The Eyes

We bought this picture a few years ago for a decoration for my oldest boy's room. We're always trying to find decorations that we like and that aren't too expensive. We also liked the sentiment expressed in the picture. I hope my boys turn out to be brave, truthful, and unselfish.

I took the photo of the picture this evening to show you. You'll notice that it's not hanging on a wall, it's stuck in the back of a closet.

There's something wrong with the picture, something eerie. The boy in the picture may, in fact, be alive.

This hung for a lot of years in my oldest's room. He hated it. He was always asking for it to be taken down and out of his room. "At night," he said, "the eyes look like they're moving. They move from side to side." Finally I relented and we moved it to the next boy's room. Whatever, kids are weird.

From the moment we put it up in the 2nd boy's room, he complained about it. He wanted it gone. My wife asked him why he didn't like it. "The eyes, they look at me and follow me around. Especially at night. I hate it." I made him keep it up for several months. I thought that he had just picked up on something from his brother, and after a while he'd let it go. He never did. Almost every day he's ask for us to get rid of it. My wife took it down and put it in the littlest boy's room.

He wouldn't hear of it. He threw a fit. "Why don't you like it?" I asked him. "Because that boy is ugly!" he replied.

So now, the picture sits collecting dust in a closet. I will admit that the eyes do seem to follow me around the room. Especially when the room is dark. Is the boy alive? Is the picture haunted? I wouldn't dare to guess.