Guard your mind
Protect it
Never abandon it
“Avery? Can you hear me?” James relentlessly questions Avery as she begins to wake up.
“Give her some space.” Samantha steps in front of James and looks into Avery’s unmoving eyes. Avery finally looks over to her and they both smile; Samantha speaks first, “Hi.”
Avery rolls in her bed to one side to see her friend in a more comfortable position, “Hi.”
Samantha pulls up a chair next to Avery’s bed and takes a seat, “How are you holding up?”
Keeping a cheerful look upon her face, Avery answers with, “I guess I’m still sane.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m sorry I couldn’t visit you yesterday.”
Avery’s smile disappears and her eyes narrow, “Yesterday? What day is it?”
James interrupts their conversation from the other end of the room, “It’s Friday. You’ve been unconscious since yesterday afternoon.”
“What time is it now?” Avery asks.
Samantha briefly looks over to James and says, “A little after eleven. Anyway, I’m sorry I couldn’t visit you yesterday. The police wouldn’t let me, so I decided to see if I could go in for my interview instead.”
Avery’s tone of voice heightens as her anticipation grows by the second, “Did you get the job?”
Pleased to see Avery so interested in what she has to say, Samantha eagerly answers her question, “I did! I’ve already begun working there.”
Avery lowers her tone and speaks with more self control when she asks, “Is that why you are here? Are you here to offer me some sort of treatment?”
Samantha quickly says, “No, of course not. I’m here to see you, to make sure you’re okay.” While she managed to keep her appearance steadfast, Avery’s question takes her by surprise. How is it that she’s aware of her secret agenda? An agenda that she’s no longer seeking to fulfill.
Before she can say anything else, Avery asks her another disconcerting question, “But you were going to right?” Samantha remains silent, unsure of what to say. “Please, I need to know.”
Samantha sighs, “How do you know all this?”
“Just tell me the truth, did they or did they not ask you to?”
“Yes, they asked me, but I never agreed to do it.”
Avery looks away from Samantha and stares intently at James who’s busy on his phone. He notices the silence and looks up to see Avery staring at him. He seats his phone in his pocket and walks over to Avery’s bedside. He kneels down in between Avery and Samantha and asks, “What is it?”
“Bermuda, California. That’s where the next massacre is going to happen.”
Samantha is about to say something but James holds a hand up in her direction, “When? And at which nursing home?”
“He- he didn’t say. That’s all he told me.”
“Who told you?”
“It was the same man who spoke to me in my dream- the one that came true. He showed me so much. I saw them, the victims of the nursing home. They accused me of being responsible for what happened to them. Then, I spoke to the man who told me where the next attack would be. Then after that, he told me that Samantha would ask me if I would like to receive treatment for my mental scars, and then he… He. There’s nothing else, that’s all I know.”
“Excuse me for a moment.” James takes out his phone and leaves the room.
Avery looks over to Samantha, “It all came true, the dream I told you about. All of it, it all came true.”
“When I heard the news, I- I didn’t know what to think. I wasn’t sure if you were still alive or if you were the lone survivor that they mentioned. I’m so sorry, Avery. I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Twice.”
Avery sits up in her bed and turns her body to let her legs hang off the edge. “There’s something more though. There’s this, thing, this person, I don’t know what to call it. A monster. He’s responsible for all of this, for all the death.” Tears form in Avery’s eyes as she speaks, “I don’t know what he is but he’s in my head. He forces dreams or visions on me that are terrifying. It never stops!”
Samantha stands and hugs Avery while she does her best to calm her distressed friend, “Shh it’s okay. It’s okay.”
The feeling of Samantha’s arms wrapped around her supplies the comfort she’s needed since the night of her terrible experience. Still sobbing Avery says, “Thank you for coming to see me.”
They release each other and Samantha says, “I’ll always be there for you and your mom.”
“I saw him. My dad. When I was unconscious, the man in my dream brought him to me. He was in his workshop, in a beautiful place full of green grass and forests, carving another tree into an animal. It felt so real, he felt so real. He hugged me with his usual bear hug. I believe it was really him.”
Samantha smiles and says, “That sounds amazing. I never really got to know your dad. I met you only a few days before he passed so, yeah that’s awesome you got to experience that. Especially after everything else you’ve been through lately.”
“You don’t think I’m crazy?”
“No, why would I?”
“Well you’re officially a scientist now, right? Scientists don’t believe in any of this stuff so I just thought that maybe you would think I was delusional or something.”
“Avery you know me. You know that I would never think that of you. Besides, Visions is full of scientists who are open minded. It’s the reason why I wanted to work there in the first place.”
Avery’s doctor enters the room and notifies her that she’s going to be released from the hospital. Unable to find anything medically wrong with her there’s simply nothing they can do. A few hours pass and at six in the afternoon Avery is released from the hospital.
After changing into some clothes her mother dropped off the previous day, Avery and Samantha make their way to the main exit where her mother awaits, “Feeling better?”
“Yeah.”
She hugs her daughter before speaking to Samantha, “Thank you for staying with her today, her uncle needed someone to watch his kids today so I had my hands full.”
Samantha smiles, “I’m sure you did.”
“Well, don’t be a stranger, come by sometime and tell us about your new job.”
With glee she says, “Okay, I can stop by within a day or two.”
“Great, we’ll see you later, and thanks again.”
Avery walks over to Samantha, “Bye Sam.”
“Bye.” They embrace and then Avery exits the hospital with her mother, while Samantha remains just inside the hospital entrance. James walks up beside Samantha, keeping his eyes on Avery as she nears the parking lot with her mother.
He breaks the silence by speaking while his focus remains on Avery, “You didn’t tell her what happened today while she was out, right?”
With her eyes still fixed upon Avery she says, “No, there was no need. It would have only frightened her, and she’s already been frightened enough for a lifetime.”
“What form of treatment would you have offered her?”
“I can only disclose that to you if you were to receive treatment yourself.”
James turns to Samantha and speaks in a hushed voice, “To what extent does your treatment heal the mind?”
Samantha turns to James, and is almost taken aback by the concern and worry that she can see in his face. His eyes hardly blink, his features seldom move as if his face were carved from stone. She sees this and asks him, “What happened down there? All the public knows is that someone murdered three hospital employees when the power in the basement went out, and you were the only survivor. You said you could hear him running through the dark, but that’s it? Is there more that we don’t know?”
He looks away from her for a moment and says, “There is more. Can I trust you?”
“Of course. I think my new position at Visions can vouch for me.”
He looks her in the eyes, her bright blue eyes, and whispers, “It was him. The same one that was responsible for the nursing home massacre.” Samantha brings a hand up to her mouth and remains silent as James continues, “We didn’t release the details, but I saw how they died, they died the same way Avery described in her dream, the same way I saw in my own dream.”
James breaks eye contact again when Samantha says out of shock, “You had a dream too? Like Avery? Before the night at the nursing home?”
James answers mildly, “Yes, I did.”
Samantha takes a moment to think about this oddity, and the mystery of it all. So much has taken place since her meeting with Avery two days ago. Two individuals, both with similar dreams of future events that came to pass.
Her thoughts are interrupted by a question from James, “Did Avery tell you anything about him? The one who’s responsible?”
“Not much. She rambled on about him just for a moment. It sounds like she’s still traumatized from the experience.”
“She’s not the only one.”
Samantha walks into James’ cone of vision and asks, “Are you okay?”
After remaining silent for a moment he says, “Follow me.” He leads her down a nearby stairwell that leads to the basement. The basement is still considered a crime scene, and a police officer stands guard while some other officers gather information. When he sees James, he stands aside and allows them to pass. He continues to lead Samantha into the morgue, and orders the other officers to leave temporarily.
Once they’re alone, he begins to tell her what he really saw in a wavering voice, “I was standing right here, under the only light in the room. I had just witnessed Dr. Baker’s death, which had already caused me to question my own sanity. I walked over to his mutilated body, and then I heard something.” He turns in the direction in which he remembers hearing that distinct sound, which he begins describing, “Beyond the light’s reach, in the darkness, I heard what sounded like bare feet impacting the floor. The steps were slow, but kept a consistent pace. Then, what I saw next challenged the truth of everything I thought I believed. It was the body of one of the cadavers that was laying on one of these tables.”
He points to the metal tables behind Samantha, “Its abdomen had been surgically opened, and its intestines hung and dragged on the floor behind it as it walked towards me. Its mouth was hanging open so wide that the sides of its mouth had been torn. Then, there was the eyes. They were opened wide, and never blinked. They just glared at me, not once looking away from me. Once I snapped out of the trance I found myself in, I ran from it as fast as I could.”
James looks at Samantha who’s been patiently listening to his account of the incident, “Am I damaged? What’s wrong with me? I saw it as clearly as I see you now, and I heard its footsteps. I had a similar dream to Avery’s, which came true, then this thing that claims responsibility for all of this spoke to me in another dream or vision, whatever you want to call it. I have no clue what’s happening to me, if I’m mentally ill or going insane, but some of these are simply too real to ignore. Can you help me?”
Samantha slowly walks up to James and speaks in a calm and controlled voice, “You’re right. There has been a lot of strange things happening that are too real to ignore. I understand that I haven’t experienced what you and Avery have, but based upon what you and her have told me, whatever is happening is happening to both of you. You both say you’ve encountered this man who keeps claiming he’s the killer, and if it were up to me I would have you both come in out of your own will, so we could compare your minds to see if there’s similar ailments causing you both this pain. If you do want to receive treatment from Visions then I can schedule an appointment for you to come in. Would you want something like that?”
James nods and hands her a card with his name and phone number and says, “Call me tomorrow and I’ll let you know which days work for me.”
“Alright, and listen, everything you have told me is safe with me, and don’t think of yourself as ill or insane. With all that has taken place, who knows what’s real and what’s not.”
He nods again, “Let’s go.”
Outside, Avery enters her mother’s car in complete wonder of her own fate now that’s she’s left the hospital. Her mother starts the car and looks over to her and asks, “Do you want to stay with me tonight? Or would you rather go home?”
Her mother’s offer plants a seed of paranoia within her mind. What awaits her if she returns home? Another nightmarish prophetic dream? A thousand worries plague Avery’s mind as she tries to make the final decision.
Due to some changes there will no longer be a set release schedule. Expect chapters to release at random from here on out. If you would like to stay updated on any progress or news then give us a follow on Twitter or a like on Facebook.