The Raven

The Disscussion

                                                                                        After Lunch
                                                                                                Madelyn's P.O.V.

        After lunch Ben, Carman, and I went into the backyard and climbed into our old treehouse. I took my usual seat in the corner and the twins sat in front of me, serious looks on their identical faces. I felt as if I were a criminal they had taken into custody. Crime? Who knows...
        "Spill." Ben's simple command made me shudder.
        I drew my knees to my chest and began my defense. "You remember how strongly I was attached to Mr No-face. I was convinced he was real until I was eleven, when dad took me to see a 'special' therapist."
        "Yeah. They gave you a special medication and you were kinda dreamy for a few days. You hardly talked, when you did it was in German, and we couldn't understand you." Carman remembered. 
        "Not exactly. I was in so deep they had to put me under hypnosis and sort out what they thought was real and fantasy," I felt slightly dizzy and swayed slightly. 
        "So, what you're telling us is that you're borderline insane? I think I know what's going on. You've been under a lot of stress lately, so when you hit your head, your brain must've reversed part of the hypnosis and caused you to hallucinate. The dream, on the other hand, I have no explanation for.
        "Ben?" Carman asked innocently.
        "Yeah?"
        "Do us all a favor and shut the fuck up because you're starting to sound like a fuckin' shrink!" Carman exploded. 
        He was starting to sound like Dr McKeany. The pain had started again, but I didn't care. "Please, Ben, just be quite." I said distantly.
        "Sorry, I'm just trying to help you, Maddie," He mumbled, then whispered something I couldn't hear. 
        "Well, the dream could just as easily be a dream. You're always having weird dreams like that. Right?" Carman stated rather than asked. I knew she wasn't going to comfortable talking about this, let alone myself.
        "I have off the wall dreams all the time, but not like this. When I dream about the past, it's about mom. This was odd even for me." I answered honestly. 
        "Well that's comforting..." Ben mumbled and crossed his arms. 
        "Could you stop being so pessimistic?!" I yelled at him. 
        His face paled; he knew he'd done something wrong. "I would if you would stop being so self absorbed and weird! We have problems too you know!" He shouted back at me. 
        Soon enough, we were on our feet yelling things we didn't mean at each other.
        "Stop!" Carman yelled and tried to push as apart. 
        My head started throbbing again, and the only thing that was holding me up was the wall behind me. I'm going to regret this later. I can feel it. Ben's next statement threw me off guard.
        "Can't you see that I love you?! Or are you just too wrapped up in your imagination to see that I care about you?" Ben looked at me with eyes full of pain and anger.
        "What?" The statement itself was odd, but had a cliche feel to it. I was left speechless by it, and began to search for something to say, as the pain reached a crescendo, I managed to choke out. "I'm sorry," My knees gave out and  slid down the old wooden wall. I was dizzy and couldn't focus on any one thought. I remember Carman kneeling in front of me, then my vision became blurred. I saw a dark figure out of the window of the treehouse. Thoughts buzzed through my mind as the throbbing became worse, and a ringing began in my ears. I clamped my hands over my ears trying, and failing, to block out the noise. "Please make it stop! Please! Just make it stop!" I sobbed. Carman had long disappeared from my vision, and Ben was now trying to calm me down and remove my hands from my head. He hugged me and whispered soothing things. 
        My father shooed Ben out of the treehouse as he talked to someone on the phone. I couldn't tell who, but he sounded serious. The ache was getting worse by the second. I couldn't take it anymore. Please Vati... Make it stop. Please make the pain go away Vati...