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You wake up to the sound of your alarm ringing. You feel like you haven't gotten any sleep at all.
You're so tired these days... even though you've been going to bed early.
[[Sleep in]]
[[Get up]]
<header background="https://i.imgsafe.org/7311e14.jpg"></header>You're going to have to get up eventually, so you start going about your morning routine. After a shower, you [[turn on the morning news]] and start microwaving some leftovers.
It seems like there's less than there was last night.You decide to snooze your alarm but it feels like you barely hit the button before it goes off again.
You're so tired.
[[Sleep in some more]]
[[Get up]]You hit snooze again. 10 more minutes can't hurt.
.
.
.
You're alarm starts up for a third time. There's no avoiding it now. [[You have to get ready for work.]]You slept too long. You don't have time for a shower, but you [[turn on the morning news]] and microwave some leftovers.
It seems like there's less than there was last night.[[Partly cloudy today with highs of 75.]]
[[Traffic jams northbound.]][[Body found on the intersection of Glen and East Hatchet.]]The microwave beeps.
The woman found dead seems to have been strangled to death. Both of her eyes had been cut out and removed from the crime scene.
Gruesome.
But what's really creepy is that you pass by Glen and East Hatchet every day [[on your way to work...]]
But hey! If it already happened there, then there's no chance that it could happen to you in the same place.
[[It's time to leave for work.]]You go to [[grab your keys]] but they're not on the hook where you usually leave them. They're on the top shelf of your shoe rack instead. Strange. They must have fallen off.Your bike ride to work is uneventful. You pass by the block that was mentioned on the news. It's taped off and there's a couple lingering policemen, but they've already taken the body away, and you dont see any blood or guts like on tv.
[[You keep riding.]]Your coworker greets you with a high five.
"Didn't I see you at the store yesterday?" they ask you. "I couldn't catch up to you, but I was wondering what you were doing with all that dry ice."
[[You didn't go out yesterday.]]Your coworker gives you a puzzled look. "Really? I could have sworn it was you."
They must have you confused with someone else.
You pass your work hours away at your desk, entering data and sending emails. Straight forward. Easy.
You're so tired. Every day feels the same.
You get a few comments about your dark circles. You probably just haven't had enough coffee.
[[You clock out with a yawn.]]Another day, another dollar.
It's dusk when you mount your bike. You start riding.
About halfway home, you pass someone smiling at you. You're going too fast to recongnize them, but when you look back to see who it was, [[there's no one there.]]Probably just a trick of the light. You're just tired. Still, there's something unnerving about the experience.
You remember the murder on the news this morning, and how East Hatchet is coming up in a few blocks.
[[Take a different route home]]
[[There's nothing to be scared of]]Taking a different route ends up in your favor when you remember you need to pick up your prescription from [[the pharmacy.]]That's right! You're a full grown adult after all! You zoom past the crime scene and you're almost home when...
you remmeber you need to pick up your prescription from [[the pharmacy.]]<html><a href="http://inplainsight.neocities.org" target="_self">Restart</a></html>The woman at the window is confused when you give her your name.
"I'm sorry," she says, "but your prescription was already picked up."
Your puzzled look now mirrors hers. How can that be? Are you really so tired that you forgot that you already picked up your prescription? It's been a long day and you don't want to be stuck waiting here another hour for her to sort through her files, so you [[thank her and leave.]]
Finally getting home, you toss your keys on the hook and head towards your bedroom when you [[stop]] suddently.The door to your room is open. You ''always'' close the door before you leave for work. It's a sort of morning routine for you.
You quetly take a knife from the kitchen and approach your room. You listen. You [[look around the corner.]]Of course there's no one there. The news this morning has you scared over nothing.
You try to find your favorite pair of sweatpants, but after searching around your room and through your laundry, you give up and take out a new pair.
Today has been weird. It might be helpful to talk to a friend about it. Who should you call?
[[Jess]]
[[Sam]]
[[Markus]]Jess picks up the phone and you tell her about your day.
She has a very supportive voice. Her motherly concern makes you feel better a little better.
"I'm sure you're just stressed out," she says. "Or maybe it has to do with your diet! You can't survive on pizza. I have to come over and cook for you next weekend."
It's good to have [[a friend]] you can count on.Sam picks up on the first ring.
"Hey buddy! I was getting kinda worried about you!" You tell Sam about your day. Their upbeat personality always cheers you up.
"That seems kinda ''weird''." Sam sounds distracted. "Hey, I gotta go right now but call me back later. Keep me updated."
You're glad Sam didn't laugh your problems off. They aren't usually the one you turn to for serious things, but they're [[a good friend.]]Markus picks up the phone and you tell him about your day. He listens carefully before saying anything.
"You need to see a doctor" he says. "Forgetting stuff like that isn't normal." You forgot how blunt Markus could be.
He makes it hard to confide in him, but you need to vent to someone and you know [[Markus would never tell]] any of your friends what's going on.You call Jess every day for a week. You tell her about the things you keep losing, the doors you keep finding open and the missing food you don't remember eating.
Soon her reassurance turns into genuine concern.
"Maybe you're sleepwalking?" she offers. She says it might be fun to [[set up a camera]] to test the theory. "Can you imagine eating in your sleep every night? Oh my god, what a nightmare."
There doesn't seem to be any harm in trying. On the day you gather up the energy to go buy a cheap camera, the news reports a second body. Again, the vicitim's eyes were missing.
There has been no better time to set up a security camera.
Once you've gone out, come back home and set up the camera, you realize that the day is over already. Yawning, you decide to turn in for the [[night.]]A crash startles you awake.
You lie in bed with your heart pounding, frozen in fear.
There's someone in your house.
[[Stay still. Everything will be fine if you just stay still.]]
[[Get up. You have to be able to defend yourself. Get up!]]Lying on your side in bed, you are facing your dresser mirror. You can see your eyes, terror-stricken and wide as saucers.
You stare at yourself as you lie still in bed.
You lie still for a very, very long time.
ENDYou force yourself to get out of bed and quickly turn on all the lights in your house.
It becomes very obvious that a picture frame has fallen off the wall. There's glass shards everywhere. You really don't want to deal with this right now. [[You need a drink.]]You open the fridge and your blood goes cold.
Sitting on top of the egg carton, right in front of you, is a single bloodied eye.
ENDYou call Sam every day for a week. You tell them about the things you keep losing, the doors you keep finding open and the missing food you don't remember eating.
Soon their cheerfulness turns into genuine concern.
"You are way too stressed out," they declare. They want to come over to [[play video games]]. You try to say you're too tired, but they wont have it. "Come on, just a couple hours. Take-out's on me."
Maybe it would be a good idea to try to unwind. You and Sam have been playing video games all Saturday. It feels good to sit back and have some fun for once. Sam put the leftover take-out in the fridge and you don't have to do dishes later.
A knock on the door interrupts your game and you groan. You hope ignoring whoever it is will make them go away, but the knock just comes again harder. You get up.
"Don't worry, I can get it," Same says, getting up at the same time.
[[Let Sam get the door]]
[[Answer the door to your own house]]You collapse back into the couch and let Sam take care of the door. With the game paused, you should be able to hear an exchange, but there's only silence.
"Sam?" you call.
"Don't move," you say.
.
.
.
[[You?]]You've barely opened the door before you're being tackled to the ground by men in uniform. They're all shouting at you. What's happening? What's going on?
"That's the one, officers," you can make out Sam's voice above all the noise.
The police are opening your refridgerator. From where you are, you catch just a glimpse of gelatinous, bloody eyeballs staring out on top of the take-out containers.
You can't believe this. You can't believe you've been framed, because as you twist your neck to look at Sam, they can barely keep the smug look off their face.
ENDYou get up from the couch and turn to see Sam and... someone else. Someone who looks exactly like you. They're both pointing guns at your face.
The one that looks like you speaks slowly, a mixture of terror and fury making their voice quiver.
"I don't know who you are, or what you've been doing in my house, but you're going to leave now and never come back."
END
With that in mind, you call Markus every day for a week. You tell him about the things you keep losing, the doors you keep finding open and the missing food you don't remember eating.
Eventually, he softens and stops telling you that something's wrong with you.
"Look, you've been calling me a lot lately. If you were lonely, you could have just said so. Why don't you come over to my place this weekend?"
You didn't mean to come across as whiny, but spending some time outside your house sounds like [[a good idea.]]On Saturday, you and Markus mostly watch movies all day. He's been picking out comedies to make you laugh, even though you know he doesn't like them. Laughing makes you feel better.
Halfway through the third movie, you need to go to the bathroom. You finish up, and go to the sink.
[[Wash your hands]]
[[Just a rinse is enough]]You wash your hands really well. Markus is picky about hygiene and you wouldn't be caught dead coming out of the bathroom without clean hands.
As you're rinsing the soap off, you feel startlingly lightheaded. A few seconds later, [[everything goes black.]]Leaving the bathroom, you pass through the kitchen and decide to grab a drink before heading back to the movie.
You open the fridge and your blood goes cold.
Sitting in a clear tupperware, right in front of you, are four perfectly intact bloody eyes.
END"Good morning," you hear Markus' voice.
You feel dizzy. Your senses come back to you slowly. "I was beginning to worry you weren't going to wake up."
All at once, you feel the sharp pain behind your eyes- or where your eyes ''should'' be.
You try to get up in a panic but your arms and legs are tied.
"Calm down, there's nothing to worry about," Markus says, eerily calm, "We're just getting started."
END