[footsteps]
I'm walking to the mirror, groaning due to lack of sleep that night. I look at myself and see my tired state: my scruffy, messy blond hair, the grey circles under my blue eyes, and my droopy frown. I'm 18 and living alone. I have no parents, girlfriend, or friends, and I'm small—5'7 "and 130 lb. Man, what a depressing sight, I think to myself while brushing my teeth.
I waltzed into the kitchen to make myself some eggs. Something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. It was a list on the fridge. "1. Eat breakfast, 2. Go to the dentist, 3. Go back home," I said out loud. For the next half an hour, I ate my eggs while watching TV.
They were reporting on some crime in my neighborhood, a murder, I think. The guy went crazy and had delusions. I took a sip of water and was starting to get up to walk away when I saw my dentist's office's name on the screen. I spat my water out in disbelief. WHAT THE FU-
I locked up the front door and arrived at the dentist. My mind couldn't stop thinking about what I saw on TV, so I walked up to reception. "Hey what was with the news this morning? About people going crazy? What does that have to do with you guys?"
The receptionist lady was a little bit quirky, but nothing to be weirded out by, just told me that they had no idea what was going on. Just that they were previous patients and that's it. The police had just asked them some questions about it, nothing to worry about.
I walked back to my seat, and with a sigh of relief, I took my phone out to scroll on Instagram while I waited. "Shawn? Is Shawn here?" I heard the hygienist call in a loud voice. Raising my hand and putting my phone in my pocket, I go into the back room with the woman.
The room we walked into smelt like roses and citrus. It was an odd combination, but for some reason, I liked it. I let my mind wander into the show that was playing over me on that fancy moving TV screen. As the hygienist cleans my teeth, my eyes start to close. This TV show is..amazing, I thought as my eyes fully closed and I dozed off.
Someone pinches my cheek, and I open my eyes to see the main dentist and hygienist hovering over me. "You know you're not supposed to fall asleep while at appointments, right?" the dentist chuckles. Sitting up, this taste coursed from my mouth throughout my body. Feeling queasy, I got up and ran to the trash can, feeling like I was going to puke.
Looking over at them with a glare, "What is this awful taste in my mouth?" The dentist looked at me with a scowl, "You can go home now, your appointment is done. You look healthy in every way. Now leave I walk out feeling like I had just been hit by a truck. My head was pounding and my heart burning like a fireplace. I got into my car, and all of a sudden my head felt like it was splitting open. I lean onto my steering wheel in pain and groan. I drink some water and start my car. I want to get through this drive home so I can go rest.
I was five minutes from home when I saw something in the road. I swerve off and run my car into another vehicle in the other lane. Climbing out with a gasp. I'm not that injured, but just shocked beyond belief. My body still shook, I couldn't walk right, but I managed to raise my hand to wave down a car. I look back at my car while someone calls the police, I swear that I swear that I saw-? No, I'm going crazy, I thought I saw a little girl with a burned face.
I was being asked questions by some paramedics in the ambulance as we were on our way to the hospital. Looking up at them, I answered them in truth and clearly. My eyes are fluttering open and closed as the ambulance drives through speed bumps. We hit a huge speed bump and I looked up to one of the paramedics.
Her face, all of a sudden, was a burnt mess. It was one of the most horrendous burns I have ever seen. A second later, it was normal again as she curiously looked at me.
I tried to sit up, screaming my head off because I had no idea what was going on; "What are you? Leave me alone!" I start shaking and pushing the paramedics off me. "Sedate him! He's having some sort of episode!" said one of the paramedics. As they stick me with sedation, my body calms down, but my mind is still racing; "Leave me alone...Help me.."
I woke up to the smell of smoke; "Mom! Dad!" I ran out of my room and into the hallway. There was fire everywhere, smoke filling the room, and the sound of metal crackling. My parents kneel to me; "Get out, Shawn, run go!" I looked at them with tears in my eyes and ran out the door into the floor lobby. Running past all the other apartments, past all the fire, past the injured people to the stairs. I suddenly hear screaming, I look into one of the apartments and see a little girl trapped under ash and wood. I stepped forward to help, then thought about mom and dad. The girl looked at me with fearful eyes full of tears. We felt and looked the same. Finally deciding to try and help, I started running into the room. As I got through the door, I heard gas going in the kitchen near the girl; "No!-"
I woke up to the sound of sirens and in a pool of sweat. Hyperventilating, I looked at my body; "Oh great, nightmares. That was six years ago". I looked up, watching nurses running around, patients moaning and groaning. Sitting up and looking around, I press the button on my bed to get assistance. A nurse comes over and sits next to me; "Yes dear? What do you need?"
"What happened to me? After I got into the ambulance, I mean I asked her. She took out a clipboard; "Patient received abdominal cuts and bruises, a broken rib, and a gash on his side," she read out loud for me.
I touch my body and feel the rough bandages wrapped around my torso. It felt like sandpaper, making my skin crawl and wanting it to get off me; "Can I leave?" I asked the nurse. She nodded yes and went to get my discharge papers.
"Wait! Nurse!" I exclaimed. The nurse looked at me with curiosity. I put my head into my arms; "Did- did the man in the other vehicle make it?"
"No," the nurse says as she walks away.
A couple of hours later, I am at home in the bathroom getting ready for bed. I start to unwrap my bandages and see the messed-up state my body has become. I touch the gash on my sid,e and my head starts to hurt again. I put my head down on the counter in pain. It was like before at the dentist, I guess it hadn't gone away.
As I look up again, I see a double in the mirror. Two of me? There was no way that was possible, it had to be a hallucination. Until it started talking to me, "What are you doing! You're so pathetic, now Shawn, are you going to let them get away with it?" the other... thing shouted at me. I ignored it and went back to my room, wondering what I had just witnessed. I'm not going crazy, I'm not going crazy, I repeated over and over again.
I lay down in bed to try to fall asleep after whatever just happened to me.
In complete darkness, trying to fall asleep. I've had a long day and need to get some rest. Between the nightmarish little girl, the paramedic's burned face, and hallucination. I felt like I was going crazy.
Turning off my lap and drifting off to sleep, wishing for a better day tomorrow.