I Am Schizophrenic

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

“Ugh, a bad headache.” First thing I said when I woke up in the morning. It felt like I slept for years—after all, I was exhausted from running and hiding from Derrick. Derrick—I spent the previous night with him out, we had supper and talked for hours. It was reckless to stay with him at his apartment—but obviously there’s nothing between us happening. I finally got out of the not-so-comfy bed I was sleeping in. I walked out of the room to find Derrick sitting on the table, eating cereal.

“Good morning,” I muttered.

“Morning! All that sleeping!? Seriously, appreciate that I’ve been awake for hours and you’re..” he was talking non-stop and I was having a headache.

“Shut up.” I calmly told him while touching my messy hair.

“Shut up? Oh, my bad.” He shrugged.

“Derrick, I hate it when someone keeps talking as I just woke up.” I stated.

He sarcastically chuckled as put the bowl on the counter. “Oh, by the way, Tina. You look beautiful in sleepy eyes and messy bed hair.” He told me while smiling and not sounded sarcastic.

I rolled my eyes and jokingly said “Thanks, I guess..”

“Do you want coffee?” he asked me while he was still in the kitchen.

“Yeah, I could use a cup of coffee.”

I was laying on the couch comfortably, it’s been a while since I last felt comfort like that. I was carefree for now, not thinking about anything, just enjoying my ultimate laziness and free sleep, I felt I was a slight burden on Derrick—but that feeling got away every time he mentioned he likes me being there. I held the hot cup of coffee in my cold hands and took a sip of it. I missed Eliza, I wondered how was she doing—and I missed Jake too. I knew that sooner or later Derrick would take me back to the hospital, but if I did go back, I’ll take Eliza with me—because we’re in this together, I can’t leave her. I’ve been listening to voices again, but tried to hide it as I was working as a maid, and when I couldn’t control myself, I declared to the people that I had panic attacks. Well, anyways—nothing happened much during those couple of days with Derrick. Let’s just get to the important part.

“Good night, Derrick.” I told Derrick as it was almost 12 am and I was really sleepy.

“Night,” he kindly said. “Sleep tight.”

I smiled at him then went to bed. I lied in bed for some minutes wide awake, millions of memories recall every time before I sleep. Sweet. I looked at the clock and it was 12:00 am exactly. It was officially the 10th of June—my 17th birthday. Damn, I grew up—17 years old already. It felt like 70 though. I had to convince myself that it would be just a normal day ‘cause nobody will remember. “Happy birthday, Tina.” I told myself and fell asleep.

Eleven in the morning, I woke up with heavy eyelids because I had slept for a long time. I got out of my room and the place was really quiet, Derrick couldn’t be sleeping all that—he’s an active person. “Derrick? Hello?” I called  but nobody answered, he’s probably out then. I went to the bathroom to wash up and when I got out I heard some noises, then I heard a loud breath—that kind of breath just like Darth Vader’s. I stopped at my place then I thought it was just my imagination, as usual. The breath got louder, then a strange, creepy voiced called “Christina.” It echoed in the place. I froze in my place and faintly asked “who’s there?”

“Come here, Christina.” The same voice called, I could tell it was behind the kitchen’s counter.

I slowly moved towards there, but I didn’t look behind the counter because I was too frightened. My breaths got louder and shaky—don’t be a coward, Tina. I told myself—and carefully looked behind the counter to find;