The Bridge

Brain Log [4]

My midnight strolls had turned into a nightly routine that I had realized was probably more of a figment of my imagination than an actual walk in the dark, a fact that made me grow reckless. Wandering farther than I should, staying longer in places I shouldn't be, and attempting to catch the footsteps of the figure that doesn't want to be seen. I failed several times.

Eventually, on a grim night, I purposely didn't head on my daily adventure. I stayed on the bed pretending to sleep. When the footsteps passed my room as they always do I counted to three and leaped off my bed thinking I'd be immobile since I always returned to my usual state when the footsteps passed but tonight I wasn't. I quietly slipped out of my room and followed the sound with my silent footsteps racing to match the loud one and it pauses in front of a room. There I wait near a nurse's table, close but not too close to endanger myself.

Even though It was very near I couldn't actually see the owner of the footsteps until a man who couldn't be older than me stepped out of the room warily. I wanted to scream ‘go away’ but my mouth had been covered by something cold. The man froze at the sight of the figure I failed to see— He probably could.

I noticed the temperature had gone down to the point of freezing as well. When the man screams in terror, a shadow rises tall as a wild flame towering over him he looks up with both eyes wide and unexpectedly— it erupts like a volcano shooting beams of darkness at him. Every shot seemed to cling to the poor man like a sticky paint and they visibly burned him like scalding hot lava leaving holes that you could see through him. Literally. The moment I attempted to turn to my side and finally see the person who had my mouth covered I started to lose consciousness. I did catch a glimpse of a boy covered in tar black paint before the darkness fully took over.

The next morning, the nurses had a lot to answer for such as how I had managed to travel about fifty meters away from my room when I was supposed to be in a coma. None of these issues were made aware to my parents when they visited that afternoon. Since I showed no sign of improvement the blame fell on the other patients because after all the crazies were in the neurological unit as well. Unsurprisingly, the patient I saw being attacked last night had died of a heart attack.