Alister didn't wake up thinking this would be the day he finally did it. Cut the wires, pull the plug, kick the bucket- whatever your metaphor for killing yourself is. It's not that he wanted to die, that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. He didn't want to die, he just wanted the pain to stop. The bipolar episodes, the times in his life where he could go hours, days, weeks even, depressed and in constant mental anguish. Today just happened to be one of those days. Today, also happened to be the day he decided to make The Call.
All of Alister's friends and family have repeatedly told him to make a call to a hotline, most have even encouraged checking himself into a mental facility. He finally gave in to one of those desires.
"Tell me your story, Alister," The boy on the other side said to him as he spun his keys around on his finger.
"Nothing much to tell. My grandfather was bipolar, he offed himself when I was two. My parents are completely normal, which sucks because they can't understand a fucking thing about what I'm going through. My sister and my best friend have continually told me I should be facilitated-"
"Do you think you should be?" He asks, which causes Alister to take a pause in his rant. He thinks about this question for a minute, perhaps a minute too long because the boy says,
"Alister, do you believe you shouldn't be in a mental facility?"
The same question Alister has been asking himself every morning since he figured out why he was always depressed.
"Maybe I should be, but I don't WANT to be," Alister finally responds and all that could be heard was the sound of the other boy's phone lightly beeping in the silence.
"Can I ask you something, Alister?" The boy finally replies and Alister hums in response.
"If your family believes you should be in a facility, why wouldn't they just tell you to go there?" He asks and Alister spins the keys around on the desk.
"Because they want it to be my decision," Alister replies.
"And what do you want, Alister?" He asks and Alister sucks in a breath.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, five minutes have gone by and still, the boy has not hung up the phone. He sat there for five minutes listening to Alister's labored breathing.
"I don't want to die today," Alister responds, finally. "Good," The boy begins,
"But I don't want to live in a constant state of pain either," Alister cuts him off.
"Then don't. I AM giving you a command, Alister. I want you to live for twenty-four more hours. I want to change your mind," The boy says and the call goes dead.
YOU ARE READING
You Make Me Sane
Romance"Sometimes you just know. You just know when you belong with someone. Maybe it's how perfectly you seem to match your imperfect parts. Maybe it's the feeling of being sane for the first time in your entire insane life. Maybe it's all the moments you...
