. “Somebody help!!” I screamed only to be greeted by the echoes of my very own voice. “Makayla! Makayla!!” without letup, I hailed the still body. Once again, my rapt attention was called when I noticed her eyelids flutter. “Makayla!” Instinctively, I leapt in search of my phone. If she was still moving, calling an ambulance was the best thing to do at the time.

Getting up from beside her, with my blood running cold, I scanned the room in search of my bag pack only to catch sight of the bloody inscription on her mirror standing against the wall which read: “Deep ocean blue eyes.” Shivers were immediately sent down my spine as I facepalmed myself in utter shock. With the creepy sensation ridding my legs of any life, I faltered back into the bloody pool. Shuddering in deep fear, I groveled instead to reach my bag which lay near the mirror. The night sure was hella chilly for one in summer. With so much difficulty, I reached for my bag. Given my terrible hand tremors, getting the bag was one thing, the phone, another, and dialing ‘911’ proved to be the most arduous of all.

~~ “Ashley!” I suddenly heard faintly amidst the turmoil. Before long, my head also began to spin. ‘What’s going on?’ “Ashley!” the voice called again.

“Ashley!!!” “Aaaahhh!!!” I screamed hearing the call made clear for the third time, meeting my mom’s tensed gaze.

“It’s just another nightmare,” she said assuringly, her eyeballs all watery as she held me closely again.

“Deep ocean blue eyes… deep ocean blue eyes… deep ocean blue eyes…,” I rambled shakily.