As I looked out from behind Tao, I was able to get a better look of the man. He had fairly dark skin that looked grey in the bright lights of the hall. He was humanoid, not human, as I saw that his arms were too short for his body. He was very tall, perhaps the tallest being I had ever seen. He was holding something, but to be honest I don’t think I`m ever going to know what it was.  He was wearing a cloak of some sort, but it had been ripped to smithereens, as if he had just been attacked by a load of angry dogs. He had an odd nose, which seemed to be pointed like a birds`. His eyes were arched forward like a cat, and didn’t seem to be moving, just fixed still on me as if he was a statue.

It was his smile that made me scream.

 

It looked like it had been drawn on, but I realised that was not the case as when I met his gaze, it spread further across his face like fungal disease. His teeth were sharp, and I could see his tongue flicking about behind them. They were light in colour, but seemed get darker as they got closer to the gum line.

 

“Jangmi? What`s wrong? You`re starting to scare me..”

 

I could hear that Tao was speaking, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. I wasn’t concentrating on him; I was looking into those eyes. The creature tilted his head slightly, causing my head to start throbbing. As a defence, I shrieked, and shielded my face from him, whimpering like a child. I fell to the floor as I had lost my balance, and Tao sank to his knees beside me.

 

“Jangmi! Whatever is the matter?”

 

“Look! How can you not see him? He`s right there!”  I pointed to the other end of the corridor with my finger.

 

There was nobody there.

 

“Jangmi, I promise you I can`t see anything. Are you feeling alright? Do you want to go and see the nurse?”

 

“No, Tao. I`ll be okay.” My voice was almost in a whisper. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen, it wasn`t normal. At this stage in my life, I was well aware of my condition, so I cast it off as nothing. Perhaps I was just having another episode.

 

 

 

---

 

“Jangmi, get the hell down here! It`s time to eat!” my father shouted from the living room.

 

“For god’s sake dad, I`m coming! Quit being so demanding!”  I replied back to him.

 

I hated my father. I hated my whole family. They were always shouting and fighting and I couldn’t stand it. I had been home from school for an hour and I was just drawing a picture of something I had seen in my dream – a large cat-like creature grinning out from a tree.

 

When I was still a small girl, I went to see a therapist for CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy). It was there that I was taught to draw everything I saw in my dream when I got up, that way I should be less afraid of what happened at night.

 

“Jangmi, get down here NOW!”  His voice snapped me back into reality, but I was already going off into my own world again. I was already deep in memories of my past.

 

----

 

“Jangmi, honey, go to sleep.” The nurse said, getting rather impatient with her whining.

 

“I can`t! He`ll find me here. He`s so close..” The younger Jangmi said. She was sitting on the beanbags in the sanatorium in her school. She was in year 7 at this time and was unfamiliar with the grounds.

 

“Please Jangie. I`ll stay with you.” Chen was sitting with her in the nurses office. He was her only friend and was familiar with the fact she was a schizophrenic, so he took her to safety after she had a fit in the middle of assembly.

 

“Chen, please don’t leave me! Hold me. You have to..” She begged, holding out her arms to him.

 

He took a step towards her, but was stopped firmly by the nurse’s hand. She looked at him with a look of disgust, so he got the message. With one last sorrowful look at Jangmi, he left the room. He could hear her screaming his name and writhing to get free from the nurses grasp.

 

----

 

I finally decided to come down for the dinner that my parents had laid out for me, even though I knew I wasn`t at all hungry. I was never hungry anymore for some reason.

 

“Finally!” My mother said, her feet resting on the pouffe. We were eating on trays again – the dining room was being redecorated. As soon as I sat down, we bowed our heads for a prayer.

 

“Bless us, oh lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord, Amen.” My father led us in this prayer after we had sat down. We began to eat in silence. After a while, my father spoke up, telling my information that made my heart skip a beat.

 

“Hey, Jangmi. Do you remember Chen at all?”

 

“How could I forget?” I replied, in a daze. Chen was my best friend. We had done everything together.

 

“You know how he moved away?”

 

“Don`t remind me. It hurt me enough before, you don’t need to bring that up again.”

 

“Jangmi! Listen to your father and stop being so rude. We have given you a home, little s**t. You`d do well to remember that.” My mother said, interrupting the conversation. She shouted these words right in my face, allowing me to smell the freshly consumed alcohol on her breath.

 

“Well..” My father spoke a little quieter, changing the subject. “I have invited his family and him down to our house for a few days in the summer and I wanted to know how you feel about that.”

 

I stopped chewing my food in a pleasant surprise. “Are you.. are you serious? You aren’t joking, are you?”

 

“Of course not. You’ve been so sad lately, I thought a visit from him would put you in a better mood and stop you being so grumpy with the rest of us.”

 

I threw my arms around him and thanked him from the bottom of my heart. I sprinted up the stairs after thanking them for the food and dived onto my bed. It had been such a long time, and I couldn’t wait to see how much he had grown. I betted he was really handsome.

 

I couldn’t help but look to my window, where I saw the cat from my dream hanging in the trees, smiling at me. It reminded me that I needed to continue my drawing.

 

I couldn’t keep him waiting.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi guys! It`s been a while, I know. I`ve just been so busy with revision for GCSEs and on top of that I am editing other stories. I`ll really try not to keep you waiting as long this time. This chapter is a little longer to make up for it :)

Yellowshu4