Mother Mural

Hi. My name is Eve Mural. I’m here to tell you about this… Thing. No, human. I don’t know. But whatever he is, he is dangerous. More dangerous than you could possibly know. He tried to take everything I have. The only thing I have. My precious mother. I love her, more than you could know. She’s so dear to me. Her and my little brother, the only ones I have left that care about me. Not that I need anyone to care about me. As long as my family is cared for, nothing else needs to be done for me. I live for them. I protect them with everything I have.

My mother is very sick.She recently had a heart attack, and had a very high chance of getting another one. This time, there’s barely a chance she’ll survive. Then there’s my little brother. He’s only eight, so he can’t do much. But he’s so sweet. He helps me out whenever he can. He loves our mother just as much as I do. He would die for her. These people and I, we were safe. We were fine, until this Man came along.

We don’t know who or what he is. But I’ve seen him watching me. My little brother says the man follows him home from school. Every time, I see him out of the corner of my eye. But as soon as I look directly at him, he is gone. I don’t know how he disappears like that. It’s obviously not your normal human ability. All I know is that he has sick, cruel intentions. He’s out to get me and my family. I can’t let him do that. I make my little brother sleep with a knife, just in case the Man tries to kill him in his sleep. And I bought this alarm system at Target for my mother. If anyone steps through her door while it’s activated, the alarm will go off. Then, hopefully, I’ll have enough time to save her when it goes off.

I get it, I’m a bit paranoid. I can’t exactly help it, though. If my family is even in the slightest danger, I must protect them. I must keep them safe.

Or is it too late?

My little brother told me the Man touched him today, as he was walking home from school. The Man walked right up to him, and tried to drag him away, staying behind him. It didn’t work though. Someone saw the Man try to do that, apparently. The Man vanished immediately. Obviously he would. With this new information, it’s really clear. The Man obviously cannot be looked directly at. My brother didn’t see him, but the person who saved him did. It’s quite obvious, isn’t it?

This is quite a problem, though. We can’t identify him. Ever. I won’t ever know what he looks like. The he who is trying to take everything I have from me.

Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this man’s constant torture? I’ve never committed any crimes. Is he the Devil? Or is he something more? I’ll never know. The only thing I do know is that I don’t deserve this, and neither does my family.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:21px;font-family:Verdana;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">✖✖✖

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">Today was a dark day for me. I refused to get out of bed. I didn’t go to school. The paranoia is taking over. I can’t leave my mother alone in the house. Not for a second. I started having darker thoughts, but told myself if I ever attempted, my mother and brother would be alone. And I can’t let that happen. They are the only thing I have. What would I be without them? I would be nothing…

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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">My brother came home from school a few minutes ago. He told me that the Man was no where near him as he walked home. This worried me. If he wasn’t watching us, that means he must already have what he needs. I activated the alarms on my mother’s door, even though it wasn’t nighttime. He could strike at any moment. I had to be prepared. I made my brother carry the knife throughout the house. He wasn’t allowed to leave the house, either. I, well, I prepared the house. I locked all the doors and windows. I shut the blinds. I tried to make it appear is if we weren’t home.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">Nothing happened that night.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">Nothing happened for a few nights, actually. But I didn’t allow my brother to go to school for those few days. I didn’t let my mother out of her bedroom. She tried to forcefully get out, but I blocked her way. I forced her to lay back down. She needs to be safe. She’s just too weak to realize how much danger we’re in. She’s foolish and naive, yet I still need to protect her with everything I can.

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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:21px;font-family:Verdana;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">✖✖✖

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">Today the man struck. He appeared in the house, out of no where. I saw him, as I was roaming the house. I screamed, and my brother came rushing in. I told him he was here. He started crying, and I told him to shut up. I screamed at him when he wouldn’t stop. I made him sit with me, locked up in the bathroom, the rest of the day. He wouldn’t stop whimpering. I was loosing it. If he didn’t shut up, he might put us all in danger. I can’t let the Man get him. Or my mother. Then, I get an idea.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">I tell him that we’re going to play a game. I put a blindfold on him and tell him to plug his ears. “Count to three,” I tell him. This will protect him. He will be safe, if I do this. He slowly counts. “1… 2… 3…” As soon as he hits three, I take my knife and I stab him in the heart. I do it multiple times, making sure he’s dead. “You’re safe now, little bro,” I say quietly.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">It takes me a few moments to realize what I have done. I look at the blood on my hands, and the blood covering his little body. I gasp for air. I can’t believe I killed him. One of the only things I had left. I sink against the wall, sobbing. Why would I do that? Have I truly come to this? I throw the knife across the room. I refuse to believe I just killed my little brother. I stare at his dead body. “Wake up!” I scream, taking his body and pounding it against the wall. “You have to wake up!” At that moment, my mother walks into the room.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">“Eve?” she asks. Her eyes turn slowly to my blood-soaked hands, then to my blood-soaked brother. Tears well in her eyes. I push her to the ground. I kick at her.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">“THIS ISN’T MY FAULT!” I scream, leaving her and my little brother. Shaking, I go into the garage. I dig around everywhere, trying to find a rope. “Oh, come on. I know you’re somewhere,” I say to myself. I can’t find it. Not anywhere. I burst back into the house and rush to the medicine cabinet.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">I dig through, my hands shaking even more. I find my mother’s pain killers, and I open the bottle. I dump 15 into my hand. I pour myself a glass of water, and swallow each pill. One by one. I feel them settle into my stomach. I go into my bedroom and lay on my bed. “Soon I will die. Soon the pain will fade. Soon, I will be free of this prison.” I say to myself repeatedly. Soon, I’m too weak to speak. My vision is fading away. I see a person walk into my room. It’s the Man. Gathering my strength, I say, “NO! YOU CAN’T KILL ME! I CAN’T DIE BY YOUR HAND!”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">I try to stand up, I try to run away. I can barely move anymore. I look up at him, bending over me. Before my brain shuts down, before I die, I hear him whisper something in my ear. “Eve, it’s time for your breakfast.”

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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:21px;font-family:Verdana;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">✖✖✖

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">I wake up and see another man, with a gentle face, standing over my bed. “Oh, you’re awake.” He says gently, smiling down at me. “It’s been a few days since you’ve responded, and I’ve been worried.” I don’t know this man. I’ve never seen him before. Yet he looks so familiar.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">“W-who are you?” I say to him. He doesn’t look surprised.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">“Eve, we’ve talked about this. I’m your brother. I am 30 years old, and my name is Jack.” he says.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">My eyes widen with fear. “N-no! You are not my brother! My brother is small. And sweet. A-and… I killed him..” I say. Now I’m rambling to myself about what happened. I barely notice that the man picks me up and carries me to a room. He starts pushing spoonfuls of gush into my mouth. I barely notice him. “How could I kill him? Why would I do that..” I say quietly. Mostly to myself, though sometimes I ask the man a question. The day goes by. He does numerous things to me, like wash me and read to me. I don’t notice, nor do I care.

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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:21px;font-family:Verdana;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">✖✖✖

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">Days go by. Weeks, even. I slowly begin to realize that entire reality was simply a delusion. A mere story my mind made up to distract me from the horrible truth that my mother died just weeks before from a fatal heart attack.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);white-space:pre-wrap;">To this day, I still have trouble grasping the fact that she died. Some days I can barely remember my name. But I am moving on. I am becoming a normal human being again. And for the Man that I thought was trying to kill me? He haunts my dreams. I cannot be rid of him. Whatever happened to my brain during that delusion scarred me. But scars fade, don’t they? I hope this one will fade, with time.