Into The Darkness - Part 2

"Well, Jeremy? Are you going to let me in?" the doctor said, looking at me, patiently waiting for me to answer him.

I hesitated. There was something wrong with the way he said it, something sinister behind his words. For a split second, one of the nightmarish things I had dreamed about crossed my mind. I began sweating and wiped my palms on my pajama bottoms. He was still staring at me, waiting for an answer. Those damned eyes.

"I don't know what you want from me," I said, looking back at the doctor but refusing to meet his gaze.

"Well, I want you to let me in, I need to be inside your mind. You see, if you don't share what is plaguing you, what horrors you say you've seen, then how can I even begin to help you? You have to share with me, Jeremy. You do want us to make them go away don't you?" he replied, with a smile.

There was something so fake about that smile, like a serpent hiding it's fangs just before it bit down on it's prey. Despite the warnings going off in my head, I nodded, serpent smile and all.

"Good! Then why don't we begin with these nightmares you're experiencing. What is it you see?"

"I don't know doc..."

"Come now, Jeremy. You're letting me into your world, remember? I'm your doctor, I'm here to help you."

I sighed, he sure was persistent.

"Alright...alright. It started about a week ago...I started getting these really bad migraines and...seeing things around my house. My parents didn't believe me when I said I was seeing these shadows moving around. They believed me even less when I said..."

"When what?"

"....when they started following me to school...to work...I could see them everywhere. And always, always the migraines. Eventually they forced me to take some pills to help me sleep because the pain was getting really bad. That's when all these nightmares started...I still have them, y'know. They're not going away...that's why I can't sleep..."

"What about these shadows you see? Do you see them even now?"

I looked over his shoulder, a look of desperation and terror filled me. I wanted to get up and run but couldn't move... "Y-yes...they're behind you...in the corner..."

The doctor turned to look, those damned eyes scanning the room for a moment, then he turned his gaze back on me, "Well, I don't see anything. There are no shadows here, Jeremy. You're quite safe. Now let's talk about these nightmares. Describe them to me, let me into your mind."

"I...I've seen myself kill. It always starts out the same...I get up from bed...I get dressed...I put on a white mask...I look in the mirror...but I don't see my eyes...they're not mine, doc. I can't explain it, but I feel like I'm another person in these nightmares."

"Like you're in someone else's body?"

"No...no it's my face I see...but the eyes...they're different. After that...I grab a knife from the kitchen, and leave the house. I'm particularly fond of young women...so I go to school...I find one walking alone...follow them for a bit until I'm sure no one is watching and then...then..."

I began to sob, holding my face in my hands. "I could feel it...the warm blood on my hands. Jesus, how many people died in my nightmares? How many more would die in these cursed dreams? It felt so real...so very real."

"Well Jeremy...might as well not beat around the bush anymore. Do you know why you're here, in a locked room?"

I looked up, wiping my tears from my eyes, "No...No doc, I don't know. Just that maybe I sleep walk or somethin'..."

"No, Jeremy. You're here, in a locked room, because you're a killer, Jeremy. These migraines you're having, these...nightmares...they're all real. You really did kill twelve women."

I sat there, in absolute shock and terror. I couldn't move. I couldn't react. This time, I did meet his gaze. Those...those eyes...

"What...what are you saying?"

"You're a serial killer, Jeremy. But not to worry," he said, absolute calm on his face, "you won't be harmed. You're in my care, and I will make sure they will remember us, Jeremy. Thank you...thank you for letting me in."

Those...eyes...they're the same as...

"You...you're the one...what...what are you?"

"I have so many names...and inside this locked room, your mind, your soul, everything is now mine. Thank you, Jeremy. We have so much more work to do, you and I."

He began to change...looking more like the shadows I've seen following me...and I finally realized it. I gave myself over to it...I gave myself over to the Devil. A part of me wanted to be saved, for this demon to leave me, I didn't want to kill anymore. Could someone save me? Oh God, someone save me...

That's when I opened my eyes, sitting up in bed, staring in the mirror and smiling..."Good morning, Jeremy. Can you hear me?" I heard myself say. "It's time to get up, we have work to do..."

I calmly got dressed, pulling on my black hoodie, combing my hands through my hair, and pulling on my mask. I grinned beneath that mask, knowing full well that I had finally gotten his soul. He would not escape my grasp. Not now. His will is mine. And I will not let it go.