She was constantly aware of other peoples eyes on her. It was a sickening sensation, to constantly feel the spotlight, to be aware of herself in every moment she spent outside her tiny apartment. The size of the apartment drew her outside, the awareness of her awareness monitoring her every move despite the fact that she was alone.

It had become worse lately, the palpable sense of being watched tingling on the back of her neck. Taking her groceries out of car, she turned abruptly, expecting someone to be standing at the windows of the apartment across the lot. Seeing no one, she glanced around, eyeing the other cars in the lot. Birds sang with apparent unconcern as her heart pounded. There had been someone here, she had seen the shadows move.

She loaded her groceries onto her arms and slammed the car door with her hip. Keys jangling awkwardly in her right hand, she hurried up the walkway to her apartment. It had been one of the days where she should have stayed home.

Almost dropping her keys twice, she finally managed to unlock her front door. A shadow moved in her peripheral vision and her hand slipped on the doorknob. She fumbled with the metal, shoving hard against the door. Half of her groceries dropped from her arms, but she was safe, she was inside.

She slammed the door and leaned against it, breathing in deep gasps of air conditioning. Rubbing her arms, she took slower breaths to calm herself. She could still feel something watching her. Shadows filled the room. But shadows didn’t have eyes…