The Man at the End of the Hallway | Teen Ink

The Man at the End of the Hallway

April 13, 2017
By AlyssaButler BRONZE, Alexandria, Louisiana
AlyssaButler BRONZE, Alexandria, Louisiana
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
So many things become beautiful when you really look.










-Lauren Oliver


  I slowly closed my eyes and fell asleep. I woke up and checked the clock. It was one in the morning.  I got up to go to the bathroom, even though there was moonlight shining through, it was still dark. There was a man at the end of the hallway. He walked into mom’s room and I followed him. I didn’t know who or what it was. He was just like a shadow; he stood over mom and I thought he was about to attack her, so I grabbed a lamp to hit him when mom turned on the light. That’s when I realized the man was gone.
    Three months later, I was in a car with mom on the way to Summerhill Asylum. Similar incidents like that had happened almost nightly. Nightly mom awoke to me telling her that there had been a dark man standing over her, and nightly the man was nowhere to be found. That’s why I was on my way to the asylum. Mom thought I needed some time away from the house and my friends.
    It took us two hours to get to Summerhill. I told myself over and over that I was going to come here, figure out how to get rid of the man, and go back home happy as ever.  I would be as happy as a girl who saw shadows can be. As soon as my foot stepped over the threshold, all my hope failed. There was a woman sitting at the desk, but of course standing over her was the man. I just couldn’t help myself; I ran up to her and yelled at the man to get out of my life. Great!, I had just ruined my chance to get out of here as fast as possible. Then, a doctor named Olivia Raine came to bring me to my room. I was lying on the small gray bed in the room looking at the ceiling while Dr. Raine was talking. I looked down and the man was standing in the corner looking at Dr. Raine
    He grabbed her, pricked her finger, and used a rag to clean up the blood. The man disappeared and Dr. Raine had no idea what had just happened. I looked back up at the ceiling and in small messy red lettering were the words, watch out for … the rest was blurred. When I looked down at Dr. Raine, the man was behind her and she had a smile across her face with her finger on her mouth. Everything went black. When I awoke, I was back at home in my own bed. No asylum. No  doctor or shadow man. Well, maybe a shadow man because when I looked up the man was standing in the corner of the room with his finger on his mouth and a big smile on his face. The writing on the ceiling suddenly became clear, watch out for your mother.       


The author's comments:

 This piece is inspired by a dream I had one night that kept reocuuring. I decided to write it down and share it with others.


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