"Schizophrenia"
By Anonymous
He stumbles home after his life had seemingly crumbled before his eyes. Everything he cared about is, was, and had been gone for weeks. But this was his final straw, losing the only person he cared about and who he thought cared about him, only to find that their relationship was never real. That she only stayed because she felt like he needed her, but he didn’t want pity, it only made things worse when everything was over.
His thoughts swirled in his head trying to take everything in at once, trying to finally understand what his life has come to. But he couldn’t, they were seared in the dark place that they had been stuck in for years. The images and insults burned into his thoughts like a forest fire, conquering everything until nothing was left but ash and devastation. He couldn’t take the pain, so he tried to relieve it, shoving dry pills down his throat, one after another, struggling to swallow them all. He wandered outside in defeat, letting his body give into the battle he had been fighting for years.
And just like that the images flooded into view, surrounding him like ants on a piece of sticky candy. They were stuck in view cursing and insulting him. His boss, co-workers, girlfriend, family, friends, they all surrounded him.
He dropped to his knees, screaming, “Please, make it stop, make it stop!”
Over and over, until he heard, a small voice that prevailed through the dozens in his head.
“Sir” she said, hand over her taser, “I need you to stand up and turn around, I’m going to put you in handcuffs and pat you down, then we can discuss what’s going on.”
Immediately the directions were clear in his head and he did as told. The voices, the images, they disappeared, and a new image of the one person who cared, shone through the others and led him into a car that would take him to the hospital, where he was understood. And for the first time in years, he was finally at peace.