He sat up in bed and sat with his back against the headboard, careful not to wake his wife. The pain in his left shoulder was similar to previous nights, maybe a little worse. He rubbed his shoulder and struggled to catch his breath. He shook his head and rolled his eyes.
He didn’t know where it was, but he knew that it watched him from the darkness. He felt it laughing at him, mocking his pain and uncertainty. It brought back painful memories of his childhood.
He had been ten years old. They lived next to a golf course. In the winter time, he used to go with his friends and sled down the abandoned course. One day, he decided to take a different hill, one that no one else used. The hill was steeper and faster than the others. At the bottom of the hill, he knew why no one used it. A dry creek bed suddenly came into view. With no time to stop, he crashed into the side of the creek bed, head first. He awoke a few minutes later and managed to find his friends. He stumbled home in the cold. Periodically he looked back and saw something following him. It was no bigger than a cat, but he swore that it was walking on two legs.
He experienced headaches and blurred vision when he returned home. His mother took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with a concussion. The doctor advised bed rest and quiet.
That night, he caught glimpses of movement out of the corner of his eyes. When he looked, there was nothing there. In the middle of the night, he heard faint scratching under his bed. Thinking that he had probably imagined it, he went back to sleep. Hideous creatures haunted his dreams. Eventually, he found it difficult to sleep at all.
One night, he awoke to pain and pressure on his chest. When he opened his eyes, he saw the creature standing on his chest. It stared at him through reptilian eyes that were full of malice and hate. It hissed like a cat and jumped off the bed and disappeared in the dark. He told his father about the episode. His dad searched the room and concluded that it had been a nightmare.
The nights that followed were sleepless nights. He sat up and waited for the creature to make an appearance. Many nights, the creature watched him from atop the dresser or bookcase. It never approached while he was awake. It hissed at him from the darkness.
After a couple weeks, the headaches and blurred vision stopped. Coincidentally, he never saw the creature again; however, there were times when he could feel its presence. He never mentioned the creature to anyone.
After he reached adulthood, he experienced chest pains, pain on the left side of his body, and headaches. Naturally, he thought he had classic symptoms of a heart attack. After several trips to the emergency room, he was diagnosed with anxiety, time after time. He was given medication and sent home.
One night, he felt his lips go numb. The sensation spread to his face and down the left side of his body. His head hurt more than it ever had before. He told his wife what he was experiencing and she took him to the hospital. While they were on their way, he nearly lost consciousness. This confirmed, in his mind, that he was about to die. He prayed, and nearly lost control of his bodily functions.
Once at the hospital, they once again diagnosed him with anxiety. His wife was less than enthused about the wasted trip and unnecessary bill that they would have to pay. He argued that it wasn’t possible that it was anxiety. He was positive that it had been a stroke. They removed fluid from his spine. After careful examination, they told him that he had never suffered a stroke.
Marital problems and the loss of his job didn’t help his condition. The pain he was experiencing was almost constant. He tried to tell himself that they didn’t exist, but the more he thought about it, the worse it became. He took six different types of medication to try and ease his pain and tension. Nothing seemed to help.
He tried to catch his breath. He felt like he could lose his mind, but he kept it under control. His wife would be furious if he woke her up. The pain originated in his chest and radiated through his shoulder. He could imagine the creature from his youth, standing on his chest, stabbing him with an invisible dagger. He refused to give in and make an idiot out of himself again. “It’s just anxiety, it’s not real.”
His wife woke the next morning. Her husband was still sitting against the headboard. His eyes were open and glazed over and his lips were blue. He still clutched his chest. She heard a hissing sound. A cup fell off of the dresser.