*Yun pov*

 

“HAAA!” A gasp escapes my bloodsoaked lungs… No… they don’t feel full anymore..?

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” I try to suck in air and puff it out like how I could before that monster got a hold of me.

Wait.

Where is… it? Where am I?

“W-what the hell? W-where’s m-mom?” My voice feels hoarse, I guess it would be after all that screaming. But where’s the blood, and the garage? 

Click. Clack. 

Click. Clack.

The sound of shoes on tile brings my eyes to the hallway where I see a feminine figure through the small window in the door.

“I-it’s her! Nononono! NO! I-I have to get away this time, ack!” While I watch the figure get closer I rip off my covers and strain the stitches in my stomach. “T-that was real wasn’t it?! T-the wound feels and looks just like how it did when she s-sta-” I gag at the memory of the knife ripping through my flesh over and over. The wound throbs as I remember. “S-shit! I need to get out of here. I can’t go through that again!”

I rip off the IV attached to my arm and the probes go with it. The vitals machine in the corner flatlines immediately and sends out multiple alarms, each pounding into my head making me realize just how close the monster is to the door now.

“F-fuck!” I screech while shuffling backwards and falling out of the bed, slamming onto the ground.

The door then rips open and reveals the figure walking forward. 

“No! NO, GET AWAY FROM ME!” I slide across the floor towards the window and try to stand but immediately fall back down.

“Yun! Calm down, it's just me!” The monster with no face calls out as it starts to slow down and make movements to show it’s unarmed. But why would it do that if it has the knife still?!

“D-don’t come any closer m-mom! I-I’ll throw myself out of this window! One more fucking step and I’ll do it! Put the fucking knife down! I’m done being stabbed, I don’t want to live like that anymore!” I finally manage to scramble to my feet and prop myself up on the windowsill. I have no idea how to get the window open but if I have to I’ll bash my head against it to break it open, then I will. Anything will be better than letting that get its hands on me again!

“Yun! Calm down, I’m not your mother!” The figure pleads as its eyebrows scrunch and her clear brown eyes moisten with coming tears. “Look at me closer, please! I don’t have a knife!”

“B-but you do?! It-it’s right there! I SEE it!” I look back up towards her face while one hand holds me steady and the other works on finding a latch for the window. 

“I swear to god I don’t! Look, I’ll lay down on the floor, okay? Whatever you’re seeing isn’t real, it can’t hurt you.” It tries to reason with me. 

Why is it trying to reason with me? It wants to kill me, to torture me! Is this a new sick way for it to torment me? To fool me into a false sense of security just for it to rip me to shreds again? I can’t take that chance!

“S-stay on the floor, don’t move! I-I’ll j-jump so just don’t move! Let me thin- Ack!” As I try to threaten the being into submitting, my body lurches forward as my legs give out and my grip on the window fails.

“Yun!” The creature scrambles towards me to my horror… and to it’s?

Why does it have that look on its face? No that's not right… How does it have that look on its face? It only has eyes, those bloodshot horrible eyes! But… Where are those eyes? Why are this one's brown? 

 

The next thing I know I’m being cradled in the woman's arms, far too warm to be those of that things. 

“W-why do you have a mouth? W-where is mom?” Confusion having taken hold made me spit out questions.

“What do you mean? I’ve always had a mouth, as everyone does? As for your mother, she’s still being held by the police while awaiting trial.” The now confirmed not monster tells me as she slowly sets me down on the bed.

She moves to fully let me go when I reach out and grab her arm. “D-don’t let go. K-keep holding me, it’s too c-cold otherwise.” 

I need the warmth she’s giving me, I don’t want to feel the cold grip of the monster again. She said it’s in the police station, right? That’s good… It can’t get me… But how did they capture it though? It was so strong…

She accepts my proposition to continue holding me thankfully, so I decide to ask her some questions.

“How did they manage to capture it? The monster? I-I couldn’t escape it and it picked me up with one hand. How did normal people stop it?” Rattling these off, the woman looks at me with confusion in her eyes. 

“This ‘monster,’ can you tell me what it looked like?”

“It looked like you did when you entered the room? Normal clothes with pitch black skin holding a knife? It only had eyes on its face, but it was mom. You aren't my mom right?” My hand grips further into her skin as I worry that maybe I did get tricked, but she looks like a normal person now so it’s fine right?

“Yun, your fingernails hurt. Can you please let go?” She grimaces slightly while looking at her arm. 

“A-ah. I’m s-sorry. But you aren’t her, right?” I manage to slacken my grip on her and luckily she doesn’t move further away or too close, staying at a comfortable distance.

“Do you not remember me, Yun? My name is Dr. Grey. I’ve been your doctor since Friday night when you were attacked. How much do you remember at all?”

Friday night? Is that when I was attacked by the monster? “If you mean when the monster dragged me out of the hospital back to the garage then that was yesterday, right? So today’s Saturday?”

“No. Today is Wednesday. Friday you were attacked by your mother, who is human and not a monster, you woke up on Sunday and talked with your friend Sena and her parents. On Monday you talked with them again as well as Takuto, Elias, and Yuki. More of your friends. Do you not remember?” She starts looking even more concerned while telling me this. 

But what does she mean? I haven’t been in the hospital long enough to get visits right? This is the first time… 

No, I was in here before the monster dragged me back to the garage… What the hell?

“I-I don’t- I don’t know w-what's going on. I c-can’t remember, uhg!” I lurch forward and clutch my head. It feels like a spike was just driven into my brain!

“Yun, calm down, look at me.” She says in a quiet but commanding tone that all but forces me to obey. “Stop thinking for now, just try to relax. I’ll go get some assistance, can you handle that? Or would you like me to call for someone else to gather help?”

“I-I want you to stay. You don’t look like the monster but what if it comes in when you’re gone? You have to stay!” The thought of being alone is incredibly scary for some reason, I just know something will happen if she leaves.

“Alright, that’s fine. I’ll sit right here, so give me one moment to call for my nurse, okay?” I nod and allow her to take her phone and pager out. 

She contacts a few people on the pager and says her nurse and another doctor will be here in a moment to look at me. She then dials someone on her phone, I wasn’t able to see the name though. Fortunately the question of ‘who’ was answered pretty quick.

“Hello, Lucy. We have a bit of a situation and could really use you, Sam, and Sena here. I know I said Elias could come as well, but matters are very sensitive at the moment. So I’d rather it just be you three for now.”

Lucy? Why was she calling Sena’s mom? Ah, didn’t she visit me before? The pain starts to set in again though so I have to drop the topic. Fortunately, she starts speaking again so I can focus on someone else's words.

“Thank you, I’m glad you can head here straight from home since school hasn’t started yet. If the others wish to come, they can stay in the downstairs area until we give the confirmation that she’s stable. I can’t say that it’s guaranteed though so I’d rather they go to school. They can come by afterwards if things go well, after all.”

Another few back and forths go by before the doctor hangs up and puts her phone in her pocket.

“Why’d you call Sena’s mom?” I ask.

“You’ll understand more when they get here, I’m hoping when you see more familiar faces you’ll be able to remember what you’ve forgotten. In the meantime though, it appears Dr. Halsin is here.” She waves towards the still open door that has a few other nurses standing around.

The sudden crowd has me nervous as I look at each and every person to make sure they’re all normal.

No knives in sight, no mouthless faces. Phew.

“Hello, Yun.” The new woman greets me. “I wish we met under better circumstances, this marks the second time I’ve been called to assist with you.”

“Y-you’ve worked with me before?” I don’t remember anything about this lady, though apparently that doesn’t mean much. I look at her while glancing around the room continuously. 

“I have, though you were asleep for it. It was a surgery. May I ask why you’re looking around like that?” She pulls up a stool and sits next to Dr. Grey and eyes my hand gripping the older woman's sleeve.

“I’m making sure the monster isn’t here.” I explain while moving my gaze between tall objects scattered in the room. “I saw a shadow there earlier that could’ve been her. I can’t risk not seeing it.”

“What?” Halsin looks towards Dr. Grey for an answer as I keep looking around. 

“Her mother, apparently. What’s odd is that she didn’t refer to her mother like that, or even act like this before yesterday. I think the dream that caused her heart attack may have done considerable damage to her psyche, if not her brain directly. She also has memory issues, she can remember being in the hospital but not why or the events when she was awake...” She goes on to recount what had happened from the moment she entered the room and saw me on the floor. 

The two continue to talk about possible causes and what to do concerning me. Though I’m more concerned with making sure nothing out of the ordinary is here to pay attention.

“Thankfully it doesn’t appear like her memory’s been severely damaged, I think it’s possible that exposure to her friends and family may assist in repairing it. She did complain of pain when trying to think about why she was here though.”

Tapping her finger on her chin, Dr. Halsin responds to the possible treatment. “It’s possible. We’ll have to monitor her during the situation though, we don’t want to stress her body any further than it already has. Have you already called them?”

“Yes, Sena and her parents are on their way. School hadn’t started yet so they decided to just head over immediately. Her other friends were there as well but I expressed my desire for them to go to school and come by in the afternoon should everything go alright.” 

“Probably for the best, I’d rather we have just a few people visit for now. Lindsey, can you come over here for a second?”

A nurse from the crowd that seems familiar comes in and asks what Dr. Halsin needs.

“Yun, can you let me borrow Dr. Grey for a moment? It’ll only be for a few minutes. In the meantime, Lindsey here can stay with you. She’s Dr. Grey’s assistant for the time being and has been with you during your stay so far.” She speaks in a warm tone as if trying to placate me.

I take a look at the nurse and ask for her to come towards me so I can touch her arm.

“May I ask why you want to touch her arm?” The younger doctor asks as I put my palm on her forearm.

“Checking that she’s warm. I don’t want to be tricked.” A few seconds later and I’m satisfied with my findings, thus I moved my hand from Dr. Grey’s arm to Lindsey's.