Casey’s POV
“So..” Red drawled, “did you hear about the murder at the park?”
I choked on the banana smoothie I had been sipping, coughing and sputtering.
“What?” I asked once my throat was clear.
She played with her hair, the ends now dyed a light green. She purposely hesitated, and I could see mischief in her eyes.
“The murder,” she repeated finally.
“What murder?” Just that word made my throat feel as if it was closing up, although I couldn’t fathom why. I’ve read murder mystery novels before, hell, I love shows like Castle, which is all about murder. So why did I feel like my heart was starting to pound, my chest starting to ache?
Red shrugged, taking a long sip of her strawberry smoothie. Then she looked around the food court warily, as if she was expecting people to be listening in to our conversation. She leaned closer, beckoning for me to do the same.
“I heard,” she began, filling the air with suspense, “that a murder happened yesterday in the park.”
Murder. Yesterday. Park. Those three words made the back of my head feel a physical pain, and I could already feel a headache coming on. But why? Why was I reacting like this?
“Who? When?” I managed to say almost normally. My throat felt a bit scratchy, but I needed to know. I needed to know. It was as if my entire body was burning for an answer.
Red shrugged again, sitting back in her seat. “Some jogger, I think her name was Jennifer? Jamie? Joan? I don’t know, I can’t remember. But my dad was reading the newspaper this morning and he told me all about it. I think the coroner person said the time of death was like 3:30 yesterday afternoon.”
I felt my blood run cold.
“Was… was her name Johanna?”
Red’s eyes lit up, and she sat upright. “Yeah, that was it! Oh, so you did know about the murder.”
I shook my head, gulping. “N-no, I d-didn’t,” I choked out, starting to hyperventilate. Why did I know her name? What is this panicky feeling that’s consuming my chest? Why can’t I breathe? What’s wrong with me?
“Hey,” Red said tentatively, “are you alright?”
I shook my head again, my brown hair flying. I saw an electric blue blur from where I got the ends of my hair dyed swish around before I forced my eyes shut. I felt a scream welling up inside of me, felt the need to just let it out if only to relieve some of the hysteria.
“I- I need to go,” I said quickly, standing up and leaving the table. I just felt the need to run, to just not be here right now. I didn’t know where I was planning on going, or what I was even feeling.
I heard the door clang against the wall as I rushed into the mall’s bathroom, hurling myself into a stall. I leaned against the door, and the world seemed to spin.
What’s happening to me? Is this a part of my schizophrenia? No.. this has never happened to me before. And I was feeling fine up until…
Then everything clicked into place. Until Red mentioned the murder.
I remember now.
***
Dakota… was never really there, was he?
I shakily stood to my feet, instinct telling me that I need to get away from this place, that I need to go home.
Stumbling around, I forced the tears back, wanting to wait til I was home. I wanted to cry when I was alone, nobody should know how weak I really am. I found the path where ‘Dakota’ had taken me down to get to this clearing, starting to backtrack.
I was about halfway there when I heard footsteps nearing me, before I was knocked onto the ground. My head hurt for a moment, and I let out a groan.
“Casey!” I heard someone yell, someone who sounded strangely like Dakota.
No, it couldn’t be Dakota. I must be imagining it again. He was never here to begin with.
“Oh my gosh, miss, I’m so sorry!” A girl cried, hovering over me. I had to squint to make out her blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail, and her red face as she breathed heavily. “Are you okay? Let me help you up,” she said, offering me a hand.
I grasped it, starting to pull myself up, when I could feel the dizziness pulling at me. I sat back down immediately, cradling my head in my hands.
“No,” I whispered, begging my head to stop hurting. I don’t even know if it was just the fall or this entire hallucination, but I wasn’t feeling so hot.
“Miss? Are you okay? Did you hit your head? Here, let me help you.” She reached for me again, but I inched away from her.
“No!” I screamed at her, feeling as if someone was driving a nail straight into my brain. I started to panic, which just made the pain grow worse. The woman standing there seemed to intensify the pain even further, and I just wanted her to leave. “Go away!” I ground out, trying desperately to stand up on my own. I only succeeded to scramble back a few feet. “Leave me alone!”
“Casey!”
I let out a sob at the sound of the voice. It sounded so much like Dakota, I wanted it to be Dakota. I wanted him here with me, but I knew that he was probably at home, joking around with Nick and Ollie.
I kept moving backwards until I felt my back hit a tree, and I struggled to keep my eyes open.
“Casey..” a voice whispered, this one not like Dakota’s.
“Let her help you,” another one commented.
“Not now,” I groaned, as I heard rustling on the trail.
“Casey, you know you need to go home.”
“Stop being stupid and get up.”
“Go home Casey.”
“Crawl back to mommy.”
“Leave me alone!” I shouted again, squeezing my temples.
Then I heard Dakota’s voice again. “You!” It sounded so much like him, it was as if I could actually hear him, as if he was actually there. “Not again, I told you to go away! Leave her alone Lucifer!”
Those words were strange, but I couldn’t focus on that, I was fighting my own battle.
“Casey,” one of the voices insisted.
“What are you doing just sitting there?”
“Get up! On your feet!”
In the distance, I heard a female voice. “What are you talking about? Who’s Lucifer?”
“Leave!” the Dakota imitation screamed, before a woman screamed, and a crash was heard.
“Casey, why are you being so ignorant!” a voice growled.
“Listen to us!”
“We know what’s best for you!”
“No.. you don’t! All you do is yell insults at me, and now you want me to listen to you?!” I sobbed out, acknowledging their presence. My breath was coming in short gasps, everything too much for me.
“Lucifer, die!” There was a dull thudding sound, and lots of screaming from both the Dakota imitation and the female voice.
“It’s all in my head, this is all just a hallucination, it’s all in my head,” I chanted, trying to block everything out.
“Casey! Stand up!” The voices called to me, urging me to go.
“You need to leave, Casey!” They cried, even more panicked than I was.
My breath started to come in short gasps, and I was struggling to draw air into my lungs. Even in the darkness behind my closed eyes, I could feel myself get dizzier and dizzier.
Then finally, it stopped.
I only heard one last snippet before everything truly went blank.
“Please stop! I’m not Lucifer, I’m Johanna!”
.
.
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Yeah, I cut it off right in the middle of a flashback XD Sorry if it's confusing [i'm assuming it is - it even confused me], just if you have any questions, I'll clarify :) I purposely tried to make it a bit confusing, but I might have overdone it by a lot haha. If it helps, 'Dakota' was always screaming about 'Lucifer', and the voices inside her head were mainly just telling her to get up and leave.
Well.. there's the next chapter, and I decided to update cause MUSIC & MONSTERS GOT 200 VOTES. like asgaklshdg you guys are freaking amazing and i love you all <3