The smell of wood and perfume was pleasant. Looking around the room in which I sat I saw bookshelves filled with all kinds of books, mostly psychology.
Despite the relatively pleasant environment, I came here for unpleasant reasons.
“So, what brought you here?” said the woman sitting across from me, she adjusted her glasses and crossed her legs, looking at me expectantly. Of course, that was a rhetorical question, she read my file.
I sat in silence for a moment before speaking :
“Well… I… I had these dreams, I still do actually. But they’ve gotten worse and uhh…” I trailed off.
“And?” the woman said.
“I don’t need to sleep to have… them.” I said, not being able to really explain it.
“I am aware that you had sleep paralysis when you were younger, correct?” She said
“Yes, that’s true.”
“And you had them up until you were eleven, then they abruptly stopped, then after your eighteenth birthday they started once again, abruptly.”
“Yeah…” I nodded. “And they’ve been getting progressively worse… Now I see things even when I am awake.”
The woman wrote something on a notepad she held.
“Can you describe to me these dreams or visions you have?”
“Well, uhm… They start off normal, I once dreamt that I woke up normally and I had breakfast. Then I went to school, everything was normal, the only thing of note was that there was a fight between two guys. I remember it vividly… The thing is that once I woke up, really woke up. The day went exactly the same as in my dream, absolutely everything was the same. From the cereal I ate to the exact words my parents said to me, the commute to school was identical. And to round everything off, there was a fight in school between two guys… which had the same result as in the dream.” I said.
“Okay, what about these ‘dreams’ you have when you don’t sleep?”
“Huh… They are less like dreams and more like visions, memories that just pop into my head. Memories that didn’t happen… yet. The first time it happened was when I had a handshake with a guy I met in school, a new guy. Once I went in for the handshake time and froze for what felt like minutes, I saw clouds… Well clouds that had things happening in them, I saw the guy go home on his bike. It was rainy, pouring actually, he was riding fast and didn’t look or didn’t see an oncoming car when he crossed an intersection, then…” I stopped, recalling the memory.
“There was an accident where your friend Peter, I believe, was hit by a car while riding his bike home.” The woman said a matter of factly.
“Yeah, right after I had… that happen to me, when I saw what’ll happen, I told him to take the bus today. I remember he looked at me strangely then… And he’s not a friend I just met the guy, didn’t even know he rode his bike home. And wouldn’t ya know it, right after school finished there was rain and I saw him speed off with his bike. The day after I heard about the incident.”
The woman wrote something else on her notepad, taking her sweet time before she asked me another question.
“Does your family have any history of mental illness? Schizophrenia?”
“No, from what I know no one had any problems with mental health on both sides… Although there is a joke in the family that was related to some fortune teller… My grandma told me that her great-grandmother was blind and how she could tell the future.”
“Your parents are aware of the problems you have?” The woman asked.
“Well, they were aware of the nightmares and sleep paralysis, but I haven’t told them they were back… and are even worse.” I said.
“How come you haven’t sought help before? You said that it began again around your eighteenth birthday, you’re now 22. So this has been happening for 4 years now, what prompted you to come now?” The woman asked, I was silent. Recalling the memory of what I’ve seen.
“I never had any problems, well I did… It was hard knowing someone will have an unfortunate accident and not being able to change the outcome in any way, I’ve tried! I’ve tried absolutely everything I could to change the outcome somehow but nothing ever did.
I kept my mouth shut because I was well aware I would’ve been sent to the looney bin if I came out to have some fortune-telling abilities, hell my parents would’ve sent me to the looney bin probably.” I said.
“You haven’t answered the question, why now?”
“I… I had another ‘vision’ if you will. That was about two weeks ago and I couldn’t get a wink of sleep ever since… It goes like this, I was doing some shopping, getting some groceries, and all that jazz. And the last thing I had on my list to buy was mayonnaise, but when I got to the correct aisle I saw some tall dude, dressed formally standing in the way. I remember telling the guy ‘Excuse me, can you just move a bit’, but he didn’t hear me.
I repeated the sentence, closer to him, but nothing. Then… I decided to tap his shoulder. The moment my finger touched his shoulder time froze. Dozens of clouds appeared in my vision, all showing horrible things. Death, destruction… war. Then I saw in one of the clouds the very man I was tapping on the shoulder, he had a gas mask on but I knew it was him. He was pouring something into what seemed like a water treatment plant… Then I saw people dying… Dying in horribly painful ways… Some kind of disease or biological weapon. I saw a vaccine made, but not a lot of it. Some nations had a monopoly over the vaccine, they went to war over them… That sparked a nuclear war which killed the remaining people. Then all I saw was a wasteland, not even plant life had survived. I only saw charred corpses and collapsed buildings under a blackened, sunless sky…”
The woman was silent, so I continued.
“When I snapped out of it I remember the man finally turned around, and he looked at me with these empty dark eyes, he didn’t utter a word for a few moments. He was looking me over. I was frozen, shocked… Then he said ‘Can I help you?” in a monotone voice… I simply turned around, went to the checkout, and left as fast as I could.”
The woman nodded and wrote something on her notepad.
“Do you have a feeling you’re being watched?” she asked, completely brushing aside anything of which I just said.
“No, ma’am, I do not have a feeling or fear of being watched. I have a fear of what I see.” I said now frustrated.
“Alright sir, just calm down. I understand what you’ve been going through, I will prescribe you some medication to ease the anxiety. You seem to have some kind of hallucinations.” she wrote something on a piece of paper and tore it, then handed it to me. “Here, just pick this up in the pharmacy. Take one in the morning and in the afternoon from tomorrow until next week. Then come here again and we’ll see if there is any progress.”
I grabbed the paper, stood up then promptly left. Closing the heavy wooden door with more force than usual. I knew they wouldn’t understand, that they would just think I’m mentally ill. God knows maybe I am, but I can’t be so sure, not after all I saw. I have enough evidence for MYSELF to know what’s up.
Something is going to happen and I know it… I can only imagine if my grandma was right and her great-grandmother had the same abilities as I have, being blind was the worst possible fate for her.
She might’ve been blind, but I am sure she saw more than any other person with a good pair of eyes.
I know how it feels to have sight in a world of the blind.
I know what’s coming, I’m not sure when, but I know it is inevitable. I know that I can’t change the outcome, but here I am again trying to do so. I am well aware no one will listen but to those who will prepare. The previous pandemic was bad but what is going to hit us is much, much worse.
I’m trying to find that man, that demon or whatever he or it is. I will try to change the outcome one last time even if it costs me my life…
If you see a man dressed in a black button-up shirt and a black coat with black pants and shoes. A man with a distinct scar on his upper lip and another scar on his right eyebrow, dark eyes, and pale skin. I know it might be a vague description but when you see him, you’ll know. If you see him, kill him.
Kill him no matter the circumstance, believe me, it is better to serve a lifetime in prison than leave that thing alive. You will be doing mankind a favor, your name might not be remembered but you will die knowing you did the right thing.
Alas, I have a job to do now. Heed my warning, watch out for the man in black, know of the bleak future he will bring.
Help me save the world from annihilation.