Seeing Red

“What’s wrong, Andrea? It’s just a glass of water,” said my husband, Matt.

“Are you telling me you don’t see the blood in it?”

“What blood? There’s nothing in it. I think you’re still stressed after that nightmare just now.”

I felt like I was going crazy. I had never had any kind of hallucinations before, so why was it happening now? I got off the bed and went to the bathroom to wash my face. The moment I opened the tap at the wash basin, it was blood that gushed out of it. I screamed and fell back on the floor. Matt came rushing in to find me terrified and helped me get back to my feet.

“There’s blood coming from the tap, Matt!”

He stepped forward and looked at it. “That’s still water, Andrea. I think you need to get some rest. All that stress about the upcoming contract must be getting to you.”

I didn’t know what to believe. I was so sure I was seeing blood, but he kept saying it wasn’t there. He saw that I still didn’t believe and said he’d prove it. Matt filled a glass with the blood from the tap and drank it without even blinking. I almost threw up at the sight of it.

“See? It’s just water, hun.”

Was I really seeing things? Since he was a psychiatrist, I asked if Matt could treat me and give me some medicine. He refused, saying it was unprofessional. However, he made an appointment for me with a friend of his who was also a psychiatrist. I still wondered why it was blood of all things that I was seeing; Matt said it was probably because my parents died in a car accident while I was travelling with them three years ago. He said that since their death anniversary was just a week away, it may have been triggering my repressed thoughts. Even that theory was odd because I didn’t have that kind of hallucination before, but Matt said it could be a delayed reaction.

I could barely keep my eyes open at work that day, and my colleagues could easily tell that I was exhausted. I left the office early and went to meet the psychiatrist Matt recommended. She said the same thing he did and prescribed me some medicine. But the hallucinations still continued. I met her the following day and she changed the medicine, but it happened yet again. It was hopeless; I was seeing blood almost everywhere I went, from the shower, to the office fish tank, to even public fountains. The third night it happened, I woke up to find Matt out of bed. It was past midnight, so I wondered where he was. I went downstairs and found him on the phone with someone. It was only then that I realised what had been happening all that time.

I took the medicine I was prescribed and went to meet a friend of mine who was also a doctor. She told me that the drugs I had been prescribed were not antipsychotics—they were hallucinogens. I was furious. I went to the police with the information I had and filed a case against Matt and his paramour, the other psychiatrist. It came to light that they had been planning to get me out of the way so he could take over my business and be with her. They didn’t get their way; I made sure they both ended up behind bars.