She seemed like the most normal person on the planet. A nice smile, pretty blue eyes, and porcelain skin that was creamy enough to make any boy's mouth water.
But there was something different, and it came in the form of two terrifying words.
Paranoid Schizophrenia.
She never told anyone about her problems, she didn't want to admit something was wrong. She thought maybe it happened to everyone at some point in their lives.
When they look at a bush or the clouds long enough, everyone sees faces, right? Everyone sees shadowy figures standing in corners, everyone hears voices and sounds at random times, everyone has a best friend that nobody else can see... Right?
No, not right. She had a problem, but she was too afraid to speak of it.
Until him.
He seemed like he would understand. He was struggling with depression, big time. He cut, tried twice to commit suicide, and refused to tell anyone else about it.
Until her.
He fancied her, I suppose you could say. So he lead her on, telling her his secrets, allowing her to do the same until she had completely spilled her heart out. She wanted--no, needed--someone to hear and understand what was happening.
And what did he do with the trust she so freely gave to him?
He incinerated it. He began to claim that he, too saw things. Their emails went as such:
5:01 pm
Her: Wait, so you... you see things too?
Him: Yes.
Her: Well what do they look like? Maybe we're seeing the same things!!
Him: Well, there's a reverend named Rev, a girl named Louise, and a fish named Jane.Cody
Her: that's great that you know their names but what do they look like?
Him: um... I dont really want to talk about it
Her: oh. Sorry i made you uncomfortable...
In reality, she wasn't actually making him uncomfortable. He just couldn't spin the lies fast enough to satisfy her hunger for an understanding soul.
At long last, she began to catch on. He never gazed off into a corner like she did, captivated by something that only the finely-tuned yet completely skewed minds could catch. He never came to her in tears, completely terrified and physically abused by his own monsters. He never spoke of the same bruises the hallucinations gave her, the ones that would disappear in instants. Almost as if they were never there.
1:20 pm
Him: look, its getting really annoying
Her: what is?
Him: you complaining all the time! you always whine to me about your 'hallucinations' and im sick of it
Her: i dont think i understand. you're always welcome to whine to me too, but you never do. dont you feel the same way? dont i have the right to talk to someone who actually understands what im going through?
Him: you're so naive
Her: what??
Him: dont you get it? i'm not crazy like you. i dont actually see things. i was just going along to make you feel better. besides its not that big of a deal. youre probably just imagining it.
Crazy. Not that big of a deal. Just imagining it. She couldn't believe it. She'd trusted him. She'd spilled her entire soul out onto the floor in front of him, and she had foolishly thought he would do the same. But it was all a lie.
Thick black tendrils of shadow called shwiffilies began to emerge from the carpet around her, wrapping her up in their cold embrace. They tentatively pushed her over towards her bedroom window, allowing her to look out at the city sprawling beneath her. About every ten minutes, her laptop would make a familiar beeping noise, the email notification sound she used to wait eagerly for. Now it disgusted her.
A boy--who had been leaning against her chair throughout the entire experience-- gently pushed the shwiffilies away, like cobwebs from a dusty box. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and gently stroked her cheeks, wiping away the silent crystal tracks.
"Please stop," He begged, hugging her tighter. She reached for the latch on the window, fingers trembling.
"Lorien, stop. Stop this right now." He commanded, more forcefully this time. She shook her head and swung the window open with a creak.
"LORIEN!" He shouted, grabbing her and pulling her away. She screamed, clawing at him, but he didn't give in.
"ORCHID LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" She cried, thick waves of hysteria and pain overtaking her small form. Orchid began to cry along with her, pulling her down to her bed. She fell limp, and Orchid allowed himself to loosen his hold on her.
Big mistake.
She took the opportunity to shove him aside, leaping from his arms to the ground.
She looked back once.
She smiled--genuinely smiled--at the hallucination that had been her best friend since she was eight, and felt a pang of sadness at the tears streaming down his face.
Then she turned her back towards the city, closed her eyes, and fell.
That was all it took. One person to belittle one girl's one condition, and before anyone knew it, she was gone.
The wind licked away her tears as she plummeted to the cracked pavement below, weaving through her golden hair like a loom.
When she collided with the ground, she sprayed dark red. It was a split-second of pain, then simply peace. She rose from her battered form, into the dark, cloudy skies.
Each of the invisible friends she'd encountered over the years came with her into the next world, and she smiled again, glancing at her dear Orchid.
Funny, she thought. The times I smiled for real were the times I felt the smallest.
Orchid shook his head, then wrapped his arms around her, crying both for her loss, but also in happiness.
She was finally free from the evil Earth.
ns 15.158.61.12da2
