The Figure of the Damned

SLAM! A door was swung open by a hard fist. The girl threw herself into her bedroom and collapsed onto the floor. Holding her head in her hands, she tried to stop any tears from flowing out of her eyes, there was a faint sound of pitter-pattering on the grimy floor beneath her.

"I didn't mean to hit her with it - she got in the way!" Her father's hollers were making their way to her bedroom. The girl's mother chased after her, frantically stomping into the girl's room. Her mother practically leaped onto her, moving her trembling daughter's hands away from her face.

"My god... You nearly ripped her eye out!" Her mother's frantic voice screeched. Her mother could never protect her daughter from her own. "Let's go, we're getting you to a hospital so they can stitch this up!" The girl looked down at her hands, they were drenched sickly red. Her mouth gaped, trying to form some semblance of words that wouldn't come out. The shock of it had yet to fade, able to feel nothing but the cold stillness of the room through the gash across her face. The hot blood ran down her neck and cooled as it soaked into her shirt.

They both sat, watching with glassy eyes as their daughter got her wound cleaned out, a nurse was working to keep the area numb as the wound was flushed of clot and soot.

Hospitals were never her favorite, after an incident when she was eight, resulted in her mother taking her to a psychiatric institute for her outrageous behavior, she always found herself off-put by the sterile smelling halls. Her mother was only concerned about how she changed into a different person in a flick of a switch, though her mother's concern did not prevent things from worsening as she aged. Any sort of thing that would annoy her made her go into a blind rage, proceed by a lingering depression and sense of dread. She couldn't help feeling the emotions so heavily as she did, the moodiness, the indifference, the anger. Though her mother could never understand what was wrong with her. All first doctor said was: "She's a little kid, it's just her growing up and finding how to express her emotions."

The girl sat on the exam table desperately trying to calm herself about the last hospital visit. She hated it and loathed her dad even more for putting her in this situation. She dug her nails into the sides of the pleather seat trying to keep herself steady.

The doctor talked to her as he was now stitching the wound. "So, how did this happen? Did you slip and fall? Got into a fight?" She looked over to her father as he looked to her resentful and crossed his arms.

"Um... I wasn't paying attention and I fell into the kitchen counter," the girl lied.

"Well, you're incredibly lucky you didn't lose your eye. The gash was certainly wide and the area is bruised, your eye in itself is-" he stopped what he was doing and grabbed a mirror from the counter and handed it to the girl.

"What's wrong with it?" She grabbed the mirror and stared at her left eye. The white of her eye was a light pink from the hit, the iris was a bit lighter than her right eye and so was the pupil.

"Can you see out of it, Sweetie?" The doctor questioned as he fiddled with his gloved fingers.

"Y-yeah, I can but the light is making my eye hurt."

"Alright. That's good that you can see out of it. I'll also give you a tetanus shot to prevent any bacterial infection." The doctor finished as he taped a gauze pad to the area as the girl watched her mother, who sat there idly with a halfhearted shrug.

"I can't help you out of this one." She joked to her daughter.

"Yeah, you never do..." The girl muttered to herself. The shot was done in a second, the doctor told them to have a good night and walked out of the room. Her mother stood up and walked over to her.

"He hit you with the belt didn't h-" Her mother was cut off. "Keep your trap down. She got in the way. You weren't there to save her ass so you don't even know what happened." He snapped at his wife.

"Bullshit. I know damn well she wouldn't have 'gotten in the way'. You're the habitual liar, not her." She hissed at her husband and then turned her face back to her daughter.

"I'm sorry he did this and I'm sorry I couldn't have stopped it, Love." Her mother sighed, wrapping her arms around her daughter. The girl never accepted her mother's empty apologies; they never did anything to save her. They were only there to make it seem like she had tried but never put in any effort.

"Don't worry about it, Ma. You don't go around swinging shit everywhere when you have little fits." She chuckled sarcastically to herself. She winced, just smirking sent pain across her face as the anesthetic wore off.

"Let's go, I want to get home already." Her mother nodded and began to walk out of the room leaving her daughter to help herself down from the exam table. A wave of anxiety came over her as she hopped off the table herself and ran after her mother, staying close by her side.

A cool breeze entered her room as she woke up the next morning. She opened her eye overlooking that she couldn't see with her left eye due to the gauze. Only dull specks of light filtering through the thick gauze. Sitting up reluctantly, she knew her eye was there, however, she had an inclination to ensure it was still in her socket. She got up, stretching she searched for clean clothes and began to change into them. She turned her head and looked at her mirror, she approached it and kept eye contact with herself. 'You look like shit' she thought to herself, the gauzed area hid her face from browbone to cheek. The daylight shinned from the window behind her and made an eyeshadow palette on her bureau gleam. The girl looked at the shine and snatched her palette. She took a look at her appearance, then the cosmetics and chose to put it on. She opened the lid and saw she never left a divot in the red shadow. Grabbing the brush that accompanied it she began to pack the shadow on her eyelid. A moment of realization caused her to stop in the middle of applying it. "Shit! My other eye is covered. Maybe I can still put it on the left one?" She leaned closer to the mirror and began to delicately strip the tape off and the gauze with it. Her eyelid was untouched, however, her cheek and browbone were sewn shut. She slowly opened her left eye, grinning as she dipped the brush into the shadow and applied it to the left eye, making it even.

As she walked down to the kitchen, she looked around, noticing that her parents still weren't home from work. The girl grabbed a bowl and placed it on the kitchen table. A heavy feeling weighed down on her head, her vision faded in and out of blackness. Holding her face in her hands, she struggled to stand up straight, covering her eyes as she dropped down to her knees with a grunt. Snapping her eyes open, she saw red tendrils squirming in front of her, writhing like worms darting around her eyes. She kept herself steady, finally managing to stand back up as the feeling subsided. She pummeled her hand on the kitchen counter, holding herself up she started to breathe slowly, trying to figure out whatever just happened to her. She brought her head up slightly, looking up to see her dad's belt on the far end of the table, a piece of flesh still on the prong of the buckle, like bait on a hook. Her blood started to boil at the sight of it. Outbursts echoed in the kitchen. "Go to hell!" The girl grabbed the bowl and threw it at the belt causing it and the bowl to shoot off the table. She yelled how her mom never seemed to prevent any of it and was always there at the last minute, how she just left her and didn't care, and how she can't save her from her own. She howled how her dad never saw her as a person or his daughter, but always knew she was there when he would want to take his anger out on something. She lowered her voice into a murmur "I hate the both of you..."

Hours passed. She was now walking to school, her hands stuffed her pockets. She didn't bring a bookbag ever, she didn't care about those things. She finished whatever homework she had in school so there was no need for one. Her parents would always ask if she had homework, and she always told them she did it in class. They would call her a "bum for not doing her homework" or tell her she was "making up excuses." The girl took a deep breath as she stepped onto the school grounds, the shadow of the building looming over her as she made her way inside. The thought of her graduating soon made her calm, she was never going to see most of these kids again. Though, those thoughts normally got clouded out by Jay and his friends. Why couldn't he leave her alone? Was reporting him to the school, not enough? Thought by thought they kept clouding her mind as she walked to her locker for her books. She headed to her first class, knowing Jay was going to be there. The bell rang as she sat down, Jay parked himself behind her, his friends sat close by. It was Scott and Davin. Jay tapped a pencil on his desk, seeing as it annoyed her, ran the tip of the pencil down her back. The girl shuttered and leaned forward so the pencil couldn't touch her.

"Stop. Leave. Me. Alone." The girl demanded. She felt a wave of heaviness over her head again: it weighed down on her and she began to grow angrier.

"You're no fun," Jay whispered. "C'mere," he grabbed the pencil once more and pushed the point of it into her back, breaking the skin. The girl jumped as she felt electricity shoot up her spine. Every corner of the room spilling with red tendrils, crawling like they were alive.

"Stop it you douche!" She snatched the pencil from his mitt.

"Give my pencil back, Gra-" Jay was cut off by her slamming it into the back of his hand making it rip through the other side. The classroom filled with painful screams as the blood began trickling down his fingers dripping onto the desk. The teacher's attention turned to Jay as his friends jumped up. They spoke in panic, shouting over one another telling the teacher what happened. The teacher called security. Upon arrival, one security guard had paper towels and ran over to Jay wrapping his hand in it. The paper absorbed the blood almost immediately but began to drip through it. The second security guard grabbed the girl and took her to the office to file a report on what happened. As she walked with the security guard, she took satisfaction knowing his fresh blood spilled out of him and followed him as his sobs filled the hallway.

The girl contemplated what her parents would say to her while walking home. She didn't want to think about it. At that point, she didn't even want to go back home, turning off the sidewalk and into a wooded area, she kept walking. She looked up, trying to ease her mind by looking at the sky, sighing as she slowly looked down at the line of trees. A wave of panic came over her as her eyes connected to a figure. It watched before sprinting towards her. She didn't waste any time making a run for it. As she looked back to where the figure was, she could no longer see it but continued to run. She almost made it past the tree line before she was flung back by a hard hit to her ribs. She landed on her back gasping for air, everything seemed to go black for a few seconds. Covering her ribs, she looked up to see the first of Jay's goons: Scott.

"I just wanted to get back at you for what happened in class with Jay," he snickered. "Never thought I'd stalk someone, but I guess it has its perks." Scott looked down at her. She wobbled up as her heart pounded and tried to balance herself using a tree. She heard other footsteps approaching, looking over to them she saw Davin come out from behind a tree.

"I never really had the chance to do this so this might be fun." Scott took one swing as the girl barley dodged the fist. The both of them started to fight, one on one, as hits connected. Davin intervened and pushed her away from Scott, he grabbed a small switchblade from a pocket of his denim jacket. The girl looked around and snatched a thick tree branch, holding it like a baseball bat. Davin charged at her like a raging bull. She swung the branch, connecting it to his hand and knocked the blade from it. He reeled back, grasping his wrist as she brought it down once more. The branch connected to his groin, feeling a bit of resistance before it the branch snapped. A loud crack echoed as Davin's screams fell with him, he tried to get back up but failed. Scott looked over at Davin, who laid there squirming in pain as he grabbed his mangled crotch, his lunch working its way up and spilling over the forest floor.

"I see you're a fighter," Scott snickered and brought his foot back to balance himself. "Come at me and swing! Let's go!"

The girl was dumbfounded, the feeling soon faded and shifted to rage. She felt it come over her again, this time it wasn't a heavy feeling it was pent up rage. She envisioned all the ways she could rip them apart. It played in the back of her mind as she moved her eyes to Davin, who slowly peeled himself from the ground. Davin let his injured hand dangle as he kept his legs close together. The girl snarled, not going for Scott, but rather for Davin. She whacked Davin in the jaw, his head flew back making his neck snap, his body fell to the ground motionless. The branch splintered as she repeatedly slammed it into his chest, breaking his ribs. She didn't stop until she was satisfied with the bloody mess that was left of him. She stood there trying to catch her breath and turned towards the terrified Scott. She kept trying to focus her vision, it fading in and out of blackness. His words drew her attention.

"Stop! What did you do?! Get away from him!" Scott demanded.

"Don't you understand? Your own kind can't save you." The girl grinned devilishly, throwing away the remaining piece of the branch and stumbled towards Scott.

"No! Stay the fuck away!" Scott started to run from her, taking a sharp turn and hid from her sight, breathing heavily. The girl looked back at Davin's body and found another blade. She took it off his corpse and turned the holster in her hand, strapping it to her own waist. She took the blade out and examined it: it was bigger than the one he tried to attack her with. She gripped it tightly and went hunting for Scott. He breathed heavily as he heard leaves crumbling under her shoes growing closer. He wanted to make a run for it but didn't want to risk being found. Scott looked down at his feet and found a rock. Grabbing it he threw it over to another tree, trying to get the impression he was somewhere else. He wanted to run for it. He could hear his own heart beating like it was in his throat. Scott looked back to where he threw the rock and didn't find her standing there. With his back to a tree, he saw debris of bark and leaves falling in front of his face. There was movement above him he looked up to meet hazel eyes burning into his own.

"Hey, bud!" The girl shouted as she jumped down onto him, driving the blade into his shoulder and dug it down his right side as hard as she could. A piercing scream echoed through the woods; Scott nearly passing out from the pain. She ripped the blade out of his side and raised her arm up, staring down at the blood drenching his clothes. She smiled and plunged the blade in and out of him, throwing chunks of his entrails around the forest, some splattering on her face. The blade punctured a lung, not stopping until his wheezing went silent. She stood up and took a deep breath, ran her fingers through her hair, tossing the blade away. Leaves crunched under her feet as she started to walk home again. The girl's vision faded in and out, making it harder and harder for her to continue walking. The world around her began to spin until she fell and hit the cold ground.

A heavy feeling came over her as the girl opened her eyes, a faint, familiar smell filled her nostrils. Jumping up to find herself in bed, she looked out her bedroom window and saw that the sun was going down. Throwing her legs over the bed, she walked to the mirror and got lost in it, trying to figure out how she suddenly got back home, she couldn't remember walking in the door or going to her room. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her fingers, then back at her reflection, noticing her eyelids were stained with the red eyeshadow. The feeling of the same heaviness that weighed down on her head kept aggravating her. She stood there thinking what it could be causing it, she couldn't find an answer. As she turned away from the mirror she heard a faint voice speak. Frantically she scanned her room and saw no presence.

"Mom?" The girl called out.

"Aw, how you killed them." She could see her vision turn red as if a thin layer of plastic was sticking to her eyes.

"Why did you do it? Poor Scott. Poor Davin. How you massacred them." Going over her thoughts she barley remembered parts of what happened walking home from school. She kept going over that day and remembered stabbing Jay's hand with the pencil.

"Poor Scott and Davin? What are you talking about?"

"Hush, little one," the deep voice cutting her off "you did everything, can you see?" The dull blue walls of her room flashed to static as they each turned on like giant T.V. screens playing out the beating of Davin and the bloody murder of Scott.

"Stop! That's not me!" She covered her eyes only to feel a strong grip around each wrist pulling them away forcing her to watch as Scott took his last gulps of air.

"You can't hide from what you did. What did you do with your new toy? I think you have forgotten it somewhere. I'll help you find it. Ah, here it is." The girl felt her right arm rise up, watching its every movement. Her fingers snapped as the heavy blade appeared in front of her feet.

"What did you make me do with my hand? What is all of this? Who are you?" As she finished her words, the walls melted back into the dull blue paint they had once been. The sky was black and the moon was bright. The light of the moon brightened her bedroom just enough that she could see the objects that it contained, illuminating the blade making it stand out in the dark room.

"I want answers!" She shouted, there was no reply back. The girl stared at the blade just inches in front of her own feet, she picked it up, it felt like she had held it before. She looked down at her waist, a knife holster was attached to her pants. She jumped back surprised by its appearance. She put the blade in the holster, taking it off she put it in one of her dressers. She plopped into her bed trying to process what just happened. The girl hugged herself tightly, her heart racing, her head pounding, thought after thought leaked its way into her brain.

"No... I don't. I don't. I don't want to, but I did. I hurt them. I hurt them. I... killed them?" Shaking she couldn't help but feel her stomach turn. The sound of footsteps grew louder as they made their way to her room; she couldn't hear them over her own thoughts.

"Hey love, I heard you talking to someone. Everything okay?" Her mother stopped in her tracks seeing her daughter trembling on her bed. The girl looked up to her mother and gave her a sarcastic grin.

"Fucking spl...splendid mom," she spat out trying to get her panic attack to stop. "Everythings peachy."

"Excuse me? What's wrong? What's wrong with you, huh?" Her mother asked flatly and kept her hands to her sides as the girl looked back in confusion.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me, eh? What's wrong with me?!" The girl stood up and clenched her fists, starting to yell at her mother. "Haven't you figured it out yet? Hasn't our lovely trips to the doctor helped you figure out what's so fucked with me?!" The girl took a step towards her mother before turning her head to her dresser. She yanked open the drawer and snatched the blade. Turning back to her mother revealing what she grabbed, causing her mother to back up, their eyes locked on each other.

"Huh?! No answer? You just gonna do what you normally do? NOTHING." She said with gritted teeth as she spat at her mother.

"N-no. I'm going to do something. C'mon love, no need to keep getting violent. You know I love you, there's no need t- Aaah!" The mother screamed as she slashed her arm with the blade.

"Do what, Ma?!" Her mother threw herself back, cradling her bleeding arm. She stepped backward out of the doorway, trying to suppress her pain, her eyes filled with tears as she looked at her daughter in disbelief.

"How does it feel to bleed? To have someone hurt y-" The girl was interrupted by her dad.

"Get away from her you psycho." He growled. Her mother went to her husband, shaking in fear of her own child. He looked at her arm, telling her to get the first aid kit and wrap it up.

"I'm tired of your shit, kid. We're done with these games. We're not taking it anymore. Tomorrow it's all going to change." He kept eye contact with his daughter, a stern look on his face. It didn't phase him that she had a knife or was acting the way she did; he kept his seriousness. He went to grab his belt again, it made a jingle as he grabbed the leather tightly. The girl slowly put the blade to her side and backed up, she felt her heart starting to be faster.

"What are you talking about, dickhead?" She spat out biting her tongue some.

"You'll see come tomorrow. If you do anything else this extreme, I'm calling the cops. You're lucky I'm not calling them now. Stop with this stupidity and fucking act like a human for once. Goodnight, crazy." He finished and slammed the bedroom door, he walked down to the kitchen to help his wife bandage her arm. The girl threw the blade at the door, it thudding into the door, cracking the paint as the blade stayed impaled in it.

Throughout the night all she could hear was her father's words. "Crazy, Psycho, Tomorrow it's going to change." She dug her nails into the sides of the pillow and pushed them into her ears. "Let me fucking sleep!" She finally calmed herself down enough, and after some time, grew tired and soon fell asleep.

The next day she woke up to a knock on her bedroom door.

"What?" The girl called out.

"Let's go, love. We need to run some errands." Her mother answered from outside the door.

"What errands? What are you talking about?" She asked as her mother opened the door and walked into her room.

"We need to get some groceries for dinner. Can you help?" Her mother sat on the bed next to her daughter, holding her bandaged arm.

"Yeah... about last night, I feel like shit." Her mother didn't respond to that, she just insisted she get dressed and come with her. The girl quickly threw on a pair of black jeans, boots, and a light gray shirt. They both walked downstairs to the car in silence. Once in the car, her mother started it up and they drove off down the long street. The girl rested her arm on the side of the door and held her head in her hand. She closed her eyes for what seemed like a couple of minutes when the car stopped abruptly, forcing her to open her eyes.

"Huh?" She looked towards her mother. Her mother said nothing and kept her hands on the wheel, her head down. The girl looked in front of her and saw a huge building, a sign on it read "Behavioral Health Services | St. Mary’s Hospital."

"What are we doing here?" The girl said louder, her mother shuttered in response, she knew she heard her now.

"We told you it changes today. I'm sorry." Her mother got out of the car, walked to the passenger side and opened the door.

"No! I'm not going in that! What are you doing?!"

"Let's go! I've had enough! You're getting reevaluated whether you like it or not!" Her mother yelled looking down at her daughter, keeping her hand on the passenger door. Two men dressed in matching white coats came out pushing a wheelchair. The armrests had wrist restraints on them, a matching foot loop found on each of the footrests. The girl got out of the car and looked at her mother and then glared at the two men.

"Are you Mrs. Shay?" One of the men asked.

"Yes. This is my daughter. She's in need of help. I spoke on the phone yesterday about getting her revaluated." The men nodded.

"C'mon sweetheart, let's get you inside." The man spoke to the girl in a calm voice.

"No, I'm not getting it that thing! What are you doing, Ma?!" She looked to her mother who wiped her eyes as she started to walk back to the car. One the men grabbed the girl by the arms and plopped her into the wheelchair, they each buckled the restraints keeping her in the chair. She thrashed and yelled at the men as they wheeled her into the hospital.

"What are you doing?! Get me out of this chair!"

"That's not going to help your cause, Sweetie. We were told you slashed your mother with a knife? Tsk tsk." One of the men commented.

"Shut the fuck up! You don't know anything! Argh! Get me out of this fucking thing!" She kept thrashing her hands trying to get lose of the restrains but failed. One of the men wheeled her into a room, while the other walked elsewhere. The room number was A-301. It reeked a mix of urine and bleach. There was a bed that also had its own set of restraints, it looked clean as far she the girl could see. There was a nightstand by the side of the bed, it that accompanied a lamp and a bible. There was one small window with thick, silver bars. In the distance all you could see where trees. The other man walked back into the room, he had a syringe in his hand. The needle shinning in the room light.

"W-what are you doing with that? Get away from me!" Her screeches echoed in the room as the man grabbed her arm tightly and injected the sharp needle into her. The girl's eyes rolled to the back of her head, the room and everything around her faded to black as he pressed the plunger down.

The girls slowly opened her eyes to view a white ceiling, slowly sitting up, she noticed her change of clothes. Her head was pounding, she rubbed her eyes with her palms and looked around the room, noticing she wasn't held down by the restraints. The memory of her getting wheeled into the room played in the back of her mind: her mother abandoning her, them knocking her out, how she got here. She curled up into a ball and moved to the head of the bed, mumbling to herself.

"She left me here... She doesn't care she n-never did... abandoned me..." She repeated. There was a click at her room door, she looked to see a Nurse walk in with a note pad and a pen and looked towards her.

"Oh.. Hello my name is Nurse Amy. I came here to check up on you and inform you of how we're going to be helping you. Your parents seemed very concerned with your behavior lately. While you were, um, asleep, we contacted your parents about your room placement as well as how long you would be staying. With that being said, I have some questions for you. Answer them to the best of your ability, okay?" The nurse clicked her pen and got her notepad ready, the girl nodded slightly.

"Where is my mother?" The girl asked nervously.

"You won't be able to see your parents until we see a change in your behavior, Hun. May I start with the questions now?"

She nodded in reply.

"Okay. What's your name?"

"You should already know that..." The nurse raised her eyebrow in annoyance.

"Oookay. What are you feeling right now?"

"I'm feeling... anxious. I'm used to being forgotten, abandoned... I don't like it." The girl hugged her knees to her chest as the nurse took down what she said.

"Well, I'll be here twice a week to check up on you. Next, have you had anger that is intense and difficult to control?"

"Yes..."

"Have you felt chronically empty?"

"I guess so..."

"Do your emotions change quickly?"

"Yes..."

"Last question. Have you been paranoid? Like hearing voices or feeling someone watching you?" The girl kept her gaze in front of her, she kept thinking about the voice that talked to her. Its words played over and over in her head. The nurse snapped her fingers, the girl jumped and looked at the nurse.

"You here with me, Hun?" The nurse asked as she frowned her brows.

"Yeah... Yeah, I've heard voices. They talked to me, they gave me a gift." The nurse nodded and finished her notes. She clipped her pen to the notepad and looked at the girl.

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes." She stood up and walked out as her heels clicked on the tile floor. Minutes passed as the nurse came back inside, the door clicked open again.

"Hello again. I have your diagnoses here. It looks to the doctors you have moderate borderline personality disorder, mild schizophrenia, and paranoia. Based on your behavior we can outline the kind of disorders you may have as well."

"That's what's wrong with me? Can I go back home now?" She threw her legs over her bed, sitting anxiously.

"No. We still need to get your behavior under control. We still need to monitor you."

"Get me out of this looney bin. I want to see my mother." The girl hated to admit it, but even though she hated her parents, she felt content knowing she was around people she knew. She stood up and faced the nurse.

"Sit down, Hun. You'll see them soon. Take a deep breath and relax yourself." The nurse kept her composure.

"I don't need to relax, I need to get the fuck out of here no-!" The girl stopped and fell to her knees, holding her head in her hands as the weight overcame her again. She bit her lip making it bleed, digging her nails into her scalp as her head began to pound. She trembled and mumbled under her breath.

"Hun, what's wrong?! What's happening?" The nurse threw her notepad on the bed and gently put her hands on the girl's shoulders. A muffled snap sound caused the nurse to pull her hands back, watching as the girl stopped shaking and slowly looked up to meet the eyes of the nurse.

"I'm fine."

The girl swung her arm up to stab the nurse with the blade. The nurse fell back and clutched her chest, breathing heavy she took big gulps of air that suffocated her screams. The girl grabbed the blade handle and held it tight putting pressure on it, making the nurse's mouth open wider.

"Gr-... Sto-... Craz-... Gra-..." The nurse held the girl's wrists as her grip weakened. Her hands loosened and dropped to her sides as the girl ripped the knife out of her chest, blood splattered on the floor. The nurse's body fell limp to the floor as the blood poured from her chest making a puddle around it.

"Yes, little one..." A deep voice called out. The girl jumped startled but soon realized what it was.

"Hello again."

"I-.. did I just?"

"Yes, you did. Now get out of here before they grow suspicious of the nurse's absence."

The girl nodded and quickly looked through the dresser next to the bed. She found her old clothes and threw them on quickly before grabbed the blade and putting it in the holster. Before leaving, the girl took the nurse's coat, along with a facemask she found in another drawer and walked out of the room with the coat covering her clothes. There were spots of blood on the coat that she hid with her arm. Other doctors and nurses walked up and down the hallway, too busy pushing other patients down the hallway or filling out paper to notice anything different. A door stood at the end of the hall with a glowing red 'exit' sign above it. The girl walked faster to the door and pushing it open. She looked around and noticed the big trees that sat off in the distance: the wooded area she saw when she was in her room. The door closed behind her as she began to quickly jog into the forest. She stripped off the white coat and mask, continuing to run to the forest's edge. She didn't stop until she was almost out of breath, it finally hit her. Deeper into the woods there was a light, it was red and glowing, piercing through the trees. It didn't blind her but was enough to make her want to shield her eyes. The girl didn't know what to think of this strange phenomenon as it grew bigger and bigger like it was coming towards her. Heaviness came down upon her again, but this time, it didn't make her go into a rage, it was just weight. It moved down her shoulders to her waist and then her legs. She stood there as the light slowly faded, the rest of the forest was getting darker around her. She rubbed her eyes, noticing her vision was fading as her eyes became heavy.

"Hello, again little one... We finally meet." The girl heard something in front of her, she slowly moved her eyes to the voice. She went to open her mouth and speak but slowly shut it and kept her focus to a figure. It was an intimidating height that loomed over her. She blinked slowly, her body didn't move as it should have. Her heart was pounding telling her to run away but she just stood there unable to react, she kept eye contact with it. The red light that dimmed down grew brighter as the figure walked closer to her. The light blinded her, she put her hands up to cover her eyes but stopped when she saw its hand rise up, with its index finger extended outwards to touch her. The figure put its claw to her forehead, just enough to touch it and not pierce her with how sharp it was. A chuckle rumbled from the figure as the light and all of that was surrounding her slowly dimmed. It was the last thing she felt before her vision went black for the final time.

Riiiiing, riiiiing, riiiiing.

"I'll get it!" Mrs. Shay called before answering the phone. "Hello? Yes, this is her mother speaking. What?!" What do you mean?!"

"Put the News on, you'll see it!" A muffled voice spoke on the other end.

"O-okay. I will thank y-you." Mrs. Shay stammered as she slammed the phone back in place and ran to the living room, her husband there already had the News channel on. They both stood there with their mouth agape, Mrs. Shay covered her mouth as the News reporter spoke.

"Two teenagers and a nurse dead. The two teenagers were identified by family as Scott McAwley and Davin Smith. They were found dead in a forest not to far from their local high school, both brutally murdered. As for the nurse, she was found dead in a patient's room stabbed in the chest and left to die. Her coat was taken from her and found on the premises nearby the hospital. Authorities believe the murderer in both cases was the patient that had been left there to get treated for her mental health and behavior issues. The patient's name has remained confidential in accordance with the police investigation. The patient has yet to be located, along with any murder weapons. If you have any information on this please call your local police. More on this at 6:00."

Her father plopped on the couch and took his belt off, shaking it as he cracked his neck. The belt jingled in his hand as he threw it to the side of the couch, landing where his daughter used to sit.

Credited to LadyDevilish