Eyes in the Dark

The cabin is warm and cosy, just as the brochure promised. A fire, built by my sister, is crackling away in the hearth and we all sit around it, sipping hot chocolate, toasting marshmallows in the flames, and telling ghost stories. It's the perfect break from city life and just what we all needed.

Alison, my older sister, stretches. 'There's so much...' suddenly she stops, her attention fixed on the window. 'Did you see that?'

The others, three girls we've known all our lives, join in with my laughter. My sister is well known for her pranks. 'Come on, Ali, this is no time for jokes.'

'I'm not joking!' and when we look at her anxious face we suddenly believe her and the laughter dies on our lips. 'I saw a pair of eyes. Over there, by the fence.'

'It was probably just a cat...' suggests Faye, my best friend.

Her sister Sophie shakes her head. 'There isn't a house for miles. It wouldn't come so far in all that snow.'

'Anyway, they weren't cat's eyes,' Alison states. 'They were more human.'

I laugh again. 'Then you were looking at the reflection of your own eyes!'

'But...' My sister turns back to the window and we all watch. The angle of the window and firelight throws the reflection of her eyes onto the glass, just above the top of the fence surrounding the cabin. We all laugh again and this time Alison joins in.

'Sorry, girls! I guess the ghost stories got to me,' she confesses.

We tell her not to worry but we decide to change the subject. Claire, Alison's best friend has a new man in her life and we need all the juicy details.