Green Eyed Monster

         They were laughing again – hers was sweet, as it had always been, but his was grating and horrible. Jacob couldn’t hear them, of course, but he knew just by looking at them. Her laugh would be sweet and his would be horrible. How Jacob hated that man! He didn’t deserve to be anywhere near her! How could she stand him? His mere presence was enough to set Jacob’s teeth on edge, yet there she was, gazing at him with those big, beautiful eyes of hers. Jacob felt his stomach plop wetly into the soles of his feet, and his heart felt as though it’d been stabbed through, and he was certain that the sound of his jaws grinding together would alert them, but it did not. Obviously there was nothing for him here. Jacob couldn’t stand them anymore, so he pulled his head back, and –

– And he was panting, wide-eyed, staring at the window. In it, he could still faintly see the two, their laughter slowly subsiding into chuckles. The bright light glaring from the window hurt Jacob’s eyes, and he blinked and turned his head towards the darkness. This wasn’t a difficult challenge, seeing as everything but the mirror itself was dark. Just warm, wet darkness. Already he could feel sweat creeping down his back. The only things that were not touched by the blasted humidity were his feet, which rested on an icy pane of glass that stretched seemingly forever in all directions, or at least continued far past Jacob’s ability to see. He chanced a look back towards the window. He certainly didn’t want to see the two again, but he feared that should he stare into the darkness too long he’d go blind. So just to ensure his eyes still worked, he glanced quickly towards the window back onto earth and then closed his eyes. He despised the place. Both places, actually. He’d hated life, and now… Well, he decided ruefully, at least I’m consistent.

He chanced a look down at the cold glass under his feet. The sturdy pane had to be at least a foot thick, completely transparent and clean. All of those times he studied it before, he hadn’t spotted a single blemish or break, even after the time he’d thought he’d lost his mind and he’d hammered his fists against the glass so hard he’d bloodied his hands. Yet not a drop of red had colored the floor.

Far below the glass, he could see dark waters foaming and crashing in waves of primeval proportions in the little light that allowed him to see anything at all. Foam showed briefly between the crashes of churning water, but Jacob knew that water was not the only thing housed beneath him. To his horror, it chose that moment to remind him of its existence.

“You’re right, of course, little human,” said a voice, deeper than the sea below. “You’re never alone.” Jacob’s blood froze and he shut his eyes, as though without vision he’d be granted solitude. “You cannot hide from me. I see you.” Jacob whimpered something as he put his hands over his face. “Oh, Jacob, you know that I am very real. Why don’t you talk to me?” the voice chuckled from all around him, emanating from the moist blackness itself. “I’m oh-so lonely down here…”

Jacob peeked through his fingers. He’d seen the sight a dozen times, but his breath still caught. In the harsh light of the window, past the glass, he could make out bloated, scaly coils, covered in fins and spines. They twisted, convulsed, shifting through the water. A great, green eye and hundreds of wicked teeth briefly surfaced before the creature submerged its head once again. “There we are,” breathed the thing. “Now we can see one another. Now wait a moment and you’ll never have to worry about those two again. You will be a part of me…forever…”

The serpentine thing below coiled as the waters rose, quickly coming within striking distance of the glass pane. Its grotesque maw open in some hideous parody of a smile, it prepared to strike the barrier...

Jacob screamed, tore his gaze away, and hurled himself into the window. As he disappeared, he could just make out the words still hanging in the wet darkness behind him: “Don’t worry, Jacob, I won’t forget you. I’ll be waiting for you. Always waiting…”

Then they were before him again, she and he and all thoughts of the beast were forgotten. They were embracing now, saying their goodbyes. The contact made Jacob sick, but he could stand it as long as they were parting. They were, and Jacob finally allowed himself a moment of satisfaction. She would leave, think on this time, and laugh at her own foolishness and the foolishness of her friendship with the one she was now releasing. They walked away in opposite directions, and Jacob floated, star-struck, after her.

He studied her face with great interest. He could only grin in anticipation at her cringing when thoughts of the other boy returned to her. But no, what was this? She was smiling; and not just her mouth, but her eyes, too. Jacob didn’t think he had ever seen her quite so happy and contented. Surely it couldn’t be him, could it? That gangly little fool? No. He must’ve missed something earlier. But suppose he hadn’t? The thought made him gag.

Jacob ceased following her and watched her go down the hallway. Something had snapped inside of him. She’d torn out his heart and she didn’t even know it. But, as always, none of the heartbreak seemed at all her fault. No, it was all his fault. That snotty little upstart!

Jacob snarled and reversed direction, found the boy in a classroom, sitting placidly at his desk. He was going to kill him. Jacob was going to murder him, no matter what it took, no matter what consequences awaited him.

“You are going to die!” he roared so loudly that his own ears pounded. The boy didn’t seem to hear him. “Die!” he screamed. Jacob attacked the young man again, and again, and again. Punches, kicks, elbows: it was all fair game, and Jacob rained enough blows to kill him several times over until he was weak for lack of breath. But it made no difference. The kid didn’t even notice him!

Jacob howled, focused all his world-destroying rage on this one petty individual, felt his heart shudder in fear of its own fury, heard the very fabric of the universe groan under his power. And the arrogant little fool continued work on his calculus homework without incident.

Jacob Miller stared, dumbfounded and broken. The world had left him, forgotten him, and he couldn’t fight back against that. The earth was done with him but not he with it. He lingered still on the shadowy edges, between what he’d once called home and his now permanent residence. And the strings which still bound him to the living cut deep into the hands that held them. To see the upstart was a source of constant anger. To see her happy in a world without him was a torment. Obviously, there was nothing for him here. He would go back.

But what was there for him there? Darkness, forever, and heat, gnashing teeth, and death. He was caught for an instant, uncertain of what to do. But then he couldn’t stand the feel of the living around him. Jacob choked back a moan and pulled his head back, and –

- And the great beast seething beneath the waters heard Jacob come home and swung its hungry eye towards him and coiled its endless body around and slithered through the infinite wet black to meet him.

“Jacob…” it called slowly. “Jacob…”