ANATHEMA

chapter one: stressed out

/ hello and welcome to, 'Don't Leave Me Alone'!!! thank you for taking the time to read this story. this is definitely very different from stuff i normally write, and if i get things wrong about any of the mental illnesses, just send me a message or comment and i'll try to fix it. i have no intention of triggering any of my readers, so if you're sensitive to this kind of stuff, i HIGHLY recommend you don't read this. thank you for wanting to read this, i highly appreciate it, but i don't want to trigger anybody. ANYWAYS, the story will most likely always be in Ophelia's point of view, but i will make a note if it changes. let's actually start the story now alright let's go:

"Whatcha doin', Lia?" I heard Strings taunt from the ceiling.

'Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it,' I told myself, squinting my eyes closed in hopes to make him go away.

"It!? You know, I may be a genderless being of your imagination, but you don't have to be transphobic about it. At least give me they/them pronouns," Strings whined. I rolled my eyes and tried to get back to work.

"Stop ignoring me!" it...they roared, falling upright on the floor.

I broke, and spun around and screamed, "You're not real! Go away!"

"Who says I'm not real?" Strings asked, seemingly getting taller and bigger, despite the size of my room.

"Mom and Dad can't see you, the doctors can't see you, either. That means you're not-"

"But, you can see me, can't you?" they laughed. "That must mean I'm real to you."

I collapsed to the ground and trembled. Strings was right. I could see him, he must be real, then. Right?

When I looked back up, I was no longer in my room. I was where Strings came from, or where they told me they came from.

The ground was made of red rock, and it was boiling hot. I could see volcanoes made of the same red rock, bursting with glowing lava.

"I told you I didn't want to come back here!" I shouted, but to nobody. Strings had disappeared.

"Honey?"

Oh, no, they brought my parents to this realm, too!?

"Why would you do this to them? They have nothing to do with this, send them back!" I cried, hoping Strings would do what I ask for once.

"Now, why would I do that?" Strings' voice boomed from the sky.

"Ophelia, darling, open the door, please," I heard my mother call. Door? What did she mean?

"Ophelia, now!" My father shouted. What are they talking about? There's no doors for miles around!

"Miss Jones, we're going to break the door down, stay clear," a different, new voice called out.

I dropped my head back down, curling into a ball on the rocks.

I heard wood shattering and flinched. All I could hear at this point was white noise, people screaming and stomping all around me.

"Time to sleep...," I heard Strings coo from above. I felt something pick me up, and I knew it was them. I started writhing in their arms, crying and screaming, wanting to go home.

"Ophelia, baby, please, calm down!" I heard my mother sob.

I didn't have time to respond, for I felt Strings sink something sharp into my neck, and everything went black.

/~/

All I saw was black. I had a feeling my eyes were closed and I was too weak to open them, but I saw a figure stepping towards me, somehow being the only color in the large expanse of nothing.

"You fucked up big time, didn't you, Lia?"

It was Strings. Of course, who else would it be?

"What do you mean?" I asked him, tentatively.

"Oh, so, once you need answers, you'll talk to me?" they snapped. "I'll keep that in mind for later."

"Strings, please," I sighed. "What's going on?"

"Well," they laughed. "Like I said, you fucked up. Now, your sweet parents know you're crazy."

"I'm not crazy."

"Then how come only you can see me? Sounds pretty crazy to me," Strings countered. "Anyways, now they know how bad you are. You're being sent to an insane asylum."

"What!?" I exclaimed. An insane asylum??

"Well, I'm sure the doctors will give it a nicer name. But, you're going somewhere you're never gonna come out of," they laughed. They faded from view, leaving me alone, and I fell unconscious again.

When I came back to reality, I was able to open my eyes.

Looking around, I saw that I was in a hospital room of some sorts. I was hooked up to an IV machine, the drip attached to my arm. My mother was sitting in the chair closest to me, her head lolled back in sleep. My father, and anybody else, was nowhere to be seen.

"M-Mom?" my voice creaked out.

She started awake, eyes wide and looking at me.

"Oh, darling! I was hoping you would wake soon," she cried. Tears were already forming on her lids, as if the mere sight of me brought her sadness.

"Mom, what's going on?" I asked. "Where am I?"

"Oh, honey," she murmured. "The medicine that Doctor Hoppus gave you must not be working too well."

"I was taking medicine?" I asked.

"Yes, dear, your father and I had to hide it in your drinks, because you didn't take them willingly the first time."

'The first time?' I thought to myself. I don't remember needing to take medicine...

"Aw, did Mommy and Daddy not tell you about your meds?" Strings mocked, oozing through the ceiling. I tried to ignore them and turned back to my mother, who was still talking.

"I'm sorry, dear, but it was thought to make you feel better," she sobbed. She was incomprehensible at this point.

However, a man in a white coat and holding a clipboard walked into the room, flipping through papers. He looked up and smiled.

"I'm happy to see you awake, Miss Jones," he said, happily. Strings crawled into the corner, looking at the doctor with hate in their eyes.

"What's gonna happen to me?" I cried, ignoring his pleasant appearance.

"I'm sorry, Miss," he said, now looking solemn. "But, since you're unable to recuperate at your own home, we will need to send you to a facility in California."

My mouth fell open.

"Once we release you from the hospital, you'll be sent to Metropolitan State Hospital."