The Truth

Saturday

It's going exactly as planned! I've been writing the whole morning, taking breaks with every page I finish. I just have one more page to do today, then I'll go to Hout Bay.

I write about my main character, Danny Clark, feeling depressed. He rolls a joint because the process sometimes calms him. It works, unlike it did for me last night, and he doesn't even need to smoke it to feel better.

I realise that this is not about Danny Clark at all. It doesn't fit into his character arc. But who cares? It's good writing, and it's a start to my career. I'm fine. This day has started amazingly, and every day will be like this. I just need to keep to my plan.

I get into my car, and drive towards Hout Bay. Some of the malaise returns, but nothing I can't handle. Once I start experiencing the joys of the natural world, I'll be back on top of things.

I arrive at Hout Bay beach. I leave my slops and tank top in the car, and walk towards the sea. My chest is light again, and it's getting harder to breathe. I take quick shallow breaths, trying to stay calm. I'm scared. I'm at this beach, around people I don't know and can't relate to, and if I panic now, I'm stuck here. There is no one to take care of me.

I move more quickly towards the sea. If I can just get there, I can do what my psychologist once told me - appreciate nature, the grooves in the rocks, study the sponges. That will stop the monotony, won't it? I take in the beauty of each individual wave. It's so boring. I walk towards where I last saw the sponges. They're still there. I pour water on them. They're boring. I don't care about sponges. Why did I think this could help? Just because there are lots of details to life, doesn't make it not boring. It's too boring to distract me from this indefinable pain that sits at my core. It's an emotional pain, but it's physical too. I can feel that the chemicals aren't balanced. It's my fault for stopping with Cymgen. If I knew I could feel like this... but I should have known. I've felt this way before. I just forgot how bad it was.

I don't know where I'm going to go, or what I'll do when I get there. If I get there. There's nowhere to get. Nowhere to run. This is inside me. Maybe I'll write again. That helped this morning. But then what happens when I get bored with that? Or have to stop to eat. This is the worst beach to be stuck at. These are all pretentious aristocrats, leading a life I would hate. A life of boredom. I really need to be home, safe. What more powerful a place is there than a beach to make you feel all alone? I was so fucking stupid in coming here.

I get back in my car and drive towards the house. I groan from the pain. I can't stop groaning, not even to make a more apt noise. I arrive back at the house. I phone my mom. She's a last resort, because I know she couldn't help even if she was here. My dad could make things better, but he's dead. She's now worried about me. She keeps phoning me. Calling her was a mistake.

I remember that, last night, smoking weed helped. I roll a joint. The process does not calm me. I smoke it halfway, then stub it out. I walk to a beautiful spot nearby, with a small lake, surrounded by trees. A little distance away is a father with his kid or kids and maybe his wife and maybe others. There is an indeterminate amount of related people, is what I mean to say.

I sit and smoke. It makes me even more disoriented than I already was. Despair and panic build up in my chest. This pain will never leave, because the world is full of pain and I know it for a fact. I know it for a fact because I feel it, and the feeling is the most real feeling I've ever felt.

I walk back to the house and panic. I roll around on the bed. The despair has closed in on me. The world has nothing for me but pain. No beauty can brighten that darkness. The pain is a fist around my heart, slowly squeezing. I take sleeping pills. I fall asleep. I wake up. I'm totally disoriented. Every moment is hell. Hell times a thousand. A second is much worse. A minute is too much to think about.

I phone Aron. He doesn't answer. He calls back. I tell him I'm depressed and I can't handle it. He tells me I can pick him up if I want. I do that. Stupid, stupid.

"Let's go to Clifton," Aron says. "Clifton's the sort of place that makes you happy. D'you know what I mean?"

We go to Clifton and stand by something that looks like a cave. It's probably a rock. I can't focus. He smokes a cigarette, and I tell him how bleak life is. I don't know what I'm saying. All I know is I need to get away from here. I need to get back home, away from Clifton and away from Aron too. But I don't know how I'll do it.

I get to the car, somehow. I drive him back to the residence at his university. He's worried about me. I drive home. I lie on my bed. I stand up. I pace. I take some sleeping pills. I lie down and roll around. I panic. I call my mom again. She's going to book me a ticket home for tomorrow. I don't think I can make it through the wait at the airport, and definitely not the flight. But I tell her to book.

I phone Dr Schneider. He doesn't answer. I message him that I'm really desperate. Later he messages me that I can come by tomorrow morning and he'll help me out.

Rhandzu asks if I want to go with her to Mia's place. I go, have a glass of wine, get totally disoriented but feel much better. I'm barely awake as we walk back to our place and I get into bed and fall asleep right away.