Screens and streetlights

So, I feel it's worth noting that I do actually have a real life. I also have a job, although trust me, it's just a generic office job- good pay, zero other incentive to actually do anything. Nothing worth describing in detail.

Now, it can get a little boring, so sometimes I take a peek at other people's screens. I don't stare over people's shoulders in the hopes of reading my coworkers' private emails or anything, I just occasionally glance over to see what other people are doing. It's one of those open plan offices, so, you know.

I was looking over at some of the screens when I saw them.

Eyes.

They were only there for a few seconds, but I swear to God, every screen I could see suddenly changed to a white background with an eye staring directly at me. Their gazes followed me as I turned to the other screens to see whether they too had eyes on them. (They did, incidentally.)

Then, all at once, every eye closed and disappeared.

I realized suddenly that everyone in the room who didn't have headphones on was staring at me, and I realized then that I had yelped in surprise when I saw the eyes staring at me. The sound was still ringing in my head, albeit not my ears. Soon enough, even the people who hadn't heard me were taking off their headphones and looking over at me, following the gazes of those who had.

"It's nothing," I said. "I, uh, I just got one of those dumb screamer videos."
"On your work email?" asked Ren, a friend and coworker of mine.
I nodded, figuring it would be better to go with my stupid lie than to explain that I had actually had a hallucination that seemed to be tangentially related to a series of lucid dreams I'd recently had involving eye monsters.
Ren shrugged. "You should probably tell Milo."
"Eh, nothing serious," I said. "I'll just talk to the person who sent it."

I didn't, of course, given I didn't actually receive any sort of screamer. Still, nobody paid me or the issue at hand any attention once I'd said that, so things got handled, all in all.

(Incidentally, Milo Sotrie is our boss. He goes by his first name because he thinks it seems more friendly that way. Really, if you need a picture of Milo Sotrie, just imagine a faceless man in a suit and you'll have a pretty good idea. Metaphorically, anyways.)

For the rest of the day, I tried to forget what had happened. I put on headphones and listened to a podcast, but my mind kept wandering from what they were saying to thoughts of eyes and rivers and demons.

It was dark out by the time Ren and I started walking home. I live in a small town and I carry pepper spray, and considering I live in the same apartment building as Ren, I wasn't especially worried. But wherever I saw lights, the sections of walls and streets that they illuminated had thousands of eyes on them, watching me as I passed. I sped up each time.

Am I really going insane? I don't believe in ghosts or demons or anything like that, but that's really the only other possibility.

Or maybe I just need to get a break from work and give my brain a rest.