The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

When the Eye Closed
by Kathleen McCluskey

   The artifact was discovered beneath the ruins of a forgotten temple buried deep beneath the Anatolian desert. Archeologists originally believed it was a ceremonial wheel, a decorative relic left behind by some lost civilization. The object measured nearly twelve feet across and stood upright inside of a circular chamber whose smooth black walls bore no entrances. No exits and no sign of how it was constructed.  It was as though the chamber had grown around the wheel rather than built.

   At the center of the artifact sat a single eye. It appeared to be human but of monstrous proportions. Behind it, obscured by the latticework of the wheel, lingered the faint image of a woman’s face.

   Dr. Mara Voss became obsessed with it the moment she saw it.

   Most of the team assumed the face was an illusion created by shadows and overlapping shapes. Mara disagreed. Every photograph seemed to capture slightly different features. In one image, the woman’s mouth appeared to be open. In another, her head seemed tilted. The changes were subtle enough to dismiss individually, yet impossible to ignore when viewed together.

   The eye blinked twenty-three days after excavation.

   No one believed Mara at first. She replayed the security footage repeatedly until the evidence became undeniable. The eyelid lowered. The eyelid lifted. The eye resumed its silent observation as though nothing had happened.

   After that, the atmosphere around the dig changed. 

   Researchers spent less time joking on breaks. Conversations became quieter. Sleep became difficult. Several members of the team reported similar recurring dreams involving a large dark space behind the wheel. They described hearing distant impacts echoing through the darkness like something vast striking a barrier again and again.

   Mara experienced the dreams as well. However, in hers the woman stood behind the wheel with both hands pressed on something hidden from view. Her face was pale with exhaustion. Blood trickled from her ears and nose. Cracks spread through the golden structure surrounding her and each impact widened them a little further.

   The dreams always ended the same way.

   The woman would look directly at Mara and mouth one word.

   Help

   The symbols along the wheel were of no known language, but certain patterns repeated frequently. Mara worked sixteen hour days comparing inscriptions, searching for structure in the chaos. Gradually, fragments emerged.

   The wheel was repeatedly referred to as some kind of seal.

   The symbols began referring to the eye as “The Watcher,” the thing behind her possessed no name.

   Ancient cultures named their fears. They named storms, plagues, demons and gods. Yet throughout all of the thousands of images, the entity behind The Watcher was deliberately unwritten as if the language was considered too dangerous.

   The final translation appeared unexpectedly.

   One morning Mara entered the chamber and discovered an entirely new band of symbols encircling the eye. The carvings had not existed the night before. Security footage showed nothing unusual. The wheel had simply changed.

   For weeks the team had thought that the woman was trapped behind the wheel. The inscription revealed the opposite. The Watcher was not a prisoner. The Watcher was the warden.

   As she approached, the woman’s face became clearer than it had ever been. The exhaustion was unmistakable now. Dark shadows pooled under her eyes. Fine cracks spread through the golden structure surrounding her. When her gaze met Mara’s she smiled. It was not a cruel  smile or triumphant. It was relief.

   Then the eye closed.

   The chamber fell silent. Mara stared at the wheel, her mind racing through dozens of unfinished translations. One line surfaced from her notes with sudden, horrifying clarity.

   The Watcher’s eye shall close, do not look upon thee.

   Around her, cameras kept rolling. Researchers continued staring. Nobody moved. No one looked away. Human beings are curious creatures. Faced with a mystery they want to find answers.

   A deep breath echoed through the chamber.

   The sound did not come from anybody standing near the wheel. It came from somewhere behind them. Mara turned instinctively, but saw nothing except the dark, stone walls and the harsh glare of excavation lights. The breathing continued. Slow. Patient. Even. The air around them sickened with a stench that made it difficult to breathe. Something immense occupied the room without needing a body.

   When she looked back at the wheel the woman and the eye were gone.

   A terrible certainty filled Mara’s stomach.

   Whatever The Watcher had been holding back for thousands of years no longer stood behind the wheel. It was standing in front of it.

Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!