ꌗᎮꀤ꒒꓄ ꀤꉓꃅꂦꋪ - ᴀ ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄ

ꉓꃅꍏꉣ꓄ꍟꋪ ꂦꈤꍟ - Mad Woman

No one believes me
They don't see her how I do
The snake woman strikes

⋆⁺₊⋆ 𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆

Schizophrenics aren't allowed any sharp objects. They say it's in case we try to hurt ourselves or, in my case, others. That only goes to show how impressive it is that I've acquired the nail I use to keep the door from locking once the nurses have left.

Where I'll go once I escape... that is a question that has yet to be answered, but I leave that for future Zara to deal with.

I wait until the footsteps fade and then try the doorknob. The nail, embedded on the inside of the door frame, does its job and prevents the deadbolt from falling into place. I allow myself a hopeful smile and slip out the door. The hallway is empty, bright, and sterile. I break into a run towards the stairs. My feet, clad in orange grippy socks administered by the facility, squeak over the tiles far too loudly. Silently, I pray to whatever forces are out there that I won't be caught.

They don't listen.

I nearly run into one of the nurses when I reach the second floor. She's a thin woman with equally thin hair tied back with a teal hair tie the same color as her scrubs. Her mouth is drawn out in the shape of an 'o' and her eyes are wide in surprise.

I swallow and say the first thing that comes to mind. "I'm not schizophrenic. You are."

Then I push past her and run.

"Wait!" The nurse comes to her senses before I have time to get anywhere and catches my wrist. "Security!"

I wriggle against her grip. "No, please!"

"Stop fighting, it'll only make things harder than they have to be-" She scans the bracelet containing all my information, AKA my dog collar, and finds my name. "-Zara. I remember you! I'll send your therapist in for an Individual. Seems like you could use it."

"NO! You don't understand," I scream. Panic floods my system and I fight harder just in time for security to grab my forearms and pull me towards the elevator."She's not human! She's a monster! A- a demon! Please don't make me go back to her, please!"

The nurse blows out a sigh and pushes loose hair behind her ear. "Zara, for the last time, Libby is not a monster. She doesn't want to eat you, she wants you to eat. You're going to starve."

The guards get me into the elevator and the nurse shakes her head pityingly as the doors close.

"She's a monster," I try once more. Every shred of decency has already been lost so I don't care what the burly men think of me. I just need to get away from that woman. The front of my sweatshirt is wet with tears and my long hair, though tied back in a ponytail, has become nothing more than a half-bleached rat's nest.

"Sorry, cupcake. Just doing my job," the guard with a goatee says. He sounds like he means it, but obviously does not as he leads me back to my room where I'm met by none other than my therapist.

She smiles kindly at me, but I know it's a show for the guards. The sympathy doesn't reach her bloodshot russet eyes that look as though she's gotten no sleep. Once the men leave, she'll transform. Just like she always does.

The door closes. It's just me and the beast yet again. Her image shifts again from lady in scrubs to a giant snake with the top half of a woman. From the waist down is the body of a midnight purple snake. The scales shimmer in a sea of blacks and dark blue almost like a galaxy. Libby's iris' shift from the russet brown they appear to be when she's in her human form to blood red like her lips.

"Musssst you really try to run sssso often?" she asks. The 's' sounds are drawn out into hisses. "It'ssss rather exausssting to chassse down my food. I've grown tired of your gamessss, girl."

"You do look like you could use some more sleep. I'm not the therapist in this relationship, but let me give you some advice. Take a nap. I'll still be here when you're done," I mutter as I stumble backwards against the wall, searching for anything I can use against her. Unfortunately for me, the psychiatric hospital does their job too well and I'm left weaponless.

"Foolish child! Have you heard nothing of the curssse of Lamia? I cannot ressst! My punishment mussst be eternal! There is no essscape for me, even in sssleep! And all becaussse Zeusss found me more attractive than hisss own bride!" Libby, or Lamia apparently, snarls and she flicks her black hair behind her shoulder. "Enough talk! I have waited long enough! Now I shall feassst!"

Her snake tail curls beneath her in a mound of writhing violet scales and Lamia lunges for my throat. I duck just in time to avoid her fangs and frantically leap towards my bed, jamming my finger on the red call button.

"Everything alright, Zara?" A voice asks over the intercom.

"No! She's trying to kill me! Libby! She's a snake and-" I'm cut off by a scream as Libby/Lamia springs at me again. This time, her hands are outstretched so she can hold me still while devouring me.

The intercom operator sighs. "Zara, we've spoken about this. It's not real. Your schizophrenia makes you think you see that, but it's not real. Don't give in to the hallucinations."

"We're fine, thank you!" Lamia says, her voice melting back into the buttery smooth tone she uses to speak to the staff, but she can't shake the lisp, no matter what she tries. "I'm so sorry, I don't know how she got to the call button."

"No worries." The intercom beeps, signaling that the operator has left.

Lamia turns on me again, now angrier than ever. "Mussst you really make thisss as difficult as posssssible?"

"If it means I don't die, then yeah."

I jump out of the way as she lunges at me, but stumble over her writhing body and crash onto the ground. Her tail slams into the wall and knocks a glass of water off of my nightstand. Lamia hisses in fury and curls the end of her tail around my body. She squeezes.

I gasp and push against her with all my might, but to no avail. My lungs plead for room to expand, but with every failed breath, her grip tightens. My vision distorts as black dots break up the image. Everything becomes a blur.

"I wasss going to be merciful and kill you quickly, but you've caussssed too much fusssss already. It will be sssatissssfying to watch you ssslowly sssuffo-"

Lamia is cut off when the door swings open with a bang. The bearded security guard bursts through wielding a black baton. The baton hits Lamia in the back of the head with an audible wham. Her grip loosens and I fall against the wall for support. The snake woman turns to face him, rage in her eyes.

"Die, snake queen! Die!" The man plants a roundhouse kick on Lamia's temple, sending her reeling and seething.

"You've made a missstake interfering with my meal, sssatyr!"

"Just doing my job!"

She springs and he wacks her down with his baton, wielding it like a club. The man presses a button on the side of his weapon and a bronze spearhead sticks out of the top. When Lamia lunges again, he holds the point over his head and it buries itself in her scrubs, just above her heart. My therapist screams in rage and disintegrates into a pile of dust.

Maybe I am schizophrenic after all.

"Whatcha waiting for, cupcake? We don't got all day! Let's go!"

So I go.