The Story of Tikay-Marie

Living In A Nightmare

It was completely dark. It was like she was in a room that was getting smaller and smaller. Then all of sudden there he was. Johnson, with his back facing Tikay, humming "You Are My Sunshine". It was very unsettling. Tikay rested her hand on his shoulder and she immediately regretted it. When he turned around, he was pale and literally gray and his eyes were clouded and black and full of unshed tears. His skin was peeling and he had these crater-like-wounds and gashes all over him. His hair was black with highlights of gray. His clothes were completely destroyed as if something tried to eat him. Tikay quickly took her hand back and jumped back, but he just moved closer. Knowing that she was too scared to move she just stood there and closed her eyes tightly. She tensed when she felt his breathe by her ear and began to sing in a small distressed voice that only got more eerie as he sang:

" You. Are. My. Sunshine.

My only sunshine,

You make me happy.

When skies are. Gray.

You'll never know dear.

How much I. Love. You."

He inhaled deeply and that's when Tikay felt his tear fall on her shoulder.

"Please," he whispered through gritted teeth. "Don't take. My sunshine. Away."

               All of a sudden he pulled back and Tikay released a breathe she didn't know she was holding. But she found it hard to breathe again as she felt Johnson's hand wrap around her neck and squeeze tightly.

               "I will be the only person you talk to if it's the last thing I ever do." he screamed at the top of his lungs.

               Tikay woke up gasping for air and drowning in her own tears. It was like that for weeks. The same dream over and over again. They got so bad she'd wake up screaming or she never wanted to sleep. One night she was surprisingly able to get a peaceful night's rest but he came back in a different way.

Tikay was walking to work one morning when she felt like something was weighing down on her, like that feeling you get when you know someone is watching you. She decided to look around. The feeling got more and more intense the more she spun looking for whatever was causing this feeling of discomfort. Then she noticed the same black eyes from her nightmare monitoring her from across the street. She turned and began to walk faster.

It was like that for days, he would just watch her with the same expression on his face and she would try to ignore it.

She couldn't go on dates because of it. Instead of keeping his distance from her he would sit right next to her date and just stare at her giving her eye contact and never breaking it. Same with meetings, gallery events, while she was painting, watching T.V and etc.

               Then he disappeared and let her live a bit but come back. He didn't show himself but he whispered directly in her ear. He did this at night, during the day, while she was working, hanging out with her friends and with her family. She would try to ignore him by putting headphones in but he would speak over the music no matter how loud she put it.

One afternoon, she was sitting on the couch and he kept speaking to her and she didn't want to hear it anymore. So she turned on the T.V. and turned up the volume the louder he spoke. It got so loud that Misha came running out her room and had to grab her ears. She ran over to the living room to see Tikay on the floor doing the same but she was screaming and crying her eyes out. A couple weeks after that, he started to put it all together. He'd show up in her dreams and speak to her or speak to her while she painted. Some days he would throw things at her, claw at her and curse her out.  She was no longer allowed to leave the house and no matter how much her parents or Misha begged, Tikay refused to get any help or take her medication - because it was just making it worse. After awhile it was no longer her choice and her parents sent her to a local institution.