Fantasy or Reality (Life is Strange Fanfic) (Completed)

Episode 1

Photo Credit: https://daniellehope.deviantart.com/art/Camera-Girl-114875318

"Click, click, you're useless, weak, pathetic."  Those were the words that echoed around Flora every day since she could remember.  When she got a little older the voices got louder and the creatures became real.  Schizophrenia.  The mental disorder that has haunted Flora for many years and is continuing to haunt her now. 

      Today was the day she was going to be moving out of her comfort zone, Blackwell Academy the prestige art school Flora had been dreaming about for years.  Even with all her issues they still accepted her to the school because of her amazing art and photography skills.  Skills she acquired because of the mental illness that haunted her every day.  Flora was nervous about the new school, what if no one liked her?  What if they found out about her schizophrenia?  What if the voices got louder?

      "Flora, you need to relax.  If you don't want to do this I can always take you back home and we can continue with homeschooling," Savannah Lewis, single and struggle mother of Flora Lewis. She was always so worried about her daughter and her illness, unfortunately, the small family didn't have the money for treatment.  "I'm alright mother, if I start to feel really bad I'll call you to come and get me.  I hope I don't get too bad because I really want to go to this school, it's been a dream of mine to go here for many years," Flora said as she watched the trees fly by the car.

      The rest of the ride was filled with a comforting silence, the closer they got to Blackwell, the more paranoid Flora felt.  It was a feeling that was always accompanied by whispers and mild hallucinations.  The voices were unintelligible but they still bothered her, why is this happening to her?  Why did she have to go through these things?

      As soon as the car stopped the voices and illusions came to an immediate stop, giving Flora a bit of peace.  "Alright love, this is it.  If you want me to turn around and go home I am more than willing to do it," Flora shook her head and got out of the car, grabbing her suitcases and other things.  "I don't want to go back, I'm going to do this mom.  I want to do this no matter what," Savannah was proud of how strong willed her daughter was but in the back of her mind she knew something was going to happen.

      Call it a woman's intuition or just being a mother, but she felt deep in her heart that this was going to be the last time she would see her daughter.  "Promise me you're going to call me every day so I know you're alright," Flora nodded as her mother pulled her into one last hug.  "Ok, love have fun and please don't forget to call me. Please," Flora smiled and waved before heading to the dorms.  She looked down at the paper in her hands and nodded, it said room 225.  The dorm was very easy to find considering everyone was trying to move all their things in and get to know their new neighbors.

      Flora wasn't feeling the whole welcome wagon thing, she just wanted to go to her new home and veg out by herself.  Thankfully for her, the room was in the corner of the back of the dorm and she didn't have a next-door neighbor.  At least not one that she knows about.  It didn't take long for Flora to unpack all her things, she still had a little over a week before school started so while she was feeling alright it was probably best to look around.

      Flora slipped on her shoes and left the room, the other girls were moving around the dorm chatting unpacking things and just enjoying their last week of summer.  She slowly walked through the dorm and ran into a girl holding a box.  The box fell along with her things along with one of the many hallucinations that scurried away as it fell to the floor.

      "Sorry I can't really see over the box," Flora looked over at the girl in front of her, she looked so plain to her.  Short brown hair, freckles, blue eyes, and boring clothing.  Flora helped her pick up the things that fell out of the box before getting up.  "It's ok, I wasn't paying attention either.  It was probably my fault since I was focusing on other things," Flora said looking down at her feet, the anklet on her foot shined from the fluorescent lights in the hall.

      "Are you new here? Wait that was a stupid question everyone here is new," Flora found herself chuckling at the girl's comment.  "I'm Flora Lewis, my room is in isolation just how I like it," The girl pointed to the door she was standing beside and gave a small shy smile. "Max Caulfield, this is my going to become my favorite cocoon," Max looked over Flora, she was pretty and obviously girly judging by her brightly colored glasses, pink flowery dress and sparkly silver shoes.  The thing that made Flora so intriguing were her eyes, one was bright blue and seemed to stare into your very existence while the other was a warm chocolatey brown that was inviting.

      Max didn't realize she was staring so hard until Flora moved to let someone pass by, she was so interested in getting to know her but didn't know how to go about doing it.  "Well, I'll leave you to it, it was nice to meet you Max," Flora said before waving and walking down the rest of the hall.  Max watched her walk down the hall with a light blush sprinkled across her face, she repeated her name over and over in her head before pulling out her camera and taking a photo.

      Flora walked out of the girl's dormitories and took in her surroundings; the birds were chirping and everything felt nice and tranquil. A feeling that she wasn't used to feeling but one she could get used too.  "Hello, are you deaf?" Flora snapped back to reality before meeting the eyes of a short haired blonde.  All the vibes she gave off make her feel uncomfortable and nervous.  The blonde pushed her out of the way and walked in the dormitories with two other girls behind her.

       "Useless, worthless, just die," The voices started up again, it was coming, she could feel it's presence making its way to her.  She turned and bolted back in the dormitories and to her room locking the door.  She heard the heavy footsteps coming closer followed by whispers of insults and all her insecurities.  Flora jumped on the bed and pulled the blankets over her head and tried to remember what her mother told her but the loud banging on the door was distracting and terrifying her.  In a second everything was quiet, no voices and no more pounding on the door.  Any person that was new to this situation would think it was all said and done but Flora knew better and stayed hidden under the covers.  She heard the door unlocked and slowly creaked open, and heavy footsteps moved over to the bed.  "You can't hurt me because you're not real. You are a trick of the mind and you can't hurt me," Flora said to herself, her mind was spinning and she wanted someone beside her to chase the invisible monsters away especially this one.

      She had never seen this hallucination but it was the most frightening of them all, the others she could tolerate but this one set her on edge.  It told her horrible things but it never showed itself, not that she gave it a chance to show itself.  She usually hid or covered her eyes when it was close to avoid seeing want kind of twisted being her mind projected.  This particular hallucination only ever showed a dark clawed hand or hid in the shadows at night taunting.  The atmosphere shifted and everything felt calm again, Flora sighed before slowly pulling the covers off her body, she opened her eyes slowly and was alone in the bedroom.

      She went to the other side of her room and grabbed her medicine bag, her mother made sure to pack all the pills she needed to feel somewhat better without using anything too damaging. Well, as damaging as you can get while taking pills.  Flora popped half of a sleeping pill in her mouth before falling back on the bed.  Might as well go to bed now before any more weird things start to happen again, she thought as she started to drift off into a dreamless slumber.