Vision

It was still early in the morning when Rainy set foot in the parking lot of a Mental Hospital where she was carrying out her practical duties as a Resident of the Psychology Profession. The heavy rain was poured from the sky in that early morning, making the air feels cold. Rainy, who had just run through the rain, was busy tossing her wet hair while walking down the slightly dimly lit corridor towards her supervisor's Office. But her steps stopped when she saw the disturbing sight before her.

Right in front of the Office room she was aiming for, a young woman was sitting silently. The woman sat with her back straight and her head slightly lowered. She was wearing a long, tawny dress, or maybe white, but it was so old and dirty it turned brownish. On her head sat a hat wide enough to cover part of her face. Her curls were tied in a tiny bun at her nape with little strands of hair hanging down at either side of her face and a pair of gloves clasped in one hand. Her overall appearance resembled that of a woman from the Dutch era, which made Rainy's brow furrowed suspiciously. Seeing it made Rainy's nape hairs shiver.

But what's even weirder is that not far from the woman, in the corner of a narrow corridor, a man dressed as a patient was crouched on the floor with his back to the woman, like someone who was frightened by something. Rainy recognized him as Musa, one of the patients who had been her object of training. Rainy immediately ran to the man and tried to help him slightly rise from his crouched position on the floor. But Musa snuggled deeper. He tried hard to hide his head, just like an ostrich digging the ground to put his head in.

“Musa, what's wrong? Why are you like this? Get up.” Rainy asked. Yet Musa just shook his head vigorously. His head pressed harder and harder against the cold, dirty floor.

“No! No! Go! Don't bother me!” mumbled Musa.

“Musa, it's okay. Everything's fine. Get up! No one will hurt you!”

This time, when Rainy pulled him, Musa lifted his head from the floor and looked behind him at the woman who still sitting motionless in her place. As soon as his gaze swept over to the woman, Musa immediately screamed, with his body shaking violently. He quickly plopped his head back down on the floor.

“Lies! Lies! You liars! She's there! She's still there!” said Musa frantically.

“Who is it, Musa? Who is scaring you?” Rainy asked, trying to understand what was going on with Musa. Musa was a Schizophrenic and hallucinations are a common occurrence. Rainy guessed Musa was in one of his schizophrenic episodes.

Suddenly, one of Musa's hands grabbed Rainy's collar and forced her to come closer. Rainy had to hold back the screams that almost escaped her mouth in surprise, especially when the man's dirty face was so close to hers. His unpleasant odor wafted out every time he opened his mouth, forcing Rainy to block her sense of smell. Rainy tried to free herself from Musa's grip, but the man was too strong.

“That woman! She's sitting there!” Musa Hissed. The terror that plagued him was vivid in his voice.

“She? That woman? You mean the woman wearing the hat?” Rainy asked. Musa was silent for a moment as if surprised at this question.

“You saw her too?” asked Musa, half whispering.

“Of course.” Rainy nodded.

The answer seemed to make Musa stupefied. His body, which had been shaking violently, gradually calmed down.

“But that's impossible…” Before Musa could finish his sentence, a loud voice called out his name.

“Musa, are you all right?” A man in a Nurse's uniform rushed over. Rainy's Supervisor was following behind him. When the Nurse immediately checked Musa's condition, the Supervisor asked Rainy.

“What happened?”

“I found him curled up on the floor.” As she spoke, Rainy looked at the woman, who was strangely still sitting unmoved in her place. “He seems scared because he saw a woman…” Rainy's sentence was cut off when she saw the woman suddenly raise her head and turned to her. The woman's face was pale, and her lips were blue. On the face that had been hidden by the hat, there was a large gaping wound that exposed the bones inside. And where the woman's eyes should have been, only two empty black holes could be seen.

Rainy's breath caught in her throat as the woman's lips slowly stretched into a very sinister smile.

“Rainy? What's wrong?” asked the Supervisor, who was astonished at the surprised look on Rainy's face. Controlling her selves, Rainy turned her gaze to her Supervisor.

“Musa was surprised to see a woman wearing a hat and clothes from the Dutch era sitting on that chair.” Rainy pointed at the chair where the woman was, but her eyes only focused on the supervisor's expression. To her surprise, her Supervisor just nodded and seemed enthusiastic to listen to Rainy's story. He didn't pay any attention to the woman or looked at where she was sitting as if he didn't see her.

“He said that much? It was the first time he'd ever wanted to tell anyone about his hallucinations in such detail.” The Supervisor commented.

But suddenly, Musa, who was no longer shaking or curled up on the floor, walked up to Rainy with an intrigued expression. He gripped Rainy's arms tightly, making the girl winced in pain.

“I never told you that much. How did you know?” He whispered to Rainy. The man's eyes gleamed with interest and forced Rainy to struggle to control her wobbly legs. Luckily, Rainy didn't have to answer because the Nurse immediately grabbed and dragged Musa back to his room. Rainy rubbed her aching arm as she watched Musa's distant figure. All the way down from the corridor to the exit, Musa kept turning half of his body and looking at Rainy. Meanwhile, in the chair not far from him, the woman was still sitting there, peering at Rainy through her empty eye sockets, with a sinister smile blooming on her face.

Rainy realized that if she could see the same hallucinations that Musa could see, then what they saw together was not a hallucination at all. But how can that be possible?

The next day, after carrying out his practical duties, Rainy rushed to the room where Musa was stayed at. When Rainy opened the door to Musa's room after knocking on it first, she found him already sitting in front of the table where they used to talk whenever Rainy visited him.

“I've been waiting for you.” Musa said. Rainy's throat felt tight. Determined, she stepped inside. Rainy looked at Musa in surprise because he looked different from usual. Musa often looked a little dirty, with wrinkled clothes, long hair, and a face that always looked down, as if afraid to see the world around him. He was always withdrawn and refused to speak. Usually, it took Rainy a long time to get a conversation out of him. But Musa who greeted her that day was entirely different person.

The hospital uniform he was wearing looked clean and tidy. He also looked like he had just taken a shower and had his hair trimmed, not leaving a single strand of hair behind. His face looked refreshed, and his eyes gleamed with life. Musa, who was sitting in front of her, was no longer the mentally ill Musa. The man seemed clear-headed and enthusiastic.

Rainy pulled out a chair in front of her and sat down with her hands on her lap. She looked intently at Musa, trying to see the slightest hint that the man before her was the same man she'd found curled up on the floor yesterday morning. Seemingly aware of the meaning of Rainy's gaze, Musa smiled broadly. A smile that made Rainy realized how handsome the man in front of her was when mental disorders weren't covering his mind.

“What do you want to ask me?” Rainy asked calmly. Musa leaned towards Rainy and looked at her with an intense interest expression. Not to Rainy as a woman, but to what Rainy 'can' see.

“I never tell you what I saw yesterday as much as what you explained. How did you know?”

Rainy didn't budge. Her facial expression was cold and unaffected. Instead of answering, Rainy said,

“Tell me what you saw yesterday.”

Musa leaned back in his chair. His lips pursed for a moment before Musa answered in a low, but confident voice.

“I saw a woman wearing clothes from the Dutch era. She wore a long dress that was brownish yellow because it was dirty. She also wore a hat on her head which, when she looked down, covered part of her face. But when she lifts her head, you can see a large wound on one cheek and an empty eye sockets without eyeballs.”

Rainy clenched her fists tightly, trying to stop the tremors that started in her spine and spread to her fingertips. Her body was like being splashed by cold water and her face turned pale.

“Did you see what I saw?” asked Musa. Rainy didn't answer, but the look on her face was the answer Musa needed. The smile on the man's lips grew again as he leaned back towards Rainy.

“Are you scared? Don't worry. Like you always told me, they just look scary but can't really hurt us.” Musa said.

But instead of answering, Rainy asked again,

“And now… what do you see in this room?”

Musa was silent for a moment before answering,

“I see you.”

“What else?”

Musa smiled again with a smile that looked terrible in Rainy's eyes. He chuckled softly before then asking,

“Which one do you want me to describe?”

“Is that foul-smelling old man sitting at the end of this chair…”

Musa then looked back at Rainy, but his eyes were looking straight behind Rainy's back,

“Or that man whose standing so close to your back…” he said slowly.

“How interesting. He sees me as a man…” A seductive laugh rang in Rainy's ear. But Rainy was too engrossed in what Musa was telling her and ignored the voice.

“Or this woman… whose hanging from the ceiling…” Musa looked up to the ceiling above them, “Who has been trying to attack us with her hair for a while now.”

Rainy looked up and met a pair of glowing red eyes at the black figure that looked like a woman hanging upside down from the ceiling. It was the first time Rainy had to admit to herself that she really could see what no one else could.

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