Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 17: Confessions Dyed in Black

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 17: Confessions Dyed in Black

After she leaves, softly clicking the door shut behind her, I quickly walk into the small, empty bathroom, spitting the two tasteless pills lying under my tongue out into the toilet. I reach over to the pathetic, roughly made toilet paper beside me and toss a few sheets in the water as well, blending the paper in with the pills. If they do for some reason find out I'm spitting the pills out, at least there will be a less chance of finding them since they'll get tangled with the toilet paper.

Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I return to the small bed and sit down on it, my legs limply dangling over the side. I pick back up the book I put down to take my pills, when the nurse came in to hand me the plastic drops. I've read this book before, I know, when I was in middle school, and I remember liking it a lot to the point where I read it four times over in a row before finally returning it to the school. That's why I picked it when the nurses took me and a smaller group of people to the library here earlier today; it was the first book I recognized. They said to have a book around and to read it every once in a while could set goals to accomplish things, such as finishing the small novel.

But I don't read it. I turn the pages, my eyes scan over the words, I already know how the book's going to end... but I just can't focus on it. My eyes land on the black words printed, moving from one to the next, but they aren't registering to my head. Instead, my mind is fogged up with thoughts - thoughts of the yellow-eyed, immune hallucination, and thoughts of Len.

After Yuma and I returned to our rooms, the familiar small, petite nurse coming into my room a while after, she informed me of how "points" were added to my name, saying the more points I got, the longer I had to stay here. The moment she told me that, I bit my lip and nodded, apologizing over and over to her, swearing to both her and myself I wouldn't run away from her sight again. I already don't know how long I'll be staying, but I'm damn sure I don't want to be here longer than I have to. To be honest, when she first told me that, I grew angry at Yuma. He knew points would've been added to my name, though I had no idea what points were at the time, but he still dragged me along with him. As I blankly stared at my book now though, I slowly, soundly forgave him. After all, he is the only person I have talked to here for the whole handful of days I've stayed.

But I can't trust him either. He's nice, humorous and caring - but I can't trust him. I have no idea his reason for coming here, and that itself is a little terrifying. He may be saying the exact same thing about me, but I know for a fact that I don't belong here. I was framed and accused for doing something that I didn't even do. I wonder, though, could there be someone else in this entire building like me...? A normal person, suffering of being held guilty? I lean backward, the weight of my body plopping down onto the bed with my legs still hanging over, the book in my hands now falling out of my grip and to my side.

Maybe the only reason to back up the police and investigator's accusations of me was because I'm schizophrenic. Maybe in their report they wrote down "seeing hallucinations and killed the twelve-year-old boy, the voices in her head telling her to put his body under her own bed"... or something equally dramatic. How could they arrest me though if there's no proof?

And that's exactly why I have to see him. I have to see Len again.

I swallow, trying to get rid of the milky taste that dyed my mouth from the pills sitting under my tongue for those several minutes. I have to stop taking the pills to see Len again, even if I have to suffer with them dissolving under my tongue until the nurse leaves, and I can spit them out. As soon as I get my answers, I'll pick back up on them. After all everything is so... peaceful, without the voices or the hallucinations. After these sixteen years of my life, I can finally feel normal.