Stella Starlet

Hallucinate

My eyes fluttered open, the soft sunlight illuminating my bedroom. 

How the hell did I get here? 

When I leaned up, my head was pounding with pain. 

The voice. Carter. Blood. Grave. 

The memories came flooding back to me incredibly quickly that I felt dizzy. 

"Oh, you're finally awake," a voice said as they entered the room. Carter.

"No, no." I put my head in my hands. 

You're not real. You're dead. 

"Stella, what's wrong?" He asked gingerly, placing a hand softly on my shoulder.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me!" I screamed as I jumped out of the bed, backing up into a wall.

"What the hell? What's wrong with you?" He asked, confused and frustrated as he slowly walked towards me. 

"Don't come near me. You're not real." My breathing was heavy.

"I'm not real? What's going on with you?" 

"This isn't real. This isn't real," I repeated to myself.

This was another game that my mind was playing with me. Carter was dead. He was buried in my backyard. 

-

Carter's Point of View

-

Stella kept shouting and yelling at me. She was acting like I wanted to hurt her, kept yelling that this "wasn't real."

I was beyond confused.

Of course I had speculation that the reason she was passed out in her backyard had something to do with it. It was thunder storming for Christ's sake, obviously something was wrong with her.

She didn't show up for class that day and I stopped by her house to check on her. I rang the doorbell three times but there was no answer.

I remember her having a bad habit of not locking the back doors so I made my way to the back of the house. I was worried that something bad had happened to her.

My suspicions were proven correct when I found her on the ground, unconscious, in the pouring rain. 

After I brought her inside, I noticed that there were three holes in the wall and I was beyond confused. Bullet holes?  Why would Stella have random bullet holes in her house?

Unless that person who she was running from had found her. But, it didn't seem to be the case as I was carrying her up the stairs to her bedroom. 

It didn't make sense at all. 

"God, Stella calm down! What's going on?" I asked desperately, my heart breaking at her cowering figure, shaking in the corner of the room. Her hands were gripping her hair tightly and her eyes were wide open. 

I made my way towards her again, ever so slowly. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she whispered another "you're not real" at me. 

"Stella, I'm real. I'm here. It's really me, Carter. Remember, I'm your teacher," I spoke slowly, with extreme caution. "I'm an artist and writer, I made a whole exhibit on you in my gallery. I stayed by your side when you were in a coma."

I could see her body slightly relaxing, her facial features loosening up. 

"Good God, we slept together the other night. Well, we had sex one night and then literally slept in the same bed together. I used to call you Ada and you're running from someone, that's why you moved here."

Her glassed-over eyes proceeded to leak tears as she ran over to me and hugged me tightly. "I thought you were dead," she sobbed into my chest.

Dead?

"No, I'm alive and I'm right here."

"I don't know what's real anymore." Stella continued to sob in my chest.

Her mental state was deeply concerning, I knew I had to get her help. She wouldn't be able to survive if she kept on the way she was.

-

I saw patiently in the waiting room. 

Stella and I booked her a psychiatrist appointment and Stella asked me to be there for her.

I was afraid for her. She never confessed as to what happened earlier today when she was screaming like a banshee at me. 

I wasn't going to press her for an answer, either.

When the door finally opened, the beamed at me as the doctor followed.

After they talked for a while, Stella and I left.

Once we were back at her house, Stella sat down and patted the space next to her, implying me to sit there. 

"She said she wants to see me a couple times more to give a formal, more accurate diagnosis," she voiced when I sat down.

"Does she have any idea as to what's going on?" I asked carefully,  choosing my words with extreme precaution. 

"She said she believes I'm somewhere on the schizophrenic spectrum." Stella put her head in her hands. "How did this happen?" She asked, her voice cracking with sorrow. 

I hugged her tightly, my heart clenching with woe. 

"I'm scared. Oh God, Carter, I'm so scared."

"Did you want me to stay with you? I mean, for a little until you feel better?"

She finally looked up and nodded. A stray tear slipping down her cheek which I wiped away. 

I kissed her forehead gently. "I won't let anything hurt you. I promise."

_____

Sorry for the short chapter!

Hope you all are doing well!

Best,

Victoria xoxo