The End [Completed]

10

Few weeks go by and no visitors, not even Mom and Dad. No more visions since I’ve been on the medication and still no proof. I’m certain that I’m living my nightmares and my body was still recovering. Maybe everyone was right about me and I’ve just been hallucinating all along.

Nurse Cecile hasn’t been back to the hospital since the night I had spilled my guts to her, and I thank my lucky stars for it. Since I had co operated in drinking my medication and gone to regular sessions with Dr Weston, they had given me privileges, such as allowing me to watch the news monitor with the other patients in the social area.

Some patients play games, others mostly just sit there and stare into space as if they have no idea where they are. I don’t think they genuinely know where they are. Others talk to themselves and some patients are friends and talk to each other.

One Saturday afternoon I was watching the news monitor hoping to hear about whether they had found out who had shut down the internet, it was said that there would be an official news broadcast about it. I had already believed that I had indeed hallucinated my so-called visions and that I was in the right place to get treatment.

Biting my nails as I sat on the sofa in front of the monitor, a girl came to sit next to me. She had stringy blonde hair and sharp blue eyes. She sat and looked at me and said nothing at all for a long time. I was already used to this sort of strange behaviour from patients in the facility, so I paid her no mind.

“We have confirmed that it is indeed terrorists trying to attack our country and we have the perpetrators in custody. We apologise for the long wait as we investigated this matter. We are working with our best internet specialists to restore the internet. It should be up and running again by the end of this day. Thank you for your patience.” The government official said.

I sighed and to myself I said “well, that was the proof I needed. I really am crazy.” Just as I was about to stand up and head to my room the girl put her hand on my arm and looked deep into my eyes “They’re wrong you know?” she said “What do you mean? Who’s wrong?” I asked her, frowning. Not sure if I should indulge her delusions. “They’re wrong. It wasn’t a terrorist attack. It was our own government that did that.” I just sat and stared at her wide eyed. Was this for real? Has she been having the same delusions I have? I can’t indulge this behaviour, it’s a slippery slope from here.

I made to get up again. This time she didn’t stop me, when I had reached the end of the room I heard her saying “They’re coming for you Cattleya. You should run.” I stopped dead in my tracks and turned slowly on my heel but when I looked back, the girl was gone.

Getting to my room the words the girl had spoken spun around in my head, giving me a headache. What did she mean they’re coming for me? How could I run? And how did she know all this?

As my mind raced, the nurse came in to call me “you have a visitor, Cattleya.” He said. This surprised me even more. Was it the government? Was it one of my parents? What had happened to them? Why hadn’t they come to visit me before? I made my way to the visitor’s room and as I opened the door, a blonde-haired boy sat at the table, and I was angry as all hell.

I was just about to turn around and head back to my room when he said “Cattleya, it wasn’t me I swear.” “How dare you come here,” I spat at him, my whole body shaking with rage so much that it felt as if the room was shaking too. “Who the hell do you think you are coming here? I told you all of that in confidence and the very next day I’m dragged away from my life to come here? Do you even know what I’ve been through?” “Cattleya, please? Just listen. We don’t have much time, please? I can explain everything if you’d just listen” he gestured for me to sit but I couldn’t I paced the room trying to get rid of the energy bouncing around within me, causing my headache to worsen to the point of pounding. “Cattleya, it was your father.” I stopped and glared at him in disbelief. “How dare you blame my father for something that YOU did! My father didn’t even know about my second vision. You were the only one who knew about that Adam!”

“It’s not true. The morning we were talking. He overheard us. As I was leaving your house I heard that your parents were awake, the window was open in your living area and I was walking past when I heard him mention that you had a boy in your room. I stopped to listen because I wanted to hear everything he had heard us speaking about. He heard everything Cattleya. Your parents were the ones that had called the officials on you.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. So that is why they hadn’t come to visit me? “So why haven’t you come here before to tell me all this?” I asked him, still suspicious “Your parents had the doctors ban anybody from visiting you here. When I came here that first day, the nurse in front said that they were told to let nobody in to see you.” When I looked at him, his eyes told me he was being truthful, and he was sincere. “How did you get in now?” I asked him, this time sitting across from him at the table. He sat down too, as he’d stood when he saw how angry I was and started pacing. He took my hands in his “I’ve been coming back everyday since that first day, despite them telling me the same thing every day. The nurse finally took pity on me and told me I could come see you, briefly. We don’t have much time, but I needed you to know that I didn’t tell anybody about what you had told me. I would never have you put in a place like this.” He spoke so softly and slowly making sure I knew how genuine he was being. I could see that he was a very sweet, sincere person. How had I not noticed this in him before?

Maybe I had and that made the betrayal, or what I thought he had done, that much more painful. I couldn’t even think about how hurt I was by my own family. How could they do this to me? I was their only daughter and I thought I had meant more.

Boom!!!

The ground shook, and the ceiling cracked. Dust flying, and Adam and I ducked under the table. Adam ran to the window to see what was happening. “Oh. My, God!” his whisper barely audible. He turned to me and said “You were right this whole time. It’s starting Cattleya, we have to run. Right now!”

Before I could grasp anything, he was saying he grabbed my hand and pulled me out into the hall way. Heading for the door we saw officials everywhere, people dressed in black with machine guns running in through the front door. Adam pulled me into an empty room to hide us both as they ran past the room. We heard them talking, over the radio one of the officials said “the girl is not in her room, sir” with a response of “Well, find her! She couldn’t have gone anywhere.”

“Adam, they’re talking about me.” I told him with wide eyes, still not able to believe or understand why they’re after me. The girl in the social room was right. I wonder how she knew. Before I knew it, Adam had pulled us into the hall again and we ran for dear life for that exit, the sign flashing red and looking like freedom.

“STOP!!” I heard behind me, as I turned to see who it was, an official was inches away from grabbing my other hand. I hadn’t realised how close one of them had gotten to me, the fright of this sent my head into a tailspin and abruptly everything and everyone froze.