text: I post this as a warning. Learn from my mistake. I was in bed last night, scrolling through Reddit. I'm a fan of horror, and strangely I actually find it easier to sleep after a good scare, so I was browsing through short stories, clips and other horror-based content when I came across a post simply titled "**Don't rub your eyes**". As I began reading, half drifting off to sleep, I read a line that said "**I feel a slight tingling sensation in my left eye. It's almost not even there, except for the fact that I know it is**". The line took me by surprise, as I laughed at this attempt to unsettle me, only the thought wouldn't go away. I didn't feel anything in my left eye, did I? I couldn't tell if it was the brightness of the screen, or the fact that the thought was placed in my head by what I was reading, but I felt a twitch in my left eye. At this point, any sensation on my face seemed amplified, as all my attention focused .on what I was feeling. Even among being aware of all the sensations on my face I normally tune out, I was most aware of my left eye. Before long, the faint sensation became difficult to ignore, as I continued to read this story. I thought of raising my hand towards my face, when my eyes diverted to the title once more, "**Don't rub your eyes**". My heart began to race. A sensation I would normally welcome, but this was different. This felt personal. I wanted to close my phone and just go to sleep, but I couldn't. The sensation in my left eye was growing. It felt like there was dust there, or perhaps a little hair. Nothing that couldn't be solved by just cleaning it away. Yet I kept coming back to the title of the story that faced me, "**Don't rub your eyes**". But I couldn't simply leave the feeling be. I couldn't just ignore it. It was bothering me. So I made a decision. I raised my hand and rubbed my left eye, still continuing to read with my right. I could feel the irritating sensation ease up as I rubbed, and I smiled at my own trepidation a few seconds prior. It was just a story, nothing more. Whether it was dust, or hair, or imagined irritation, it was almost entirely faded away, when all of a sudden, I heard a ***POP***. In fear, I dropped my phone and sat up. The bright screen looked up at me. As my left eye cleared, I looked down at my phone, and all seemed fine, except for a strange soreness on my face. I tried to explain it as an understandable byproduct of my efforts to clear my eye. The popping noise meanwhile was surely just something to do with plumbing. Yet the strange soreness on the left side of my face wouldn't let up, as a creeping suspicion overcame me. I closed my eyes and covered them with my hands, and I could feel it. I told myself I was imagining it, but I could feel it. My left eye felt further into my head than my right. In a panic, I turned on my bedside lamp. Even amidst the new lighting, my phone lay on the bed, on my leg, shining up at me. "**Don't rub your eyes**". I checked my eyes again, hoping to be proven wrong this time. Hoping I could just laugh at my momentary lapse in judgement and go to sleep. If only. My eyes felt more misaligned than before, as my left eye seemed to be retreating into my skull. Unsure of what to do, I tiled my head forward, once again facing the stupid post. The soreness did not seem to fade, and so I tapped the back of my head, hoping to coax the retreating eye back in it's place. I don't know the science behind it, but at the time, it seemed a reasonable thing to try. But try as I might, the eye continued to sink. The pain was not significant, which I found strange. Only a tangible soreness that took over one side of my face. Perhaps it was the adrenaline rush I was feeling at the time, but by now, my vision began to distort. From my right eye, I could still see my phone looking up at me, but from the left, a strange circular border began to form around what I could see. I tried to close my left eye, but with nothing to hold their form around, my upper eyelid simply dangled when I tried. I'm not sure why, but I grabbed my phone, before I jumped out of bed and ran to the nearest mirror. As I saw my reflection, I tried to scream, but the sound was stuck in my throat. The vision from my left eye began to darken as I felt it slide entirely out of its place and fall back, rolling inside my head. I could see from my remaining eye, that all that remained was a dark red, empty hole. I looked down at the phone I was still holding tightly. I read one final time, "**Don't rub your eyes**".