When I was a little kid, I found that I could see a monster that no one else could. He was big and hairy. For reasons long lost to time, I decided to call him Steve. Steve could appear whenever he liked, but he usually revealed himself at night.

Sometimes I would see him in the corner of my eye, he always seemed to be laughing at me. When I would try to look directly at him, he'd disappear. Other times, when walking past a mirror or something reflective, instead seeing of my reflection, I'd see Steve. Upon backtracking, I'd find myself starring back at me, not the monster.

Though my glimpses of him were usually brief and unclear, I started getting the impression that he didn't look quite like a real monster, his fur and face seemed closer to that of a costume. The prospect of there being a person behind that mask made me fear him even more.

One day, at recess I was playing in the sand and minding my own business when I looked up to see Steve behind the fence staring at me. I looked directly into his lifeless yellow eyes, and he did not disappear, instead he started waving at me with a big furry hand. I asked the other kids if they could see the man over there, but they could not.

Then Steve began climbing over the electric fence with no problems at all. Once over, he started marching toward me with that eerie plastic smile. I ran back into the school, into the bathroom, and hide in the furthest stall from the door. I heard his padded feet enter.

"Ted, you can't hide from me." He said. This was the first time I ever heard him speak.

He started moving closer to my stall.

"Ted, I know you're thinking about screaming for help, but no one can help you. No one can see me but you, Ted. You know that."

He stopped right in front of my stall.

"I won't lie to you, Ted. I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to rip your head off and drink your blood. Then I'm going to drag your corpse home, eat your flesh, and use your bones to help build a cage for my next victims."

I was shaking.

"Now tell me, Ted, how does that make you feel? How does it feel to know your about to die, and there's no hope of being saved? Please, tell me, I'll never know myself."

He grabbed the handle, and I kicked the door open as hard as I could. It smashed into Steve's face, knocking him backwards and causing him to fall, hitting his head against the sink.

I got out of the stall to see Steve lying motionless with blood dripping from the holes in his mask. Part of me wanted to take the mask off, but I didn't. I simply left his body there, and the next day, it was gone. And that was that. No more Steve.

I never told anyone of him and as I got older, I decided he must've been the spawn of a child's mind. I used the fact that he appeared to be a guy in a costume as proof of this, thinking he looked that way because my brain was incapable of constructing a real looking monster. By the time I moved into of college dorm, I had almost completely forgot about the whole thing.

But then I began to see things.

Little spots of brown appearing in my peripheral vision. They were so few and far between that I thought I must just be imagining it.

Until last night.

I awoke at twelve for seemingly no reason and went to the bathroom. Upon turning my face to the mirror, I saw him.

He just stood there lifeless. I was thinking I must still be half asleep and seeing things.

"Thought I was dead Ted?" He said. "Thought I was made in a dream factory of yours? No Ted, I wasn't. Just sleeping, just healing, just becoming stronger. That's all Ted."

I panicked. I punched the mirror as hard as I could. It shattered. The glass ended up slicing my hand.

Now I don't know what to do. I took a bat to most of the reflective objects I have, there's nothing but broken glass everywhere. Yet I'm not sure if that was even needed, maybe I have simply lost my mind. I mean, how can this even be possible?

I don't know if Steve's real or not, but I know I can see him in my phone's reflection as I type this.