Well here's the unedited final copy! enjoy everyone!
Mind Games
By:Sarah Hagakore
The day was slowly but surly winding down and finally coming to an end, as I walked into my apartment. It was a cozy, little 3 room. The kitchen and living room were one and it had an earthy theme to it. Living in the city took me away from nature so I was always trying to find ways to replace it.
I dropped my shopping bags on the floor of my room and began to undress into my pajamas, when I tripped over my pants and smashed my head up against the desk. I quickly finished dressing so I could go to the bathroom to tend to my wound.
It didn't bleed all that much and the warm water was soothing, almost putting me to sleep. I dried my face off and slipped into my blankets. I wrapped them around my body to create a sort of cacoon for me as my mind goes onto its journey.
Running through a forest on a bright, sunny day I began to hear a muffled ring. As I walked around it grew louder. Slowly the forest began to fade. I opened my eyes to a wall of darkness. I looked over at my clocked which bright red numbers stared at me.
"One Thirty," I moaned. At first I planned not to answer it but then the thought of it being and emergency crept up to me. So I weirly pulled myself out of bed. As I did the phone stopped ringing. I hesitated for a moment then it began to ring again. The obsticals the darkness created for me made it hard to find the phone, but I did.
Just as I asnwered I relized it was the broken one. Now chilled as I looked at its battery that lay on the desk. My pulse was picking up speed, beating faster and faster. My legs were becoming weak so I began to stiffly, decend into a wooden chair that was next to me. Just today I bought a new cell. It was hard to get, considering the throngs of people in the stores, due to "Black Friday." I truly have no clue why I don't throw things like this out. For a few seconds all that could be heard was static and heavy breathing. Then laughter. This laugh was so joyus. I couldn't have it, the nerve of some people!
Angrily I jumped up and began, "Ya know wh-" Tthen it went dead. Just as dead as the person had sounded. I was startled and even more bewildered as to what had just happened. Now sitting in the scilence of the dark, quiet night I concentrated on my phone. The street lights that shimmered through the open slits of my blinds bounced off the black screen. Breathing angrily in disappointment, I threw my phone at the wall, it bounced off and landed back on the desk. Fortunatly the force had been unitentionally innocuious, leaving no punctures in the wall.
I sat back down till I became cold and threw myself onto the bed. Hopelessly I laid there and forced myself to close my eyes. Hours went by that I was awake. I was too tiered to be obsessing over something that just couldn't be. Without realizing it I passed out. When I awoke it was bright out. The sun was burning my eyes . Still tiered from only sleeping twenty minutes I pulled myself out of bed.
As I walked to my door my alarm clock started playing a tune on it's radio. I whipped myself around and dizzily tripped back into my door, watching my clock.The numbers started rolling forward then everything stopped and went blank. Shakily I picked it up to observe it. Oddly enough the wire seemed to be cut. When I checked the wall for the other half, it wasn't even there. Now I knew whatever was going on couldn't be ignored. I needed to do something, I just didn't know where to start.
Still tiered, I couldnt take a shower now afraid something bad could happen. I got dressed, I was planning to go to the library to see if they had any supernatural books or something of the sort to help me out. When I finally went to go out, the door was wide open. I stopped dead in my tracks. Holding my breathe out of suspence something was going to happen, I passed out. The last thing I saw was blurs. Maybe just me loosing oxygen or possibly something else.
When I awoke my head was pounding, like there were a little man in there beating on my skull. As I went to stand I plopped back down. I had then relized I wasn't where I had passed out. I look over to where it had happend and everything was tipped over, like a twister just ripped through it. I was really starting to get nervous. Now whatever has been happening is doing it worse. I got up, I needed to get an asprin, I can't do anything with a migrain. I went to get some tap water. I turned the fauset. First nothing happend. Then loud sounds like screeching of new chalk against a board. I covered my ears. The water gushed out spilling all over the place. I jumped back, again it stopped then flowed like it would have. I waited a few seconds before going back to the sink. I stepped over and turned it off. I thought it'd be safer if I walked over to a neighbors. I was glad it was still light out. I wasn't planning on spending anymore time in what had become a hell hole.
I rushed out the door. I figured I'd save the neighbor the trouble and swallowed my pills. I was practically booking it down the street. Bumping into a lot of people who seemed more agitated today than ever. Sighing in relief, finally making to somewhere safe. I walked in the first door to the apartment building and beeped in.
"Hey looser! Still live here?" chuckling to myself I waited for the sweet reply of his voice.
"Janette, what are you doing here so unexpected?"
"Well, are you going to let me up?" I smiled.
"Uh, I kind of am doing something at the moment, you should have called first, sorry." Shocked I turned and pounded into the door. It slowly shut behind me and I agervatedly walk onward.
Growling, I started screming throughout the street, "What was I thinking!! Why would I even try." I kept on going till I was in unfamiliar territorry. Grunting in fustration I turned back around and kept on going. I ended up walking for an hour before I came to a stop. I needed something to cool me down, so I stopped at a pub and got a beer, it wasn't anything great either. Just something cheap and after my second one I left.
The afternoon was becoming late and I walked to another friends house. One that has my back but, knocking on the door for the tenth time I was about to give up on everything. Now loosing hope for my fate, I turned and just as I had the door swung open. There she stand my best childhood friend, in her bathrobe and hair up in a floaral pink towel.
"Hey! Forgive me, I was in the shower, come in, come in!" I walked in then turned and hugged her. The essence of her house was brilliant it smelled like many sorts of sages, candles and insence.
"I'm sorry I would have called...but, I'm scared to see what would have happend then!" I fell back onto her tacky orange couch where I had a view of her hallway that lead to three rooms and other various items. "There's so much that happend today. You wouldn't even believe me!"
"Hah, yeah right. I got some things to tell you. I'll go change and then we'll talk."
"Sure, sure." As I sat and waited I relized that seemed to take an unusual amount of time for her to change. I got up and started down the hallway. When I got to her door it swung open and we both ended up screming and jumping back.
"Janette! You can't scare me like that," she said as she walked out of her room punching me in the arm.
"Well sorry just, you really don't know what I've been through."
"Alright but I'm telling you it can't be as worse as my story!" I gave her a look. She replied with another.
"Well I think" I stopped for a moment and took a breathe then beagan defiantly again, "I am being haunted by ghosts." Then the creepiest thing happend. She stared at my face wide eyed. Her mouth began to drop.
"No, that's..that's absurd becuase...me too."
Exitedly I began, "What really? You too?" She gave me a goofy look.
"Hah, yeah right! You think I'd really believe that. You should quit making things up!"
"No that's not it at all, it's not a hoax. I swear I'm not making things up, I'm telling you for real! So many weird things happend today." I tried desperatly to get her to see. I had no effect at all.
Night settled in and she made me a bed out in the living room. Tonight was chilly, and I had three blankets alredy. So this ominus chill was either coming from the weather or maybe because I was just so fraeked out. I became pensive. Running everything through my mind. Slowly I began to drift away from reality into somewhere I wish I wasn't.
A blurring vision was coming into focus. I was back at the apartment. My heart was trying to break the barriers of my chest. I coulnd't hear anything else but my breath. It was so loud. Nothing was happening so why was I so nervous or was it scared. I couldn't tell I just know I needed to get out. I was whipping around the house looking for something. Things were being knocked over without anyone else being there. Frantically I kept running around. Running away from something perhaps. I couldn't tell. Then it was blank.
The next sequence came. I was sprawled out on my living room floor. Being held down by some force. Desperatly trying to move and with fail I started to hyperventilate. My body was becoming hot and streams of wetness were running down my face. I felt sick. I wanted to puke. I was angry and scared. I started feeling something touch me on my leg then my arm. When I looked over there were little scratches. I started screaming. For some reason these scratches that were as big as pencil tips were like the pain of being burned. More and more of these started showing up all over my body, and again it went blank.
Finally I don't know how but I made it out of the room. Not far though, just into the hall of the building. Screaming pointlessly for help. As I made it to the staircase I was pushed...
I had awoken just as I was about to fall out of the window to my death. I had fallen off the couch onto the floor. Then I saw my friend coming to my aid with a look of worry on her face.
"Are you alright?"
Helping myself up I answered, "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry for any noise I might have caused to wake you up! It was just that..." I was going to tell her all about my dream, but now it had all been erased from my memory leaving a hint of my last racing heartbeat.
"No, no. It's ok." She finally said to me after seeing I wasn't finishing my sentence anytime soon. "Janette, you can stay here as long as you want. O.k.?
"I can't. I have things to do." I said this trying to put on the most serious face I could to make her see I wasn't fooling.
"You'r not talking about that ghost thing are you. No matter how hard you try I'm not falling for it."
"Well if you don't believe me, then why don't you just come with me and I show you!" Now I was thrilled at the idea of not being alone.
"No!" She said this automatically. So that it was like she knew what I was going to say before it acctually came out. I stared at her for a moment. Then she went to the kitchen. "Want breakfast, I'm starving?"
"What about my apartment?" I studied her curiously now to see what her reaction would be.
"Mm, what?" I knew it. It had followed me. This was bad. I couldn't seem to get away. It must have been at Matt's apartment too. I couldn't let it know I knew though. Otherwise I might have to go through the agony like in my dreams. I had to make up an excuse to get out. One that didn't seem fake. Who knows if the "ghost" was stalking me for sometime.
"Hey, Lucia, Matt was being really stupid yesterday. I think I might head over there and see what his problem was. Who knows maybe he was drunk."
"Oh, don't you want to eat breakfast?" The way the words floated out of her mouth it seemed as something were being planned.
"No, thanks. I think I'll grab something on the way. I'm not that hungry to begin with."
"Oh...o.k." she said disappointedly. Now was my chance to leave. Right when I got to the door she said to me in a clear voice. Like it was an order. "You'll be coming back, right?"
I smiled, laughing to myself, knowing I wasn't planning to. With my back still facing her I replied, "Of corse, see you later." I pulled open her door which felt like it was sticking to the frame. Which finally came loose after much force. I knew that today I would have to be most careful to ignore everyone. I had to be as anti-social as ever. Being the outgoing kind of person this seemed like a mission impossible, but I had courage in myself.
I started down the street staying close to the walls of the buildings. I felt as though all eyes were on me. Beads of sweat were budding everywhere. I was walking quite fast trying to make my hair a curtain for my face. As I wasnt paying attention I tripped into a man in a black suit who was carring folders. He fell hard to the ground. Standing nervously not knowing what to do I figured I would help him. Which I shouldn't have. I bent down to the ground picking up the papers that were everywhere. One in particular caught my eye. There was a little girl on it. She looked impassive with her eyes black and pale face. Chilled I crawled back. The man snatched the papers up from the ground.
"You disgraceful hoodlum!" He shouted then spat next to me. I stood up and walked on Trying to get the vision of him out of my mind. The anger in the face of a man was one of the scariest things for me to face. Even scarier than anything I was going through right now. Flashing lights went by and booming sirens throughout the city could be heard. Cautiosly I began to walk faster and decided to pull my hood over my head.
Finally thinking I've reached my salvation, I was surrounded. Men everywhere. Not just men, they were policemen. Behind them was a man. He looked so familiar. I swear I could remember him from my childhood but where. I felt uneasy, my breathe holding back and a churning in my stomach. I held myslef tightly as to delay these feelings. My ignorance of what was to come brought heat to my eyes. Tears began to blur my vision. The familiar man was pushing his way through the police and coming closer.
"Hey Janette. I know you'r scared. Do you remember me?" I slowly backed up as he came closer to me.
"Stay back, I don't know who you are!" I said this, even though I felt as though I did.
"Well maybe you will remember my name. I'm Doctor Stevens." His name felt like it hung in the air for a while and as it did it felt as though black parts of my past were making its way through but I couldn't see them clear enough. "Listen, Janette, we just want to help you." This sentence sounded familiar too. Quickly I tried to think of a way out but my thoughts were too jumbled and I knew this situation wasn't good I was trying to think of how to escape when he pulled a syringe and jabbed it in into my neck. The world around me began to spin and my eyes rolled back into my head. I felt my body falling and being caught into someones arms.
Freezing, I began to toss around trying to find warmth. I had then relized where I wasn't, home. I looked around, it was pretty empty all for the bed and toilet. The walls were concrete and painted white. I sat at the edge of the bed where I noticed straps. Now I understood exactly where I was. A phsyciatric ward, but why. I didn't do anything wrong. It must have been Lucia behind this! I turned and bashed my fist into the wall.
The pain was brutial. My eyes swelled up and I was gripping my hand close to my body. It felt as though someone were taking a pencil and forcing it through the otherside of my hand. At this I began to yelp in pain. One of the gaurds that were going by looked in and saw I was in distress. He wistled to another gaurd and they escorted me to the medical quarters. The nurse was a hag and made the pain even worse. I kept a straight face as to not provoke her happiness. Only something like her would take pleasure in others pain.
They kept me in the medical quarters until Dr.Stevens came. He walked in with an anguished look upon his face. He came over and sat at the end of the bed. I decided not to act out and yell at him. There was a feeling I had that he was close to me once.
"Now, Janette, what have you gone and done?"
Hesitating for a moment I began, "Well that damn girl! She went and told you I have been seeing ghosts hasn't she!"
Surprised the doctor began, "No, that has nothing to do with this at all. What ghosts are you talking about? Don't be apperehensive, you can tell me anything." With this his face looked as he were going to analyze me.
I didn't see a reason not to tell him. If I didn't it could possibly make me look even more crazy.
"Well see that's why I went to Lucias house because there was like, something after me." He nodded in reply.
"Janette, I have one last question for you. This is very important. Do you remember your childhood?"
"Well, duh. I mean-" As I tried to recall things from then it felt as thought I were reading a book with no words. There was nothing there I could tell him. I mean I remember going to school and being close with Lucia all through High School. But what about elementary, I ran my fingers through my hair and tugged on it.
"Janette please follow to me to my office." He got up and held out his hand. I took it and stood also. As we went into the hallway another gaurd was following. I guess to keep me in check in case I decide to turn. I mean, I couldn't be crazy, right? We walked by one room where a blonde lady was on her bed. Sitting up right arms tightly around her knees rocking back and forth. Another room we passed 5 gaurds were holding one guy down and drugging him as quickly as they could. Most of the other rooms were closed off. We turned a corner where rooms had black letters on them spelling out the names of whose office they belonged to. The aura that this atmosphere had was making me depressed. You could hear the hoarse voices of people yelling and singing and screaming the same things over. This place could drive a person mad all in itself.
Finally we stopped and he unlocked his office and held the door open for me. I waited for him to offer me a chair. He did so as he walked behind his desk and sat. I began to twiddle my fingers as I waited to be talked to. He scrummaged through his drawr and took out a white folder that was overflowing with papers. He flipped through them. The tab had my familys last name on it, Brewer. As Dr.Stevens flipped through the papers he began to hum a tune. Why was this man so familiar, it rattled me. I strained to remember but it was no use.
"Are you ready to recover your lost thoughts?" His brown eyes cornered me.
"Yes," I quivered.
He handed me some articals from different news papers. On the front heading of each it had almost the same things, "Drug Bust and Murder," "Eight Year Old Orphan Due to Killiers,." On the pictures were of me. I remembered that much because I recognized the braclet on my wrist. Now I remember, it was my Grandmothers, my mom had given it to me for my eigth birthday. I began to read on, Tramatized girl, Janette Brewer, watched the two deaths of her mother and father from a drug dealing gang known as, Leech. The police were called due to a report of a screming woman. When Police arrived They arrested the gang and found the daughter of Maxim and Christine Brewer under a bed. News of her hasn't been disclosed to the media yet, but..." it went on. I threw the papers on the ground. I couldn't look at them anymore. Right then the images of that day flashed into my eyes.
"Honey, go under the bed. Hurry before your father comes!" My mom said as she stuffed me underneath the bed.
"Hey, bitch! Where are you!" Yelled out my father menicingly. I could see my mothers feet going into the closet. "Yoo-hoo! Look what I found." The snapping of wood could be heard and then I saw the closet door on the floor. A brown bottle fell to the floor and only a small portion of liquid came out. What I saw next was my mother being dragged across the floor, she was picked up and flung onto the bed. It bumped my head and just as I was about to whimpper, I quickly threw my hands over my mouth. The pleades and sobs of her brought streams of tears down my face, I cried silently though.
"What's a matter, baby?" He laughed. "Well guess what? Someone forgot to pay some bills, and now they're gunna get punished." I heard the sound similar to that of a book hitting a floor and then the screech of my mother. "Don't be so goddamn loud!" He hollered ferociously as he leaned over tword her on the bed and then the sound of a tearing fabric. "There that oughtta do it." He giggled again. My mothers sobs were muffled this time. He walked out of the bedroom and a loud pop came from the kitchen and he tumbled back in. He gulped down whatever he had and I heard it break. With that my mother cried harder. I wanted to cover my ears so badly, but if I did I was afraid I might not hear myself and accidently get caught by breathing loudly. My Dad went sat in his brown leather chair in the living room with another drink from the kitchen. From under the bed looking out of the doorway all that could be seen of him were his legs. Mothers cries didn't die down and finally he came back over.
"You never shut up do you!" He yelled violently as he kicked the bed. Then my mother slid off the bed and I could then see her being pulled into the living room by her hair. Daddy sat her down in his chair and walked out of sight. When he came back over to her he was holding a long silver bat. My eyes then swelled up and I looked away. I heard him swing about three times before mother was silent at last but, that's not when he stopped. When I looked back over to the living room Mommies face was completely undistinguishable. It was completly red and pushed in, with pices of glass in it, with blood still gushing out of her. The white carpet was stained crimson with those brown bottles laying all about. I was desperatly wishing this was all a dream, that I could just wake up and cuddle with Mommy and Daddy in their bed but, I knew that wouldn't happen.
My father was again sitting in his chair, using my mothers body as a foot rest. I wanted to bad to go over there and beat him up make him hurt as much as she did. Just as I was saying this to myself the door was kicked in and five black men walked in. They all looked alike, with a blue bandanna over their faces.
"Time's up, where my money?" one of them said acting completly oblivious to the dead body on the floor.
Daddy stood up and got his wallet out. "It won't happen again I promise," my father said and laughed.
"Yeah you'r right it won't happen again." Then all five men quickly pulled out knives and began to attack my father. Even though I was just wishing for demise of my father, seeing him acctually die in front of me was a malady to my stomach.
"We're done here." One of them stated. As they turned around to leave an officer stood at the door and shot them all in the leg before they could gang up on him. He quickly called for backup and relayed the current situation to them.
After that incident I was an orphan but, instead of going to foster care they kept me at this clinic. They studied me and made sure I was as mentally stable before sending me out to a foster home seven years later. By that time I was fifteen and should have began highschool. Since I had been at the clinic for so long and they cared more about my health than education they stuck me in the eighth grade. Soon enough I was adopted into a different family but I had kept my last name and by the nineth grade I met Lucia. So much time had passed my brain must have blocked all those horrible memories out without anyone realizing they were completly erased from my memory.
I woke back up inside the room that they were keeping me in. This time I was strapped down.
"Hey! Hey, can anybody hear me? Will you unstrap me, please?" I shouted hoping someone would come. I was confused as to what happend. After the Doctor handed me the articals I- I don't know what happend.
A couple hours went by and I could tell it was very late at night because there was no rukkus and it was pitch black exept for the light that shinned in from the hallway. I began to doze off.
Morning seemed to come abruptly. The sun wasn't the only reason I awoke, but chatter from outside my door. I laid still as to not let them know I'm awake, yet. I identified the voices to be Richard and Clair, my adoptive parents. One other voice I herd was Lucias, they were all talking with Dr.Stevens.
"It seems as though Janette is going through mental outbreaks. These could be triggered by anything that reminds her of her parents deaths. Lucia I'm glad you called the police. If she hadn't stayed here for all the time she did, we probably wouldn't know what kind of symptoms she gets-"
"How long will it take for her to recover doctor?" Clair said with clear fear in her voice.
"Well it depends on how much trauma she's gone through so far. I mean she will recover. Her brain is still young enough. I'm just amazed, she seemed to have completly blocked it all out."
Richard began with his deep raspy voice, "How much will this all cost?"
"Well again, it all depends. If she seems like she will be able to handle herself she will be sent on her way. We'll bill you in the mail. I'll need you to re-fill some paperwork out though. It's been a while." This is the last thing the doctor said then all the footsteps disappeared. I turned and looked at the door. Through the small rectangle of bars Lucias eyes met mine.
"So, I guess it was all just in my mind after all."
The End.
