Jim reached for his phone and silenced the alarm. Eight more minutes. Just eight more. As long as he got up by 7:20, he could make it to work by 8:00, if he hurried. And, Sarah wasn't going to kill him for snoozing once. Hopefully. At this point, he'd take his chances. He'd been having a truly excellent dream.

One part Ender's Game, one part Lord of the Rings, sprinkle in some mystic powers, and he'd actually been making a difference with his life. He’d been halfway through driving some creepy monsters out of a village when he woke. Meh. He rolled over, hoping to catch the tail end of it and ride it to the finish line.

His alarm screeched into the darkness of their bedroom again. This time, he sat up in bed before turning it off. His wife lay beside him, pretending to still be asleep. He got up and started to shamble through his morning routine. He turned the hot water on as he passed the shower, headed for the toilet. God, I'm getting old. He stretched the kinks out of his neck and took the first piss of the day.

He scraped his tongue, still not sure why that was even a thing. Some well-paid lady on Instagram had convinced Sarah that it had to be done, and Jim had learned long ago to pick his battles. He brushed his teeth in the shower, before soaping everything up and rinsing off. He toweled himself dry and took a critical look in the mirror.

At 28 years old, he'd already lost some of the fitness of his youth. He'd done well as a wrestler in high school, but that didn't go anywhere. His hair was dark brown and perpetually in need of a trim. He grimaced, looking at his teeth. He hated how crooked they were. They weren't the perfect white you see in pictures, either. Just the regular sort of off-white you get from brushing your teeth before and after drinking six cups of coffee every day.

Ah well. Still living. And, it's not all bad. Getting dressed was easy when you wore the same thing to work every day. Black pants and a grey polo. Managing an Arby's wasn't glamorous, but it put food on the table. And, when you haven't been to college, you don't come from money, and you don't have any particularly impressive skills... you take what you can get.

The coffee pot was percolating in the kitchen when he walked in. Sarah was a vision, still wearing the flannel nightgown she always slept in. Her curly red hair was long, and it was an absolutely glorious disaster this morning. Half of it was compressed hard against her head where she'd been sleeping, and the rest of it stuck out in various gravity-defying directions.

He always tried to drink the first cup of coffee at home with her, if they had time. They usually just sat together on the couch, saying little. It was simply the enjoyment of each other’s presence as they greeted the day. He got up, then leaned down to kiss her. "Time to go. Love you."

Sarah looked up at him with piercing green eyes. "I love you, too. Drive safe."

It was freezing cold outside when he opened the front door. He scraped frost off the windshield and started on the drive he’d made thousands of times before. But, halfway to work, Jim realized there was something wrong with his right eye.

It was like a pixel had gone out on an LED screen. No matter which direction he looked, there was a tiny green dot at the bottom right edge of his peripheral vision. He rubbed his eye quite thoroughly when he came to a red light. Still there. Jim groaned.

This is literally the last thing I need right now. He worried about the potential doctor’s bill given how flimsy their savings account was. Joseph's birthday was coming up next month, too. He considered messaging Sarah about it, but decided against it. Maybe it would go away on it's own.

Now, you might think that choice was foolish, to ignore something so obviously important. In fact, maybe you are one of those rare people who never overlook a detail or procrastinate doing something. But, Jim was much more average than that.

He arrived at the restaurant on time. Early, really. Corporate had scheduled some contractors to fix one of the fryers, today. So, he had lucked into a few easy hours before the normal prep for lunch. He went into the manager's office and closed the door. Rather than try to use the ancient desktop computer, he pulled his phone out and started searching for an explanation for the irritating green pixel.

As you might expect, most of what he found was clearly unrelated to the bizarre dot in his eye. Search results cropped up on medical websites, telling him that his symptoms could be anything from a floater, eye disease, migraines, or even retinal detachment. But as he read through each, it became clear that the symptoms did not fit what he was experiencing.

Jim's search for information continued for a few hours that morning. He was interrupted at times by the technicians who were working on the fryer, answering questions about the issues they'd noticed with it. But, for the most part, he just sat and scrolled. Eventually, he arrived at the unholy gates of Reddit, where he was pretty sure he'd find exactly nothing of value. But, if it saved him a trip to the optometrist, it would be worth the effort.

His search for weird green lights pulled him into the r/Paranormal subreddit. He'd just opened the first post when he heard one of the outer doors open and glanced at the security monitor. His boss, and the owner of this fine establishment, Mr. Marshall had entered the building. He leapt up and put his phone away, resolved to continue the search later.

The contractors couldn't fix the fryer today. Apparently there was some part on backorder. Mr. Marshall was not happy about that. But, he wasn't the type to lose his temper. He left before the lunch rush arrived, headed out to check on the other locations. His crew was on time. And, apart from slightly longer wait times, they did fine. But, all through the day, he kept noticing the green dot in his eye. He thought it might be growing, but wasn't be sure.

Before starting the drive home, he peered at his eye in the mirror. He couldn't see anything in it from the outside. But it was still there, unwavering in the periphery of his vision. Whenever he got stuck at a stoplight, he scrolled through search results on Reddit. Plenty of users reported seeing green lights, glowing green people, green visions, and had even dreamed in green. But, there was absolutely nothing like what was happening to him.

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He was concerned that the pixel was growing, too. It looked like it had started to stretch out horizontally into the beginning of a line. Jim took a few deep breaths and prepared himself to spend the evening with his family. This problem could wait.

Jim opened the door and was greeted by the mouth-watering smell of lasagna. It was enough to make him forget the little thing in his eye.

Joseph, his 8 year old, was playing with Legos on the floor of the living room while watching a show on Netflix. Sarah was in the kitchen. She was in work out clothes, wearing black and white leggings with a loose red top, and her hair was tied back in a loose braid.

"Whoa!" he said, gesturing to the sauce she was tending on the stovetop. "What's the occasion?"

She grinned at him and said, "Oh, shush. I cook for you almost every day."

“Oh, don't I know.” Jim held up a hand and started counting his fingers as he closed the distance with his wife. "Frozen pizza, frozen chicken nuggets, frozen tater tots..."

Sarah raised the long wooden spoon en garde. “Keep going, and I shall feed you this instead.”

He raised his hand to his heart and fluttered his lashes at her. "Forgive me, my love!" Jim walked slowly toward her, saying "I should never had spoken such terrible truths!” Feigning contrition, he lowered his head, then licked spaghetti sauce from the end of the spoon.

"Oh, gross." She yanked it away, then looked at him and rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless"

He reached out and put his hands on her hips. "Not true! I've got you." He gave her a peck on the lips.

"Just do the dishes, already. They are calling your name." She pointed toward the sink.

Jim gazed upon the mountain of plates, bowls, cups, mugs, platters, pans, and more that overflowed the sink. Utensils stuck out every which way. Skeptics of the supernatural should come live at my house. No one should be able to go through all of these dishes in a single day.

You could not say that Jim was the smartest man on the planet. But, even back then, he knew enough to keep certain thoughts to himself. So, you could say that about him.

By the time the dishwasher had been loaded and was humming merrily away, Sarah was pulling the lasagna out of the oven. She let it cool while Joseph set the table. Finally, they sat down to eat together. Jim took his first bite.

It was divine. The mozzarella and ricotta were gooey, and the bolognese was a perfect blend of garlic and oregano. She'd cut down the acidity of the tomatoes, adding just a hint of sweetness. Jim sighed loudly, then set his fork down. He looked across the table at Sarah.

"What?" she asked.

"This lasagna is perfect." Jim said.

"Oh, please don't." Sarah rolled her eyes.

Jim held his hands up toward the heavens and shouted. "I DECLARE THAT THIS LASAGNA IS PERFECT!"

Joseph grinned, glancing at his mom. Sarah started to eat again. "I'm not listening to you."

"It doesn't matter. I already declared it." Jim said.

A hint of a smile peeked out of the corners of Sarah's mouth, almost against her will. "Why are you so weird?"

"I have eaten the food of the gods, my love. This very evening, a forkful of ambrosia has passed my lips! Henceforth, I shall call no thing precious except that which my fire-touched goddess has prepared for me."

He continued to shout increasingly melodramatic phrases from his favorite shows, praising her culinary skills. Joseph joined in, shouting his own appreciation of the meal Sarah had prepared. By the end, she was laughing with them.

Jim finally broke character and said, "For real, though. Thanks for making lasagna for dinner. You did a great job, babe."

The smile spread across her face until it beamed at him from her eyes. Then, she looked down. “Whatever. You’re welcome. It’s just dinner.”

Later, after Joseph had gone to bed, they hung out in the living room. Sarah was reading a book, laying on her back with her head in his lap. He was watching TV, but he wasn't paying attention to it. His thoughts had returned to his eye. Eventually, he paused the show and told Sarah about the green dot that he was seeing.

She squinted up at him for a full ten seconds. "You’re hilarious." She went back to her book.

"Sarah, I'm serious. It's been bugging me all day. I feel like I'm going crazy. I can see it, but there's nothing there. Will you please look?"

She laid her book down on her chest. She locked eyes with him. "Swear it."

"I swear," he said. His expression was deadpan.

"Fine." She sat up and moved closer. He held still as she moved his eyelid up and down, staring intently at his eye. "There's nothing there. Are you really serious?"

"Yeah, it's gotten bigger today, too."

She frowned. "Hmm, better make an appointment to get it checked out."

Jim shook his head. "No. Joseph's birthday is next month. I don't want to go to the doctor just for them to tell me there's nothing there. Maybe it's in my head."

Sarah's frown deepened. "This could be serious, Jim."

He hated the idea of spending so much on a co-pay. Especially when he couldn't find anything wrong with his eye. "Give me a couple days, ok? I won't stop you from making the appointment, if it's still there. But, maybe it will go away."

She begrudgingly agreed to wait. Jim felt better after talking to Sarah about it. Even if he didn't know anything more, at least he wasn't alone. Tomorrow would come soon enough. He hoped that everything would be better in the morning. They spent what remained of the evening cuddling together on the couch, streaming a movie.

That day ended as so many had in his adult life. He held his wife close, breathing in the familiar scent of her hair before closing his eyes to sleep. Nothing had changed in the darkness of the room around him. And yet, the unwavering green light burning in the corner of his vision told him that nothing would ever be the same.