Let Us In

I huddle in a corner, shivering from the shocking iciness in the atmosphere. I bring my knees up to my chest, trying to shrivel up to be unnoticed. I stare at the white tiled floor, terrified at my surroundings. With nothing on but a measly sheet of fabric, my skin gradually numbs. I don't dare glance up. The anxiety gnaws at the edges of my mind, coaxing me to take a little peek. My weak resolve is easily broken as I move my gaze up.

I regret it instantly. The stark white plain walls matches the floor, almost blinding me with the sheer emptiness of it all. My bloodshot eyes glaze over at the lack of stimulus for my exhausted brain. This awful room makes me sick, I can't stand to stay here anymore, but they don't let me out. My prison of white continues to torment me day after day. That's not the worst of it. Although the walls harass me, how ever do I wish that they would stay still. Immobile. Dead.

Quivering forms emerge, pressing against the walls as if it were a smooth silky sheet. They call out to me. Those clammy hands with the twitching fingers itch to claw through the milky white plain. Soles of kicking feet jerk around, hasty to take step in my suffocating encasement. I ball up, horribly frightened at the inhuman limbs squirming against the walls. I cry out when I see the most hideous feature revealed to my sight.

Their faces, which create a grotesque indentation layered with wrinkly ridges, made their impression on the waxy wall. Their hollow soulless visages yell and shriek, abusing my eardrums. My ears bleed out, staining the fabric that covers my trembling body. I scream with them, unwilling to let them pass. They claim to be from the spirit world and desire to enter the tangible. They want to be felt, to be heard, and to be seen. Their raspy high-pitched voices reverberate around the room, demanding me to let them in, let them in, let them in…

A door swings open. I slowly open my eyes, which I haven't noticed were shut. A young lady dashes in the room and grabs my arm, dragging me to my feet. The walls slightly vibrate before staying motionless. She scolds me and places me on the simple white bed in the middle of the room. I calm down at her soothing words afterwards, slowing my breaths to a relaxing rhythm. I never got used to the idea of staying in this stupid hospital for long.

The nurse smooths down my hospital gown with one hand, stroking my hair with the other. She mumbles something to herself as she leaves for a second, assuring me she'll be back in a minute. True to her word, she returned while I was enduring the minute of solitude. She places pills as white as the whole setting of the room on my palm, reminding me to take them. Schizophrenia isn't to be taken lightly, she informs me. I gulp them down, and soon after, she leaves.

And for a second, perhaps a fraction, a looming face appears, wearing a malevolent grin. It mouths a few words, and then sinks back into the world of nonexistence.

"Until next time."