Strength |✔️

sixteen

Alisha

My eyes are wandering back and forth as then open incredulously. I am lying on some type of bed, and my hands and feet are stiff. I slowly move them, and they feel numb and dead. What is going on? I look at my surroundings and it seems as if I'm in a hospital bedroom. And how did I get here?

My mind feels woozy and shaky, as if I spun around in circles about five hundred times. My stomach is aching as it grumbles for food. I feel so weak right now, I might as well be dead. I slowly get up from the bed and I set weight on my feet as they touch the ground. My legs are shaking, so I grab the bedding rails to grab balance of myself.

I walk out the door and see a narrow hallway leading somewhere. I look and see there's a bathroom. I go to the bathroom, feeling my legs wobble but still seem to balance myself. Opening the door, I see a miniscule bathroom that immediately shows a mirror right in front of me. Squinting my eyes and searching for a light switch, I pluck it up and hiss as the LED lights flicker on.

I look in the bathroom mirror, and goddamn, I look like a mess. My hair is in a mess, and I really need to wash it. My eyes are dried out and red, maybe because I've been crying so much. There are bags underneath and spots are showing up on my skin, which might be acne. I touch my face and feel that it's burning hot, though I know I don't have a fever. Huh, that's weird.

I see that I'm wearing a hospital gown that barely covers my thighs. I feel my body through my hospital gown and all I feel are ribs and bones, barely any skin. I probably have lost so much weight, though I don't even remember what happened and what I am doing here in this hospital. Sniffling, I go to the light switch and turn it off, before my self esteem drops anymore.

Opening the door again, I peer to my right and see one part of the hallway. My legs shake as I slowly place them on each tile, careful not to step on the line, which is a weird habit of mine. Suddenly feeling very cold, I shiver and cross my arms, my teeth chattering. A whoosh of air whistles past my ear, making that side of my body feel dead cold. My eyes widen and look where the whoosh of air had gone by.

Feeling curious, I start to walk in the opposite direction and a little faster, ignoring my shaking legs. The air I hear, which is very weird, comes nearer to me. Suddenly, there is an intersection in the hallway, and I don't know which way it went. Taking the risk, I go for the right section.

I immediately hear a woman screaming, screeching into my ears. I groan and plop to the ground, screaming in the pain. The woman's voice began as low-pitched, and slowly turned into this screeching high pitched voice in a matter of seconds. I grit my teeth and close my ears, trying to get rid of the screeching high pitched woman's voice. Then, it stops.

I take a deep breath. Finally. It's over. I slowly get up, feeling as if this hospital does not want me here. Suddenly, I hear noises coming from a room beside me. It sounds like a man and a woman talking, but they seem so familiar, the voices. Letting my curiosity get the best of me, my feet lead me to the room.

I slowly peer through the door and see a woman, who looks like a short, skinny, Indian woman perched on the bed, putting her arms up in surrender and I see her face drenched in sweat, or maybe even tears. I hear their conversation loud and clear and that's when I realize who it is..

Mom and Dad.

I make a gasping sound, but they immediately stop talking and look towards my direction. I slap a hand against my mouth to stop me from making noises from my mouth. When they look away, I take the hand away from my mouth and peer inside, trying to listen.

"-we have a daughter, James." My mother's sweet voice resonates, making me feel whole again. A smile creeps on me, and a tear drops as well. Oh, how I missed her and her voice. "We can't do this to her, she's five. Now can you please take that gun away from me?" she whimpers.

James laughs, and presses the gun towards my mother's forehead. My heart is bursting, and I feel like I should do something about this, but I can't move. It feels as if my feet are glued to the ground, and no matter how hard I try to move, I just can't. "I used to love you. But now I don't. And you are going to have to deal with it, Lena."

My mom breaks into tears. "James, I- I can't believe this. Not after what you've done to me before I-"

He grabs my mom's shirt and grabs it into his fists. "What we had that night is going to stay between us." What?

"But you raped me, James," she says sternly. "I didn't want to have sex, yet you still forced to do so-"

"Oh shut your mouth, Lena, it will do us both some good." Anger boils through me. At first I thought he couldn't get any worse than this; but now that he raped her? He's a monster. James releases my mom's shirt and pokes the gun on her forehead.

"James, please. Please reconsider this."

And the rest goes into blur. They start yelling at each other, and my heart beats. My leg wobbles and I push myself up, and burst through the door. None of them react; as if i'm a ghost.

I'm a ghost.

My breath catches in my throat as I look at my parents. I touch my mom and my hand goes right through her. Gasping, I quickly pull it back.

Their voices seem like they've been drowned underwater, so I can't really get the silhouette of what they're trying to say. They are screaming at each other, and I see James's hands moving along the trigger. I wish I could stop this, but I know this isn't real. It's a scene reenactment. A flashback. I'm a ghost.

I close my eyes as I wait for the moment to come, the big final moment. Squeezing my eyes shut, a loud bang clears through the room, and tears spill through my eyes. My lip wobbles as I open my eyes and see my mom, her eyes wide open and a tear falling out of one of them. Her hands are laid out and there is blood pooling from her chest. I gag at the reeking smell and look away. This reenactment sure seems pretty real.

I turn around and see James, his face which was full of sneer and sarcasm turned to regret and fault. He mutters to himself, and then the door opens.

I turn around and see a five year old girl burst through the door, holding a doll. That's me. I go up to her, or me, and look at me. Her eyes are full of confusion and she says, "Daddy? What happened?"

A sob escapes from my mouth. I can't look at this anymore. Ignoring the scene, I run out the door and ignoring my wobbling legs, I run and run and run, as long as my body can take me.

************************************************************************************

A/N:

Sorry for the short chapter, guys. This chapter is a reenactment, or a hallucination of Alisha's, so it is supposed to be pretty short. Hope you guys liked this chapter though! I wanted yall to get how Alisha felt mentally and physically during this chapter, due to her psychiatric episode.

Stay tuned for future chapters, though!

-ru <3