That Thing In The Corner

TW: Gore

“Something was there! I know something was there. I just can’t see it.” I told Levi, hoping he would believe me this time.

His blue eyes looked me the same way they always did when I told him I was haunted by this thing. “There isn’t anything around, Aaron,” he leaned over the coffee table, wood groaning, “do you need to see someone again?”

Shoving back, I tried my best to get over the sting of betrayal. Again. “No! I’m not crazy! Something is watching me! It’s a demon or something! It’s always right there in the corner of my eye. Just out of full view. When I turn, it’s gone!” People in the cafe looked to me, deciding if I’m a threat. I’m sure I looked crazy, but I wasn’t.

“Because nothing is there! This has been going on for months, Aaron. Maybe you need those doctors again. You were doing so well until last week.”

Terror shot through me. The only thing I remember from those doctors last time are needles, drugs, bed restraints, and forced showers. “N-no. I’m fine. It’s probably nothing. It will go away.” I put my shaking hands around my To-Go mug, ready for us to leave. The other people were looking at me like I had three heads.

Levi clapped me on the back as we left. “That’s the spirit. Let’s set up an evaluation with that clinic anyway. Just to be safe. We can make it for a couple weeks out, give you some time to calm down.” He fixed his gaze on me, sympathy and concern lighting up his features. Levi was my best friend. I knew he wanted what was best for me.

“Okay. Sure. But in a month. I-I’ll be good by then.” I gave him a toothy smile, fully aware I looked and smelled homeless. That thing got more active when I slept or was in the shower. I didn’t want to take any chances. I knew it would come for me soon.

We walked in silence back to our apartment. He told me he needed to get some groceries and left me at the door.

Waiting a few more moments after he passed the corner, I rushed inside barricading the door with a side table. And a chair. And a lamp. I didn’t feel like taking chances. The monster was back again. I could see its black frame at the edge of my vision. It was resembling something more and more humanoid this last week, and it terrified me. I knew it must be a demon. Or maybe a monster here to take over my body. Or hurt me. Or take me to hell.

With Levi gone, I dared a quick shower. I hadn’t seen that thing since I locked the door. In a minutes it took me to bathe, I rethought telling Levi all of this. I knew he thought I was crazy. I knew he might 5150 me. Maybe I should just stop bringing it up to him. He clearly wasn’t going to believe me.

A new thought struck me. What if that’s what the thing wants? It wants me lonely. Why does it want me alone? What if I need to be alone for it to get me?

I paced through the near-empty living room, most of the furniture blocking the door and widows. My thoughts were like flies buzzing around me. Or maybe that was the actual flies.

It wants me alone.

It’s going to take me to hell.

Levi is in danger.

Maybe I’m already in hell.

What if I actually am crazy?

Sudden banging had me jumping back, grabbing the nearest item for a weapon against the monster. Who knows, maybe a small stone elephant could be useful. Maybe I could bash it’s head in.

“Aaron?! Open the door! Did you block it again?” Levi shouted through the thin wood, shoving into the door again

.

I let out a shaky breath, “Y-yeah, I’m coming!” Slowly and with trembling hands, I removed all the blocks in front of that door. Maybe if we were quick enough, it wouldn’t get inside.

That thought stopped me dead, my hands frozen on the corners of the side table. What if it was right outside? It can’t be. Levi would be hurt, right? Would that thing even go after him if he couldn’t see it?

“Aaron? You still there man?” His slightly less muffled voice sounded again.

Shaking off my worries, I opened the door. Levi was carrying a few brown bags of groceries. “Here, can you get this one? It’s heavy.”

I complied, taking the larger bag to the kitchen and began placing the freezer items away.

Levi let out a low whistle, “What happened in here? Did it come back? Your hallucin- I mean, thing?” He stuttered over his words, catching himself.

“I thought I heard someone getting robbed in the hall. I wanted to make sure they didn’t come in here.” I had been getting good at quick lies.

Levi gave me an incredulous look. Maybe I wasn’t that good at lying on the spot. He smacked at some flies buzzing around him, moving to help put away the rest of the food.

I knew what I was going through was affecting him more than he let on. He had been wearing the same clothes for almost a week, but still looked great. I knew he must be showering still to keep himself clean. Maybe it was just too much effort to change his clothes. Maybe he was too worried about me. Maybe he didn’t want to leave me alone long enough for him to do laundry downstairs.

“I’m sorry.” My voice was quiet as I placed more grocery items away. I felt terrible that he was so concerned over me. I was also concerned how he didn’t see that giant black thing in the corner of the living room. I swear I could just make out shoulders and a head now.

“What for? Barricading the door?” He tried to play it cool. I appreciated it, but I knew it was a lie.

“For all of it. This thing that has been following me for months. It was doing better until last week.” I looked for him, seeing him standing a few feet from where that thing was a minute ago. It was gone again. “And for blocking the door. I forgot you were coming back soon.”

Levi put his hands in his pockets, walking towards me slowly, “It’s okay. How about tomorrow we go to that clinic and see if we can get you to talk to someone. You don’t need to stay there. You can just talk to someone. What was the name of that psychiatrist you saw before?”

I gave a small smile back, savoring the feeling of clean teeth. Maybe I should dare to bathe more often. “Dr. Gibson.” I do remember that man. He was nice. He never called me crazy when I was stuck in that clinic for two weeks.

“Okay, tomorrow let’s go talk to him. Maybe he can help.” Levi began taking out a small pot. “Want anything specific for lunch? I’m starving.”

Now that I thought of it, I was really hungry. When was the last time I had eaten anything more than coffee? “Yeah. I’ll eat whatever. I feel like I could eat a whole cow.” We laughed together, him making lunch while I fixed the apartment I ruined.

Maybe tomorrow won't be so bad. Maybe they would help me with that thing haunting me.

I smacked my neck, feeling a fly land there again. I would need to get some bug traps soon.

The clinic was quiet as I sat in the waiting room. Levi was near me, waiting for me to be taken back to talk with Dr. Gibson. A small part of me feared I was going to be admitted once I told him that thing was back.

“Aaron Davidson?” A nurse called out, smiling at me as I rose. I saw her eyes quickly take in my appearance. I knew I still looked pretty haggard.

We moved to the back rooms where Dr. Gibson’s office was located. He never was too close to the front in case one of his patients got out.

I took a seat in the red cushioned chair, seeing him smiling at me from behind his desk. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Aaron. How are things?” He grabbed a pen and a notebook, getting ready to start.

“It-it’s back. I think it’s going to hurt Levi.” I knew Dr. Gibson wouldn’t call me crazy. That demon was standing just off to the side of him. Whenever I looked, it vanished.

Dr. Gibson seemed to catch on to my wandering eyes. “Is it in here with us, Aaron?”

I nodded, eyes dancing around in search for it. Maybe if I looked fast enough I could actually see it this time.

“Why don’t you stay the night and we can give you those prescriptions again? Just one night, just to see if it helps you again.” He sounded weary, almost as if he was finally starting to think me crazy.

“I’m not crazy, Doc. I know what I see! Well, what I can almost see. It’s just there in the corner of my eye!”

He nodded, placing a hand out, placating me. “I know. Spend the night, just one, and we can try this again tomorrow. You haven’t been sleeping, have you?”

Did I really look that bad? “It finds me at night, Doc, you know this.”

He gave another annoyingly sympathetic nod. “Okay, I’ll have someone take you to a room. Levi can meet you in the lobby tomorrow morning.”

I let out a breath. I could trust Dr. Gibson. He believed me. He wanted to help me. “Okay.”

I tried fighting the drugs. They made me sleepy. I was thankful my room didn’t have any bed restraints and the walls weren’t padded. This was a good sign.

Something scuffed the corner behind me. I turned to look, coming face to face with the demon. I let out a shout, falling back onto the edge of the bed. I had never been able to actually lay my eyes on it.

It looked like a human shadow. A man. Was it actually a demon? Was it going to take me to hell?

I began to cry as it got slower, not trusting it. “Help! Someone help!” I screamed, hoping a nurse would save me. I suddenly remembered I was in the loony bin. No one would come for someone screaming.

Whimpering, I scooted back against the bed, pressing my back into it in an effort to distance myself from the approaching thing.

In the moonlight from the window, I saw its face. It was Levi.

“How the hell did you get in here?” I whisper shouted. They couldn’t know he was here or we would both be in trouble.

Levi’s face contorted into a smile. It stretched farther than it should, rising higher on his cheeks to look almost demonic. “They don’t know I’m here. No one knows where I am. Do they, Aaron?” He crooned, taking another step closer. That’s when I saw it. His body moved and twitched in ways it shouldn’t.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, voice wavering. This was some sick prank. Some revenge for locking him out.

“I’ve been watching you for a week, you know. You still haven’t figured it out?” That demonic grin appeared again, teeth shaper this time. I swear those blue irises looked red in the light.

I didn’t want to breathe. This thing was wearing Levi’s skin. “Did you hurt him?”

The creature let out a laugh that sounded like broken glass and dying hope. “No, Aaron, I didn’t hurt Levi. But someone did. Someone really hurt Levi. Any guesses?”

I thought back, trying to piece it together. Did someone hurt him and I just didn’t remember? Was this whole thing a lie? “What happened to him?”

“Let me show you.” The thing pounced, pressing its hands onto my head. I screamed again, trying to break free when the vision started. No, not a vision, a memory.

Levi was walking in the hall of our apartment. I couldn’t take it anymore. He never believed me about that thing watching me. I grabbed the stone elephant, bashing it into the back of his head. Again. Again. And Again. I didn’t stop, his head caving in on itself, brain, blood, tissue, and nerves flying about the floor. Steady streams of it oozed from his misshapen skull, staying the linoleum flooring.

I stood up, wiping off the blood from my hands, stripping and dropping my clothes onto his body before grabbing new ones. Turning around again, I saw the black thing in the corner.

Snapping back, I shoved out of his grip. “No, you’re lying! I would never hurt him!”

The demon that wore Levi’s skin was amused. “Oh, but you did. You killed me quite thoroughly. A little sloppy, as I didn’t die until the seventh blow, but very thorough. And very, very messy. Which you still haven’t cleaned up.”

Shock ran through me. The flies. “Why?” Tears streamed down my face. Did this thing possess me to kill my best friend and then take his skin?

He chuckled, not moving away when I tried pushing him. “Beats me. Literally. You’re batshit crazy, Aaron. Have been for months. You snapped. Don’t worry though, you won’t hurt anyone else again. The cops found my body after we came here this morning. Turns out decomposing bodies can waft into the hallway for all to smell.”

I felt sick. This can’t be happening.

Those red eyes lit up again, smile widening. “What do you say to a little good old fashioned revenge? You need to face the consequences of your actions, Aaron. I will be with you forever. You can’t get rid of your best friend.”

I screamed when he jumped on me. I writhed, begging for someone to save me from the demon.

I heard a passing nurse in between breaths, “They never should’ve let him out. He’s been insane for months.”

It hit me then; no one was coming to help me. I was at the mercy of this thing, locked in the asylum. My screams would echo the halls for the rest of my life.