I See You

Shadow Man

The room was quiet and Amelia was left to her thoughts. No one knew what went on in that head of hers and no one dared to ask.

"That's her tenth paper this night." The nurses were standing a good thirty feet away from the girls' room. The one that spoke went by the name Grace, she was the head nurse and wasn't very keen when it came to Amelia. 'She's just another crazy person we have to keep in check so we don't lose our jobs' She always said.

Her fellow colleagues didn't completely "agree" with her. Unlike most patients at the Institution, Amelia was very quiet, aside from her usual screaming as a result of her schizophrenia and her anxiety attacks, she was, "normal". 

Her silence wasn't crazy, she wasn't the type that stayed silent until you approached them or touched them and they'd throw a fit. No, her silence was like she was trying to remember, really trying.

Some of the nurses watched as she repeated the same thing every day just so she wouldn't forget. The only thing that changed was the length of her hair and the drawings she made.

"It's 11 pm," The head nurse said and all the other nurses started to back away slowly. 

Nurse Grace turned around swiftly, placed her hand on her hip, and scanned with beady eyes who she would pick.

"You," She said and pointed at a petite nurse, Lily, she was new and helped the elderly in the ward but she had heard that Amelia was a 'special subject. 

Lily opened her mouth to object but the glare she received from her superior caused her to shut up and take the metal tray and walked to Amelia's room begrudgingly. 

Lily felt the world move slower as she approached the white door that confined the schizophrenic. She gulped her fear and put on a wide smile as she pushed open the door

"Amelia!" She called out "Time for your medicine"   Pencil scratching paper was all she received back. Lily's fear returned as she watched the girl and she let her eyes move around the foreign room. the one room that scared off other nurses.

She looked at the walls and the tray that she held onto with a death grip threatened to slip out of her hands as her mouth went dry.

Morbid drawings were plastered everywhere. Some sketched with a pen and some with a charcoal pencil

The small woman wanted to run, to scream, to shut her eyes but she stayed rooted to the ground.

"I feel your presence" Her voice was barely a whisper but the already silent room caused it to bounce off the walls and create an echo that rang through the nurses ears.

She cleared her throat and her legs found life again. She walked up to Amelia and saw that she just finished some drawings and at the sight, the tray slipped from her hands and she gasped. The actions caused Amelia to shoot up from her chair and rush to the corner of the room were she sat and rocked herself slowly with her hands over her ears

Amelia slowly looked up with terror evident in her eyes as she stared at the door. Lily felt the need to cry as her chest heaved up and down rapidly.

"A-amelia" She called but the girl didn't move. She continued to stare at the door and Lily felt compelled to look back but she didn't. She always felt mental patients could see what the average human could not. 

"You've made them angry" Amelia whispered. Her body was frozen, as if she were glued to the wall

"M-made who angry?"  Lily asked as she gulped.

Amelia didn't reply her, instead she raised her hand and pointed to the wall adjacent from the door. 

Lily felt like she was going to die. She didn't want to turn around but her legs moved, step by step as she dreaded what she would face.

She turned around and at that exact moment Amelia covered her eyes and bent her head down. 

Nobody was there. The nurse sighed to herself. A drawing was on the wall though and Lily's hear beat sped up once more.

At this rate, i'm sure to have a heart attack, she thought to herself

Anxiety wasn't listed as one of the problems wrong Amelia yet the drawing on the wall said other wise.

She didn't know why but she found her self walk to the drawing. It looked like a child drew it but the story behind her shook her to her core.

Everyone knew Amelia was a schizophrenic but no one knew why or how.

Yes, she had suffered from post-traumatic amnesia but schizophrenia, on the other hand, those never happened unless it ran genetically.

So this drawing...

"Why did you draw this Amelia?" Lily asked as she turned back to the patient. 

She watched as her hands slowly dropped to her sides, revealing her face like a butterfly.

"Shadow man" Lily would have burst out laughing if it were a child that told her that but it coming from Amelia, she wasn't sure whether to believe it or not. 

"And who are those? The people standing around your door?" The nurse asked and Amelia began playing with her fingers

"The nurses"  She replied and Lily quirked a brow, intrigued in what her patient would say next "They- You all watch me, all the time. I feel your gaze, hear your indistinct whisper. Dr. Anderson says you're meant to help m-me but you don't. That's why the shadow man comes here every night"

How could she hear what the other nurse said? Lily thought to herself. They always stood a good ten feet or more whenever they spoke about her.

"What does the shadow man do?" The nurse didn't know why she asked that question. She was just here to give Amelia her daily dose but here she was having a crazy conversation with a crazy person.

She awaited Amelia's response but the girl said nothing. Lily noticed how bloodshot her eyes were, she looked like she were on crack. She stared at the clock.

It's been thirty minutes since she was sent in here. Didn't the other nurse want to know what was going on? Better still, if she were dead?  

They probably don't care, that's why you were sent in the first place she told herself and sighed

"He's here" She heard Amelia say and the fear in her voice was very evident

Lily began to tremble for the fifth time this night

"W-who?" She asked 

"The shadow man" Amelia responded and scurried behind her bead, shielding herself

"A-amelia? Come o-out, th-this isn't funny" Scared wasn't even the word to use to describe how Lily felt

"He's coming to get you" Amelia said in a sinister sing-song voice  and started clicking her tongue in tune with the clock.

Then there was silence

And then there was Amelia's blood curling scream that shook Lily's bones. She ran to the door, pulling it open and she ran through the halls screaming

Dr.Anderson just happened to be leaving the bay when he saw Lily, the petite nurse gripped onto him for dear life, with tears in her wide eyes

"Nurse Hawthorne?  What is the matter?" He asked as he tried to calm the agitated nurse down

"She's mad! Completely mad doctor!" She replied with a shaky breath and the doctor gav her a confused look

"Who?" He asked which was a crazy question considering they were in a mental institution

The nurse gasped repeatedly, trying to catch her breath "A-amelia" She finally forced out and as if he were being controlled, he let go of the nurse causing her to fall to the floor with a loud thud and rushed to room 106

Amelia lay in the corner of the darkroom, hair wild and in her face as she rocked back and forth whispering incoherent things. The doctor rushed to her side and tried to pick her up but the girl put up a fight, throwing her arms and legs in all directions possible but he managed to carry her bridal style and place her on her bed.

"Amelia" He called out and just like that, she shut up. Amelia stared at him like she could see the stories that were held in his eyes. He pushed some of her hair away and tucked it behind her ear. "Breathe Amelia. It's okay, it will all be over before you know it" He said and she evened her breathing and closed her eyes.

Exhaustion took over her body as she relaxed. He was humming a certain tune and she was sure she had heard it before. She just didn't remember where she heard it from. 

Amelia allowed herself to calm down and try and think. She managed to find a certain memory, it was all over the place but she held onto it and felt the weight on her bead lighten and heard footsteps being retreated.

"D-dean" She muttered and the doctor froze in his tracks.

He turned around slowly and faced Amelia, he walked briskly back to her bed but she was already asleep.

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                          "You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts."

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