Entwined Souls

12//Rational Paranoia

Ellie painted. Splotches of blue randomly over the rock, still artistic nonetheless. One might call it 'modern art'. Once her session had concluded she stood up and headed to her closet to put on clothes for the day. A black t-shirt caught her eye. Her eyes scanned the closet again while putting on her black shirt and she found her green jacket on a higher shelf near the roof. She struggled to reach it. Climbing up onto her bed, she jumped from it to her closet grabbing the coat.

That was cool.

"Thanks-" she gloated as it came down.
Suddenly a loud buzzing filled the room. The same buzzing that was in her nightmares of. She screamed and swatted as the buzzing drew nearer, and became loud. She was allergic to wasps, deathly allergic. She felt one sting her neck and she lost her breath. Pain engulfed her throat as she struggled to walk towards her backpack. She forced air through her throat and back out again, each breath becoming more and more impossible. Throwing herself where her epi-pen usually was she scavenger her backpack. She fell to her knees gasping for air and saw it laying under the bed. She crawled over to it and popped open the lid the exact moment Collins burst into the room.

"El-" he worried. Their was a brief pause as he took the odd situation in.
"Wasps?!" He yelled, rushing to her aid. Ellie pushed her epi pen and took one last breath as her vision faded to black.

The infirmary was a familiar place. Her head pounded as she opened her eyes. The room was bright white and she laid on a cold mattress.

"Zero," she said slowly. "It was Zero."

Ellie, are you kidding me?

"It wasn't Zero, that nest had to have been there for a few months, and there was a hole small hole in the skylight above your closet. You just never touch anything in that corner, I guess." The Collins said.

Exactly.

Ellie didn't believe one word of it. She never put her jacket up there. Her epi-pen was always in its pouch in her backpack. Somebody moved it. Something moved it. The whole situation was too perfectly planned.

Ellie, I didn't put them there, I swear.

"The important thing is you're okay. It was just a freak accident." Collins said.

It was just an accident.
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For the next few weeks Ellie grew incredibly tired and weak. It's almost funny how quickly a friend can turn into a fear. She didn't eat, was never alone, and barely slept. It was miserable to be hiding from death when it felt like the only thing that could set her free.

She was paranoid for good reason. She figured if she was dead Zero would be set free.

Ellie, you're being ridiculous.

It was weeks until she slept in her own bed. It wasn't because she felt comfortable, but Dr. Collins made her. It felt like even longer until she began eating the kitchen's food again. Not because she was hungry, but because Dr. Collins said she was being ridiculous. But what felt the longest was the time until she felt safe. She wasn't safe, but she felt it.