An Itsy Bitsy Strawberry

Hallucinatory Insanity

Rocco slid open his door. He turned to wave bye to Flaky, but she'd already gone. "Hm, oh well..."

As he walked through the bathroom, he noticed the large amount of bloodstains splattered. He snatched a towel and began wiping at the markings. Today hadn't been a good day at all. 

Soaking up the wetter blood into the raggedy cloth, he strained his arms, hoping to scrape off the dryer remains. 

"Hey, Rocky!" a voice whispered in his ear. The sensation made him shiver, and he checked behind him to see who it was. Air. Air was what it was. A drop of sweat trailed down his forehead as he turned back to rubbing at the stains.

"Don'tcha wanna hang out, Rocky?" it called out to him, louder this time. He shook his head slightly as he pressed on.

"But it's been years since we last saw each other...Don't you miss me?"

Finally, Rocco mumbled out a measly "shut up."

"Owie...You know that hurts, right?" the voice whined. He could feel a finger prod his upper arm. Rocco threw the rag into the sink. 

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" he snarled louder.

"You always say that! You always tell me to go away! Why do you think I hid from you, meanie?"

His heart gave a little twang as he stopped moving. "Don't say that."

"But it's true, and you know it." The voice had lost all of its gentleness and childishness. "You know that's why I left--why she left."

"You don't know shit," Rocco retorted, standing up slowly, holding himself up with the bathroom counter.

"You think I don't know anything, is it so? Then you can sit and rot in hell!" it cheered, returning with a sinister giggle. A quick snap of the fingers soon revealed what the voice had meant.

"Urgh...," Rocco groaned, his vision growing blurry. He stumbled around aimlessly, hearing whispers all around and about him.

"That boy hasn't been out of his room in weeks!"

"The doctor said he was clinically insane..."

"Creepy little guy."

"Look at the teeth of that rat!"

"He seems to have been taking it hard..."

"No...no...that's not true...," he mumbled out... clutching at his hair.

"C'mon Rocky...," the initial voice whimpered. "Don'tcha want my help?"

"Get...Get away from me!" he finally hissed, clawing at the air.

"You don't get to leave until you accept that this was all your fault," the voice growledback at him. "She wouldn't have left you."

"She wouldn't have disappeared on you if you just cared about her."

"ENOUGH!" Rocco screamed, banging his hands on the metal of the walls. His body shivered as he gave out soft and muffled sobs.

"You good, kid?" a familiar voice grumbled. He hurriedly turned to face the culprit of speaking. Strawberry stared dumbfoundedly at Rocco's tear-ridden face. "Ooookay...Wanna talk about it?" She certainly wasn't happy with him, but she decided to display some sympathy.

"Sit down and talk to me, bud," she sighed, directing him next to her on her bed.