Insane

Chapter 7

I know people talk about me. Think I'm crazy. But why should they think otherwise? No one ever proved them to be wrong.

"Ashwin!" It was Lily. We were sitting in the library and I must have spaced out again.

"Hm?" I asked lazily and Lily rolled her eyes.

"I swear. You are absolutely unbelievable sometimes," she huffed. "I asked you a question."

I continued to stare at her blankly.

"The Lord is testing me," Lily said, tilting her head back to looked at the ceiling. "I asked if you've been feeling better."

Just the thought of being sick made my stomach lurch. "Sure," I choked out and rubbed my eyes.

"Stop telling me what you think I want to hear."

"Well. Do you want to hear that I'm feeling better?"

"Only if that's the truth." Lily fixed me with a stern look. Her blue eyes were slightly narrowed, a look I've grown quite used to our odd friendship.

I sighed. "You need to quit worrying about me. I'll be fine," I assured and tapped my pencil against the table.

"I can't not worry about you, Ash. That's my job," Lily pointed out and crossed her thin arms.

"Between you, Zeal, and Daniel, I think I'm pretty well taken care of," I mocked her position and cocked an eyebrow.

"It's because you've grown on us, Mr. Greene," Lily said and her expression softened.

I awkwardly shifted in my seat. "I...I-ah. Thanks," I managed to choke out before looking down at my lap.

I knew Lily's smile wouldn't fade for a while, which actually kind of bothered me for some unknown reason. "You can quit that."

"Quit what?" She asked, her smile only growing wider.

"That," I said, pointing to her mouth. "The smiling."

"Now what is wrong with smiling, exactly?"

I just grumbled something I didn't even understand and crammed my books into my backpack.

"You're leaving me already?" Lily asked with a pout.

I nodded and shouldered my backpack and texted my mother before quickly walking to the bathroom and got sick.

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I groaned and rubbed my temples with my fingers. A headache had wormed its way into my brain and decided that knocking on my skull would be a fun activity. A boy stuck in his past. More like a boy stuck in his own head.

"Ashwin?" It was my mother's soft voice from my doorway.

I looked up at her and smiled weakly. She has brought me some tomato soup. She handed me the bowl and sat beside me on the bed.

"Your father and I are worried about you, Ashwin," she began. "We think....we think maybe you should go get all this checked out..?"

I knew she knew I wouldn't be very happy about this proposition. She was right.

"Mom," I said slowly. "You have got to be kidding me. You can't send me back to that prison."

"But Ash. Take a look at yourself. You've been throwing up and not eating and..." They were tears in her eyes and I hated seeing her like this. "And...you're loosing so much weight and..." She was sobbing now. "You've been so weak."