Voices |E. Cullen|

TWO

Lucy wouldn't talk to me anymore, half the school was out too due to her big mouth. She lit a fire claiming that I was schizophrenic and called me insane which spread throughout the junior class and sprinkled over into the rest of the student body singeing my contacts and associates. I sat by myself in the corner of each classroom and was frequently called to the counsellor to assess my mental status. Okay, yeah, I was seeing dead people, I considered myself insane, but the whole school didn't need to know about it. 

I was sitting in Chemistry, the only class I had to sit next to someone and of course, it was one of the most popular guys in school, when I looked up from my assignment and started to shake. There was a young child standing in front of me with blood dripping down her neck and all of the colour drained from her skin. I tried to keep calm and breathe but the girl kept coming closer to me. My hands were shaking and I could feel my heart beating faster and faster.

She pointed directly at the man beside me, "He killed me."

I slammed my pencil down, pushed my seat out from under me and walked out of the room, the entire class stared at me while I did so. Was any of it real? The dead people obviously weren't. Maybe I really did develop schizophrenia. From what I read it usually developed in a person's '20s, but I'm sure any disease can develop at any time no matter how rare. 

Another man stepped out from behind the lockers with the same markings, "He killed me."

"He killed me," another and another and another. The hallway was filled with people coming closer to me, all with the same markings, all with blood pouring down from their necks, some speaking in other languages, all completely terrified. 

I collapsed to the ground and hugged my knees to my chest. Rocking back in forth for a few moments wouldn't be seen due to classes being in session, or so I thought. A rush of calm flushed through my body and someone touched my arm. My eyes snapped open and I looked to see the people gone and one blonde man crouched down in front of me, one of the Cullens, or technically the Hales. 

"What's wrong?" He soothed even while looking pained in his own way with his own burdens and stressors. 

Before I answered I looked around me, even more people appeared, all different than the first group, all with different markings and injuries. "Not you too," my eyes widened and I squirmed away. I rushed down the hallway with my head down and made my way to the nurse's office. One call to my house would let me out for the day and I could just sleep away the hallucinations. Someone collided with me and sent me to the ground. I looked up to see the other Hale and a tear escaped my eye. 

"Why can't you guys just leave me alone?" I huffed and began to cry as her brow raised in confusion.

I waited to see the people surround her, ones that would claim they were murdered by her. Minutes passed by where she just looked at me and waited for me to stand, I didn't see any dead people crowding me, so I did. 

"They aren't around you," I whispered in amazement. 

"Who?" She seemed only slightly aggravated. 

"The dead people, they aren't around you like they are your siblings," I was still amazed. Then I shook my head, "Just disregard everything, I'm the school's psych case, obviously." I pushed past her and continued my journey on to the office. 

One call to my mother and she begrudgingly let me walk home that day, she didn't let me have my car because of how I had been seeing all of the people around me and how terrified they made me. I sort of understood, but I was still pissed. I didn't want to walk two miles back to my house, that was ridiculous. I did anyway because she was working at the hospital and couldn't get off to drive her daughter home (understandable) and I sure as shit wasn't going there because at first sight of a breakdown I would be checked into the psych unit. 

I used to enjoy walking home, actually. I liked the feeling of the wind on my face and my favourite weather was the overcast sky. The birds chirping filled me with energy and the few cars that would pass by ended up cooling me off in the long run. Now they were filled with bodies. I supposed it wouldn't be so bad if they were just lying around not speaking to me, or even speaking to me in a calm tone, but they screamed and cried and clawed at their injuries. 

I wondered if anything would make them go away short of going into the hospital and asking for medication. My cabinets were full of wine and hard liquor, I had never tasted any of it before. I did smoke weed one time, I loved it, it helped me sleep. Just the one time, though. I grabbed a bottle of Rose out of the top cabinet above the fridge and sniffed it after screwing the cap off. It didn't smell too bad, some brand called Arbor Mist. I took a small sip and my eyes widened. It tasted like some sort of flavoured Sprite. 

The thought of grabbing a glass from the buffet seemed like too much work, the bottle would be just fine. I sipped the warm wine and took no time at all in reaching halfway through the bottle. Again, it tasted great. I didn't know how much was too much, but I constantly heard about how people drank entire bottles of wine in one night and were fine. Why not just tap the entire bottle? I didn't even move from my spot in the kitchen before I finished the bottle of wine, then panic set in. 

I needed to hide the bottle before my mother got home and even more important, I needed to brush my teeth and fall asleep so that she wouldn't witness my behaviour or smell my experiment on my breath, so I did just that. Funny thing was, I didn't see anyone after that, not any dead people, anyways.