Schizo

Part One

With no power or self-control, I obeyed them.

It was one day when I was trapped, mentally and physically, curled into a ball on my couch. I'd lost count of how many days it had been since I'd eaten or slept. My fingers fidgeted with a scrap of paper, turning it over and over between my fingers as I tried and failed to shut out the voices that held me captive.

You're weak, useless.

Why do you bother?

Nobody cares about you.

Your friends stopped caring. When was the last time they checked on you? Nobody cares.

You've pushed them away.

My eyes clamped shut and my hands pressed over my ears, fighting off the voices that couldn't be silenced. It was nearly constant, now. The voices never subsided, and their words grew darker by the day. Now they not only demanded I don't eat or sleep, but berated me. Belittled me. Spoke of my worst fears and made them a reality.

I'd isolated myself. It was impossible to focus on anyone with the voices in my head. Each time I'd tried, I'd ended up reacting to the things only I could hear. People would give me strange looks, uncomfortable with my odd behavior. Slowly but surely, I shut everyone out, and everyone stopped caring that I did.

That was, until the day she came.

That day when I was eighteen and alone, trapped in my own mind, when my life changed forever.

A sharp knock sounded at the door that I almost didn't hear over the voices in my head. I jerked upward, springing out of the locked position I'd maintained on the couch. My feet froze, stilling me in place as the voices immediately protested.

No, ignore that.

Don't answer the door.

They're going to hurt you.

They want to kill you.

Again, my eyes squeezed shut. They were so loud, so convincing. I didn't want to die. Whoever was there on the other side of the door would go away. They didn't have to kill me.

A second knock sounded, and I took another few steps forward before I was again shut down.

No, no, no.

Stop right now!

"Harry?"

My eyes sprang open, probably bulging as I stared at the door. That didn't sound like someone trying to kill me. That sounded like a girl. A quietly confused, maybe slightly concerned girl.

No, no, STOP.

I jerked my head to the side once to try and throw off the voices before stepping forward and flinging my door open before the voices could shut me down again. She jumped, taken aback by my sudden appearance. Her eyes were a light brown, framed by soft brown hair that fell around her face, and she looked slightly shocked before she managed to cover her expression.

Shut the door.

She wants to hurt you.

My head ticked to the side and I closed my eyes for a few seconds before gathering myself, willing the voices to shut up for once and leave me alone.

"Hey," she said calmly with a gentle smile.

Pretty.

One of the voices finally said something I agreed with. She was pretty, very pretty, which was only another distraction to my already distracted mind.