The Face of Fear

I have been working as a psychologist since my early 30's by now, and when I was about 40 I thought I had seen it all. For about ten years I had been working with people with the most bizarre problems they needed to talk about. Even though I had only experienced ten years of my career I thought I had seen it all. Then it came. The most horrifying and disturbing part of my life.

It was a Sunday evening and I had to work the following day. I have always had sleeping problems, so I had a glass of whiskey and went to bed. Something was different this time, I immediately felt how my eyelids became heavy and after just a few moments I was asleep. Then I had this disturbing dream, I have never had such a nightmare before. In front of my face, just a few inches away, was this face of an old man. He had a somewhat pale grey skin color, and he was completely hairless. Not a single hair on his head or face, I don't even think he had eyelashes. The man had his eyes closed, and I had a constant feeling throughout the dream that he was going to open his eyes at any second. It might sound silly, but I had never been that afraid of seeing someone open their eyes before. Anyway, the dream felt like it was going on for an eternity, and every moment was unbearable. Suddenly, the man opened his eyes and stared straight into my soul. His eyes had the most piercing look that I have ever seen. Then I woke up. It was 3:00 am. Covered in sweat I walked to the bathroom and took a long, hot shower. I didn't go to bed again that night, I stayed up, watching television.

The following day I had a new patient, this young woman named Sarah. At first, she seemed very shy, and for quite some time I didn't think she was going to say anything at all. But as soon as she started talking, she became more confident. She started talking about dreams that she had been having. But she spoke about it in a way that made me feel like she was keeping me from knowing everything about these dreams. It felt like she was hiding something from me. As a psychologist, I know not to force my patients into telling me things, so I just tried to ignore it. She told me that "someone" in these dreams was giving her advices on how to live her life. These advices were bad, and she had decided not to follow them. She didn't want to tell me about what those advices were, though. After work, I immediately took the car home, turned on some music, and layed down on my couch.

I didn't have a family, and I still dont. I think a lot, and have always though that a family would come in the way of my free thinking.

I went to bed, this time without whiskey. Yet, I still immediately fell asleep. Then it came again, the dream. The old man, his closed eyes which suddenly opened, the piercing stare he gave me. It was just as horrifying this time. I still remember exactly how it felt, how I wanted to look away from his face, but I just couldn't. I woke up at 3:00 am again. Just as sweaty as last night, I walked to the bathroom. This time I didn't bother showering, I just sat down on the toilet seat and stared at the floor. The light from the bathroom was so bright, I thought I was going to go blind. I walked out of the bathroom, into the bedroom and just stood there, in the middle of the room without knowing what to do. Suddenly I saw something in the corner of my eye, in the bedroom window. I moved my my sight to the window, and he was there, the old man. I couldn't see the rest of his body, just his face. He was staring at me with a disappointing look on his face. A chill went through my whole body, I blinked and he was gone. Was it just a hallucination or was it real? I went to bed and tried to stay awake as long as I could, but I fell asleep after an hour or so.

The following day Sarah showed up at my work again. This time she gave me some more information about her dreams. Apparently it was a man who had given her these advices, and he was still doing it. Every night. Sarah also acted in a very "dull" way. She showed less emotion than yesterday when I saw her. Almost like she was distracted by something else.

The dream was back this night again. The man with his emotionless face, staring straight into my soul. It almost felt like he was more frightening for every night. This time I immediately saw the man's face in the window when I woke up, also this time at 3:00 am. I blinked and he was gone.

Sarah showed even less emotion this time, and her face was a bit pale. She told me about the "advices". The man in her dreams had told her to jump off a bridge.

The days went on and every night, after the dream, I would see the old man's face somewhere. I had started pulling the curtains over my bedroom window, but he just kept appearing in every window possible, it didn't matter what window. I would always see him in some way. After some time, the curtains started rolling themselves up. For every night I became more and more frightened. I thought I was going insane. I would sit in my bathroom ever night after the dream, and cry. Sarah showed less emotion for every meeting we had. She was so pale that she soon looked dead. She told me about how that man in her dreams, every night, gave here these "advices", which consisted of different ways for her to commit suicide. She gave me information of his appearence. Apparently the man looked just like the man in my dreams.

Then I did it. I told her everything. I told her about how I thought we shared different versions of the same dream. She started crying. I had never heard a cry with that much emotion before. We hugged for a long time, and I went home. I felt released, it felt like these times had finally come to an end. When I went to sleep that night, the dream didn't come. The dream that had been terrorizing me for what felt like an eternity didn't come. It was finally over. I called in sick from work, so I could get my mind on something else.

After three days of doing nothing I turned on the TV. The news were on. They were speaking about a missing young woman, who disappeared yesterday night. Then a picture of Sarah came up on the screen. I was in shock. I couldn't believe my eyes. Still all shocked I walked outside and emptied the mailbox. There was an unsigned letter there. When I opened it in the kitchen I saw a picture of a man's face. A man without any hairs on his head, the man from my dreams. He was staring at me with his piercing eyes. But this time, he had a smile on his face, the smile was so disturbing that I had to look away for a few seconds. When I looked back the picture started moving. The man lifted a bloody hand.

He started waving.