Eyes, I can feel them. Always behind me no matter where; almost like they're inside the back of my own mind. It's cold in my apartment, but sweat still covers my brow. Soon dawn will come, and until then I will sit...wait.
I know if I move I will surely be
overcome. My body relaxes as soon as it sees the pinks and oranges of dawn force its way through the dark haze. I find the strength in my stiff and tired legs to rise from my bed. I get ready for work noticing how increasingly weak I have become. I avoid conversation knowing what it would be about as I can see the ever more growing concerned faces of co-workers. I feel if I talk about it out loud it knows even more how drained I am. It's with me at all times, but it can only make a definite presence after nightfall.
I reach my home a few hours before dusk and fall asleep watching infomercials on TV. I awake suddenly to a breathing that seems to slowly echo mine. This is new; I then realize as I grow weaker it grows stronger. I fear I will succumb to it within the next few nights if I cannot find a refuge. I sit and think until dawn of what I can do to escape for just a night. I decide maybe if I stay the night with my parents another persons presence will keep it away for a night.
I skip work and head out there early. I am greeted with a large loving hug from both of them. It was nice and my mind was finally at peace for once. We spent the day catching up. Me and father went fishing and I helped mother make a large, much needed, meal. I realize now I haven't eaten much since this strange thing inhabited itself in my life.
As we sit down to dinner we talk about when I was kid. I bring up David and how I wish he was here to share this meal. I drop it quickly because the subject made them uneasy since he died as a child. The rest of the night went smoothly, and I fell asleep without fear for once since I can't remember when.
I then awoke to a deep chuckle in the middle of the night. Then I hear my
mother screaming from her room. I got up and ran quickly to see what happened. As I entered the room I see my father nailed lifelessly to the wall. His stomach was slit open and his innards were ripped out. Above his head there was something written in blood... "My mind is your mind."
I stared for a few seconds only to snap back to reality by the fact that my mother was tied to the bed with fathers organs. Running to her side I saw fear swell up in her eyes and tears cascade down her face.
"Johnathan!", she screamed in agony. I started crying from my own terror and misery. My fingers were clumsy as I untied her. As soon as she was free
she ran from me towards the door.
She abruptly stopped as if she ran into something; she made a whimpering noise and fell to the ground motionless. "Mother?", I feebly said hoping she would respond. I started walking towards her, but then I noticed and David standing in the doorway. Holding mom's eyes, looking at them with a grin.
"David! How the heck could you do this to your own mother!" I fell to my knees sobbing and wrapped my arms around her. "I died a long time ago remember brother. Or, did I even exist?" He let out an evil laugh. The laugh that awoke me. I looked down at our mom and when I look back up he was gone.
I then felt a weight in my hand. I opened it to see my mom's beautiful brown eyes looking at mine. Then a wave of memories flooded my brain like a cold waterfall. David was my imaginary friend when I was a child. He was violent and evil; he made me do things I never would have done. He felt like another part of me I couldn't control.
My parents made me go through therapy to trick my mind into thinking David was my brother that had died. I really had split personalities and it trapped David away. My mind, however was far more complex than they thought.
David weakened my body so I would remember and he could come out. I look down at my mother and then my father filled with sorrow and guilt with what I had done. I then look at the words again, "My mind is your mind." The image burst into my brain. I then become furious, screaming and thrashing things about.
Once I calm down I know what my only decision is. I grab my mother and lay her on the bed. Then I get my father down and place him next to her, I kiss them both and whisper that I love them. I go downstairs grab paper, a pencil, and every medicine bottle in the house. Now I am here writing, waiting for all the meds to kick in because when I die David dies to. So soon I'll be asleep with my parents forever
