The Hallucinations: Seeing the Unseen

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The Hallucinations: Seeing the Unseen

It started with a flicker. A brief distortion in the corner of Ethan’s vision. At first, he thought it was exhaustion, the result of too many late nights and stress from his demanding job. But soon, the flickers became more frequent, more defined. And then, they turned into something else.

"You okay, man?" Liam, his best friend, asked one evening. They were sitting in Ethan’s apartment, a horror movie playing on the TV, the light from the screen flickering against the walls.

"Yeah… just tired," Ethan muttered, rubbing his eyes. When he opened them again, a shadow moved across the room. But there was no one else there.

He stiffened. "Did you see that?"

Liam frowned. "See what?"

"There was—" Ethan stopped. He didn’t want to sound crazy. "Never mind."

But he couldn’t ignore it. The figures appeared more often—dark, shapeless things at first, but soon, they took form. Twisted faces. Hollow eyes. They never spoke, only watched.

One night, as he brushed his teeth, he looked up at the mirror and saw something standing behind him. A tall, emaciated figure with sunken eyes and a grin that stretched too wide.

His toothbrush clattered into the sink as he spun around.

Nothing.

He barely slept that night.

Days passed, and the hallucinations grew stronger. The whispers started next. At first, faint murmurs, like voices carried by the wind. Then, clear words.

"We see you, Ethan."

He froze, his coffee mug slipping from his grip and shattering on the floor.

He wasn’t alone.

Desperate for help, he visited a psychiatrist. Dr. Caldwell listened patiently, nodding as Ethan described the terrifying visions.

"Stress-induced hallucinations," she diagnosed. "Lack of sleep can manifest in strange ways. But I can prescribe something to help."

He took the medication, hoping for relief. But instead, the hallucinations worsened.

One night, Liam came over to check on him. "You look like hell, man. You sure you're okay?"

"They're real," Ethan whispered.

"Who?"

"The things I see." He gestured to the corner of the room where a shadow lingered. "They're watching us right now."

Liam turned, but there was nothing. "Ethan, maybe you should stay with someone for a while."

"They won’t leave me alone," Ethan muttered. "They get closer every night."

That night, he woke to find himself paralyzed. A heavy weight pressed against his chest, and above him, a face loomed. Hollow eyes. That unnatural grin.

"You can see us now," it whispered.

His scream echoed in the empty apartment.

The next morning, Ethan packed a bag and left town. But the hallucinations followed.

Wherever he went, they were there. In reflections, in shadows, in places no one else could see.

And slowly, reality began to slip away.

Because what if they weren’t hallucinations?

What if he was seeing what no one else could?

He tried everything—moving to different cities, staying in brightly lit places, avoiding mirrors—but nothing helped. The figures grew bolder. They whispered to him in languages he didn’t understand. They appeared in his dreams, their cold fingers brushing against his skin.

One night, exhausted and desperate, he locked himself in a motel room. He covered the mirrors, turned on every light, and sat with his back against the wall.

"I won’t look," he whispered. "I won’t see you."

But the shadows moved anyway.

Something crept beneath the door. Long, skeletal fingers. A rasping breath.

"Ethan..."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "You’re not real."

The whisper grew louder. "We are more real than you."

And then, silence.

For the first time in weeks, there was nothing. No whispers. No shadows. No twisted faces.

He dared to open his eyes.

He was no longer in the motel.

Cold air surrounded him. The walls were gone, replaced by endless darkness. The floor beneath him felt like stone, rough and uneven.

And they were everywhere.

The figures, no longer just shadows, stood in a circle around him. Their eyes gleamed like dying embers. Their smiles stretched impossibly wide.

One stepped forward. "You see us now."

Ethan tried to run, but there was nowhere to go. The darkness swallowed him whole.

And in the real world, in that empty motel room, Ethan was never seen again.