The Voice
By: Sunshine Zombiegirl
Tags: Mental Illness, Murder, Horror, Fiction, Short Story

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Charlotte opened her eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling. The normal accompaniment of voices was quiet this morning, perhaps chased away by some fluke of the right combination of medicines. She half smiled to herself and sat up slowly on her standard- issue bolted-to-the-floor cot. First puzzlement passed over her face as her eyes attempted to tell her what she was seeing, and then horror quickly followed.

Splotches of red decorated her room. Her eyes followed a path that led to her gown and hands. It looked like one of the paintings that one of the less functional people in the ward had done. Worse, it appeared that she was the crazy one who’d done it. She touched her gown, and it felt stiff like someone had starched it badly. She tried to brush it off, and discovered it was stuck to her like she had bathed in some horrible red glue. She wrenched it off and threw it at the wall. She pulled her blanket around her naked body as she started to rock back and forth.

The orderlies found her there and brought her a new gown. Charlotte found herself in a new room, table bolted down— probably for intake. That’s when the first cop came into the room.

“Charlotte? You don’t mind if I call you Charlotte, do you?” he inquired pleasantly.

She nodded slowly, the feeling of a nightmare still clung to her.

“Charlotte, what happened last night?”

“I don’t understand the question.” And she didn’t. What could happen to her when she was locked up in that room nearly 24/7?

“Charlotte, a lot of blood was found in your room and on your gown. I’m trying to understand where it came from.”

A blank look passed over her face. “I don’t know. I was asleep.” Blood? A ball of dread sank heavily into her stomach.

“Do you sleep walk?” The question seemed innocent, but the implication wasn’t.

“No…but even if I did, I’m locked up,” she responded, more firmly than she would have thought she could.

“Maybe someone let you out. Maybe someone you did a favor for.”

She shook her vehemently no. “I only talk to myself in here.” The voices won’t stop talking back.

He raised an eyebrow and redirected the questioning. “Do you like it here?”

She half shrugged. “There are worse places.” Jail, the street, your step-mother’s house. Maybe the medicine hadn’t worked so well, as the voices were quick to chime in and add to her misery.

He nodded slowly to himself. “Why are you in here, Charlotte?”

“Didn’t they tell you? I’m schizophrenic. I hear voices.” They aren’t just voices.

“Do they ever tell you to hurt people?”

She started to breathe a little faster, and her hands grew clammy from sweat. “No. Never.” They just tell me they are going to use me to hurt people.

“Uh, huh. So, why were you covered in blood, Charlotte?”

“I don’t know!” She pushed back from the table. “I want to go back to my room.”

“You aren’t going back to that room. It’s a crime scene now. You’re going to have to wait a little while longer. We’re going to place you in an observation room until we can get this cleared up.”

She slumped dejectedly in her seat. Now I’ll be locked up 24/7 and on camera, too. Great. Just great.

The cop stood up and walked out of the room, leaving her to sit alone with her thoughts.

Where do they lock up people who are already locked up in a mental institution? She sighed loudly.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Charlotte?”

She jumped, startled. “Why won’t you leave me alone?”

“Because you are too much fun,” the voice declared with grating certainty.

“I hate you. I hate you! You’re not real.”

“Are you so sure, Charlotte? Don’t I feel real to you?”

“No, you’re just like the others.”

“Ah, but I’m different, darling. I don’t think you are aware of how different, but you will know soon. To answer your question — they put you in restraints, drug you up, and put a camera on you for every moment you exist.”

Charlotte shivered. “How do you know that?” The question hung heavily in the room.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

She wrapped her arms around herself tightly, and the room went quiet.