Afterglow

How many of you have old TV sets? You know… big, boxy, and annoying in every way. I had one, just one. My nice 50" plasma-screen crapped out on me, so recently I've been watching my shows on the old television set. It really was a hassle, lugging the thing from my garage to my living room, setting it up, getting new rabbit ears, the likes… I've had it in my living room, which doubles as my bedroom because, well, I am too lazy to walk to my room most nights and I just crash on the couch. I usually stay up all hours of the night watching the tube. The last couple of nights I've noticed a very strange phenomenon… The afterglow…
At first I thought nothing of it; I just thought it must have been my eyes adjusting to the darkness… So I buried my head in my pillow, relaxing and trying to sleep. I brought my head up and the afterglow remained. There, on the screen, as vivid as if the thing were on. I always had irrational fears... Clowns, being alone, stray branches tapping my window.
But this disturbed me in a way no fear had. I got up off the couch, causing it to squeak from the release of pressure, and walked across the carpeted floor to unplug the set. I pulled the plug from the wall and to my dismay; the glow was still there… It is a faint kind of dark light. Not bright enough to illuminate anything, but enough to sit like a phantom of what you had just seen only behind the convex glass. If you've seen it, you know… if you haven't… lucky you. I thought nothing more of it and went to sleep.
I awoke the next morning and opened my eyes to the television... no longer creepy and weird, but just old and kind of pathetic looking. I remembered the previous night and shuttered a bit, but thought it was all in my head.
That night I did my usual ritual of staying up late watching the T.V. but I again shuttered at the thought of the T.V. being the only thing making any noise at all in my house. I was alone... but that fear had dissipated with the years. This time I was bound and determined to make the afterglow not happen. I pulled the plug before shutting off the T.V. The afterglow was there, but different.
Now there was an egg shape in the middle of the screen... I thought it may have been from pulling the plug, but I thought nothing of it and laid down, defeated by this relic of the 1970's. I laid with my face away from the television, almost too afraid to look at the screen. I fell asleep, but had a terrible sleep. Nightmares plagued my slumber, their origin was unknown. I don't even remember what they were to a point, but I do remember the background was... the afterglow... why was it so frightening? What made it so creepy?
The next few nights I just unplugged my T.V. from the wall after watching my shows, turned my head and laid down facing away from the set and not looking back at any time, fearing what I might see... the glow... the devilish horrid glow... It isn't scary! Why am I afraid? I thought over and over... I slept like this for weeks, until one night something bothered me deeply—the sound of breathing... it was labored and harsh. I held my breath to make sure it wasn't my own. I almost cried when I could still hear it. I decided to face my fear and look at the T.V. That was a bad choice on my part.
I should have just slept and ignored it, but no, I had to look. I turned to the glowing screen and in horror I realized what the ovoid shape on my screen was... It was a face, vague but there in the glossy convex screen, one of pure terror. It looked as if it had seen something truly terrifying. I closed my eyes and I could still see it in my persistence of vision. I couldn't escape. I picked up the T.V. in my hysteric state and tossed it out the window. It crashed through the glass and broke with a loud bang. I don't watch T.V anymore at night. And if you have an old boxy T.V. don't sleep near it. Ever.
Category:Television