Fatal Game

Fatal Game - part 8

I woke up in my own bed, as usual, with a terrible headache. Looking out the window I noticed that it was still dark.

Snuggling the covers, I realized how tired I was.

My head felt like it had been hit repeatedly with a sledgehammer and I cursed myself for not having painkillers.

I turned my head, which hurt like hell, to look at the time.

This day would be no fun since pain is something I just can’t stand.

I glanced at the clock and closed my eyes.

My eyes flew open again and I stared at the numbers; 10:44 pm.

Quickly I reached out and grabbed my cell phone that said the exact same thing.

I had slept the whole day away! Maybe I was getting sick.

I got out of bed, needing to use the bathroom. Fortunately I remembered yesterday before I stepped inside.

With a groan I brought out the vacuum cleaner and made sure there was no glass on the floor before changing the light bulb and doing my business.

I briefly saw my own reflection when I stepped outside. What I saw made me step back and stare at myself with an open jaw.

The left side of my forehead was swollen and bruised. My hair had some dried blood in it.

Sure I was a restless sleeper, but this was ridiculous! No way I would be able to go anywhere looking like this.

Since my head was still killing me I decided to try falling asleep again. I just laid there, humming my favorite songs until I was halfway to dreamland.

For some reason I opened my eyes, expecting to be somewhere else but I was still in my bed.

Relieved I turned around and cuddled with my pillow.

Laughter, or more like cackling, interrupted my little cuddle-session and I looked towards the sound. I swear my heart stopped.

There, couple of steps from the front door, stood that blue statue-thing.

It still had that awful grin plastered on its face.

This thing frightened me. It looked much scarier than I can describe.

For many long minutes we just stared at each other until it made its move.

3 small and slow steps and then it stopped. My gaze was glued to its teeth, that reminded me of a shark’s teeth.

I observed its face and decided that this thing must be male. But is he human or an animal?

Oh, who cares? He’s probably just going to eat me anyway, based on those teeth.

I got out of bed and really slowly moved towards him.

His grin widened when I got closer and I readied myself to touch him.

Suddenly I fell into darkness and crashed into something.

My eyes flew open and I was lying on the floor, feeling confused.

With a sigh I picked myself up and looked around. Obviously I had been sleepwalking and tripped on the carpet.

Determined I stomped to the kitchen to find a pen and paper. I would make a list of all the strange things I’d done lately.

I sat down on the sofa and started scribbling down everything, convinced that I was losing my mind and needed to see a shrink.

Sleepwalking, hurting myself in my sleep, paranoia, hallucinations, strange dreams… The list went on.

The shrink would have a lot to work on.

Sparing a glance at the clock I decided that I could call the hospital now and get an appointment, so that’s what I did.

Luckily someone had canceled so I got to see the shrink in just 3 hours.

I decided to just watch TV until it was time to go. Since nothing interesting was on, I kept flicking between channels for 2 hours.

Tiredly I got up and walked into my closet to change into something decent.

That’s when I noticed that the hand print I had forgotten about, had received some company. Below it there was this small hand print, the size of a little kid’s hand.

How, in the love of god, did it end up there? No kids had been here.

I’m hallucinating. Yep, that’s it.

The trip to the hospital was uneventful.

In the waiting room I thought I would die of boredom. There was nothing to read and nothing to look at, so I just played with my fingers until my name was called.

I got up and walked up to the nurse, who showed me where to go.

Once I was seated in the shrink’s office, I got nervous about what he would think.

He turned to me and smiled. “You must be Anna Peterson” to which I just nodded.

“Well, Anna, why don’t you tell me why you wanted to see me today.”

I proceeded to tell him everything that had happened from the day I moved into my apartment, up until today. Occasionally he hummed or nodded, while scribbling down notes, just to let me know that he was listening.

When I was finished things got awkwardly quiet and I shifted in my chair.

“I think that we should make another appointment. We should really get to the bottom of this, don’t you think?” he asked me after a while.

Unwillingly I agreed and we set up a new appointment for next week.

I left the hospital feeling like a true crazy person.

What’s next? Maybe a straight jacket and heavy medication. I chuckled at that thought since it would be more suitable for my dad.

All I wanted now was to go home, eat something delicious and then sleep.

Before heading home I stopped by Burger King and bought a whopper to eat on the way.

When I finally reached home I felt exhausted. I had no energy to cook anything, all I wanted was a warm and comfy bed with fluffy pillows.

I nearly crawled from the front door to my bed and slid under the covers.

“What on earth happened to my energy?” I whispered to myself and closed my eyes.

After what felt like seconds later, I opened my eyes and saw grey houses.