Red eyes

"How much longer till we get there?" Jamie whined.

"We're not even halfway there; sit back and get some rest," my dad said.

Our car glided smoothly along the concrete road, crushing crunchy leaves in its track. The barren road snaked, slender oaks lining both sides. I was staring outside the window blankly. Green leaves had disappeared from trees, replaced by red, yellow and orange leaves hanging on their branches. The atmosphere was growing cold and clouds were covering the sun almost every day. foliage was beginning to gather on the ground as the trees braced themselves for colder weather. More and more rain came every day and helped strip the trees of their leaves. Fall had arrived.

We were five hours into our journey to Uncle Max's house in Florida. We'd planned to celebrate Thanksgiving there, along with many other holidays we shared with him. My brother sat next to me, his eyes tied to his iPad. My parents sat in the front seats, my mom reading and my dad fidgeting as he drove.

I had my earbuds on with music playing. As I tried to recline my seat to catch up on a little sleep, I was stopped by the luggage and bags that were stuffed in the trunk. *Guess no sleep for me*, I thought, annoyed. I stared out the window for a little while, thinking about what exciting things we were going to do at Uncle Max's house. Last time, in the summer, we went kayaking in the river behind his house. And another time, a few years ago, he took us out hunting rabbits. It was probably too cold for any of those activities now, and Mom was definitely not happy when we came back with three dead rabbits in my arms.

My dad rolled down his window and lit a cigarette, blowing the smoke. I winced at the bitter smell and scrunched up my nose in disgust. My mother nudged him and he threw his cigarette outside with a scoff.

Thirty minutes of silence passed and I decided to close my eyes. Jamie had already fallen asleep, drooling on his shirt. But then, I heard my mother's best attempt at a whisper. "Is she asleep?"

I discreetly paused the iPod in my pocket with my eyes closed and eavesdropped on the conversation, knowing it was certainly about Uncle Max.

"Yeah, they both are," my dad whispered in response.

"I...I don't think Max is a good influence on the kids, John."

"Honey, he might not be the *best* uncle, but he's trying."

"I'm not convinced. If he were trying, then he would stop telling them those stories! It's ridiculous; they're grown up!" my mom hissed.

"Come on, Max's sober for years now and went to rehab for them. Just let him tell his little stories if that means he gets to spend time with the kids."

"But *those stories* are giving Jamie nightmares! Not to mention those weird drawings he brings home from school."

"He's a kid, Bonnie. Look at Jess, she's fine! Please, just give Max a chance. You're his sister-in-law after all. And you know he loves scary stories. He used to tell me them all the time and I got nightmares too. It's all part of growing up. Ok?"

"Oh...ok." My mom sighed, giving in. She leaned over and gave my dad an audible smooch which made me cringe. I waited a few minutes before pretending to stir awake after having hit a road bump. I opened my eyes and a blue sign at the side of the road greeted me with bold white letters: "Welcome to South Carolina!" Fuck, I thought. Five more hours? I dropped back into my seat and shut my eyes, falling asleep for real this time.

"Kids! Wake up! We're here!" my dad's familiar voice called me, shaking me awake.

The world was blurry for a few seconds, and I jolted awake after having realized we had arrived at Uncle Max's. I rubbed my eyes and gave a loud yawn. Jamie's hair was tousled and he stretched with his arms raised. Suddenly, he gave a scream as he was scooped up by someone. His iPad fell back on his seat. I ran out to the other side of the car.

A man in red flannels and denim overalls was crouched over Jamie, tickling him. Jamie's screams gave way to giggles and laughter. "Here comes the tickle monster!" he said. It took me a second to realize that that was Uncle Max. He was unrecognizable since summer with his scraggly beard and longish hair. Jamie squirmed and begged Uncle Max to stop. "Stop? Ok! Jess, your turn!" He grabbed my arm and I yelped as he pulled me down onto the grass. He tickled me ceaselessly.

"Stop!!" I said as I giggled uncontrollably.

He stopped at length and Jamie and I sat on the grass, panting. Uncle Max gave us a nostalgic smile. His green eyes were soft, like always. "Well, won't you look at that. You kids grew up so much!" He embraced us. "I miss y'all, you know."

"We miss you too, Uncle Max," Jamie and I said in unison, hugging him back.

"Since when did you get *that* big, Jamie? And you, Jess, when did you get so tall?" He hugged us tightly again, and kissed both of our foreheads.

"Max!" my mom called distantly from the house.

"Coming!" he yelled. "I guess I did something wrong again, didn't I? Go explore around the house. I'll catch y'all back in the house for dinner." Uncle Max trod back into the house. Jamie grabbed his iPad and followed him inside.

The sun was setting here, and my surroundings plunged into indigo. The sky was mottled with orange, red, pink, purple and yellow clouds. A zephyr blew past, carrying the pleasant scent of pine cones through my hair.

I took a good look at the big estate Uncle Max acquired when I was five. It was two stories tall with 4 windows and a grand wooden door. It was painted light-blue and the roof black. There was a front yard with mowed-grass teeming with bouquets of colorful flowers, carefully organized. A large driveway big enough to fit five cars, with an additional garage, was located at the side of the house. Tonight, only Uncle Max's jeep and my dad's SUV were parked there. In the back, there was a large porch that overlooked a pristine river. Bordering the river were more forests of oak and pine. The nearest neighbors were at least a mile away, so we had pretty much all of this to ourselves. It was a very pretty house—definitely much prettier than my apartment in D.C.

Darkness took over at last, and the lights from the house flashed on as I moved. The trees came to life with fireflies and cicadas...but as I listened more closely...*ribbit*. Little croaks were sounding from the forests. It seemed like they were from frogs. Slowly, the croaks grew louder and louder and replaced the sound of cicadas. They grew more frequent, and my heart matched up with the speed. The croaks began to feel like chantings. I could hear rhythms throughout the ordeal. I stood frozen in the darkness as the cacophony of frog croaks rang in my head. *Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit*. Tears began to run down my eyes as terror seized my throat. For when I looked into the darkness of the woods, I saw thousands of little eyes stare back at me. The eyes glowed like candles and burrowed into my mind.

A hand seized my arm and dragged me into the house. I kept looking at the eyes. Oh, God, the eyes. They kept staring at me until the door slammed behind me.

"Are you ok? What did you see?" Uncle Max whispered, pulling me into his arms.

I sobbed quietly. "Uncle Max. Oh, my god. The—The frogs. They were looking at me..."

"Hey, don't cry. I'm here." He cradled and rocked me in his arms. "Don't worry. They're around often."

"What? Ten thousand eyes stare at you like that every night? I don't know what kinda frogs they are then! They look like they wanna eat me. They—"

"Shh. I know. Let's discuss this later. Clean up, don't let your parents know, ok?"

I nodded.

He left for the kitchen.

I ran for the window again and looked out. Nothing. Only pitch darkness. I closed the shade and sneaked to the bathroom, wiping away the terror that was plastered onto my face.

After dinner, Jamie and I sat in the living room with our phones. The nearest window faced out toward the porch and the river and, of course, the forests that surrounded it. A feeling of dread crept up again, so I lowered the shades. I saw Uncle Max look over at me with a worried expression, and he gave a comforting smile. I smiled back and looked down at my phone to distract me from the frogs.

Some time later, with my parents still at the dinner table, Uncle Max came over and we took off our earbuds.

"Another tickle fight?" I asked.

He laughed. "No, actually. Do you want to hear a story?"

I looked over at my parents, but they were bantering loudly and did not hear him. "Sure, why not."

"And you, Jamie?"

Jamie had a look of worry on his face. "Is it...Is it scary?"

"Well, it depends on what you mean by scary."

"Will I be able to sleep?" Jamie asked quietly.

"Jamie." Uncle Max put a comforting arm on him. "You don't have to."

"Um...fine. I'll listen."

"You sure, buddy?"

"Yes, yes," he said, preserving his pride.

"Ok, then. Let's start. This is a true story, only happened the other day before any of y'all were here. So you remember the story I told you about the giant frog? Guess what. I saw the frog the other day!"

The last time we were here in the summer, Uncle Max told us a story about some giant frog who lived in the area, hunting large animals, and humans.

"No way, Uncle Max. No frogs grow that big!" Jamie said.

"Yes way, Jamie. In fact, would you believe me if I showed you a photo of the frog?" We nodded and he pulled out his phone. "Thank God for phones these days. Lemme figure out—here!" He turned his phone around and showed us. "Look at that Big Bertha." The image before us was a bit grainy, but I could make out the familiar river and forest. "It was just in the backyard, at the river by the forest!" In the image, the sky was cloudy. The lighting was quite dim and it was hard to make out anything.

"I don't understand. Where's the frog, Uncle Max?" Jamie asked.

Uncle Max pointed in the middle of the picture right at the river bank, where the trees met the river.

"I still can't see it."

"Look closer, buddy."

Jamie leaned in closer to the screen, and let out a gasp before moving back. I did the same. The spot where Uncle Max pointed was just a glob of blackness at first, but upon closer inspection, I saw a shape. It was distinctly a frog: big body, a flat head, bulbous outlines of eyes, two back legs popping out and two front. It took me a minute to process this, but the shape was unusually large for a frog. It was nearly half the height of the tree beside it, and the tree was at least 30 feet tall. The frog was darker than its surroundings and I could not make out its features.

If you're thinking it was photoshopped, you're wrong. Uncle Max could not have known about photoshop—he barely knew how to work a phone! He had limited knowledge of technology, not to mention that he barely went out to the city, which was miles away. And even if it *were* photoshopped, the person did a hella good job on making something so impossible so realistic. Even the shadows seemed accurate.

I leaned back, a look of concern on my face. I kept quiet, though, because I didn't want to worry Jamie.

Uncle Max turned off his phone and let out a long, almost reminiscent sigh. "I still remember that day, as clear as glass. Maybe cuz I was scared shitless."

Jamie giggled quietly at the curse word.

"So let me tell y'all the story. It's early mornin' and I just woke up. I stretched, got my coffee and headed out to the porch as usual. It was hot that day, really hot. So hot that I almost burnt my feet off when I stepped on the wood. I dunno, but it felt like summer. I looked out at the lake as usual, you know, admiring the view. Then, I saw the giant motherfucker" —he paused for a second— "I mean, the giant frog, hopping from the trees far back. You couldn't see it in the camera, but it was kinda mud color, you know, dark-green, kinda brown. Its eyes were huge like big balls, and when I stood there so scared, it looked at me. That thing stared at me for a little while, before jumping into the river with a splash! Never saw him again."

Jamie got up. "Um...Uncle Max, I...I'll go now. I'm a little sleepy," he said with a pinch of fear in his voice.

"Ok, buddy, good night." Uncle Max patted him on his shoulders and he walked away. My parents were still talking loudly over glasses of wine. "It's probably good that he's gone," he told me.

"Uncle Max, why're there so many frogs around here?" I asked, my voice quivering. "Especially those outside a while back that looked like they wanted to kill me."

Uncle Max's slight smile faded and he rubbed his scraggly brown beard. "Let me be serious with you, okay?" He looked at me with tense eyes. "But don't be scared, they won't hurt you. When I bought this house years ago, there was this guy that turnt up to the property a bunch. Always stood outside and said nothin'. He wore feathers in his hair, jeans and jean-jackets and cowboy boots. He looked real old. One day, I saw him standin' in front of the house so I went out to talk to him. He wouldn't give me his name, but he told me he was Native American and has family that lives around here. I asked him why he kept dropping by and he said so that he could see somethin'. I asked what and he said the frogs. He went on to tell me a long story about some spirit that cursed this area. I know, crazy, but bear with me. The curse apparently made the frogs do weird things, but he didn't go much into detail. He'd never even seen one so he wouldn't know what. I asked him where he got that story from and he said his family who occupied this land hundreds of years ago. He then told me to keep children like you inside at night, and said to watch out for—um, the name was too complicated, but let's just call it Big Bertha. With that, he left and I never saw him again. I didn't know what that meant until a few days ago. That frog was really a Big Bertha."

"So what happened just before—"

"—is not gonna happen again. You and Jamie need to keep in at night, ok? Cuz those damn frogs are out there."

My stomach dropped slightly and my breath labored. I grew nervous and a bit paranoid. *Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit*. I heard those stupid croaks again and I began to tear up. But it was all happening inside my head. Cuz I'm paranoid and scared of stupid little frogs!

*Ribbit*.

"What the fuck was that?" Uncle Max jumped up and looked around. Mom and Dad grew quiet at Uncle Max's sudden distress.

*Ribbit*.

But it was not a part of my imagination. It was real.

*Ribbit*.

"Hurry! Find it!" I yelled.

*Ribbit. Ribbit*.

Uncle Max tracked down the croaks to the vents. "Fuck, how did they get in?" Using the coffee table, he reached up to the vent on the ceiling and peered in.

A loud metallic crash rang from the vent as Uncle Max toppled down in surprise, landing on his butt with a thump.

"Oh my god, are you ok, Max?" My mom ran over to help Uncle Max up.

The second crash clanged against the thin metal. And a third. A fourth. And it became more frequent and frequent. *Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.*

We looked helplessly at the vent, not knowing what to do.

"Max, what the hell is that?" my dad asked.

"It's the frogs," Uncle Max said shakily.

"What frogs?"

The vent detached and something fell from it, crashing against the coffee table and shattering it. We screamed as it fell.

*Ribbit*. *Ribbit*.

I took the first peep at the thing that lay in the rubble of glass shards. The thing turned out to be a large dark-green bullfrog that was as long as a full ruler. It must've weighed easily ten or fifteen pounds. It lay stretched out and motionless, its white belly toward the sky. Beads of blood trickled out as it lay badly scratched up in the glass. I could see the slimy residue on its skin on the glass. Uncle Max crawled next and peered down. "Holy cow."

The frog turned its head suddenly and looked at me intensely with its oval, amphibian eyes. I could see a bright flame in the dark pupils, burning with intensity. I was entranced. The flame was red and yellow, and the bottom of it was blue. It danced and licked at the darkness. It pulled me in—no, it dragged me in. Drool accumulated in my mouth and dripped out. The frog looked...delicious. The flames were tempting me. The ribbits continued and filled my ears with mysterious, enticing chants in a foreign language, but I could almost understand. Eat. Eat. Eat. That's what they said. They told me to eat. I found myself picking up the frog, gripping its slippery body tightly. It did not struggle. I felt like it could just eat it, like a popsicle. It looked so delicious. My stomach growled and I licked my lips, preparing to take a bite.

Uncle Max screamed, but it seemed so distant. I heard a slicing sound and I looked down. The frog had disappeared, nowhere to be seen. The hunger dissipated and I sucked in my drool. The flame was gone, and the only thing glowing was Uncle Max's golden letter opener. He sat back, exhausted and sighing with relief. My parents were behind him, their faces filled with terror.

"What the hell happened?" My mom said, tears running down her cheek. "Why did you want to eat that frog? Are you insane?"

"It's...It's the curse, right? Uncle Max?" I asked, shaking in fear.

"I think so," he responded.

"What curse? What are you talking about?" inquired my mom fiercely. My dad sat quietly behind me.

"It's a long story, Bonnie. But a guy that came by a few years ago told me the frogs were cursed and—"

"Ok, enough. I don't care if it's a curse or whatever! We need to get the hell out of this place. Now! Max, you're coming with us," my mom demanded. "We're going back to Virginia. Jesus, I knew coming back here was a mistake."

"Where's...Where's Jamie?" Uncle Max said quietly.

Then, *ribbit*. It came silently, on the floor above us. My mom screamed, "Oh my god! Jamie!" and we ran headlong toward the staircase and to his bedroom. We collided against the door and attempted to turn the knob, calling Jamie's name and pounding on the door, but it was locked and wouldn't budge. Just beyond the door, I could hear frequent low croaks and the familiar thundering metallic sound. The frog was attempting to break in. My mom screamed and rapped at the door. But Jamie didn't answer. We went silent as we heard metal crashing and the squeaky vents, and something landed with a thud on the floor. Uncle Max told us to back off and he pulled out a metal pole from a cabinet and proceeded to whack the door. He managed to tear down parts of it after a few minutes and he and my dad ran toward the door and crashed onto it. The door burst open and splinters of wood flew everywhere. Mom stepped through first and I ran over Dad and Uncle Max. It was dark in his room, save for the blue moonlight that shone through the window. Broken pieces of the vents were littered on the carpeted floor. My eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness for a few seconds, but when I saw him, it was too late. He sat on the side of his bed, in the corner where the bed met the wall. Mom and I ran over and lifted his head up. Mom gasped, and I let out a yelp. Jamie was holding a large, headless frog in his hand, its severed spine and sinewy muscle on full display. It had gotten to him. Fuck! It had gotten to him. His lips were bloody and his mouth was full, chewing the frog's head. He was smiling, but not his kiddy smile anymore. It was something diabolical.

"Baby, please, open your mouth and spit it out. Please, baby," my mom begged and cried.

He looked at her blankly, continuing to chew. An audible swallow made my stomach drop and goose flesh appear on my skin. I felt vomit begin to well up in my throat. He quickly stuffed the rest of the body in his mouth and chewed it voraciously. My mom screamed again and shook him. Uncle Max and Dad ran over and tried to make him stop chewing, but they couldn't.

Jamie looked over at us. In the moonlight, we could see the white area of his eyes turning golden and his iris morphing to a black oval in the center. My mom gasped and slid back. When he blinked, his eyelids no longer went down, but up. We slowly backed away from him. Jamie screamed as we saw his eyes pop from their sockets and move upward to the sides of his head. His jaw stretched wider and wider back. It lifted and flattened into a frog's mouth. The whole time, we could only hear the cracking of bones. His nose sank into his face, and only two holes remained. With a painful crack and a groan, Jamie fell onto all fours. His head dipped, aligning with his neck and spine. His eyes stared at us, only this time, I did not feel anything but disgust. His legs and arms bent beneath him and a thin tissue webbed his feet. He turned dark-green and his skin grew bumpy.

We stared at him in disbelief. He had transformed into a humanoid frog right before our eyes. The look of terror on Mom's face gave me the sign that she didn't want to be near that...*thing*, even if it was once her son. We stepped back slowly.

*Ribbit*. Oh, God. *Ribbit*.

It came from Jamie's throat.

For a few minutes, the four-foot-tall frog stood still in the middle of the room. It stared at us with those fucking beady eyes, and licked itself with its long tongue. Its legs were twitching a little.

Jamie had died. That was no Jamie.

None of us could speak as terror seized our throats. My legs felt rigid as we backed slowly to the door.

Immediately, the frog jumped at the wall with an immense speed. With a loud crash, a hole formed in the wall. We ran and looked as the frog hopped to the river.

"JAMIE!" Mom screamed, her voice quavering.

The frog stopped and looked back. Its blank expression burned into my mind. It was the last time I would see Jamie. It hopped into the calm river and swam across it.

As mom and dad sobbed, Uncle Max blanched and looked on silently, tears welling up in his eyes.

The frog hopped out of the river onto the riverbank a few seconds later, exactly at the same place Uncle Max pointed in the photo. The pale moonlight shone at the riverbank as the moon emerged from dark clouds. And I saw it. Big Bertha herself. Fifteen feet tall, half the size of the trees. It was hiding behind the dense foliage. Jamie—I mean, the frog, seemed to have bowed to her and hopped into the forest, into the darkness. Big Bertha slowly turned her head to face me. She also had intense golden eyes. Her skin was the color of mud and looked scaly and rough. She eyed me with empty orbs, turned away and leapt back into the woods, into the darkness. Her hops shook the earth and we felt it. She let out a loud, frightening croak as the trees shook. I broke into tears and wept into my arms.

When I looked up again, ten thousand beady red eyes glared at me from the dark forest. And the next moment, they were gone.