Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I woke up at 3 AM to the sound of my phone vibrating like crazy. When I went to check, I saw a mysterious warning saying “Do Not Look At The Moon.” And hundreds of messages from unknown numbers all sending the same thing. “It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.”

I guess I should have listened, because I will always regret what I did next.

I turned off my phone, I closed the curtains, and I went back to sleep. But then the voices started. Small things at first, incoherent whispers at the edges of my mind. But then they started to form words, and what they said made my blood turned to ice.

“Kasha,” was all they said at first, repeating my name in a raspy whisper.

Then more words seemed to tumble out of unseen mouths inside my walls, floor, ceiling, and my head.

“Kasha, it’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.”

When the same thing repeats everywhere you turn, the words seem to blend together and form new phrases, and each one was more disturbing than the last.

“Kassshhhhaaa… See how beautiful everything is outside.”

“Kasssshhhhaaa… We are beautiful, look outside.”

“Kassshhhhhaaa… C o m e B e B e a u t i f u l W i t h U s.”

Every word after that made me feel my mind slip away, but something held me back from looking through the curtain. Then I saw something that made my heart nearly stop.

Well, if it even could stop.

I saw myself, staring through my window with glassy eyes, holding my phone. I heard the clacking of a keyboard, and when I saw what I had written in my lungs nearly forgot how to breathe.

“It’s a beautiful night tonight, look outside.”

The recipient list went on and on, though the only name I recognized was… My own. Though it was dated to… Exactly 3 AM. One hour ago. When I woke up.

Looking back at my body, I saw the form morph slightly, first seeming to distort as I watched it, but then it seemed like my body melted inside of itself, ending with a grotesque creature that could hardly be called anything.

Then I heard my own voice behind me.

“Kasha, we’re beautiful now. Look outside.”

Now I realize, I was being silly.

It’s a beautiful night tonight, look outside.