Eren realizes he isn’t crazy, and this is the worst-case scenario.

  It would be infinitely easier if he is just crazy. At least then he could get medicine, at least then he could find support.

  But he isn’t crazy, and he has proof.

  Laying awake that night, the feeling of being watched crawls up his spine to burrow into the back of his skull. He can feel the eyes on him from somewhere in his room. He can’t sleep—can barely close his eyes.

  The piece of paper still rests on his desk from when the window was opened. He didn’t dare open the curtains though, not even as the crows tap tap tap on his window demanding their daily supply of peanuts. The truth being, Eren is petrified, petrified that he’ll see what he knows is out there. One of the cars will be parked just down the street, barely visible, and it will shatter him.

  Ignorance truly is bliss, even though at this point he is playing a more deranged version of peekaboo with a stalker. The worst of it isn’t the feeling of being watched though, it’s the fact that his notebook is gone.

  All of his proof, all of his data—vanished. Why hasn’t his teacher said anything yet? Why hasn’t one of the students bullied him for it yet? He’s been beaten up for lesser habits after all. The fact that no one at school has been saying anything is ripping him apart. It is the unknown.

  Being reprimanded for being a psycho would feel better than the lingering anxiety of not knowing what would happen next.

  Tap tap tap tap tap the crows continue.

  “You aren’t getting anything today!” Eren calls out, barely able to bring his voice above a hoarse whisper.

  Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap—they are unrelenting.

  Eren presses his head into his pillow. He just wants to sleep—he wants to sleep so badly, but the tingling up his spine, the harrowing burrowing won't leave his mind. It just keeps tap tap tapping against the base of his consciousness until he can’t take it any more.

  Tap tap tap tap tap

  “Stop! Please just stop!” Eren cries, throwing himself at his window and parting the curtains to a sea of black feathers.

  Hundreds of crows blanket his roof, their shifting feathers and beady black eyes catching the moonlight’s reflection in an eerie, unnatural mass.

  They look at him, their eyes meet, and ice sinks into his veins.

  Eren opens his window and leans out, shouting and flailing his arms at the birds until they scatter at his frenzy.

  The sound of their feathers deafens him—it’s so impossibly loud. Several stray feathers fly through his window and into this room like macabre confetti to celebrate his psychotic break.

  Eren pants, his lungs burn, his eyes sting, his stomach aches so fucking much. His eyes settle on the silver Toyota, its lights off exactly where he thought it would be.

  The weight is nearly unbearable, threatening to crush him, turn his bones to dust, and his body into paste.

  When he got home a few hours ago, he told his mom everything. He told her that he thought he was being followed and watched. He told her every single detail until his throat ran dry and he couldn’t speak anymore.

  She hugged him and told him it would be okay. She said she would talk to Dad tomorrow, they would call up a therapist, they would make a police report, they would do everything—because of course they would. Eren felt like an idiot for ever thinking his parents would dismiss him or think he was crazy. His mom showed nothing but love, nothing but concern.

  Still, that doesn’t solve the immediate problem. His parents made the report, but the police couldn’t do anything. They came to the house before dinner, talked to Eren, and searched the area but didn’t see anything—of course, they didn’t. The minute the police arrived, the silver Toyota left. It was starting to look more and more like he was crazy to everyone else.

  Eren doesn’t bother hiding this time. Staring out the window, black feathers still yet to settle from the flock of birds that now take to the sky, he watches the Toyota intently. He wants them to know that he knows. He wants them to know he isn’t scared, even as his body shivers from the cold sweat permeating every pore.

  Maybe he thinks that pretending to be brave will make him brave, or maybe his broken mind could only think to fight after flight stopped working.

  Eren frowns, turning back into his room to pick up the feathers. With each handful he throws out the window, he watches the Toyota, ensuring whoever is driving will eventually see him.

  Near the end of the cleaning session, he moves his chair to the air vent to remove a few lingering feathers from inside.

  It isn’t until the last feather is pulled that he sees it.

  Eren’s heart sinks as terror floods every synapse.

  The air vent does not have light, but its interior is reflective aluminum. The moonlight filtering in from his open window illuminates the room in a pale blue, a pale blue that makes the air vent glow faintly. This wouldn’t be an issue, except for the fact that a small square inside the air vent doesn’t reflect the moonlight, and inside that unreflective square is a circular camera lens aimed directly at Eren’s bed.

  Eren stumbles to the window, his eyes frantic, he wants to find the car, he wants to sprint down the road and scream at whoever it is. He doesn’t care if he is kidnapped, didn’t care if he is murdered, he just wants this to stop. He wants to know, even if knowing means the worst possible outcome.

  His teeth clench until his ears ring, and his nails dig into the window frame. The car is gone, and Eren wants to scream.

  Running back to the air vent, Eren pulls out his phone and opens the camera, taking a picture with the flash on. It takes a moment, but the image appears on his phone, and he clicks it to enlarge it.

  He was right. A camera is built into the very back of the air vent, flush against the surface.

  This is it. Eren can prove he isn’t crazy.

  Eren throws himself from the chair to sprint downstairs, his feet echoing through the hallway. Without bothering to turn on a light, he tosses open the junk drawer to grab a screwdriver.

  “What’s going on?!” Sophie asks, poking her head out from the bathroom door.

  “I’m not crazy!” Eren shouts, charging back up the stairs to the vent in his room.

  “Mom! Mom, Eren’s scaring me!” Sophie cries, her voice shaking, but Eren ignores it. This is the proof he needs. He can show them, he can show them objective evidence of the camera.

  Getting onto the chair, Eren begins to unscrew the vent from his wall but only gets two out before his mom and dad enter the room.

  “What the hell has gotten into you?” His dad shouts, running over to stop him from unscrewing the vent.

  “There is a camera in there! There is! I saw it! Look!”

  “Eren, that is impossible.” His dad sighs, looking into the vent. “I can’t see anything...” He grumbles.

  “Use your phone light!” Eren protests, struggling to force his way back to the vent to continue to unscrew it.

  Relenting, Eren’s father takes out his phone and shines the light into the vent, shaking his head. “There is nothing there, son...”

  “There is! I saw it! I swear to god I saw it!” Eren pulls his phone from his pocket. “I took a picture of it a second ago. Look!”

  Eren taps into his gallery and freezes.

  “It’s, the photo is gone... it’s, shit, of course it’s gone! They are in my phone! They have been tracking me every day. They bugged it weeks ago, they must have deleted the photo!”

  Eren meets his parents’ gaze, and their expressions crush him. A mix of sorrow, fear, concern, and something else, something Eren can’t place. An emotion probably only the parents of a quickly spiraling child could feel.

  “It’s, they must have installed it so it could be hidden!” he tries, looking back to the vent. “It was flush against the back of the vent. Maybe it slid into the wall and got re-covered up. Take off the vent and bust it down, you’ll see it!”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Eren...” his mother nearly chokes on his name. She brings a hand to her mouth to stop the tears from coming.

  “No! Please, you have to believe me!” Panic sets in stronger now. Eren can’t help but run his hands through his hair. He knows it has to be there—if only they would let him into the vent, he can show them.

  “Mom... what’s wrong with him?” Sophie sniffles from behind dad, her eyes are red with tears.

  “Nothing... nothing’s wrong sweetie, he is just confused.” Their mom consoles her.

  “I’m not confused! Shit shit shit, how can I prove that I’m not crazy!?” Eren looks around. “There uh, there were birds! They were outside my window too! Hundreds of them, that... maybe that was...”

  Eren can feel his psyche slipping away with every word. There is nothing he can do. He can’t convince them to break open the vents. The photo is gone. He knows how all of this looks, and he knows how crazy it all sounds.

  “I’m taking him to the hospital. Maybe we can get him on antipsychotics...” His dad rubs his brow.

  “He has to go to the hospital?!” Sophie begins to hyperventilate, and Mom has to bend down to console her.

  In times like this, Eren remembers that she is only 12. They might be mature for their age but when fear sets in, it's easy to fall into fits.

  “Just to make sure everything is alright, he will be fine... Eren?” Mom asks, looking to him. She seems to expect some protest, some fight, but is shocked when Eren shakes his head.

  “I’ll go. Just let me put on my shoes.”

  ***

  Eren sits in silence as they drive down nearly empty streets, listening to the sound of the car’s tires on the highway, watching the lights bounce off his breath as he fogs up the window.

  His father watches him through the rearview mirror at red lights, though Eren wishes he wouldn’t. He doesn’t know what to say to him. He wants to apologize, tell him to forget it, and go back to bed so he isn’t late for work in the morning, but they are past that now.

  It’s funny. The last time he and his dad were alone in a car together was when he was still a toddler on the way to see Sophie after she was born. It had been 12 years since it was just the two of them, and all it took was a stalker putting a camera in his vent. Who could have guessed?

  Had he known hanging out with his dad was that easy, he would have gone crazy much sooner.

  “Holding up okay?” His dad asks, once more checking on Eren through the rearview mirror.

  “Yeah...” Eren admits with a breath, fogging up the window again. He doesn’t want to tell his dad to stop looking at him, but he hates that feeling of being watched just too much. “Can you maybe stop watching me though? It feels weird.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’m sorry I’m like this...”

  “You don’t have to apologize for anything.” his father insists.

  Maybe it’s true. Eren is right after all. He is being followed. But his dad doesn’t know that. He thinks his son is having a mental health crisis and is handling it pretty damn well, Eren thinks.

  “I know, but still, I’m sorry. Sorry for making you take me so late. I know you have work tomorrow...” Eren repeats. The words are hard to get out, especially as his father continues to watch him through the rearview mirror.

  “Please, don’t worry about anything like that. Besides, Sophie’s semi-finals are tomorrow afternoon. I’m taking a half day, so it should be alright.” His dad shakes his head. “You scare me sometimes, you know that?”

  “Yeah, that’s why we are going to the hospital.”

  “Not—not that, well yes, that, but not just that.”

  Eren stays quiet, waiting for him to continue.

  “You are fourteen years old. I am taking you to the hospital for a... well, I don’t know what to call it, and here you are telling me sorry because I have work in the morning. Do you have any idea how many fourteen-year-olds would do that?”

  “I’m sure there are a few...”

  “Well, I haven’t met them.” his dad chuckles. “You are wise beyond your years—well beyond your years. I know we joke about it at the dinner table, you know, yours and Sophie’s grades, but we do that because... well, everyone told us to prepare for the worst. Yet here you two are, the easiest kids in the world.”

  “We are easy?”

  “Honestly? Yes, absolutely.”

  “Even with all this?”

  “All of this is nothing compared to the horror stories the people at work have shared about their kids. And besides, you told us everything and agreed to come with me to the hospital. Given how riled up you were, I was worried I would have to drag you there.”

  “No, I wouldn’t do that. Not in front of Sophie, never... this is already traumatizing enough.”

  “Well, I’m glad you told us. It must have been hard to work up the courage to say what you felt, especially when it must have sounded too strange. I’d ask you to forgive your mother and me for not doing anything sooner... really we tried the best we could, but we thought... I thought that it could have waited a day. I realize now it couldn’t. I am so sorry to put you through this. We could have nipped it in the bud much sooner.”

  Eren shifts uncomfortably in the back seat. He can still feel his father’s eyes on him. It makes it hard to think. But still, he struggles past it. He knows his dad cares, and he isn’t about to go off on him. He put him through too much tonight already. The last thing his dad needed is his son going off on him for staring.

  “I thought it could wait a day too... it isn’t your fault.” Eren sighs and wipes away the fog in the window, revealing a pair of headlights that catch against the side mirror.

  Eren stays still, so incredibly still, as he watches the headlights bounce up and down above the words, ‘Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear.’

  “I hope the doctors can find something to help you. It breaks my heart to see you like this. You must have been having one hell of a time,” His father tries to joke.

  Slowly, so slowly, Eren shifts his body to look at his father. The sensation of being watched lingers, and only now does he notice his father’s eyes are straight ahead.

  Eren swallows and returns his attention to the side mirrors.

  He spent weeks looking at cars, three in particular—every detail is etched into his mind. The Toyota’s headlights follow them now, all the way to the hospital.

  His dad parks the car. He lost the Toyota somewhere in the parking structure, but it wouldn’t be for very long. Disguising his haste as eagerness, Eren rushes his father to get out and across the street into the building. Maybe if they ran, they could disguise themselves among the other patients.

  To be safe, Eren turns off his cell phone before entering. They would know his face by now, but the hospital is massive, with plenty of floors and corridors, so it is easy to get lost.

  They pass through the sterile halls, all illuminated by white fluorescent lighting. The smell of alcohol and soap lingers in the elevators and stairwells.

  It isn’t long before Eren is checked in. They have to take his blood pressure several times, as his heart is racing too quickly for a normal reading, and eventually the doctors give up on trying to calm him down.

  He is put into a room where a doctor asks a hundred questions and receives a hundred answers. Eren is good at this by now, having talked to his parents about it already, though the tapping on the window outside is more than a little distracting.

  The tapping only stops for a dozen or so minutes as Eren is taken in for a blood panel, a couple of different scans, and two dozen more questions without his father present.

  It’s a brief reprieve from the tapping. Unfortunately the moment Eren and his father return to the primary room, it picks up again—louder.

  “Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do right now. Your options currently are two things. I can prescribe some sedatives to help for tonight, but in order to get anything substantial, you will need to talk to a clinical psychiatrist. That will involve a full, in-depth analysis, which might take some time. I can give you a referral and set up an appointment, but I would anticipate at least a couple of days if not weeks before we see an opening.”

  Tap tap tap

  “That’s too long. We thought we could wait 24 hours, and that was...” his dad trails off.

  “Well, the other option would be we can place him into a 72-hour psych hold.”

  Tap tap tap

  Eren looks to his father. That does not sound like a good idea, and his father seems to agree. They had watched a documentary together on psych wards; even the nice ones are not pleasant places.

  “Eren... I need you to be honest with me. Can you handle a few days wait?” His father asks.

  “I will manage, I think.” Eren looks to the door as someone walks past. His father notices. The doctor does not.

  Tap tap tap tap tap

  “Alright, I’ll write the prescription now. It should help in the short term. Take one tablet before bed, and are you old enough to drive?”

  The tapping was driving him crazy. The window looking out over the hospital’s courtyard is closed, so he can’t see what it is, but it’s loud. Surely his dad or the doctor would notice by now, and surely they would say something?

  “No.”

  “Then the next part doesn’t matter, no heavy machinery or anything. No more than two a day. Only take a second one if you feel an attack coming on. Alright?”

  Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.

  “Got it, thank you doc.” His dad smiles and shakes the man’s hand, prompting Eren to do the same.

  Eren almost wants to run over to the window and throw it open, but he doesn't have to. He can hear the caw and the flutter of wings leave with him as he exits the room.

  Maybe he is genuinely crazy. That tapping, it’s so loud. They have to hear it... but they don’t.

  They wait in line to pick up the prescription before returning to the car. Eren notes the lights of the Toyota come on in the parking structure as they approach.

  “Dad, do you see that silver Toyota up there?” Eren asks, pointing upwards to the spot in question.

  In nearly perfect sync with his own movement, the Toyota reverses, leaving the spot empty as his father looks at it.

  “No, son. I don’t.” he frowns.

  Eren nods and says nothing more as they return to the car.

  The drive back is quiet, which is good because he needs to think. The bird, the car, the tapping, the camera, is all of it really just in his head? Sophie herself had mentioned previously that it looked like he was watching for someone following them. If she had noticed something, she would have said it. There were so many birds on his roof. His parents didn’t notice? Wasn’t it convenient that he picked up all the feathers before they could see? The camera is in the air vent. His mother was right; the amount of time needed to install something like that would have been astronomical. Let alone the noise it would make. The paper in his window had fallen, but maybe it was just a breeze? Or the AC...

  Eren is too exhausted to worry anymore. The stress is eating at him, and the fear still grips the very marrow of his bones, but there is only so much his body can handle. He shuts down, and there isn’t anything he can do to stop it.

  Logic it away all he wants, the fear is still present, but then again, that’s what the medicine is for.