Bogleech.com's 2014 Horror Write-off:

" Revealer "

Submitted by Everbound Venvel

A Revealer looks something like a fleshy gray-brown coconut with a thing like a skinny little deep-sea fish fry tail for a body. A Revealer has shiny black die pips where eyes should be. Most of the time a Revealer does not move, but it will violently thrash its tail back and forth at chaotic intervals. The legally blind are not spared.

I had been 27 for exactly seven weeks when each of us had our personal Revealers appear. It’s always 30 ° from the center of our visual fields, always appearing to be exactly 20 feet away; even if said visual field is otherwise completely filled by a solid wall five inches away. Even when we’re awake with our eyes closed, a faint but definite “afterimage” persists. Most of our dreams have at least one Revealer present.

When we first had our own individual Revealers appear, we naturally went into mass hysteria. It was not long before other’s Revealers appeared to us; exactly 20 feet away from their “owners”, at a 30 ° angle in relation to an invisible pivot point directly between their eyes. Invariably, those whose Revealers revealed themselves to others would die within the day.

We had many, many Revealers revealed to us all for three years. Suicide rates rocketed to all-time highs. Birth rates dropped to all-time lows. We fell into the worst depression of a 100-year period.

I guess we’ve gotten used to the Revealers. Nowadays, each of us sees two, maybe three Revealers belonging to others on a weekly basis.

I’m tired of looking at my personal Revealer.

There are so many deer these days; you can’t go ten feet at night without startling one.

My thoughts just caused me to lose track of the carving knife in my hand, I fumbled and slit my cat’s throat instead of filleting a carp.