The Grinning Stitcher

Part I Of The Nightmare

Author: Lev Lu (he/him)

I jolted awake at the sound of the train horn and its departure from another station, unaware of when I fell asleep. It’s late, and the cold winter air can be felt despite the supposed elemental protection of the train carriage. Just a few more stops until I get home and can crash into bed after this long day of work, internally relieved that I hadn’t missed my stop.

I’ve been having this semi-recurring nightmare of this boy with a gnarly smile, with his mouth being stitched into this forced, inauthentic smile. His eyes never seem to blink for any millisecond, and the sight is something out of a horror movie. He’s tall for his age, Asian and has short dark brown hair, but the creepiest part is he dresses in camouflage shorts, shirts and socks, all eerily similar to the outfits I have and wear in warmer weather. He just stares at me, and no one seems to notice him except for me. Even in an empty crowd, people pass by completely oblivious, as if he's a figment of my imagination. The setting for these nightmares vary, from my workplace, local cafe, the pavements on which I walk in my neighbourhood, everywhere. However, the boy remains the same; same clothes, same smile, same blinkless stare at me, and exclusively me.

I work at a hospital as an emergency nurse, rotating on a 24/7 roster with the other staff. It’s exhausting to say the least, but it’s very fulfilling work being part of a team that saves lives. Still, sometimes I wish I hadn’t gone down this route due to the vicarious trauma, and the mental database of all the patients I have witnessed pass through the department, from victims of horrific crimes, to fatal or freak accidents, to death. Sometimes, the load becomes too much for my sanity, and is only being made worse by these nightmares.

A couple of days later, on my day off, I awakened to discover it’s 1pm, and that I’d slept for 12 hours straight. I guess that’s the toll pulling constant all-nighters in a high stress environment for days on end. After refreshing myself in the bathroom and drinking a cup of warm water to quench the thirst from overnight dehydration, I headed out for lunch at a local cafe. It’s my favourite cafe of all time, and my go-to meal is matcha latte with sourdough bread with scrambled eggs. Upon arrival at the cafe, I noticed something odd, and it put me on edge, activating every nerve in my body. It was empty, devoid of any customers, with the lights brightly on, illuminating the cafe on the cold, cloudy day. As I crossed the road to get a better look, the “OPEN” sign grabbed my attention. 

“What the hell is going on?” I said aloud to myself. The street was quiet, except for a few passing cars and distant barking of dogs. Looking around onto the street, nothing gave me any reassurance or answers, until I turned back to the cafe, which shocked me wide awake. It was the boy, the one who kept haunting me in my deep slumber. I quivered as I saw The Grinning Stitcher, who I aptly named after that terrifying, stitched smile that torments my mind. “I must be hallucinating”, I thought. The thought of “I must be losing my mind” soon followed after. I blinked several times with the attempt to bring myself back to reality, and terrifyingly, the stare from the stitched smile locked eyes with me still. “WHO ARE YOU?” I said loudly in a shaky tone. There was no response. I turned back around to the entrance, closed my eyes and internally told myself, “You’re stressed and you’re seeing things. You’re seeing things. This isn’t real”. 

As I was turning around to face The Grinning Stitcher again after a few moments, a familiar sound entered the realm of my conscious awareness. It was my phone ringing, but not in my dream. It entered my ears from reality, the reality in which my physical mind and body existed. Confused and stunned, I burst my eyes open to discover myself lying in my bed, with my nightstand clock reading ‘05:00’, coupled with the lack of light filtering through my closed curtains. “What the hell”, I whispered aloud while groaning, followed by checking who's called me. It was a scam call, and I returned back to sleep, knowing it was actually my day off in reality after setting my phone to ‘do not disturb’ mode throughout the night.

Over the next couple of weeks at work, everything seemed normal as time helped the image of The Grinning Stitcher at the cafe fade deeper into my unconscious mind. The cafe, the one identical to the previous nightmare I had, operated as usual when I arrived, packed with happy customers filling their stomachs with well crafted food and beverages. I haven't encountered The Grinning Stitcher since that all-too-real mind games nightmare. Still, I couldn't help but shiver at the thought of that strange nightmare whenever the events entered my train of thought. 

My life is work, exercise, catching up with friends, attempts to create space for hobbies, rinse and repeat. I wish to go on more road trips and escape the hell of the urban environment, but with money being tight, it’s currently not an option. I live alone in an apartment on the outskirts of the city. It's cosy and freeing, having my own space to myself to relax and clear my mind after hard days at work. However, I admit, it does feel a little lonely sometimes, but that's part of the gig of single life, and I have no interest in dating right now.

It was another regular Tuesday at the hospital that night, or, so I thought. After finishing up with a newly admitted trauma patient, I was heading up to the bathroom, with plans to go to the break room afterwards for a breather. The patient was a 13-year-old boy who'd been involved in a horrendous accident, slipping on loose rocks during a hike with friends and splitting his head on a boulder. The gash was massive, and he'd lost a considerable degree of blood. We'd stabilised him enough to send him to emergency surgery; there was nothing more we could do. It was up to the surgical team now.

As I was scrubbing my hands with soap, looking down at my hands, I quickly caught a glance at my reflection in the mirror, noticing nothing out of the ordinary behind me in the empty bathroom. Looking up into the mirror again as I finished rinsing off the soap from my hands, I froze while locking eyes with the figment of my imagination I've been suppressing - The Grinning Stitcher, standing almost lifelessly reflected in the mirror behind my right shoulder.

My colleague, Eden, entered the bathroom and speaking to me, at first, seemingly from a distance as my mind was in another realm, slowly brought me back to reality. "You okay Kyle?", he asked in concern, looking at my tense and frightened face. "Did you see the kid just now? The one right behind me?" I asked in a shaky voice as I slowly turned around to face what was reflected in the mirror behind me moments earlier. There was no trace of anyone behind me but Eden as I completed my turn. "I didn't see anyone here, or exit as I was entering", Eden replied. "That last patient must have caused a lot of stress for you", the fellow emergency nurse continued. "I'm gonna go take a break" I said to Eden as I was exiting the bathroom.

First nightmares, and now, whatever the hell this is. Hallucinations? I’m hallucinating? The worst part of this is that it’s not some nightmare in my sleep I can wake up from; it was real, in my conscious state. “This can’t be real” I tried to convince myself as my nerves and gut wrestled with disbelief and terror, knowing somewhere deep down this was only the beginning of this ordeal.

END OF PART I