I was sitting on a grassy hill and the sun was shining. She was in front of me, halfway down the hill she was there playing with our son. They were kicking a ball back and forth while laughing and smiling. I found myself smiling too, it was a nice summer day and we were creating core memories as a family. There was a light breeze that flowed over the hill and across the field that laid at the bottom of the hill. After the large field was a dark forest that gave me a weird feeling. I stared at the forest for a moment then looked away and the feeling and memory of that feeling was immediately gone.
I smiled as I looked at them playing together and thought of how proud I was that our son was already enjoying sports and started daydreaming of teaching him new things and all the fun memories we could make. The thoughts were interrupted by a nagging feeling to keep looking back at the forest but every time I would look there was nothing of worry there so I didn't understand why my mind kept going back to it. Even with the joy I felt I started to get anxious because it was like there was something in the forest and my instinct was telling me to look out for it. When I looked back at the forest again I could swear I saw something deep in the trees like an outline of a person but it was so far away and the outline was deep in the forest so I couldn't tell what it was but I was sure it wasn't there before. I kept looking but nothing happened so I looked back to my family but the uneasy feeling was still there. They were still playing without a worry in the world and I felt the smile come back to my face but it dropped as I looked back at the forest and saw those creatures at the edge of the forest. There were two of them standing side by side, staring with a menacing gaze at my family.
The creatures started walking towards us and I stood up in a panic and tried to scream for my wife and son but it only sounded like a whisper. I tried to run towards them but it felt as though I was running through thick syrup. I looked back to the treeline and the creatures were nowhere to be seen. I turned my head violently left and right to try and find them but they were still nowhere. "What's wrong honey?" My wife's sweet voice came from down the hill.
I looked down at her and my heart sank as the creatures were right behind her and my son almost ready to touch them. I tried as hard as I could to scream and run towards them to save them but nothing happened. I looked into her eyes as they widened when the creature touched her. She fell to her knees and started screaming in pain as her body started to contort and break from some unseen force. I felt my soul shatter for a second time as her screams became more and more pained and animalistic as she bent in awful and inhuman ways. My son had disappeared and I was forced to watch as she slowly met a brutal demise for a second time in front of me.
I shot up out of my bed screaming and thrashing around viciously before realizing I was in the real world and that awful experience was just a very vivid dream. I broke down, I couldn't stop thinking of the image of her and my son playing in the field. We would never get the chance to make happy memories like that because of the car crash that took her and our unborn child from me. Eventually, I got up and walked to the kitchen where the pill bottle was. The dreams started as I started taking the pills, so I was done with them. I grabbed the pill bottle and took the top off before holding it over the sink. I stood with the pill bottle over the sink but I could not bring myself to pour the capsules out, because what if I stopped seeing those things? I couldn't just go on with my life knowing those things were following people around. I put the top back onto the pill bottle and set it down on the counter because I could not live with myself if I suddenly stopped.
I went through my options of what I could productively do with this knowledge and I came up with an idea; maybe if I could find one that was close to someone I could somehow move it away from them by preventing their death if it was caused by an accident. That night I left the house and went to many different bars looking for someone that one of those things was close to while also getting shit-faced to make the presence of those things not as intimidating. I still didn't know if they could hurt me so I was extremely nervous but after a bit of liquid courage from a few different bars I wasn't feeling as scared of them anymore. At the bars there were a lot of people with the creatures close to them but none close enough for it to be very soon. The thought of how many people had these creatures as close to them as they were made me even more depressed than I already was, as I couldn't help all of these people. Maybe my purpose was to help them, maybe now that I could see these things I was supposed to help them by doing something to prevent their death and help them live longer.
I had no success at the bars and started walking the streets in more dangerous areas looking for anyone that those things were close to. Eventually, I came across a man with a black hoodie on walking down the street with one of those things dangerously close to him. I stayed on the opposite side of the street but followed him until he walked into a liquor store. He walked out of the store with a bag that had the distinct outline of a bottle that must've been at least a half gallon. He walked down the street a couple of blocks before starting to drink from the bag and the creature was following him, almost seeming excited. Before long the man started to stumble but kept chugging his drink. I didn't know if he was planning on killing himself or if he was just overdoing it but I jogged over to him before I could think. The creature behind him looked at me with its piercing white eyes almost dissuading me but I couldn't stop now.
I tapped the man on the shoulder and he jumped as he looked back at me. "What do you want?" He slurred.
"Man I don't know what you're drinking but I know that the amount I've seen you drink in the past ten minutes is definitely not healthy and you really should pace yourself," I said while trying to keep a safe demeanor and a kind tone.
"You're not my dad, fuck off!" He turned around and started walking away from me.
I panicked, even if this guy was being an ass to me I couldn't live with myself if he died because of me. I lunged forward and knocked the bottle out of his hand and it landed in the grass next to the sidewalk making a gurgling noise as it poured out into the dirt. He turned around unsteadily with rage in his eyes, "What the fuck do you think you're doing man?" His spit flew into my face.
I was frozen in my place by the look that the creature gave me, no matter how mad that man was there was no anger even close to the otherworldly hatred that the creature looked at me with. The man lunged at me as the creature reached its hand towards him, still keeping the same distance. I moved out of the way of the man trying to not get hit but he tripped over my foot which I didn't move fast enough and he flung his arms as his face went forward with no balance. Right in his trajectory was a fire hydrant and his skull connected with it with an excruciating crack of his skull shattering over the top metal piece of the hydrant. He slumped to the side, there was a big hole on his forehead with blood seeping out of it and his body twitched for a few seconds before stopping completely. The creature was gone now and it was just me and the man who I just watched die. I ran out of the area before anyone could see me near him and darted back home.
When I got home I fed and watered my cat before collapsing on the couch in exhaustion and crying until I couldn't anymore. I felt as though it was somehow my fault, maybe I could've done something but those evil creatures wouldn't let me. I was helpless, this was like a curse. I couldn't help anyone even if I wanted to and if I stopped taking the medication I would have to live the rest of my life knowing these MONSTERS were following everyone and would eventually cause their death. I couldn't stop asking myself why I didn't have one of these things behind me and my thoughts looped until I started to get tired. I walked to the kitchen and grabbed another one of the pills and took it before going to my couch and stewing in my own painful prison of thought I had created in my head. Soon I started to become drowsy and my thoughts of the creatures wandered and as I fell towards sleep I couldn't get the image of them out of my head.