Swallowing Glass

Chapter Two: Can't Accept A Lie... Part One

           Sleep is an escape for me. Yet it’s the loneliest escape imaginable. It’s an escape from the chaos. It’s an escape from the paranormal abnormality of my life. The only thing that I can’t escape in sleep is the voices in my head. I’ve had them since I first touched the mirror after Danny’s untimely death. The migraine started and then came the voices.

          Sometimes they are in Danny’s voice and sometimes in Madison’s. The one voice that hurts the most is Kaitlen’s and the voices are almost always hers. The voices insult me and support my darkest thoughts. I just can’t seem to tune them out. They are whispered or screamed. I hear them even in my sleep. They haunt my dreams and inject my nightmares with anesthesia that keeps me in them for what seems like forever.

          Electricity flashed passed my eyes and pulled me into a deeper nightmare. I stood against a brick wall, hiding in the dark. My mouth felt dry and chalky with fear. Tears boiled in my eyes and dripped down my face. I hid there wiping my blood off my lip and my thigh. I was in a basement .I heard footsteps on the stairs above me.

          ‘Kaaaaaathryynnnnn?’I heard the person call to me in a creepy tone. My heart skipped multiple beats. In my dream I knew the owner of the piercing voice, but I didn’t know who it belonged to in reality. The voice was so familiar and creeped slowly down the rickety wooden stairs. I pressed myself deeper into a corner. The owner of the voice jumped into view.

          It was Kaitlen. Her nose bled a dark crimson blood. Fire burned in her eyes and her blonde hair was dyed black and neon blue. Her eyeliner was pasted on like charcoal. A kitchen knife hung out of her skinnyjean’s pocket and a handgun aimed at my head. Anger and hated reflected off her young face.

          ‘Hi, mom.’ She said behind her gun and her smile. My eyes forced shut tightly as I waited for trigger to be pulled. Kaitlen cocked the gun.

          ‘Kathy, are you okay!?’ my eyes fluttered open very quickly. My vision was blurry with exhaustion. I saw Madison standing above me with a worried expression to her face. I realized that I was sweating badly and the tears from my dream had been shed in reality.

          ‘No.’ I said quite honestly. Today was worse than the normal abnormal days. I hadn’t had a dream with Kaitlen trying to kill me before. Mad, yes, but never this serious.

          ‘Nightmare again?’

          ‘Yeah. I guess.’ I said. Maddie sat on the edge of the Jacuzzi I was sleeping in. Her face showed sympathy.

          ‘What happened?’

          ‘Kaitlen.’ I said, not having the energy to lie. ‘She tried to kill me… I think she succeeded too.’ I rubbed my eyes and forehead. My migraine erupted again. I let out a screech. Maddie didn’t know what to say.Her expression was blank. She didn’t want to say anything. She stood up and pulled a plate of dinner off the counter top.

          ‘Here, I tried to bring you lunch after you asked me to leave but you were sleeping like the dead.’ She handed me the plate. I looked up at her. Again, the dinner wasn’t right either. It was fancy and delicious-looking. Normally it is, at maximum, a half a step up from a frozen TV dinner. 

          ‘Kay, what’s the deal?’ I say still trying to wake up.

          ‘I want you to try the medication.’ She announced with a very serious face.

          ‘Why would Dr. Fregner even think that I’m insane?’ I inquire while shaking my head causing my dark brown bangs fall in front of my face.