The Venetian Blinds
Lindsey R. Middleton, KA, USA
January 2002
Looking back, There are things about my life I wish I could go back and do again, You know the drill, "If I knew then what I know now...." However, one incident in particular still curdles my blood. No matter how many times I tell it, I am rendered horrified.
The year was 1994. I was fourteen, a freshman in high school. On that particular evening, I was spending the night with my friend Melissa. It was three o' clock in the morning and naturally we were talking about ghosts. I was in mid-sentence when she abruptly asked me if I had seen that. "What are you talking about?" I demanded.
"There was a light shining on the wall beneath this window," She pointed, " It just went out."
In Melissa's room there were two windows, both with venetian blinds that were open. She was lying in her bed and I was camped out on the floor. No sooner did she inform me of the light mysteriously going out, when, on the opposite window, the venetian blinds violently slammed shut by themselves. They made no noise, the room just went pitch black and I felt a heavy pressure on my chest. I asked Melissa to sit with me on the floor, weeping, she replied she couldn't move. So without looking, I got up into bed with her. I gave her a hug and told her we'd get through this. About an hour later, I finally got up enough nerve to gaze out at the room. I immediately saw what I thought were two unearthly green lights. When they came closer, however, I realized they were not lights at all. I quickly buried my head back into my pillow, not telling Melissa.
Some time later, she instructed me to look at the blinds again. The same blinds which had slammed shut only hours before, were now gaping wide open. Somehow we fell asleep after that.
The next morning, Melissa asked me if I had seen a face. "Explain yourself," I said.
"Well it wasn't a whole face, it was just these eyes."
"What color were they?" I croaked.
"Green," she said, "an unearthly green. That's why I wouldn't come and sit by you on the floor. They were right beside you, Lindsey."