Seeing Is Believing

‘I want you to answer me honestly, alright?’

The psychiatrist clicked the end of his pen and pointed the implement towards his clipboard. I knew what the doctor was doing, just like all the doctors I’d seen before. Trying to “get to know me”, as he said, or “trying to work out why I’m so messed up in the head”, I knew.

‘What’s your full name?’ The doctor asked.

‘Melantha Nicole Knight.’

The doctor’s pen scratched noisily across the paper. In the quiet, my mind wandered back to the doctor’s stern expression when he first glimpsed me - maybe this time I’d be taken seriously.

“How old are you?’

‘Fifteen.’

More scribbling sounds. I already know what was coming next. I’d seen everything that is going to happen today. My life is no more than a replay of the visions I’d already experienced, all I had to do was react them, whether I wanted to or not.

‘What’s your date of birth?’

‘Sixteenth of August 2000.’

I couldn’t explain my power, and that only made it more difficult for each person who attempted to help me. But how could I explain it if I couldn’t fully understand it myself? My random visions of the future are unexplainable. Sometimes at night I’d lie in my bed and watch myself act out my future like it was a film, just for the fun of it. But every time I tried to explain this ability to somebody, I looked into incredulous eyes, because every word I spoke made little or zero sense.

‘Why are you here, Melantha?’

I know what I have to say. I’d given up trying to explain the real problem long ago.

'I tell lies.'

I stood over the bathroom sink and glared at myself in the mirror. My pale skin shone in the white light, burning into my diamond grey eyes which were partially covered by thick dark brown curls of hair. I had the body of a ballerina, toned and petite, but not as flexible as I wished.

‘I’m not a liar,’ I whispered, clenching my fists angrily. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t risk waking my family. I’m already hated enough by them, and the rest of society.

I’ve been to several schools in many different countries. Sometimes I’d make a friend, but they’d eventually conclude that I’m insane and leave me, like everyone else I meet. Then I would later be expelled, for a new reason each time - cheating in exams, stealing, psychically harming other students - the list goes on. But it wasn’t my choice, it never was! It was what the visions made me do.

After switching to “homeschooling”, life was much better. Everyone ignores me, so I spend most of my time roaming the forest and sitting in treetops, practising my supernatural abilities. Nobody ever notices that I’m missing. Nobody ever cares. I’m just an incurable insane girl to them.

Sometimes I wish I had a friend to hang out with, someone who might understand me. But I know it’ll never happen.

Leaving the bathroom, I strode into my bedroom, switched off the lights and dove into bed, sobbing softly in frustration and wishing for a dreamless sleep, but sleep never came. Or if it did, it never felt like it.

The following morning, I dressed before the sun rose, one idea in mind: get out of the house.

It was still dark as I jogged down the empty streets. Dressed in completely black clothing, I blended into the scenery well. I pulled my dark hoodie over her head, just because I liked wearing it like that. It looks good with the matching jeans and Converse sneakers.

Once on the edge of the residential area, I climbed over the giant wire fence that separated the road from the forest. The fence was supposedly electric, so no one ever comes into the forest area, except for one white-hoodied boy who I saw once. That’s how I found out I could get in here. The reason for the fence is to protect people from whatever lurks in the trees - everyone who goes into the forest never comes back, except me because I can foresee my safety. Needless to say, the white-hoodied boy has never seen again.

I clambered up a random tree to the highest point that could hold my weight. The world looked as if it had been set on fire, like a bright shadow cast by the vibrant sunrise. I love the warm feeling of fire, its risk but also its safety, the mix of emotions. Sunrise was naturally my favourite time of day. A time to relax, but also feel very much alive.

I began to use my mind to wander into my future. My future didn’t look good. I frowned as I tried to work out what was going on, but it was a little blurry as if future me couldn’t think properly. There was a lot of white in my surroundings and… red. Patches of vibrant red were splattered over the floor. I brought my head back into reality and shivered, wondering what was going to happen to me, or if maybe what I’d seen wasn’t real.

Horrified from my foreseeing I decided to stick to daydreaming for the rest of the day. I imagined being picked up by a new family in an expensive car and taken to a place where they understood my power and I fitted in in society, I had friends and even a boyfriend, which seemed like something I’d never achieve. It's a shame it wasn’t real.

The day went by fast. I grew tired as it became darker and decided to journey home.

Once at the front door, I hesitated. Is this where things went wrong? I couldn’t remember. I’d seen so much in that vision today that it had become an unreadable and scattered timeline. Confident that it wasn’t, I put my hand on the door handle, mentally preparing myself for whatever might come next.

‘Where have you been, girl?!’ The man growled as he opened the door. Usually, the door was unlocked and I could sneak in, but not today.

‘Out,’ I replied sheepishly. I couldn’t tell my Dad I’d been in the forest. What could I say instead?

‘Tell me exactly where you’ve been. Now.’

I couldn’t think of anything to say. I was too mentally exhausted to think straight, not to mention I hadn’t eaten anything all day. No fictitious stories popped into my head for me to use to lie and my head swam in panic.

‘Your sister is dead. Her body was found just outside the forest fence, stabbed seven times, and no one knows who did it. But you’ve been out all day and no one knows where you’ve been.’

My Dad bent down so our faces were level. He didn’t look like me at all, apart from the brown hair, except his was straight instead of wavy. A stranger probably wouldn’t have thought of us as related, and I liked it that way.

‘Did you murder your sister, Melantha?’ he hissed.

‘Of course she did!’ Mom’s voice shrieked from inside the house. She approached the doorway and pushed Dad aside, stepping into the dulling sunlight.

‘Mom, I-’ I started but stopped at the sight of my Mom’s face that was disturbingly soaked and blotchy from crying. As much as I disliked my Mom, seeing her like that was… I don’t know. Emotionally shocking?

‘I know it was you! You jealous, lying, ugly, piece of crap!’ Mom yelled.

Although I had already foreseen this moment, everything was still a shock. Why would my parents believe I’d killed my only sibling? I know I’m a burden and very much disliked by my family, but I know I am not a killer, and it doesn’t seem right to be accused of being one.

‘I haven’t even seen Kayla today.’ I said angrily, my stomach twisting as the realization of my sister’s death settled in.

‘Then where have you been? What have you been doing, huh?’ Dad challenged.

‘I, uh, went to the, um, park near the, uh…’ I mumbled, trying to think of something to prove my innocence. But I couldn’t come up with a story. Not even a bad one.

‘She murdered Kayla, no doubt about it!’ Mom screeched. ‘Phone the police! She’s the killer, the horrible brat!’

Dad grabbed my arm so sharply that I couldn’t help but whimper in pain. I felt my heart beat pick up speed and I began to sweat. My vision blurred slightly, then became dark. The noises in the background blurred together as my body went limp.

The following weeks went by in what felt like seconds. I saw nothing but the walls of my new home, my jail cell. Sometimes someone would come into the room to tell me what was going on outside the prison, but I barely listened. I didn’t want to think.

It was thinking that messed up everything. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking.

If I think, I see and know too much. Without using my abilities, I feel ordinary, I feel good.

I wished I’d realized this sooner.

I spent weeks working on keeping my mind clear. I feel like a mindless freak, but I don’t care. My actions seem to be controlled by someone who wasn’t me, but I’m enjoying myself - no thinking, no pain.

Fifty-seven days of imprisonment have gone by. Silence had become my world, but eventually that silence had to break.

‘Melantha, Melantha, Melantha...’

The fading voice bounced around my head. Was it my own? I couldn’t tell.

‘Kill, kill... you’re a murderer now… murderer...’

A scene filled my mind. I should’ve felt sick seeing the bloody vision, but I only felt numb.

‘I don’t want my powers back!’ I yelled, wondering if the voice would respond.

‘Yes… you do… it can help you… help… they will show you how… just follow the future… future… stop the liars… let them see truth… like this…’

The scene replayed in my head. I could cause that tragedy if I wanted to. In a way, it seemed cruel, but on the other hand… was it justice? Stop the liars and show them the truth - that was good, not evil.

I never did anything wrong. Everyone wronged me.

Adrenaline and purpose collided together and I grinned as I felt a surge of power take over me. Thoughts spilt into my mind again, although I wasn’t sure if they were really mine, I knew I liked them.

Everyone thinks I’m a murderer. If I’m going to be called one, I may as well be one.

‘All humans tell lies to prevent the truth… lies… prevent… truth… so give them the truth… TRUTH… JUSTICE!’ the voice in my head screamed excitedly.

The door handle clicked and began to turn. I twitched.

‘Ready… ready… maybe… no… yes… steady!’ the voice in my head continued to squeal nonsense.

A solitary man dressed smartly in a suit entered the empty white room. He grinned proudly, good news on his mind.

‘Miss Knight, you’re going to be moved to another cell tomorrow morning so you’ll have someone to keep you company. We believe this is more suitable for someone your age. We understand-’ he was cut short.

I flew into him, my hand on his mouth to keep him quiet.

‘In his pocket… pocket… tool…’ the voice whispered. ‘Follow the instructions… for justice… remove… eyes… see truth… vocal chords… cut… no lies...’

My skinny fingers dug into the stunned man’s pockets and pulled out a convenient paper knife. It looked a dagger for a toddler, but for now it would work just fine.

‘Seeing is believing!’ I said as I stabbed the letter opener into the corner of his right eye.

The man let out a terrified moaning sound. He would’ve screamed as the knife worked its way behind his eyeball, but I held his mouth firmly shut. I kept my knees on his arms to stop him from batting me away, one of my hands pressed on his neck and the other held the knife. The man struggled but couldn’t get away, like a fish on land.

Blood began oozing all over the businessman’s face, then started dripping onto his neck. His eye was quickly cut from his body and rolled down his cheek onto the floor.

‘You know, mister whoever you are, nobody believes me when I say I see the future. But I’m not a liar,’ I paused for a moment as I began to work the knife into the man’s other eye socket, ‘maybe if you have no eyes, you’ll see things in your head too!’

Soon two eyeballs were lying beside the man’s body. The pool of blood surrounding my victim slowly grew larger, but not big enough. The voice whispered praise for my work and begged for more.

‘Mister can still spread those lies about me if you have vocal chords, so I guess I’ll have to remove those too!’

I began digging into the man’s throat. Blood began gushing out immediately and the man either passed out or died from blood loss and a destroyed airway, I couldn’t tell. His vocal cords were quickly removed and placed next to what had once been the man’s eyes.

‘Now it’s my turn to fix my eyes!’ I grinned gleefully. I somehow cut the iris off of my eyes, giving myself two bloodshot white orbs, thanks to the help of the voice. But, to my surprise, I wasn’t blind. I could still see through my visions, seeing only a second or two ahead made it easy for me to “see” my surroundings.

I wiped my hands on my clothes, which were now splattered with blood, and smiled in satisfaction. I considered removing my own vocal cords, but then remembered that I never tell lies, therefore it wasn’t necessary.

My cell door had been left unlocked. The security was so low around here! I let out a psychotic laugh as I jogged further into the prison maze, weapon in hand.

The visions spilt into my mind again. All my next victims I saw had scarlet liquid pouring from their eye sockets and throats. But there was one vision that was different: in the woods, I had a new home to go to, a place where I belonged.

I couldn’t wait to get there.

“Welcome back to tonight’s news. Teenage serial killer Melantha Knight remains missing after her escape from prison two months ago. She was placed behind bars after murdering her thirteen-year-old sister Kayla Knight, but somehow released herself from her cell and killed seven prison employees as she fought her way out of the prison. Since then there have been another three deaths linked to the fifteen-year-old, her parents and her previous psychiatrist, along with two other murders in that area that might also be linked. We ask everyone in Australia to continue to keep a lookout for this dangerous killer. If you see anyone who fits this photo please contact the police immediately…”

The TV was playing quietly in the background as I prepared for another murder. I smirked, knowing I’d get away with my new favourite activity.

I couldn’t have been happier with my “new self”. My favourite outfit - the black hoodie, jeans and Converse shoes - motivates me to continue through the memories of my past. My past had given me a very important mission: stop the liars and help them see the truth.

‘Quiet now. Oh, you’re so handsome… pity.’ I pulled out a pair of bloody scissors and held them close to the teenage boy’s eyes. ‘You should know: seeing is believing!’

I began to carve out the boy’s eyes and vocal cords, just as I had done to all my other victims, and blood soaked the carpets once again. But this was only the beginning.

‘You have one other kill for this evening, then you’re done for the night,’ whispered the voice, who’d become more serious in our new business. The voice had even given me a new name so I could be a “better me”.

‘Hurry, Dark Knight, sunrise is soon!’