It started right on time. The clock was just striking the three o’clock hour when it began. It always began right at three. It never started at two fifty five or three minutes past three. The humming was the most annoying of all the sounds and it always started first. It got louder and louder until it changed into a high-pitched whistle. The whistle would last four or five minutes and then switch slowly into a sound like a wind type of howl. The howling would reach a decibel level that threatened to destroy the eardrums and then there would be sudden silence. No sound at all. Almost like a vacuum. That’s when the visual would start up.
The colors would start flashing on the walls and ceiling like a kaleidoscope. Smears of every color in the spectrum. Deep purples, bright, bright yellows, fluorescent greens, pale and vivid blues. All the colors and on all the surfaces of the eight by ten room. The color show would last maybe ten minutes and then the monsters would start appearing. First, they would be simple little trolls and Halloween type goblins then, the heavy hitters would show up. The gigantic dragons, the ogres with the four inch fangs, the slithering, slimy looking reptilian creatures. They would come through the walls and out of the ceiling. Raise straight up out of the floor. Appearing and disappearing and then reappearing again. Then just as sudden, they would all be gone. It would be all over until three o’clock tomorrow, then the next day, and then the next, and the next. It was going on for the third year exactly the same scenario. The sounds were always the same, varying only in length. The colors were always just colors, brilliant and dull, sharp and fuzzy but, just colors. The monsters were the unpredictable part. They were always scary but, they were always changing. They would flow into one another, seemingly to sometimes gobble the previous one up or sometimes looking like they were giving birth to the next one. They would never repeat. They were always different from day to day sometimes just a small difference but, definitely different.
The doctors all said the same thing. It’s all in his mind. No one had ever heard or seen any of the so called illusions or hallucinations that he saw so, they couldn’t be real. The only problem with the medical diagnosis is it didn’t explain the disappearances. The missing people. Where did they go? He told the doctors what he thought had happened to the people and they just laughed. No one is missing they said. It’s all in your head they kept telling him but, fourteen people don’t vanish without a trace. Gone forever, ten patients, three nurses, and one intern, all in the space of three short years.
He had heard all the excuses. The red-haired nurse Sally must have transferred. The young intern Dr. Gregory was changing to that new hospital forty miles north of here. The aging sisters Gail and Beatrice, were removed from the hospital and sent to a nursing home by their newly appointed guardian. He knew that these were all excuses invented by the staff because they did not want to admit that something was really wrong here. A mental health hospital, supported by government funds, could not risk a rigorous investigation by an outside auditor and take a chance of losing its funding. The loss of a few people over the years was no big deal to the administration. People were always coming and going so, no one would pay attention to the disappearances of a few of them but, he knew different. He had seen where they went. The monsters ate them. Every last one. Gobbled up. Gulp, gulp. Just like that. Anyone who had wandered in to his room physically over the years instead of just watching through the one way mirror like the doctors always did, had taken the chance of winding up missing.
He had tried to warn them. Don’t be in here when the monsters show up or you will be sorry. They had just laughed at him until they indeed did see the monsters. Anyone who was in the room at the critical time of the monsters arriving would be taken. He didn’t know what the doctors saw from the other side of the glass when someone would be eaten because they never would admit that it happened and from what he could surmise, they could only see the person in the room with him, not the monsters. So did they just vanish into thin air why the doctors watched? Did they fade from view? Did they disappear in pieces like he could see when the monsters ate them? Did they see all the blood? He had tried very hard to get the doctors to tell him what happened when they watched him every day at three but, they just would say don’t worry, everything is alright. It’s all in your mind. There are no monsters. You are just bringing out childhood terrors that you never outgrew. That’s why you are in our hospital. One day we will cure you and your anxieties and you will walk out the door and everything will be fine. Your family and friends will welcome you with open arms and introduce you back into society. You will view the past three years as an unpleasant trip that you unfortunately took unwillingly. That will all pass and in another six months you will be perfectly normal. Trust us.
Trust them yeah, he thought. I’ve seen what these monsters can do. I don’t know what, why or where they came from but, I know they’re real. I’ve seen them in action. They can devour a person faster than a school of piranhas. Yeah, sure I’m going to be cured. How do you get cured from real life? His thoughts followed him into a deep sleep, a sleep that when he awakened he could only sit horrified, waiting for the next three o’clock.
It was two o’clock and he knew he had only an hour before he would experience the noises, the lights and then the monsters. Oh God, he thought. Will it ever end? He felt different this time though. He didn’t have all the fluttering and twitches that normally started an hour or so before the final climatic show. He felt more relaxed. He also felt a terrible churning in his stomach. Kind of like hunger pains. He was itching all over his body and all his nerve endings felt statically. He felt electric. Only fifteen minutes to go and he was getting antsy. He actually was waiting for the humming to start. He didn’t know why but, he felt excited.
Three o’clock arrived along with the humming. It was almost melodic to his ears instead of annoying. Then the whistling took over and he was getting really nervous hoping he wouldn’t miss out on the howling. He didn’t have to worry. The howling came full volume but, there was a big difference. He actually liked it. In fact he started howling at almost the same level of noise. He knew the monsters were next but, this time he felt a link with them. A link with monsters. What’s that about he thought but, then he saw himself in the mirror on the back of the closet door? He was a monster. Indescribably ugly. He even had horns, long fangs, and a tongue that was at least eighteen inches long. He was about three feet tall and a funny shade of purple with green dots. The funny thing though was he knew the doctors who watched every day were behind the glass and he laughed as he swung the chair at the mirror and could hear their screams as he licked his lips as he stepped through the broken glass and knew that the rumbling in his stomach would soon end.