There are countless scary stories and urban legends out there. An endless selection and all of them varying in levels of scariness. You can find them almost anywhere. Whether you hear it from a friend, read it in a book, read it online. If you’re looking to get spooked, you don’t have to look very hard. The good thing about those stories however, is that most of them aren’t real. But, the story I am about to tell you, it is all too real, and I wouldn’t wish this type of horror on anybody.
If you haven’t heard about him, or should I say, “it” yet, please prepare yourself for what I am about to tell you. It isn’t a type of thing you easily forget. Actually, those who experienced it, never survive. Except for me. I was one of the lucky ones. If fact, only one other person is a survivor.
I bet you’re confused as to what I am talking about, so allow me to explain.
Most people know it as, The Watcher. I try to block the thoughts of its appearance out of my head, but, the memory has been permanently etched into my mind. It is a tall, thin, creature. It has the darkest pitch black skin. Razor sharp claws where its fingers and toes should be. It has no mouth, But the scariest, most scarring thing about this creature, is its eyes. Or should I say, absence of eyes. Two, very large, pitch black holes take the place of where the eyes should be. It is the single most terrifying thing anybody could ever witness. Sure it sounds a bit cliché, but you would understand if you were to ever witness its presence yourself, and I pray will all my heart that you never will.
People all over the world have seen The Watcher. Almost none of them have ever survived, of course. All of the stories start the same way. The victim of The Watcher will be living their normal life. Doing whatever it is they are doing, and all of the sudden, they will see it. The Watcher. It will be standing in a corner, a hallway, behind them as they look at their reflection in a mirror. Wherever they happen to be at that point in time. Of course, it will scare them. They will try to run. Try to get away from whatever that thing is. But they never can. The Watcher will follow.
But, The Watcher is different. Different from all of the other creatures from the urban legends and scary stories. It will not make any horrifying noises, or attack you in any way. It will not break your personal belongings or make the lights flicker. The Watcher will just simply watch you. Hence its name. It will stare into your soul with its dark, horrifying, empty eyes. You see, this is its way of breaking you. Finding your weak spot. The Watcher loves to torment, and drive innocent people to insanity.
The victim will get used to its presence. Although, it disturbs them nonetheless. The Watcher will watch its victim go to school or work, eat, sleep. It will never go away.
Usually, all the stories go the same way. The victim will grow weary of The Watcher being there constantly. They have kept this secret bottled up for so long, they need it to go away. The victim will tell somebody about it, whether it be a friend, parent, or trusted adult, like a school teacher or counselor. Like I have said before, all the stories end the same way. The victim's attempts to get anyone to believe them about The Watcher will fail because nobody else can see The Watcher, except for its victim. The loved ones of the victim will get worried. They will take the victim to some sort of doctor. They will get diagnosed with “Schizophrenia” or some other type of mental disorder, and get thrown into an asylum. But sadly, The Watchers work is not done.
You see, it will not leave its victim alone until the victim is dead. Unfortunately, these stories start the same way, so they must end the same way too. Suicide.
The victim cannot stand seeing that horrible, disturbing face any longer, so they end their own life. For it is their only escape. The Watcher will thus move on to its next victim.
Like I said before, MOST stories follow this pattern. But mine? It did not. My story was, far more odd. My name is Amara Winters, and this is the story of my encounters with The Watcher.

This experience will never be forgotten, at least, not by me. I remember it well. All too well.
It was a normal Monday morning for me. I woke up at 6:00 AM to get ready for school. Something felt a little off, but I brushed the feeling away as best I could. After all, I had been stressed about my school work for the past few days. Anyway, I got dressed, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth. Got my things together and headed for the bus stop. I usually have to wait 10-20 minutes before the school bus gets there to pick me up, so I had a little time to kill. I sat at the curb and messed around on my phone for a little while. That's when I felt it. The feeling that I was being watched. I looked around, and I spotted something behind a bush. “Huh?” I thought to myself. I figured it was some homeless guy or creep that thought it was okay to spy on teenage girls. “I can see you. Get lost!” I shouted. But I could still faintly make out the shape of a person, crouched behind the bush. I was starting to get annoyed, so I got up from the curb to confront this psychopath myself. I angrily stomped my way over to the bush, “Hey, what do you think you’re-” I stopped. As I pushed the branches from the bush out of my face, I saw, nobody. Huh, weird, Maybe I was just seeing things. “I need to get more sleep.” I said to myself.
By then, my bus was there. I got on the bus and sat in my normal spot. I plugged my earbuds into my phone and blasted my music, drowning out the noise the other people on the bus were making. As we drove past that bush, a sense of uneasiness swept over me. I could have swore I saw somebody hiding there.
When the bus finally rolled up to the school, I got off and headed towards the cafeteria for breakfast, if you could even call it that. It was crappy school food, but it was better than nothing. The line for breakfast was extremely long. “Fantastic,” I thought to myself. After standing in line for about 5 minutes, I  got my tray and sat down at a table with a few of my friends. While they were babbling on about the eventful things that has happened the previous weekend, I continued to blast my music and look out of one of the windows we were sitting next to. As I looked out the window, I got that feeling again. I felt like somebody was watching me. Yes, I was sitting at a table with a bunch of my friends, but this was different. I felt something, unhuman, watching me. I looked behind me and there was nobody there. Just a bunch of different tables with a bunch of different people sitting at them and eating breakfast. Nothing unusual. “I’m just being paranoid,”  I thought to myself. I turned my head back to the window and almost screamed by the sight I saw. I saw it. Standing on the other side of the window, watching me. I kept my eyes locked onto it. I couldn’t move them away. What was that thing?
My friends noticed that I had my eyes on the window. “Hey, you okay?” “Hello? Earth to Amara.” I shook my head and blinked, “Y-yeah. I- um. I-I gotta go.” I stumbled over my words. I got up from the table and walked away fastly, leaving my breakfast tray behind.
I ran into the bathroom, absolutely terrified by what I had just seen.  I slammed my backpack down onto the floor and turned on the faucet. I ran my shaking hands under the cold water and splashed it onto my face. My vision was blurry, I was beyond spooked. When my vision cleared up, I practically vomited by what I saw in the mirror. It was standing behind me. Right behind me. I screamed and fell to the floor. I guess my friends had finished breakfast and were in the hallway when I screamed. They rushed into the bathroom, along with a few other students and teachers.
“Amara! Whats going on?!” my friends screamed. I was hyperventilating and crying. “Can’t you see it?!” I cried. “See what?” “That thing! Right there!” I pointed to it. Everyone looked in the direction I was pointing. “Amara, hun, I don’t see anything.” “No, it's right there! Can’t you see?!” My closest friend, Tara, got onto her knees and held me. She laid her hand down onto my forehead and said, “Amara, you feel really hot. Maybe you should go home and rest. You’ve been under a lot of stress lately.” Tara got me onto my feet and walked me to the nurse's office. The school called my parents, and they came and picked me up. On the car ride home, they didn’t say anything to me. That's okay, because I didn’t want to talk. I was too busy staring out the window, looking at the thing that was being every single tree we passed.
When I got home, I couldn’t even make it to my bedroom. I collapsed onto my couch. I’m kind of glad that I couldn’t make it to my bedroom, I didn’t want to be up there by myself with that horrid thing.
So many thoughts were racing through my brain. What was that? Is it following me? Am I going crazy? “You just need some sleep.” I heard my dad say. He gave me some pills to help me fall asleep, just some simple pills that you can get over the counter.
I woke up feeling exhausted. I didn’t sleep very well because I kept having the same nightmare over and over again. In my dream, I was standing in a pitch black room, and I couldn’t move. Every few seconds, a flash of light would appear and that horrible monster would be standing there. I couldn’t close my eyes or move. I was forced to stare into its deep, hollow eyes. I can’t give you an explanation to the dream.
I picked up my phone and checked the time, it was noon. My parents had picked me from school at about 9 AM, so I had slept for about 3 hours, although it didn’t feel like it.
I looked around the living room terrified. “Please don’t be here, please don’t be here,” I thought to myself. No signs of that thing anywhere. I breathed a sigh of relief. “I just needed sleep,”
I stood up and stretched, feeling a lot better now that things were back to normal. Although, I was still extremely tired.
I walked to the bathroom, and as I looked in the mirror, I cringed. My dyed, blue hair was in a tangled mess, and my eyes were bloodshot and encircled with dark rings. “Gross.” I turned on the faucet and ran my hands under the water, it's cold touch made me flinch. I formed my hands into a cup shape and watched them fill with water. I splashed my face, trying not to get any water on the floor. The cold water on my face felt refreshing. I blindly felt around on the countertop for a towel to wipe the water from my eyes. Once I felt the softness of the towel, I grabbed it and rubbed the water off of my face. When I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror, terror ran rapid through my body.
That thing, that horrid, ugly thing was standing right behind me. It’s hollow eyes were piercing right through me. I choked down my scream and ran out of the bathroom as fast as I possibly could.
As I ran through the hallway, I looked back to see if it was still there. My heart was thumping in my throat and my head was pounding. The pounding in my head was distorting my vision so I couldn’t see clearly. While I was looking back, I ran into my dad. He seemed startled. I mean, I would be startled as well if my teenage daughter had a complete mental breakdown earlier that day and was now rampaging through the hallways.
“Woah, sport, you alright?” my dad said.
I didn’t know what exactly to say to him. I was obviously not alright.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said with doubt in my voice.
“Are you sure?” “Yes.” “Alright, let me know if you need anything, kiddo.” My dad walked away with a concerned look on his face.
I stood in the hallway for a good, solid minute. I was afraid to move, to breathe. I couldn’t bring myself to look behind me. My heart was thumping, my vision getting blurry again. Millions of thoughts were running through my head a mile a minute. What is that thing? Why is it following me around? Am I going insane?
I needed to know what this thing actually was. Slowly but surely I  mustered up the courage to look behind me. Keeping my eyes closed, I turned around. “You can do it, you can do it.” I repeated this sentence in my brain til I couldn’t take it anymore. My eyes shot open, and I stood face to face with the creature. It’s empty eyes stared right into mine, sending chills down my spine. I felt a scream rise up in my throat, but I quickly choked it down. “Don’t let it know you’re afraid,” I said to myself.
We stood there like this for about 3 minutes It was like I was in a trance, I couldn’t look at anything other than the creature. Finally, I pulled away. “Leave me alone,” I whispered to it. It did nothing. It didn’t speak, or make any noises or movement, it just watched me. “Go away,” I said. Still, it did nothing. “Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away,” I thought. I quickly crept past it, trying to act like I wasn’t afraid.
Days past, nothing new had happened. Everywhere I looked, that creature was standing in a corner, watching me. It still scared me, but I was growing used to its presence. It was kind of depressing, I can’t really explain why. Just the feeling of having something look over your every move, it drains you. It drains you of all happiness, energy, and life. It felt like an empty hole in my chest where my heart should be.
I had stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday. But it was now Wednesday, and I had to return. I didn’t want to go back, I could only imagine the nasty looks and mean comments I would receive once I set foot in the High School building. But unfortunately, I had no choice.
I had gotten out of bed at 6 AM. I say “gotten out of bed” instead of “woke up” because, well, I didn’t sleep. As a matter of fact, I haven’t slept a whole lot since Monday when all of this started. I did what I normally would any other morning, I forced myself out of bed, feeling groggy. Picked out my clothes, got dressed, brushed my teeth, my hair. Except one thing was different. I was being watched the entire time. It was embarrassing, scary, depressing, everything all at once.
I looked in the mirror and thought, “What is happening to me?”
The time came where I had to walk to the bus stop. I picked up my too-heavy backpack and headed for the door. Every single step I made, the creature copied. “Are you mocking me?” I said to it quietly. Of course, it said nothing.
I must have been late getting ready, because the second I got to the bus stop, the bus was already there, waiting for me. I adjusted my backpack and stepped up the bus steps. The second I got onto the bus, everyone stared at me. Multiple people began to exchange whispers, and a few people tried to contain their laughter. “Idiots,” I thought. I found my normal spot and sat down. The creature sat next to me.
After what seemed like forever, the bus rolled up to the school. I picked up my backpack and got off. As I walked through the front doors, everyone's eyes were on me. Who knows what sort of rumors had already been spread like a virus throughout the whole freakin’ school. I tried my best to ignore the laughs and points from the other students. I had bigger things to worry about.
I decided to skip breakfast and just go straight to my locker. I wasn’t in the mood for food.
I arrived at my locker and started to unpack my things. As I was unpacking, I felt a tap on my back. I turned around and I saw Tara. “Hey, Amara. How are you feeling?” It didn’t occur to me until just now that Tara didn’t call me to see how I was doing. “I’m fine” I said sourly. “Oh, okay.”
I wasn’t sure if I should tell her about “it” or not. Would she think I’m crazy? What would she possibly do? I thought for a few minutes. She was still standing there, probably waiting for me to say something. “Meet me after school, we can talk then,” I said. “Alright, cool. I gotta run, see ya,” Tara said as she walked away. “What did I just get myself into?” I thought.
The day dragged. It felt like I had been locked up for years. All 8 classes of the day were agonizing. Focusing on my work was impossible, because of that thing, standing in a corner, or behind the teacher, sitting at a desk, with its eyes constantly on me. I wanted, no, I needed that bell to ring so I could get out of here and talk to Tara.
8th period, I watched the clock, filled to the brim with anxiety. I counted down in my head, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1..” “RIIINNNGGG!!!” Finally, I grabbed my things and crammed messily into my bag. I got out of the classroom as quickly as I could. Searching the halls, I found Tara at her locker.
“Oh, hey Amara. You wanted to talk to me?” she said. “Y-yeah,” I said nervously. “I don’t know if I can do this,” I thought. “No, I have to.”
We walked slowly down the halls, in awkward silence, the creature and Tara by my side. I was trying desperately to think of a way to tell her what was going on.
The local park wasn’t far from the school, so Tara and I walked there and sat at some picnic tables nearby. I breathed in and exhaled slowly.
“Tara..”
“Amara?”
“Something weird has been happening.”
“What is it?”
“Well, I honestly don’t know what other way to put this, but, I’ve been seeing this, thing.”
“A thing?” Tara sounded confused and worried, and I immediately regretted my decision about telling her.
“Yes, a thing. A creature, actually.”
“Oh..”
“Yeah, its tall, and skinny. It has.. black skin, and no eyes or mouth.”
Taras face was contorted into some sort of cringe, but surprised look. She leaned in and touched my forehead. “Are you feeling alright, Amara?”
“You think I’m crazy,” I said disappointed.
“No offence, Amara, but yes, you do sound crazy,” she said.
I didn’t know what else to say to her, there wasn’t really anything left to say. We sat in awkward silence for a good 5 minutes, until her cell phone rang. She picked it up. “It’s my dad,” she said, “he says I need to come home. Sorry, Amara, let me know when you’re feeling better.” She gathered her things and started walking home.
Although I was disappointed, I wasn’t surprised. I didn’t expect her to understand.
“Alright,” I said to the creature, “Let's head home.”

When I got home, I sat on my bed and tears immediately started pouring down my face. I’m not even sure why I was crying, but I believe it was the insane mixture of emotions. Sadness, anger, anxiety, terror. Everything hitting me all at once like a train.
I grabbed my laptop off of my nightstand and quickly logged in. I couldn’t stand this anymore. I needed to know what was wrong with me. I went to Google and typed in words I never thought I would have to.
“Symptoms of Schizophrenia”
I stare at the screen in disbelief. An odd numbing feeling fills my chest. The screen read:
“Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Social Isolation, aggression, anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations.” That was only a few of them.
I didn’t know what else to do. I felt paralyzed, stuck to the spot I was sitting in. I looked up at the monster who was standing in front of me, staring at me intently. “You’re not real,” I whispered. Tears were streaming down my face again. “YOU’RE NOT REAL!” I screamed. I was crying harder now, banging my fists against the wall. “You’re not real, you’re not real, you’re not real!” My parents must have heard and came running into my room. “Amara, whats going on?” they said in unison. I didn’t say anything back to them. I didn’t want to, I just kept crying and pounding my fists on the wall. My dad grabbed my fists and held them back while my mother grabbed me and held me. “Shh,” my mother said, as she stroked my hair. I kept crying, and crying and crying, I couldn’t stop.

I must have cried myself to sleep, because I awoke at 6  the next morning. Although my parents were probably against me going to school today after what had taken place just a few hours prior, I got ready for school anyhow. I needed something, anything to get my mind off of, well, everything.
I arrived at school, went to my locker, and then my first period class. Nothing new or interesting had happened. The clock ticked, and ticked, and ticked. Slowly but surely, class was coming to an end. I didn’t really know if I wanted class to end, or keep going. I didn’t feel comfortable anywhere. No matter where I went, I would always be watched. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried.
My thoughts were interrupted abruptly when the teacher's phone rang. I never get called to the office for being in trouble or anything, since I’m pretty quiet and usually don’t get involved in anything, so I ignored it. The teacher picked up the phone. “Hello? Yes. No problem, she is on her way. Okay, goodbye.” She hung up the phone, “Amara, the counselor would like to speak to you.” I looked up at her and cringed. Why would the counselors want to talk to me? I haven’t said anything to anyone, except Tara, and I know she would never tell anyone any secrets I told her, no matter how bad they were. But, since I really had no choice, I gathered my things and walked slowly to the counselor's office.
When I arrived there, I stood in front of the door for a few seconds. “I don’t want to go in here,” I thought. After a little while of stalling, I finally opened the door. Sitting in one of the chairs was Tara, tears slowly pouring down her face. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed to me. Rage and sadness swept over my body. How could she do this to me? “Amara, the counselor will see you now,” the secretary said. I gave Tara one last dirty look before angrily walking into the room.
“Good morning, Amara, please have a seat,” the counselor said. I sat down nervously, my heart pounding in my throat. Inspirational posters and smiley faces were plastered all over the walls of this room, which is odd, because usually the people that come in here never leave smiling. This room is where happiness comes to die. “I have gotten some concerning information from one of your fellow classmates.” I didn’t say anything to her, I just stared at her, my eyes full of hate. “Your classmate says that you have been seeing things that aren’t there. Is that true, Amara?” What did I have to lose? My life was already falling apart at the seams. I was schizophrenic, anxious, depressed.  I nodded my head “yes.” The counselor shuffled through her papers and adjusted her glasses.
“Well, Amara, the staff of this school cares very much about the health and well being of our students…”
“What a load of crap.”
“...so we are doing what is best for you.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“We are going to have you go somewhere where people can help you.”
“No!”
She picked up her phone and dialed a phone number. “She’s ready.”
She looked back up at me, “We have already contacted your parents. They know you are okay.”
Not too long after the counselor had said that to me, two men walked into the room. They were both wearing hospital scrubs. I started to cry. “No!” I shouted. “No, no, no!” The two men grabbed me gently by the arms and forced me out of the room and through the hallways. “I’m not crazy!” I screamed. The forced me through the front doors. Outside there was an ambulance, its lights blinking. Next to it, was my parents. My dad was holding my mom, her head buried into his shoulder. They were both crying. “Mom.. Dad…” I said quietly. They couldn’t hear me. The two men lifted me up into the ambulance and climbed in after me.
The last thing I saw before the doctors in the ambulance put me to sleep was my parents, clinging onto each other crying, while the monster stood behind them.

I awoke some hours later in a hospital bed. I was surrounded by all sort of beeping machines and dangling wires. It took me a minute to figure out what I was doing here. I looked over to my side and saw the creature, sitting in a chair, staring at me. Oh yeah, I remember now.
My thoughts were interrupted by a young man in scrubs coming into my room. “Hello Miss Amara, I’m your doctor. In a few hours, we are going to take you upstairs to run some tests. Please don’t be afraid to ask if you need anything.” That's all he said to me before walking away. “So this is my life now?” I thought. The idea of being in a hospital for crazy people depressed me. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t, so I just stared at the wall, feeling numb, while the monster stared at me.
A few hours later, the same doctor came to my room again. “Alright Miss Amara, we are now ready for your tests.” He walked behind me and started pushing my bed out of the room and towards and elevator. The hospital was painted bright colors with inspirational posters all over the walls. Nothing like the hospitals you see in horror movies. So I guess that was a plus. We rode the elevator to the next floor in silence.
When we got to the next floor, a different doctor introduced himself and told me what he was going to do. They would have to put me into induced sleep, and hook a bunch of tiny wires to my head to see what was going on inside my brain. I had no arguments against this. Honestly, I had no arguments against anything. I felt completely dead inside. My whole body was numb. I didn’t care.
The doctors put a mask over my face and inserted a needle into me filled with the medicine I needed to induce sleep. In just a matter of seconds, I was drifting off into yet another deep sleep.
I awoke in the same room I was before. I felt dizzy, weak, exhausted, sad. I leaned my head over to see the first doctor sitting in a chair, holding an envelope filled with what I assumed were my test results. He noticed I was looking at him. “Ah, I see you’re awake now, Miss Amara. The tests came out normal. Nothing odd is going on in your brain, except for high levels of stress. We would like to keep you here for a little while longer for observation.” Again, this was all he said me, and then he left.
My mind was still fuzzy, so it took me a little while for my brain to process what he said. I started to cry. “No!” I said.“I can’t stay here! I want to go home! Let me go home!” But nobody heard me. The only one that could have possibly heard me was the monster, sitting at the foot of my bed.
I felt something inside of me snap. I started to scream, cry, and flail my arms. My breathing was quick and heavy, my vision was blurry. I couldn’t do this anymore.
I couldn't stand to look at the monster anymore. I couldn’t stand to look at its ugly, disgusting face anymore. I couldn’t stand to look into its empty, merciless eyes anymore. The emptiness I felt in my chest was too much to handle. I had had enough. After crying and screaming for some time, I made up my mind. I was going to commit suicide. The problem was, how?
I looked around the room, my vision distorted from the tears forming in my eyes. I need a way out, and I needed it now. Since most sharp and or dangerous objects are kept away from patients in a hospital, I didn’t have very many options. “Beep beep beep.” I looked over to see a machine, with wires dangling from it. That's when the idea came to me. I quickly searched around the machine, looking for the longest wire I could find. After I had found it, I held it in my hands for a few seconds, just looking at it. Tears were falling from my eyes and hitting the floor below. I slowly wrapped the wire tightly around my neck. I was still crying, but now, I was shaking and my breathing had gotten heavier. It wasn’t tight enough, and there was still wire left, so I wrapped it around my neck again, and again, and again, until there was no more wire left.
My vision started to blur, and it was getting harder to breathe. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, before falling onto the floor with a loud thud.

All I saw was blackness. There was no sound. No color. I felt weightless, like I was floating. I was at peace.
The blackness was broken when I saw a small white light in the distance. I couldn’t stop myself from floating towards it. The closer I got, the bigger it got.

I awoke with a jolt and a deep inhale. Doctors were surrounding me, and a crash cart was by my side. The doctors seemed calm and panicky at the same time. But as for me, I just wanted to fall back asleep.

Days passed, nothing new had happened. My parents came to visit me. They wouldn’t stop telling me how much they loved and cherished me, and how I was their whole world. The doctors had put me on an antidepressant and had me on 24/7 suicide watch I swear, a doctor came in every five minutes to check and see if I was still alive. The doctors had also scheduled a counselor to come in and talk to me, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I wanted to be as distant from people as I could. The doctors were wasting their time, trying to save me. I couldn’t be saved. I was going to be like this for the rest of my life, which I hoped wasn’t very much longer.
A few minutes later, there was a gentle knock at my door. “Come in,” I shouted.
A young lady, maybe in her early 30’s walked through the door. I have to admit, she was very pretty. She had light brown, straight hair, and black, thick rimmed glasses, and a small freckle on her left cheek.
“Hello Amara.” she said. Her voice was soft and gentle. “I’m Dr. Leyla.” “Hi,” I said, as Dr. Leyla sat down in a chair next to my hospital bed.
“Before I say anything else, I would like to inform you that you can tell me anything. You don’t have to hold back, you can trust me,” she said.
I nodded.
“Can you tell me what’s been going on in your life for the past few weeks?”
I decided to just tell her, I didn’t have anything to lose, might as well be completely honest
“I’ve been seeing a creature. A monster, actually,” I said.
Dr. Leyla seemed interested. She wrote down something on her notepad and looked up at me. “Can you describe what this monster looks like?” she said, intrigued.
“Well, it has pitch black skin, and razor sharp fingers and toes. It’s face is the worst thing I’ve ever had to look at. It had no facial features except for two, dark holes where it’s eyes should be.” I decided to stop talking because Dr. Leylas eyes had widened to an extremely large size.
“I know, I’m completely insane,” I said, “That's kind of why you had to come talk to me in the first place.”
“No, Amara, you’re not crazy. I know exactly what you’re talking about!” Dr. Leyla said.
I was shocked. Actually, I was beyond shocked. “You do?” I asked, confused.
“Yes, Amara. You’re talking about ‘The Watcher.’”
“The Watcher?”
“Yes. The Watcher is a creature that watches its victims to drive them to insanity. Its known all around the world as just a scary urban legend, but unfortunately, it’s all too real. As crazy as it sounds, I’ve seen this before.” Dr. Leyla said. There was a hint of grief in her voice.
“How do you know about it?” I asked, interested.
Dr Leyla frowned. “My best friend had the same experience you did, except, she didn’t survive her suicide attempt.” she paused and looked down at the floor. After a few seconds, she looked back up and took a deep breathe. “I thought she was completely crazy,” she continued, “but not long after she had taken her life, I began seeing it for myself, and then I understood.”
I was baffled. This means that I wasn’t insane, this has happened to other people. I was still scared, but I was relieved.
“You see,” Dr Leyla said, “there is a secret to beating The Watcher.”
My eyes widened. “What is it?”
“You need to tell it that you are not afraid of it. You need to stay strong and fight it. That is the only way you can get the Watcher to leave you alone and to never return.”
I didn’t know what to say. I was in complete shock.
Dr. Leyla looked at her watch and sighed. “Unfortunately, my time here is up. Remember Amara, stay strong. Don’t let it get to you.” She smiled at me once more and then left.
I looked over at the monster, that I had actually forgotten was there the whole time Dr. Leyla and I were speaking.
I scowled at it. “You don’t scare me.” I said. It didn’t say anything back, it just continued to watch me intently. “You are not scary! You do not scare me!” I shouted at it. It still continued to watch me. I swung my feet over the side of the bed and stood up, my legs wobbling from laying in bed all day. “You are nothing but a stupid urban legend!” I pointed my finger at the creature, who was still unmoving. “You are nothing! You cannot control my life anymore!” I inhaled deeply. “You’re weak, I’m stronger than you.” A rush of adrenaline washed over my body. I extended my arm out and pushed the monster. “GO AWAY!” I screamed as loud as I possibly could. The Watcher slowly rose to it’s feet and walked towards the door. Feeling suddenly light headed, I closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, the Watcher was gone.
My vision was shaky and blurry. My head was pounding like a drum. Spinning, spinning, spinning. I fell to the floor with a thud.

Do you remember when the doctors brought me back to life after I killed myself? Do you remember how I said I just wanted to go back to sleep? Well now, I just want to wake up.
“Mr. and Mrs. Winters, you’re daughter Amara was found on the floor unconscious yesterday night. She is in a coma, and we are unsure of what caused it, and if she will ever wake up. I’m very sorry.” I heard a male voice say.
I’m- I’m in a coma? I listened closer, my mother was crying. I pictured my father holding her, trying his best to comfort her, because every time she cries, that's exactly what he does.
“Amara, please wake up. We need you here,” my father said. I could hear the brokenness in his voice. I knew he wasn’t crying though, he doesn’t like crying around mom.
“Please, take all the time you need, Mr. and Mrs. Winters,” the male voice said again. All I heard after that was my mother crying and my father trying to comfort her.
How does one even wake up from a coma? Is it like waking up normally? Will I do it without realizing I’m doing it? Do I have to force myself to wake up? Will I be like this forever? I mean, I guess I have a lot of time to sleep on it.

I don’t know how long it’s been. All I know is that mom and dad come and visit me everyday. I can hear dad holding back his tears while my mother cries on his shoulder.  I want to wake up now.

“Amara? Please wake up. We miss you,” I hear a voice say. It’s Dr. Leyla.
I’m trying, Dr. Leyla.
“I would really love to speak to you again.” I can hear the sadness in her voice.
I don’t know how to wake up.
I want to talk to you again, Dr. Leyla.
“Please come back,” she says, as she grabs my hand.
Wait! Dr. Leyla, I can feel your hand on mine!
“Amara! You moved your fingers. C’mon, wake up! Please, Amara.” she cried.
I’m trying to open my eyes, but it’s so hard.
“Come on, Amara, I know you can do it. Please, for me, your friends, your family.”
I slowly but surely opened my eyes. “Dr. Leyla?” I whispered.
“Amara! Nurse! Nurse! She’s awake!” Dr. Leyla shouted excitedly. The nurses came running into my hospital room while they paged the doctors.

Not long after I had woken up, my parents arrived. My mother was crying, of course. But my dad was crying as well, which was unusual for him. “Oh, Amara,” they both said as they hugged me tightly. I looked over at Dr. Leyla, who was wiping a tear off of her cheek.
“How are you feeling, Amara?” my doctor asked.
“I feel wonderful,” I said. And for the first time in a long time, I meant it. I looked around, there was no sign of the Watcher anywhere. I smiled.
“That's great. If you’re feeling up to it, tomorrow we would like to run some more tests so we can find out what caused your coma.”
“Really? I just woke up from a coma and you’re already wanted to run more tests on me to find out why I had the coma?” I thought to myself. “Sure, sounds great.” I said out loud.
The doctor left, but my parents and Dr. Leyla stayed with me for a little while longer. They kept going on about how much they missed me and how worried they were and how much they loved me. And honestly, I was okay with this. After so long of not being okay, I was finally myself again.

The next day, the doctor took me in for more tests. Fun, right? Anyway, to put it simply, the doctors found nothing wrong with my brain. They are still unsure of what caused me to fall into a coma, and they said that the “hallucinations” I was seeing were more than likely stress induced.
“Stress induced hallucinations, huh? Yeah, if only you knew,” I thought to myself.
The doctors said they wanted to keep me for a few more days for observation. Ugh, I really just want to get out of this hospital and start my life again already.

The last few days I was in the hospital went by slowly. Boring days of laying in a hospital bed watching soap operas on the hospital TV, and doctors popping in every once in awhile to ask if I was doing okay. Although it was boring, it was a whole lot better than feeling like I was crazy because some unknown creature was constantly watching me. All in all, it wasn’t too bad.

The day finally came where my parents got to sign the release papers and I got to go home. I was so excited. Dr. Leyla told me that she still wanted to visit me once or twice every week to see how I was doing. I agreed, because if it wasn’t for Dr. Leyla, I wouldn’t be here right now.
After my parents were done signing the release papers, I said goodbye to my doctors, and thanked them for all they had done.
I was just about to walk out of the front doors to the hospital, when I remembered something. “Hold on, I forgot something,” I said to my parents as I ran back.
Dr. Leyla was sitting in the waiting room. “Dr. Leyla!” I shouted as I ran up to her. She smiled at me and waved. When I reached her, I didn’t give her a chance to say anything, I just grabbed her and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Dr. Leyla.” I whispered, tears forming in my eyes. Dr. Leyla hugged me back. I let go and looked at her and smiled one last time before running back to the hospital entrance. As I walked through the front doors, I felt the cool, fresh air against my skin. It felt amazing. I was so happy to finally go home again.

Mom and dad let me stay home from school for one day so I could get back in the swing of things. It was nice to be at home with my family after so long of being apart. “Mom, dad, I love you so much.” I said. They smiled. “We love you too, Amara,” they said.

The next day I woke up feeling great. I wasn’t tired or groggy for the first time in what felt like forever. I got dressed in the best outfit I could throw together, brushed my hair, my teeth, and then headed out the door to the bus stop.
When I arrived at school, the only thing on my mind was to look for Tara. I found her by her locker. She looked rough, like she hadn’t slept in days. “Tara!” I shouted. She looked my way, “Amara?” she gasped. We run up to each other and simultaneously pulled each other in for a hug.
“Oh, Amara, I’m missed you so much. I’m so sorry,” Tara cried.
“Shh, it’s okay. Thank you. Thank you for helping me,” I said and she buried her head into my neck.
I looked around me. I can’t describe how nice it felt to look around and not see a monster watching your every move.
I’m so glad that I’m free again.

Do you know what The Watcher stands for? The Watcher is a metaphor for mental illness. The way mental illness can appear out of nowhere and take over your entire life. The way mental illness is with you throughout the whole day, you can feel it, but nobody else can. Whether it be depression, anxiety, PTSD, you name it. But no matter what, you have to fight it. You have to be strong in order to fight it. You cannot let it win. Don’t give up.