My own reality

27

There is a knock on the door. I don’t reply, they’ll come in anyway. They always do.
Dr. Filtz enters with a smile plastered on his face.
“Hello, Jason.” The doctor says. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I say.
“Well,” he says. “We might’ve made a mistake in our research,”
I stare at him, wondering where this is going.
“Was Tiffany the only character entangled in your story?” the doctor asks.
At first I'm confused. Why are they bringing this up? Then I remember. I remember the one person I had over looked yet was very important and crucial.
“Cooper,” I say. “There was Cooper,”
“Did your moments with him feel real or fake?” the doctor asks.
“I don’t know,” I say.
I wonder how they figured this out. Wait does that mean what happened with Tiffany might actually be real? They said I have schizophrenia but they didn't say my Tiffany wasn't real. I push the thought away. Having hope is harmful to me, because the disappointment of the hope feels worse than the hope feels good.
“The last time you met Tiffany,” the doctor says. “Did you have an emotional surge?”
“Yes,” I say. “I was sad, really sad, that Tiffany was leaving,”
“Jason,” Dr. Filtz says. “There is someone here to see you,”
My heart flips when the visitor steps in. I had forgotten her face; I had forgotten how beautiful she was. I had forgotten her chestnut hair and oak brown eyes, her caramel skin and fluid walk.
“Tiffany,” I gasp.
Is this a trick? It is possible that Tiffany could’ve known about my disorder and come over to prank me. They are psycho that way. I won’t let the cage lock that holds my emotions break open.  This might be my imagination working on me again. But I haven’t had an emotional surge recently. My mind has been calm and dead.
Tiffany strides to my bed and seats on it in order to face me. “Hey,”
I feel my pace increase; I feel my body come back to life. The cobwebs fall away and the numbness dissolves away, replaced with joy and excitement. These emotions have broken the limit.
“Three months are up,” she says. “I came to see you,”
I can’t let this happen. I can’t fall this new trap that the universe has set for me again. But she's real, she’s here! My breathing rate increases and I feel the tears fighting to break free.
“I've been thinking about you the whole time,” she says.
My insecurity and my emotions are at war inside me right now, but the thought of her not actually being her again scares me. So I open my mouth and ask the question that has been raging in my mind since she stepped into the room;
“Are you real?”