Phobia

[Chapter 2]

Somniphobia- Fear of losing time

I woke up. Again. This time I was on a bed and I immediately recognized the room as mine. I slowly sat up and looked around dazed. What time was it? Where were my parents? And how the hell did I get here? I tried to keep my breathing even, but I sounded like a long-term smoker with a really bad wheeze.

The pills, my pills.

I quickly pushed myself off my bed and padded into the bathroom, pressing on the mirror where it unlocked from the wall and opened outward to reveal the medicine cabinet. I grabbed the anxiety pills I was prescribed long ago for the poetic mix of “slight anxiety and abundance of phobias” I was graced with as a not-so-average teen. I forgot how long it had been since I had taken any. A day? A few hours? I checked my phone to see the time. It was midnight. Of the same day I had passed Jack on the street. Jack! Where was he? Did he bring me home? Was he even real? I began to shake, causing the pills in my hand to roll around. I drank water straight from the tap and took two pills.

Jack. That was his name. I remembered his face so easily, his sharp jawline, his angular eyes that were such a deep brown I wondered if they were black. I remembered his cropped hair and his eyebrows that seemed to dominate his face and create a brooding look about him. And his lips, his soft-looking lips that disappeared behind his tongue and teeth when he licked his lips and bit down on them.

How long had I been with him? Where had we been? It suddenly hit me that he could have done anything to me and I wouldn’t know because I panicked and passed out.

I closed the medicine cabinet mirror and my phone buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans. It was an unknown number calling, but for once I answered it.

Asthenophobia- Fear of fainting or weakness

“Hello?” I answered

“Ah, so you are still alive.” I froze. It was him. A chill swept through me as I remembered his trick and the words he said to me.

“What do you want with me?” I asked, my voice holding no bravado and quivering.

“As of right now, I want to know where you are,” he said happily, as if we were friends catching up.

“I’m home.” I heard laughing on the end of the line and decided to try to get rid of him. “It sounds like you’re busy. You should go. And leave me alone.”

There was a loud crackle on his end of the line and then his voice came through, deep and clear, “I’m not done with you, baby girl. Not even close.”

I could feel the weight of my anxiety take over again. “Please, leave me alone.” I sounded close to tears, but he was enjoying every moment of it.

“I want to see you,” he whispered into the phone. “I’m not going to hurt you, just listen to me.” He was talking so fast I had to sit down and focus on his words.

“Jack? What’s going on?” I said, whispering because he was.

There was a sigh from Jack and I heard a door close. Then I heard the wind howl in the background. “I just need to talk to you.” There was yelling in the background.

Anthropophobia- Fear of people or society

“No, you scare me.” I said as Jack grunted. There was static on Jack’s end of the phone and a strange voice came through the speaker; it was higher than Jack’s.

“Jack’s going to ruin you so bad,” the voice was serious and I looked over my shoulder to my window on the far wall on my bedroom. The voice laughed and suddenly Jack was on the other end again.