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Writer's picturehil hoover

Glass Eyes, Soft Gaze


You look at her, she looks at you.


You move her from dresser to desk to

chair, to some awkward corner of the 

room. 


The problem is that she looks too real.


Not just that the realness is creepy, 

but that is also makes it hard to 

shove her in the closet 

(you never want to send anyone there) 

or underneath a bunch of pillows

never to see the light of 

day again. 


If there is something behind those eyes, 

looking out, 

even if it’s mean, and hard, and wrong,

are you cruel enough to damn it 

without any wrongdoing 

other than 

giving you the 

unfortunate kind of tingles? 


You might burn the Ouija board 

your friends used to summon up

spirits on a Saturday night or 

pour out the last of your 

late mother’s questionable 

potions but 


She is different.


Too like a child you might

have been in another life, 

or had in another life.


You close your eyes, 

try to sleep, 

pretend

not to hear her laughing

at your softness. 


(it’s a fond laugh,

you tell yourself, 

when pretending

fails)

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6 Comments


Kelsey Thomas
Kelsey Thomas
Oct 28

I got shivers at this one. Beautiful, and haunting, all at once.

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hil hoover
hil hoover
Oct 28
Replying to

Thank you! <3 I so rarely do one that's really scary, so that makes me happy!

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durham42
Oct 27

Another very moving and thought-provoking offering.

The part which stood out most to me –

"are you cruel enough to damn it 

without any wrongdoing 

other than 

giving you the 

unfortunate kind of tingles? "

is a question to be put to the so many people these days (though certainly not limited to our times) who treat so many other people in exactly this way.


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hil hoover
hil hoover
Oct 28
Replying to

I always think about that when I'm writing about anything scary, honestly. The whole "fear of the Other" is such a driver in horror.

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ellenbeakendall
ellenbeakendall
Oct 26

Terrifying! Reminds me of sleeping in my grandma's house as a child!

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hil hoover
hil hoover
Oct 28
Replying to

RIGHT? my grandmother has a creepy doll in her guest room, and even though I haven't been there in years, it was still the first thing that came to mind with this topic.

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