Psychotic

Chapter 20

I never thought about it before. Everyone seems to show up in my life so suddenly I forget to think about whether they have a way of being here. Did he follow me? Did he find me by chance? Everyone seems somehow connected here. James knew Scream in a not-so-nice way. Scream lived in the asylum with David, whose acquaintance with me led to me living in the asylum. I know James from the past. This is just about the weirdest coincidence ever. I don't know if I've ever seen a worse one. But I still am facing a very hard choice. Should I help him because David is hell, or should I stay here with Sophie? I can't decide. I just can't. I do wish David could just....disappear, but just as much as I dislike David, I like Sophie. I feel somehow.........protective when it comes to her. When I was younger, much younger, I wanted to have a sibling. I never got one, obviously, but I still feel about Sophie the way I think I would feel about a sibling. She's just so innocent, and, even though I know she killed her father, she is a normal little girl, with the same curiosity. At the same time, there's David. Arrogant, rude, idiotic, and somewhat tactless. Sophie feels a sort of sibling relationship between herself and David. And he's also protective over her. It's hard making choices sometimes. Sometimes it's obvious early on what you should do, and then little things alter your decision. That's the situation I'm in. If someone had asked me what side I would choose right after the first incident, there would be absolutely no question. None. I would have picked James's side. Now, there's Sophie, and her opinion started mattering. If I would pick James's side, David would, well, die. The relationship would be severed. And then Sophie would be a depressed little kid. She doesn't need the damage. On the other hand, if I choose Sophie and David's side, then what happens? James could go on a rage rampage. Then we're all screwed. Or, if you need it bluntly, dead. Or he leaves peacefully and leaves us all alone. Pfffft, like that's gonna happen. Exactly. Who has left peacefully in my life? Who has even left me normally in my life? I felt a pang in my chest as I remembered who. Patrick and Tara. They left my life. Well, actually, I left them. Why did I leave them? My mind traveled back to a few weeks ago, when I saw them for the last time. I remembered it clearly. David and Max came to the asylum and got me out, instead of letting me in there for who knows how long. They destroyed the place as well. I groaned as I realized that I owe them for that. You know what? Screw James. Screw killing David. I owe him that much. I glanced out of the window of the bare room I was sitting in. It was dark outside, only vaguely illuminated by the moon. "Alice......" I heard James's voice from the doorway. I turned to it, and, sure enough, I could see him standing there.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to keep my voice as cold as possible.

"I came to see how my absolute best friend was doing, of course!" He cheered.

"Well, I haven't seen him, but I'll send him a message if I do." I replied. He laughed.

"Oh, aren't you funny! You were always so funny!" Is he high? I don't know. Probably.

"How could you do that to Scream?" I asked, somewhat dismayed.

"Do what? The torture or the entire 'hang him on a tree' thing?" I clenched my teeth.

"Both. Why would you do that?"

"Do you even know what I did?"

"I have a vague idea."

"Well, come on, tell me." I thought hard, and came up with what seemed to me as a plausible answer.

"His family's dead. He thought he killed them. You made him relive his family dying, somehow." He shook his head, obviously discontented.

"Not quite." He walked closer to me, and knelt down, so we were on the same level. "His parents died when he was a little kid. Seven at most. He had an older brother, but he disappeared. He never felt good enough without a family, so he soon started having this delusion. He believed that his family was still there, loving and caring. One day, apparently, his imaginary family somehow managed to get itself killed. That's what he blamed himself for. That's why he ended up here. He actually thought he had killed his imaginary family!" He started laughing, then stopped abruptly. I wasn't looking at him since he was beside me. "Here's the weirder part, though. His parents, they were actually killed. People think it was his brother. I know for a fact that this is true. And should I tell you the scariest part of this story?" I shuddered, not believing that someone could kill their own parents. I nodded, to answer James's question. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him leaning closer, until he was less than an inch from my ear. I braced myself for this 'scariest part'. He then told me something that left me wide-eyed with horror. Should I tell you? Alright. His voice, it came out in a dark whisper. "That brother, his name was James Collin."