I’ve just been put in a nursing home, but I assure you I do not belong here. You NEED to know about this and why I’m here. I have to make this quick, I’m not sure how much time I have left before he gets me. First off nothing they say about me is true, everything I saw was real.
I saw him first in the shadows and behind corners. Then he would show up behind me in reflections of windows, but whenever I turned around there was nothing, always nothing. I lived in a quaint suburb just out of LA. Nothing ever happened out here. Plus we had a neighborhood watch, surely if something was wrong in the neighborhood we would all know. This is what I told myself as I got more and more paranoid and as I saw him more frequently. I tried so hard to believe it. I tried, and I failed. I kept seeing him everyday for weeks. He never got any closer than maybe 20 yards away. I was still getting more and more paranoid by the day. I had to tell someone. But who?
I hadn’t talked to any of my friends in months and my son, Max, lives in Michigan and I haven’t talked to him since the last family reunion 2 years ago. I couldn’t just randomly contact any of them and open up with that, it would freak anyone out of wanting to talk to me. At one point I just settled on getting a therapist. It’s not like I had anyone else I could really talk to. I made an appointment with my new therapist for in a week. I didn’t see him at all during that week but my paranoia still wouldn’t settle.
I went to the therapist after that week. After they had heard all I had to say all they would say is that I “may be having some anxiety and should get out to see people more.” I thought that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard and knew it was wrong, but I just said ok and went home.
I got out of my car and started walking towards my door while fishing my keys out of my purse. I finally found my keys and looked up to my door. There he was, standing inside my house, staring at me through the window. We were staring at each other for what felt like minutes, eyes locked. At least I thought they were eyes, I hope they were eyes. There was something empty, chilling, about them. I wanted to scream, run, get in my car and never come back. But I was frozen, unable to move. It felt like my throat was closing and something was stuck. I was helpless, standing there what felt like days. Then he disappeared. One second he was standing right there, the next just gone. I don’t know where he went but that was my queue to bolt.
I ran to my car and booked it to the nearest hotel and bought a room for a few days while I figured out what to do. But I had to get some sleep first. It had been a month since I had some decent sleep. That night was no different. I woke up in the middle of the night. I woke up to a feeling like someone was watching me. I reached to my right and turned on the bedside lamp. The room illuminated a little and I was able to see a figure standing on the other side of the room in the dark corner.
I couldn’t see any of his features but I knew it was him. The man who had been stalking me from behind the corners and shadows was finally in a room with me. I felt that icy cold chill again, that emptiness that made you feel depressed inside. He took one big heavy step in the light and I got to see him in his full for the first time ever. I so wish it could’ve been my last. He seemed to look normal at first. About 6 feet tall, he wore light brown work boots, faded blue jeans, a black long sleeve shirt, and a puffy, dark green, sleeveless vest. Then my eyes met his face.
His pale skin was pulled taut over his bones. It was like someone else’s face was pulled over his own. He had a lipless smile so tight and stretched it looked like the corners of his mouth were stapled just below his eyes. His eyes. I don’t know what they were, but they weren’t eyes. That empty chill just grew more intense the longer I looked them. He had these black voids for his eyes. Like someone had placed bottomless pits into his eye sockets. I looked him in those voids and it felt like I looked on forever with nothing there. I felt that same helpless feeling I felt hours before in front of my house. But this time I ran. Something crashed behind me but I didn’t look back. I ran to lobby where I hoped the night life would protect me.
I called the police and told them everything. When they got here all they found in there was a trashed room and nothing else. He was gone. Again. I got charged with the destruction of property and got put in a nursing home where they told me I was senile and had been diagnosed with dementia and Schizophrenia. I knew they were wrong, but maybe I would be safe here. Just maybe.
That hope died when I found a piece of paper on my bedside table. It had just a big splotch of ink in the middle, but for some reason that random splotch seemed so familiar. It looked wet. I pressed my finger to the paper to touch the wet ink but nothing stopped it, my finger just kept going. My finger had just gone through that piece of paper like a portal to another dimension. Inside the ink it was empty, and freezing. That’s when I knew why it was familiar. Whatever this was is what his eyes were made of. I knew then that I would soon be dead.
This is my warning to you, Max. If you see him know that you don’t have much time left. Please do whatever you can to kill that thing. I don’t know if it’s possible, but please try. He’s outside my door now and he hasn’t moved for over an hour, but it’s not long before he takes me. I needed you to know about him so I thought I would warn you with my final minutes. Remember, you are never safe. He is in your shadow or maybe over your shoulder. He is always there, but that’s the problem, you never know where. You are never safe. You are never alone. Be careful.