The Dark Lens

I had just moved into a new house by the sea after switching jobs. The rustling of the leaves and the lapping of the waves surrounding me were comforting beyond words, and the serene scenery beyond my doorstep brought time to a halt each moment it drew my gaze.

However, although I enjoyed this tranquility at first, I soon came to witness the disquietude that lingered in the heart of an old homeless man nearby. I first saw him while walking home from work. He was clutching his sunglasses with one hand and wailing his other arm into the air, cursing at someone or something that was seemingly out to get him.

“No, stay back, you demons!” he’d say. “Go away! Begone! Haven’t you taken enough from me?” he’d continue.

The man repeated those words every day for three days in a row. Many onlookers avoided him without a word, while a few others often recorded him with amusement in their eyes. I felt my stomach curl seeing his struggles. He looked like he needed professional help. When I attempted to approach the man, an old lady grabbed my arm and shook her head.

“Don’t, child. He hasn’t been the same since his wife died over a year ago. He abandoned everything he had and has been stuck in this exact same spot the entire time,” she said. “A teenager made fun of him once by trying to steal his sunglasses, but this man broke his nose before he could even lay a finger on the frame.”

I looked back at the old man, who was cursing away as he usually did, and in that moment, I made a decision. The second I arrived home, I called my friend Mala and asked her mom’s help. Mala’s mom was a psychiatrist at a mental institution in the nearest city. She said she’d see what she could do. A couple of days later, the old man was taken away to the institution. He grew violent when they tried to take his sunglasses away, clutching them as if it were a matter of life or death.

“No, they have to stay on me!” he screamed repeatedly.

Six months passed. I was happy that my walks home had been quiet for as long as they had been, and I was glad knowing that the old man was getting the help he needed. However, by the time the twelfth month arrived, he was back at the beach, and he had already resumed his old routine. I went home and called Mala to ask what had happened; her mom told me that the old man, Nathan, had shown no improvement even after so much time had passed. She said they had no choice but to let him go.

Once the call ended, I immediately visited Nathan. He moved away the second he saw me and asked me to stay back. I raised my hands and kept my distance, seating myself on some rocks a few feet away from him. I was unsure about what to ask him first, and he kept moving his head towards and away from me with each second that passed.

“Just leave me, there’s nothing you or anyone else can do.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve lost everything close to me, there’s nothing more they can take but my life.”

“Who are they?”

“You wouldn’t believe me, no one will. And I hope no one will ever suffer this fate ever again.”

“There’s always room to heal, you just need to give yourself the chance.”

“Can’t you hear what I’m saying? They won’t let me!”

I sighed and got off the rocks. I wondered whether I was out of line from the start. “I’m sorry, maybe I was wrong. It just seemed to me like you had already given up.”

“Given up, huh…?” Nathan turned away and looked into the crimson sunset that was drowned by the horizon. “You take care of yourself.”

“You, too,” I said before walking away.

Not three minutes later, I heard the echoes of Nathan screaming and wailing in the distance. I rushed back to his side as fast as I could, but by the time I got there, his sunglasses were on the sand and his hands were pressed against his chest. Nathan looked at me, wheezing and hacking as he struggled to form his words.

“Throw it into the sea… Please don’t…” His breath grew heavier. “Don’t use—”

Nathan was gone. All he left behind was a pair of old sunglasses. His final request was for me to cast it into the sea, but as I approached those darkening waves, while the last rays of daylight dissolved in the shadows, a sudden uncertainty gripped my very being. “Maybe I should keep it with me,” I wondered. It would be the only memento of someone whom no one would remember.

I put on Nathan’s sunglasses and gazed ahead into the night, but I soon found myself learning about the things that haunted him. They were not human, nor were they spirits of any kind—but the figures engulfed in shadows that surrounded me were definitely beings not of this world.

“Welcome, Katia… Our new friend…” Their grim voices echoed in deep whispers.

I found myself running before I even realised it. I arrived home in six minutes and shut all the doors and windows, making sure every lock was intact. I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath, and sat down on the cold floor to hold myself tight. I thought I was safe, but that hope soon waned as more shadows began to creep from every corner of my house.

“You can’t escape us, Katia…”

“You bear those lenses now. You are with us, and we are with you.”