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They were back. I could see their eyes glinting in the dark. How they had got in here I didn't know, but I certainly wasn't sticking around to find out.
They hadn't found me yet. The room was dark, and my scent was all over the room. But it was only a matter of time.
I waited, gathering my wits and courage, then got to my feet as quietly as I could. I stole to the door and ran down the corridor on cats' feet. I didn't have long.
Behind me, I heard a chorus of furious screeching - they had discovered my absence. I silently mouthed a few dozen swearwords and slowed to a walk, careful to make no sound. I thanked God that I had oiled the lock on the back door at the weekend. The key turned silently in the lock. I edged the door open bit by bit, then squeezed out into the night.
The car was just outside the door on the drive down the side of the house. I unlocked it, took a deep breath. I turned the key, put the car into gear and floored the accelerator as close to simultaneously as possible.

I drove at a speed that I would usually have condemned, but as it was the middle of the night the only life I was risking was mine - and that was already in danger. My knees were weak with relief, but I was terrified. They had never come to my home before. They had usually lurked in the dark, in alleys and streets with no other people around. They had almost caught me walking home from work once. Since then, I drove.
For a while, I drove aimlessly, wandering the city without a thought for where I was going. Then I remembered Beth.
I had met Beth only two weeks ago. She was the new employee in my office. I had shown her the ropes and she had been grateful. I took her out to dinner one night, and she invited me home. She was beautiful and I couldn't believe that she found me handsome.
I glanced at my watch. It was 2am. Beth might be angry with me for waking her, but not for long. She'd give me the type of comfort I'd never found before.

I hammered softly on her door. Beth slept lightly. Her heart-shaped face appeared at the window, and then she came to let me in.

"Ben, what the hell are you doing here?" she expostulated. "It's 2am!"
"I was lonely," I tried. I hadn't told her about them.
"That's no reason! You don't just go and wake someone up at 2am if you're lonely, you half-wit! What's really wrong?"
"Maybe later."
She let me in and furnished me with a cup of hot chocolate - Beth doesn't drink coffee - and some company. We sat together on her sofa, and it seemed that we were the only people in the world. I seemed to have escaped from hell into heaven.

The next day was a Saturday, so I went to the library. To look them up. The harpies.
I couldn't find a lot of information, but there seemed to be conflicting myths. I found that the name 'harpy' meant 'snatcher', and that they were said to be women with the lower bodies and wings of birds. They were myths of the Ancient Greeks, and there seemed to be two main ones. The first said that there were three harpies who were the goddesses of the Storm Winds. They snatched people away never to be seen again. Strangely, their sister was Iris, the Rainbow. The other legend assumed that there were a whole species of them, and recommended the story of Jason and the Argonauts and, in particular, a chapter about a blind prophet known as Phineus.
There wasn't a copy of that legend in the library, so I ordered one.
"Ben?" It was Beth. What was she doing here? "I didn't know that you were interested in Greek mythology."
"I'm not," I replied.
"Then why...?" she indicated the pile of books on the table in front of me.
"I can't tell you, Beth. You'd think I was mad."
"I wouldn't. I'd never think that about you!"
"You would."
"Tell me anyway."
So I did. It all came out. They had appeared about a month ago, before I had met Beth. I was walking home from work. It was a well-lit street, but there was one off to the side that was dark and gloomy. There were only another man and myself in sight. As he walked past the side road, I saw eyes gleaming in the darkness and they had attacked the man. They flew at him, talons and sharp teeth ripping into him. I started forward, a shout on my lips, but as they turned to look at me, I fled. They followed.
I lost them that night, but since they had always been waiting. Wherever it was dark and silent, they were there.
I looked expectantly at Beth, waiting for her to either pronounce me mad or to accept my story.
"Well, that explains the interest in Greek mythology," she said, lightly.
I left it at that.

That night, they came again. I was waiting and prepared, so as soon as I heard the scratching of their talons, I fled. I went to Beth's.
"They're back, Beth!" I was panicked now. "They know where I live and will keep coming back until they catch me!"
"Ben, calm down!" Beth tried to get a word in edgeways but I wouldn't let her.
"How can this be happening? Harpies can't be real! What have I done to deserve this!"
"Ben!" she shouted. "They're not real. Women with the bodies of birds and an appetite for human flesh do not exist!"
"Would you like to go back there and tell them that?" I snapped. "No, scratch that. They never come near unless I'm alone."
"You see? Why would that be unless your mind is protecting a delusion?"
"I am not crazy!" Yeah, just what I'd say if I was.
Beth slid into my arms.
"Of course not," she soothed. "You've just got some problems. Look, I've got a friend who's a shrink. She can hook you up with one of her colleagues."
"I'm not crazy!"
"You don't have to be crazy to go to a shrink!" Beth was getting annoyed now.
"I'm not going to a shrink." Perhaps it was childish, that refusal, but I knew I wasn't mad.

A couple of days later, and where was I? That's right, at the psychiatrist's place.
"Sit down, Mr Shaw," said the shrink - a man in a suit with a smart parting and toothpaste advert teeth.
I sat down.
"Now, your problems... monsters, am I right?"
"Yes. Harpies."
"Would you like to tell me about them?"
"Alright." I told him what I had told Beth.
"What do these..." he wrinkled his nose. "...harpies do, exactly?"
"Attack. They would rip me apart if I stayed still. But they have poor eyesight and sense of smell. I have so far been able to elude them."
"What do you feel when these monsters are near?"
"Fear, dread, disbelief,"
"You mean that you have trouble believing in their existence? Interesting." He went on to tell me that I was trying to attract attention, especially from Beth, and that my choice of monsters must have come from some significant event in my childhood that I had forgotten about.

I promised to come back in a few days, and as I shut the door, the shrink murmured to himself: "Odd that he doubts... such patients usually believe in their delusions and hallucinations implicitly."
There, it was said. Hallucinations. Delusions. Strangely, it did not upset me. If fact, it was oddly comforting. The harpies were perhaps not real after all.

I went back to see the shrink several times, and he showed me how I had managed to make them real to me. He showed me what my mind was capable of and explained all of my feelings. It made perfect sense, and I wanted very much to believe it. Eventually, I did.
I had been sleeping at Beth's ever since they had come for me at my home, but now the shrink said that I was ready to face my delusions full on and see through them.
"Just remember that they are not real. They cannot hurt you as long as you do not hurt yourself. They are not real. Remember that."

I returned home.

That night they came. I could see their eyes glinting in the dark. How they had got in here I didn't know, but I certainly wasn't...
They are not real! I thought, as loudly as I could. I believed it, but my eyes were trying to tell me otherwise. Beth and the toothpaste ad shrink were right. There were no harpies. I was imagining them. I forced myself to lie still. They are not real!
They gathered around me, their eyes glinting and their pointed teeth gleaming.
They are not real! I believed it, and so the blow of their talons came as a total shock.

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