Insanity

Chapter Four

Everything hurts. My body is on fire.
What happened?, I ask myself, gazing in awe at the bandages wrapped around my hands, arms and legs. What did I do?
I sit up in bed with a groan, glancing around the bedroom. A note rests on the nightstand on top of my phone, which I pick up, reading the words written in Jake's handwriting.
Cupcake-
Stay in bed. You're hurt, but you'll be fine. I went to pick up your new meds, but I'll be back soon. Call me if you need or want anything at all.
-Jake
I set the paper back where I found it and turn on my phone, taking note of the low battery, checking the time yet again before unlocking it.
7:21.
I call Jake and lay back down, biting my lip as the phone rings, grunting as pain engulfs me in a raging fire with the tiniest of movements.
"Hey Hon", my fiancé answers after a moment. "Are you feeling better?"
"What happened?", I ask groggily, ignoring his question. "What did I do?"
"Darling, it doesn't matter", he replies. "What matters is that you're okay."
"I want to know. Please tell me."
"You decided to use all of the knives in the kitchen to turn yourself into art", Jake tells me gently. "Some of the cuts were deep enough to need stitches."
I cover my mouth with one bandaged hand, hot tears slipping down my skin. "No. I wouldn't do that. I would never."
"It wasn't you, Cupcake. It's over now. You're safe."
"I- I'm dangerous", I stammer, sitting up straight, ignoring the intense sting "I'm crazy."
"Don't say that", he answers. "You are not crazy, you're just-"
"Different? Normal people don't hallucinate, and normal people don't do things that they don't remember!"
"Please, don't talk like this", Jake begs me from the other end of the call. "I'm just picking up a few things and then I'm coming home, alright?"
"No, you have to stay away from me!", I exclaim, throwing the covers off of my body. "You can come home, but I'm locking myself in the bathroom."
"I'll knock the door down."
"I don't want to hurt you."
"You'll hurt me if you do this", he replies gently, his voice rising slightly as he pleads with me form his end of the call "Just stay in bed, okay? I have the medicine; you can take it when I get back."
"When will that be?", I ask, slowly, covering myself with the blankets again. "I miss you."
"Twenty minutes or so, I guess", Jake answers. "Think you can last that long?"
I sigh, trying to calm my racing heartbeat and say, "I-I think so."
"Good. Do you want me to stay on the phone?"
"No, I think I'm good now."
"Alright. Are you still in bed?", he asks.
"Yes."
"Stay there", my fiancé commands gently. "You need to heal."
"Okay. I won't leave", I promise quietly, resting my head on my pillow, gazing at the ceiling with a million different thoughts in my brain, each one more and more confusing than the last.
What is going on?
-----
After a long while, I hear the lock on the bedroom door click before opening.  I keep my eyes shut as Jake walks over to the bed and gently climbs up onto the mattress beside me, quietly stroking my tangled hair without saying anything.
I keep my breathing slow and even, but after a minute, my fiancé kisses my neck, automatically making my body tense up.
"Jake?", I ask sleepily, rolling onto my back. "You're back."
"I am", he says softly, smiling down at me. "How're you doing?"
"Well, everything hurts, but I'll be fine", I say back, forcing myself to sit up, resting my bandaged hand on his knee. "What did you get?"
"Meds, dinner and dessert."
I perk up immediately. "Can I have them?"
"Of course", Jake answers. "I'll be back."
I watch him get up and walk out the door before rolling over to his side of the bed.
"Jake?", I call.
"Yes?", he yells back.
"What are you doing?"
"Making spaghetti", my fiance shouts. "Do you need something?"
"I was just wondering."
"Go back to sleep. I'll wake you when it's ready."
"Alright."
But instead I reach over to his nightstand and open the drawer to find the phone charger, rummaging through a copy of his favorite book, a flashlight, a packet of cough drops and other knickknacks until suddenly, my fingers brush against something smooth. I pull it out and gasp.
A phone with a turqoise case. It matches the one I saw in my flash. The phone that belongs to me.
I turn it on.
So many messages from a contact labelled "Dad".
I turn it off. I'll read them tomorrow when Jake goes to work.
I put it away before taking out what I needed in the first place and quietly shutting the drawer and closing  my eyes.
Maybe the flashes aren't lies after all.
I sigh, wiggling farther underneath the covers so that the blankets cover my head.
"We'd be happy to return your daughter to you", Jake says. "But that's not going to happen until my associate and I have what we want."
"What do you want?"
"Money. Weapons. You can get us those. Once they're in our possesion, you'll get your daughter back."
"And if I don't agree to your terms?", the man asks through the phone.
"Have you ever heard of electroshock therapy?", Jake asks, making a gesture to Zack, who walks to the back of the room and returns a minute later, slipping what I think are headphones over my ears.
"Yes."
"My partner and I have acquired the equipment to perform this type of therapy. If it's used on a person who doesn't need it, the electricity can wipe their memories, or even drive them insane if the voltage were high enough."
"You wouldn't dare", that man growls. "You would never do that to my daughter. You're bluffing."
"Actually, I really would. Do as we ask, and we'll return her to you, unharmed, with her memories and sanity intact", Jake says diplomatically. "But if you don't, not only will she never remember her father, she'll never see you ever again either."
"I don't believe you."
"Then I'll give a small demonstration." He pulls out the flip phone again, and suddenly, pain, unbelievable pain, fills my brain and I let out an piercing scream, my body involuntarily jerking in the chair, squeezing my eyes shut, fear passing over me in waves.
Is this how I die?