Every footstep the woman made echoed through the dark hallway as she made her way to room 201. The door swung open into a bright room. A little boy with dark hair, sat at the only table in the center of the room. She walked past the boy quickly, causing her lab coat to hit him in the face, and took her seat. A brief smell of iron swept by the boy and passed him in an instant.  

The boy didn't make eye contact with the lady, and sat there tapping his fingers on the table. He had brown eyes with eye bags that had eye bags themselves. The boy didn’t look like he had a good night's sleep for weeks, but still, he sat there across from the lady, wide awake. 

The woman smiled and sat her stack of papers aside. She had dark hair with white streaks and wore bright red lipstick. Her teeth were so white they shined when the light hit them, but her eyes remained dull.  

“So, how have you been, David?"

The woman tapped her long red fingernails on the table in front of him, causing him to flinch, but he still refused to look up. 

“If you're having trouble sleeping, we may have something that could help you. We can add it to your current treatment if you want.” 

The woman continued to tap in front of him, and her smile slowly vanished. With no response, she leaned back in her chair and sighed, “You know talking in a one-sided conversation is really exhausting.”  

The boy was shocked by her comment. His psychologist never said anything like that before and always spoke sweetly. So he guessed that everyone had their breaking point, and she was finally done with him. 

But he couldn’t help, but wonder why he felt absolute terror rush over him. The hair on his arms stood up, and he felt an overwhelming chill come over his body. There was only one other time in his life that full terror rushed through his body, and it was the reason why he was stuck in the mental hospital, to begin with. 

Before he entered the mental hospital, he was being stalked by something that wasn’t human. He could only feel its presence at first, but over time it showed itself to him and him alone. Everyone he told thought he was crazy, and he was where he was now because of their lack of understanding.  

He knew that no one would ever believe him. So when they sent him to the hospital, he went willingly. He would rather admit that he was crazy than be stalked by the thing that followed him. Now that he was trapped in the hospital, where everything was really secure the thing wouldn’t be able to terrorize him anymore. So why did he feel so scared? He couldn’t figure out why, until a strange smell of iron swept through the small room, once more.  

His eyes became wide, and at that moment he couldn’t help but look up and see the woman sitting in front of him. The woman who sat in front of him had long red fingernails, dull eyes, and a wicked smile. But what bothered him was the bloodstains that covered the white lab coat. The bloodstains were fresh. 

“Well, now you're making eye contact with me.” She smiled, “I guess this is an improvement.”

The boy wanted to scream but couldn’t even make a sound. Tears rolled down his face as the woman got up from the chair and walked over to him.  

The woman bent over and whispered into his ear, “Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere. I'll always be here watching you.” 

The boy started screaming and lunged at the woman scratching her in the face before she could dodge it. The boy ran to the door of the room and ran through the halls. It wasn’t long before a bunch of nurses caught him and dragged him back to his room. The woman was then taken to one of the medical rooms and was treated.  

The boy yelled out, “She's the monster that's been following me.”  

Not a soul believed him, but they were right not to. There was no monster. The woman wasn’t covered in blood. Nor was she saying things he thought she was. But there was a sleep-deprived little boy, who went a week without sleeping, since witnessing a murder.