The Mad House

Loneliness

    Selena silently stared at the blank microsoft word document with tears flowing down her cheeks. She had so many things to say, but couldn't bring herself to transform her thoughts into writing. Her heart was filled with pain. One of her best friends betrayed her for no reason, at least none she knew of. One of her closest friends was just murdered hours after they made plans for the weekend. She discovered the person she had romantic feelings for, did not share those feelings for her. She was struggling to find a job after receiving her bachelor degree in chemistry. She wasn't getting along with her foster parents, whom she still lived with. She was also battling anxiety, depression, and PTSD, which she had been off of medication for, for at least 4 years. In her mind, her life was in shambles. She couldn't possibly focus on writing a horror novel when her life was a horror story.

    "I'm sorry," she softly whispered as she closed her laptop. She felt guilty for not being able to use her talent as a writer to create content. As a child, she could not write, because her mother would find everything she wrote, and beat her like a slave for whatever she wrote that was negative. Selena's aunt told her to stop writing things down so she wouldn't get in trouble, so she did, but not before vowing to become a writer when she became an adult. Selena promised herself that as an adult, she would write all her feelings, all her thoughts, all her ideas, and she would publish them. Yet here she was, with her elbows propping her arms up on her desk, and her face in her hands, sobbing noisily over her now closed laptop.

    "I'm so alone...I'm going to be alone forever," she thought to herself as she cried louder.

    "No you're not. I'm here with you," a soft voice responded.

    Selena stopped crying, and looked around her dark room. She saw nothing out of the ordinary, but she knew she heard a voice.

    "I'm in here, in the closet," the voice called out.

    Her head snapped forward. She was afraid. There was no way to get into or out of the house near her room. Her closet also remained locked because her cat had a bad habit of getting inside, and getting fur all over her clothes. It was no way anyone could possibly get into her closet...was there?

    "Come let me out. You have me. Don't be afraid. We can be happy together."

    Selena slowly rose out of her chair and crept towards the closet. She figured whoever was in there talking to her could not be much of a threat, and if they were, she was ready with a knife she always kept in her bra. Once she was next to the closet door, her hand floated to the knob. She unlocked the door quickly and quietly, then flung it open. Nothing came out of the closet. No one was inside either. She was puzzled.

    "Hahaha. Up here silly."

    Selena looked up to see a white teddy bear she's never seen before. She couldn't figure out how it could've gotten up there.

    "Pick me up Lena."

    Selena jumped backed. The soft voice was coming from the teddy bear. Question after question popped into her mind within a matter of seconds.

    "Lena, don't be afraid. I'm going to be your friend. We're going to be together forever. I don't want to hurt you. Please pick me up," the bear called to her.

    She stared at the bear for a little longer, thinking of what to do. "It's just a teddy bear," she thought to herself. "How much could it really hurt me?" She walked into the closet, stood on her tiptoes, and picked the bear up off of the shelf.

    "Thank you. I was getting lonely in there."

    "Lonely? What do you know about being lonely? You're a teddy bear. How can you even talk? Where did you come from? How do you know my name or my nickname?"

    "I get lonely just like you Lena. I came from your prayers. I came from every tear you cried. I came from every time you prayed asking for someone to love you. I came from every moment someone hurt you or abandoned you, and you had to pretend it didn't bother you. I came from you, Lena. You manifested me."

    Tears formed in Selena's eyes. As the bear spoke, her mind revisited the moments the bear referred to, and an overwhelming wave of pain proliferated throughout her body. She stared into space as she grasped the bear a little tighter, and her body tensed up as her emotions began to take over her.

    "It's okay Lena. Don't be sad. I'm here now. Let's get into bed and cuddle."

    Selena looked at the bear with teary eyes, shook her head, and then slipped into bed hugging the bear tightly in her arms. Tears continued to flow from her eyes onto her pillowcase. She hugged the bear tighter with each passing moment until she drifted off into a deep sleep.

    Selena began to snore, and the teddy bear's eyes, that were once jet black, turned bloodshot red. The thick black line that formed its innocent smile gradually curled up on the ends, transforming it into a menacing, devious smirk. Its white fur darkened until it blended in with the blackness surrounding it.

    After completing its transformation, the bear slowly inched its way closer to Selena as she continued to sleep. It got closer and closer until it was skin to skin with her chest. Then its fur began to fuse with her skin. It continued to fuse with Selena's body, disappearing deeper and deeper inside her until it was no longer visible.

    The next morning, Selena awoke feeling different. She didn't know what it was, but she wasn't herself. It was almost like she didn't have control of herself. She felt like she was out of her body watching herself get out of bed. It wasn't until she walked into the bathroom that she finally figured out she wasn't herself.

    "Hello Selena," she said to herself as she looked in the bathroom mirror, except she wasn't saying that to herself. It wasn't her voice. It was the teddy bear's. "I know this may be shocking to you. You can't talk. You don't have free will anymore. I'm sorry things had to be this way, but you made them this way." Selena tried to scream, but she couldn't. She couldn't control her body at all. "It's no use in trying to scream Lena. I am you now. I am us. You didn't want to be lonely anymore, and now you won't. You and I will be together forever," the soft voice told her. She tried to scream again. It didn't work. "We are one Selena. I am your loneliness, and now I will be with you forever. Unless..." Selena looked at the razor blade on the bathroom sink. "You can end it all right now," the soft voice said.

    Selena tried to cry out over and over as her reflection laughed in the mirror. She couldn't take it anymore. She had completely lost control of her life and herself. It had to end. Selena grabbed the razor, hit it against the sink as hard as she could, and picked through the broken pieces of plastic to get the blade. She then slowly cut her wrists over the sink while her reflection continued to laugh. She fell to the floor as blood began to rush out of her wrists. She stared at the ceiling as life exited her body.

    "We'll be together forever Selena," the soft voice said as she lost consciousness. "We'll be together forever."