Schizophrenia

Chapter Two

I woke lying on my own bed, staring at the water-stained roof above me.  A light pitter-patter echoed from my window, but other than the sound of falling rain, there was only silence. True, pure silence. For a few moments I laid there, basking in the quiet that came so scarcely. Then I groaned and hoisted myself out of bed.

My familiar room surrounded me. White, dirty walls peaking from under pealing wallpaper; papers strewn across the puke-green carpet; a rotting desk with a crooked chair slouching in one corner.

I stumbled my way over to the ripped window seat and slumped onto the spilled stuffing. I watched the rain drops slid down the glass. It was almost sad, though I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe it was just my meds acting up again.

My door creaked open and in popped my mother’s worried face. “Are you awake, Ben?”

I sighed from my perch on the dying cushion. I knew what was coming.

“Honey,” she continued, coming fully into the room. “I don’t think you should be going to school. With all those kids there, I think you’re getting overwhelmed.”

“I’m fine mom,” I tried to reassure her, keeping my eyes out the window. “I’m sixteen-years-old. I can take care of myself.” I tried to make my voice sound powerful and final. Like dad did. She didn’t catch on.

“But, Ben, I’m worried that—“

This time I interrupted her. “Please, mom, I just want to be a normal kid. For once.” I pleaded with her with my eyes.

She looked sadly back. “But you’re not a normal kid, Ben.” She began to say something else but at that moment the doorbell rang. She stared at me for a second, as if wondering whether she should leave to answer it or not. Then she sighed and left, leaving me with an echoing “dinner in five minutes”.

I didn’t want to go. My room was the only place that I felt safe and sane. The voices rarely followed me there and for about the only time in my life I could think clearly. I wasn’t hungry anyway.

My door creaked open again and I was about to call over my shoulder that I wasn’t going to dinner when I actually looked to see who had come in. There stood Vonnie, clad in his biker jacket and leather boots, helmet tucked under his arm. He leaned against the doorway with his blond hair flopped to the side and he looked at me with something that was almost pity. And for some unexplainable reason it made me mad.

“What are you doing here?” I spat before I could stop myself. The poison in my voice surprised even me.

Vonnie jumped back a little with a stunned look on his face. Then his eyes softened again and he slowly walked toward me. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay, kid,” he sighed with a voice you wouldn’t expect from someone so rough-looking.

“I’m not a kid,” I protested. He chuckled.

“But you are.”

I rolled my eyes and looked back out the window. I heard the soft squish of him sitting on my bed then silence. The quiet hung for a long time while I watched the rain fall outside and while he stared into space. Then he took a deep breath and I braced myself for what he might say next.

“The real reason I came here,” he started slowly. “Is because I wanted to give you this.” He stood up and clomped toward me with his boots, holding a small business card in his outstretched hand. I was hesitant to take it. But in the end my curiosity got the better of me and I reached out and grabbed it.

You are not alone. Come find others like you. 12345678 Nightmare St., just right of the Empty Skull, it said. I had never heard of the “Empty Skull” or 12345678 Nightmare St. I wasn’t even sure it was a real address.

“You’re joking me,” I said to Vonnie as I looked up. He was much closer to me now and I cringed back a bit, surprised. He looked me dead in the eye and said simply, “I’m not.” Then he turned to leave.

“Wait!” I called out to him as he reached the door. “What am I supposed to do about this?” I waved the little white paper I the air. “I’ve never even heard of Nightmare Street.”

I could almost hear the smile in his voice. “You’ll know when the time comes. Just let me warn you.” He turned fully around and leaned back against my door frame. “When it does, things are going to get a lot worse.”

“What’s getting worse?” My mother asked as her frame appeared in the doorway.

“Oh nothing, Mrs. Whense. Just algebra class. ” And then he was gone.

“Dinner’s ready, Ben,” my mother said and then she left, too. But I didn’t got anywhere. I just stared at the small rectangle paper in my hands. Things are going to get worse, Vonnie had said. And for some reason that sentence chilled me straight through to the bone.