Night Sight

Novella (Chapter 1)

Shrill screams filled the air. 

 "They don't want you to see the real world! They don't want you to see the truth! Open your eyes, open your eyes girl, they're coming for you!" The old man yelled hoarsely as Riley slid the sedative filled needle under his paper-thin skin.

She'd been assigned to Mr Artemas as part of her nightly rounds. He hadn't given her any trouble within the 3 weeks they'd conversed back and forth during check-ups. Although he did bring up weird topics of discussion such as night people and alternate worlds but she just put it down to the onset of dementia. He had been showing early symptoms of dementia with his frequent changes in mood and his repetitive comments about his need to show others the 'true world'.

Riley's back ached as she lowered Mr Artemas back down onto the bed and began checking his vitals. Her pen scribbled away on the chart which hung on the end of every patients' bed.

"MOOD: Irritable. Administered 14mL of quinidine and nuedexta at 3:04am 23.10.2017 - Riley Lovec"

Riley cracked her neck from left to right trying to release the tension which always came from long night shifts. Gently placing Mr Artemas' chart back on the clips holstered to the end of the bed she flicked her wrist up to check her watch again. 3.05am.

A cold hand clasped her right wrist. The old man had Riley's wrist in a vice grip as he stared at her with doe wide eyes brimming with tears. The sedative had done it's work and relaxed the stress on his body, but his mind was still very much ticking away behind those pale watery eyes.

Riley wondered what his eyes looked like before he took a blade to them and tried to remove the sclera and cornea with a pocket knife, like peeling a potato. He'd been admitted as a new patient after he stabilised 3 weeks prior.

"You can't trust what you see girl." He croaked as a tear rolled gently down his deeply wrinkled face. Riley had a duty not only to care for the patients' physical health but also determine whether they needed mental support as well. Being the committed nurse she was she lowered herself to sit on the edge of the bed when the man removed his grip from her arm. Lightly she placed a hand over his and asked,
 "What do you mean Mr Artemas? How can I help you?" It had been this same merry-go-round day after day and she still didn't know what the old man was saying.

His eyes darted from behind her to the other side of the room before landing on her, He parted his cracked lips with a quiver and whispered,
"Do you ever see things in the corner of your eye that you can't explain.... only to look straight at them and they are no longer there?" His gaze set intently on her as if he was searching for confirmation. The truth was ever since Riley had been a young girl she could remember seeing people, objects, even buildings in the corner of her eye and later turning head on and having them disappear.

She was sure everyone had experienced this phenomenon. Our eyes playing tricks on us. So, she shook her head trying to downplay the old man's fear to get him to settle. After all, what did the scientists say? The eye is made up of receptors. The ones found in the periphery of the cornea are 1000 times more sensitive to light and that's why you can see more easily out of the corner of your eye in the dark blah blah, medical history, blah. She shook her head trying to forget the painfully boring lectures from nursing school. It was still too fresh.

"You're safe here Mr Artemas. I'll be back in 15 minutes to check on you again okay? Don't worry, you're never left alone here." A warm smile crept along her tired face as she gave his clammy, clasped hands a soothing pat and made her way out of the room. She would file a mental health care plan for him in the morning she concluded.

"We are never alone..." the manwhispered as he slipped into the drowsy power of the drugs and drifted out ofconsciousness and into the night.