The Schizophrenic

Chapter 3: Chaos

Jade awoke to the frantic chirping of a bluebird. She tried getting up from her bed by rising on her elbows. Lifting herself, she slowly walked towards the window and attempted to understand what ailed the bird. But the moment she approached, the bird squawked violently and flew off.

Jade was appalled. She staggered towards her bed and collapsed on the soft mattress. There were tears in her eyes as she dared once more to go and stand in front of the mirror. Her skin had swollen around her scar and it had flushed to a revolting pink. Her skin had taken on a pale greenish-purple shade, highlighting her lacerate which was now well on display.

She felt nauseated and ran to the bathroom. She threw up and her knees gave way as she fell to the ground and fainted.

The darkness floated away like mist and Jade could hear her mother worriedly begging her to wake up. She opened her eyes and looked around. She felt fatigued and couldn’t even lift her hand. She was able to separate her lips and utter a single word.

“Water,” she whispered.

“Martin! She needs water!” Momma exclaimed.

Her happiness showed in her tears as Dad brought a glass of cold aqua. Jade raised her hand to grasp the glass and felt it slipping in her hand. She managed to sip a little and immediately sensed refreshment.

What had happened? Why was she lying on the floor? She could vaguely remember a sort of heat surrounding her when she had entered the washroom.

Connie?

Her parents carried her to the bed and brought her breakfast.

Breakfast? How long had she been blacked out?

She slowly drank her warm chicken soup and watched her parents. After a while, her father spoke.

“Jade, sweet, we have lost one daughter. We can’t afford to lose you, too.”

Jade stopped slurping her meal. Those words indicated that something was very wrong. Much more than she had thought.

“What has happened?” she asked.

“I checked the garden the day you had awoken at the hospital. You were right about the burnt grass,” Martin said, silently.

“I told you so! Connie had come. She did this horrible thing to my cheek. My whole face is mauled, it seems. What did she get out of that?” Jade cried.

Momma instantly brought out a kerchief and dabbed with exaggerated gentleness at Jade’s cheeks. The tears were burning her wound.

“You are brave, child. All of the pain that you are holding back is tremendous, I know. We have decided, Jade,” Eileen said, looking at Martin. “We are taking you for a special treatment and for some psychological help.”

Jade was puzzled.

“A counselor,” Dad explained.

Did her parents think she was crazy? In school the students went to counselors when they had some mental problem. Had she really become retarded?

“What about school? I surely must have missed a lot,” she said.

“We have sent a notice to your teachers. They have accepted your leave. You are no longer part of Education High. We will home-school you,” Dad answered.

Home-schooling? She was now certain that she had a mental conundrum.

She was taken to Lake Erie. A neat block of row houses laced the streets everywhere. Dad drove to a house at the end of the block where a little board squeaked the name ‘Ms. Hannah Low’. Jade thought her name sounded very much like a cow’s. Martin parked in the driveway and opened the door for Jade.