Stop it. Please stop staring at me. I said stop. Stop it. STOP IT!!!! STOP LOOKING AT ME! STOP IT NOW!!! HELP ME, SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once again, she awoke to the sounds of inhuman cries. Allison had lived in the Fortress for many years. At least, that’s what she believed it was. The walls were mostly cold steel, so calling it a fortress seemed to work. The rooms scarcely had any furniture or any form of decoration. While most were completely empty, there were those with a single chair perhaps with even a picture of a bowl of fruit. She slept on a grand canopy bed, fit for royalty. Allison often imagined herself as a princess in a time of war. To keep the bloodline alive, it was important that she stay out of harm’s way. It certainly made sense, at least in her mind.

What’s more interesting is she had never seen anyone else around. But there was always food on the table, so she never questioned her surroundings. It never occurred to her to do so. To Allison, it was the work of a kind, old (and very shy) wizard fulfilling the wishes of her parents, the king and queen. She couldn’t picture them in her mind, but she was sure they existed. For if they didn’t, how could she exist? Logic wins once again. A poor princess protected from the atrocities of war, guarded by a kindly wizard, living all alone.

And yet every night, sometime around 2, someone would cry out. From pain or terror, or perhaps even both, it was a heart-wrenching cry. “Another night of interrupted sleep,” she muttered, rolling onto her side. The cry had been affecting her sleep and it was showing. Her eyes began to show purpling bags. But she swore that it would happen no more. Her royal beauty was at stake. And what would Prince Charming think when he arrived to rescue her from the fortress and saw her like that?

So the next night, the young girl followed the twisting hallways she’d known so long, leading herself to where the noise seemed to come from. Onward she trailed, the hallways leading to stairwells, to more hallways, until she came across passages she’d never seen before. The steel walls began to rust the deeper she went. “But, I thought…” She could’ve sworn she knew the Fortress by heart. There was no passage she hadn’t explored. And yet, there they were; ancient tunnels, groaning with stories to tell.

This went on until she entered a tunnel where the steel walls were bright and practically gleaming. The Fortress continued to twist her mind. Aged steel that lead to rusting steel onward to even newer steel. How preposterous it was. She pondered over the puzzle until her logic popped in. This was where her wizard lived. Yes, it all made sense now. He was so shy the rust was to throw her off were she to ever see through the illusion. That was why she never went through those tunnels before and why these walls were so clean. Logic wins once again.

“Wizard,” she called out. “Kind sorcerer that has taken care of my royal self. Please come out and see me. I need your assistance. There is a rude individual that keeps crying out in the night. Please help me silence this being.” She continued to walk as she spoke, seeking out any sign of the wizard, or even the night crier. “Wizard!” She continued to call out until her voice became hoarse. “How rude of him to make me tire out my throat. I’ll have to speak to my father once the war is over.

Allison did not really hear anything, but something did seem to call her from a solitary room at the end of the hall. She hurried herself to the room, bursting through the door without even stopping to knock. The room was lined in pure steel, just like the halls she had traveled through. It was brightly lit, yet she could not see a source for the light. She walked further in, noticing only one blemish in the room; a cross shaped crack in the middle of the ceiling.

The crack fascinated her. It seemed out of place somehow. Slowly she twirled beneath it, hoping to catch a glimpse of what it was that made it odd. Maybe it was because…it was a perfect crack. The lines seemed straight and equal length. Finally finished, she turned to the door to continue her search. Slightly dizzy, she looked to see where the door was.

It was not there.

Terrified she dashed to the walls, banging against them, searching for a break, for the door. She soon slumped into a corner, realizing she was trapped. The room was deathly silent, with only her breath and heartbeat echoing in the empty prison. Slowly she gazed upwards to the crack in the ceiling. Her eyes stayed on it for merely a moment before it began to move. The corners pulled away from each other like an orange rind, revealing a great eye. It stared straight to the ground below it. Allison was frightened and disgusted with its existence. Realizing she had been holding her breath since the crack opened up, she let out a deep exhale. Without a moment’s hesitation, the eye swiveled around, fixing its gaze upon her. The pupil dilated focusing on her intently, as though plotting how to bring the perfect harm upon her. Slowly, she crawled away still meeting its gaze. But the eye moved with her, following her every movement, never blinking. “Stop it,” she hissed. The eye still stared. “I said stop it.” It never blinked. “As a princess I demand you stop it right this instant.” It refocused its gaze, still looking upon her. Allison found herself unable to look away from it. The minutes dragged on like eternities. “Wizard,” she called out, still hopeful that she was not alone in this place. “Wizard, I’m trapped in this room. The room with the eye. This damnable eye. This eye. The eye.” She began to give in to her ever increasing terror. “Oh my God, make it stop. Stop it. Please stop staring at me. I said stop. Stop it. STOP IT!!!! MAKE THE GOD-DAMNED EYE GO AWAY!!! HELP ME!!!”

And somewhere far below her, a young girl awoke. Her name was Meredith and for many years, she had awoken in the Fortress to the sound of inhuman cries. They sounded terrified and had frightened her as a child. But now she was older and she was determined to make them stop…