Boy Meets Girl

Girl Tries to Help

I've always wondered if hallucinations know they're hallucinations. Did they live their "lives" believing that they're real only to discover at the end they were a figment of someone's imagination? And when they did find out, did they go through a dramatic epiphany like Bruce Willis had at the end of Six Sense, or did they just disappear? I guess it depends on the hallucination and how much they're convinced that they're real.

I was pretty sure the purple elephant was convinced that he was real. He hadn't left my side since I imagined him last night. He stared at me when Julia and I went to bed, and he continued to stare at me when Julia and I woke up in the morning. I tried to ignore him, so I wouldn't scare Julia away. My theory of paying attention to one hallucination more than the other to make it disappear was being proven wrong.

"Will you go away?" I hissed at him while Julia was out of the room. I wasn't positive where she had gone; just that she was out of the room. I was anxious that she wouldn't return, but I hoped that the medication I took with breakfast would keep her here for a little bit longer. I still wasn't fully convinced that she was real. It was too good to be true.

The elephant turned his head to the side. His yellow eyes stared at me. "I don't want to go away." She said in a high voice that mimicked Julia's.

I went back to ignoring her. She was trying to get under my skin by mimicking Julia. But I wouldn't let it work. I pushed myself off of the couch and walked into the kitchen. Everything was spinning, so I grabbed onto the counter for support. I made my way towards the refrigerator. The crickets that were there last night had moved out, except for one which was smashed against the wall.

I wanted to wipe away the pink splat, but I wasn't sure how to get it off without touching it. And I did not want pink goo on my hands. I ended up deciding to ignore it and grabbing a beer instead. I was already drugged up; the beer couldn't do any more damage.

"Shit!" I screamed when I turned around and saw Julia sitting on the counter top across from me. I dropped the beer. The sound of glass shattering echoed through the apartment and my feet got wet. I looked down; the floor was covered in glass and beer. "Shit." I cussed again, not wanting to clean the mess that I had just made. If I was alone, I would've just left it, but I didn't want Julia to accidently cut herself.

"Where did you go?" I asked her as I squatted down to pick up the glass with my hand. I didn't have a broom, but most of the pieces were big enough that I could pick it up with my fingers.

"What do you mean?" Julia asked, her voice filled with bewilderment. I looked up at her; she was frowning at me with her head to the side.

"You were gone." I tried to sound casual about it as I picked up more glass. I jumped back when a piece of glass crawled out of my hand and morphed into a pink cricket. My heart beat heavily in my chest.

"I was here the whole time, Alexander."

I looked up at her, trying to figure out if she was playing around with me. Her small legs were hanging off of the edge and moving forward and back. Her head was still turned the side. She wasn't smiling. She looked genuinely confused.

"I didn't leave, Alexander." She shook her head, her short legs stopped moving. "Really, I've been here the whole entire time."

I frowned. I believed her. I had no reason not to; I just couldn't imagine why I would imagine that she wasn't here. I pulled myself to my feet and walked to the trash can so I could drop the glass I had collected into it. I turned around and Julia was still on the counter top. She was still frowning with her small head turned the side.

I blinked. "Your clothes." I pointed at her, but then I dropped my finger because I remembered it was rude to point. "They're different from yesterday." She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and yellow tank top.