Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-34269289-20180109183235

It’s 12:45 in the morning, I’m laying in my bed. I start to drift to sleep after a long tiring night. The voices I’m hearing in the back of my head start to fade. When everything fades to black, I find myself in some sort of empty void. I looked around, hoping to find someone, anyone. I hear screams behind me and when I look, there was nothing. I call out to whoever may be there, but there was no answer. I ran in the direction of the screaming to see if I could find the source. There was nothing. As I look around aimlessly for a sign of someone’s presence, I feel a tap on my right shoulder. I could hear heavy breathing directly into my right ear. The breathing sounded like someone who was choking, or maybe having an asthma attack. I slowly turned around, and what I saw was enough to make me jump out of my skin. A leaper, badly decomposing like a corpse that’s been laying out in the sun for days at a time. It reeked of death and was missing a limb or two. I tried to run away from it, scared for my life. I couldn’t move; I was frozen by my fear. I watched helplessly as it swallowed me whole, its mouth gaping horrifyingly wide. All I could see was pitch black before swiftly opening my eyes to find myself in my bed. I brush my hair with my fingers as I sigh with relief. Just a dream, I repeat to myself. Just a dream. It was now 5:39 in the morning; time to get up for work. I took a shower and fixed myself breakfast before heading out the door to work.

While driving to work, I heard someone saying my name in the back of my head. I quickly turned around in surprise, only to see no one was there. I looked back to the road, trying to focus on driving and not killing myself by driving recklessly. Then I heard it again. “Ashley,” the voice called out. “Ashley, help us.” I turned around again and felt my car beginning to swerve. I turned to face the road again to see I started swerving off the road. I must’ve looked like I was driving drunk to anyone who happened to be watching me. When I finally arrived at work, I sat down in front of my computer and immediately began working on a project that was due next Wednesday. I work in Graphic Design and my job is to create things like posters and flyers for upcoming events among other things. I worked with Renisse on projects. She was my partner, the one I relied on to get projects done and made sure the projects were top quality. My boss is a strict man and hates when his employees miss their deadline. He tends to go on to us about the kinds of complications late projects would bring. Depending on how important the project is, he will take a few bucks off of someone’s paycheck if they didn’t get it done on time or maybe even fire someone. That’s only in the case that it’s something super important. Other than that, he would just call us into his office to discuss it. People who had late projects more than 4 times were fired. I’ve never missed a project date and I don’t plan on making changes to that streak.

I open Photoshop and begin working on my project with Renisse. I show her what I have done so far, since I worked on it some at home last night. She grins and pats my back. “Looks great so far. There are a few changes I would make though. You see this right here?” She pointed to the image she was talking about and began to explain to me what she had in mind instead when I began to hear those voices again. They call out to me, beckoning me to help them. I didn’t know what they were talking about. That was until the world I was in began to fade. Everything started to fade away. I was once again stuck in this empty void, but this time there were more screams. All of them sounded like screams of extreme pain. I looked around frantically, searching for the source of the screams. I looked for other people who may be here. I started actively searching this empty plain of reality, hoping and praying that I’ll find someone. That hope turned into dread when I saw what I saw. The disembodied head of what looked like a 5 year-old boy. He stared into the void with an empty expression. Just a few feet away was the rest of his body, horribly mangled to the point of being unrecognizable. I hear more screams behind me, this time of a woman who sounds like she may be in her late 20s. I follow the sound of her voice until I find her. She was in a struggle with another woman who looked to be around my age. The woman had her back turned to me with her hands tightly gripping the throat of the woman screaming and pleading for her life to be spared. The woman strangling her pulls out a switchblade and began to tear into her flesh with it. Even when she died, the woman didn’t let up. She kept stabbing and slicing her body, mangling it until it looked similar to the way the boy looked. She then proceeded to decapitate her. When she was done, she slowly turned to look at me. She had my face. She wore my clothes. She had the same long, blonde hair as me. It even looked exactly the way I styled my hair this morning before coming to work, only it was more messy due to the struggle she had with her victims. She stared at me with a shit-eating grin on her face. She began walking towards me, juggling the switchblade between her fingers and I felt each slice the blade made into her fingers as she juggled it. I looked at my hand and found those same slices across it. This can’t be real, can it? I’m imagining this. She stood approximately two feet away from me before placing her sliced hand on mine. She then twisted her head upside down, every bone in her neck snapping and breaking as she did so. She looked me dead in the eye. “Take the blade,” she said to me in a low tone. I refused to, and she began to crush my hand with unimaginable strength. As I began to cry out and attempt to break free, she wrapped her hands around my neck and began to suffocate me. “Take the blade,” she kept repeating over and over again. I wasn’t about to let myself end up like her last two victims. No, I fought back. I wrapped my hands around her throat and began suffocating her in return. I felt strength I never thought I had in me. Her grip on me began to loosen as it became more difficult to breathe. I felt several hands trying to pull me away from her, but I wasn’t about to let her go. I pinned her to the ground and with all my might I crushed her neck, killing her instantly. Then there was a flash of white. I was shot back into reality, and I was horrified with what I saw when I returned. Pinned underneath me, lifeless, was the body of Renisse, my partner. I gasped in horror and released her before standing up. I felt someone put their hand on my left shoulder, trying to pull me away from her, and without realizing, I swung around and slit his throat. I looked at my left hand. I was holding the switchblade. I barely heard the terrified screams of my fellow employees fleeing for their lives. My mind grew numb as I began to comprehend what was happening. This was now my reality. What I saw in that empty void was a sign of what would come in my future. My blood felt cold and I felt a rush of adrenaline surging through my veins. I felt a grin spread across my face. I looked behind me and began to follow those who have fled. When I got outside, the police were there and had their guns drawn. “Put down the weapon and put your hands up,” one of the officers called out to me. Without even realizing it, I rushed to the officers and pinned down one of them, slowly cutting into his flesh. Before I could kill him, I felt several arms wrapped around me and hands pulling me away. I wasn’t strong enough to fight back. They pinned me to the ground and handcuffed me before taking me away.

I sat in this small, white empty room with the exception of a bed, bathroom, table, and chair. I waited for what felt like eternity for a someone to come escort me to the observation room. When someone finally arrived, they escorted me to the room. My doctor, Dr. Fitzgerald, was already inside waiting for me. I sat with him and discussed what was going on in my mind. “Ms. Ashley, have you been feeling any better since our last talk?” “Not really, no. The room you have me residing in can get cold at times. Feels like your heating system is broken.” “We do apologize for that. Have you seen anything you would call ‘out of the ordinary’?” “Define ‘ordinary’.” “Well, things that seem out of place to you. Hearing things and seeing things that aren’t really there.” “I constantly hear voices in my head. Voices calling out for help. They sound like they are in great pain and suffering.” “Do you recognize any of the voices?” “You’ll have to forgive me, but I can’t say I do.” “That’s quite alright. Anything else you would consider to be out of the ordinary?” “Well, I do continue to see this girl hanging by her throat in that one corner of my room. Do me a solid will you and remove her from my room so I can sleep for once.” “I’ll keep it in mind. Is there anything else you want to discuss?” “No, nothing else.” I’m taken back to my room where I reside for now. The doctors say I have to stay here until I get better. They document things that I see or hear every day at noon. They say it’ll be awhile before they can be sure I’m safe to leave and start over. I glance over at the clipboard hanging on the wall next to my room door. It reads “Ashley Newton. Age 28. Gender: Female. Height: 5’8”. Weight: 198 lbs. Appearance: Slender with long, straight, blonde hair and blue eyes with a scar on the right eye. Condition: Schizophrenia.” 