Page 49 of Madness

“Not late. We still have two hours,” I sigh, resting my head in my palm as I watch him pace in the small box that is my room.

“It’s better than the room at Alice’s.”

“Yes, it is…” I start to speak back to the masculine voice, then realise Dusty is staring at me strangely.

He stalls his pacing, turning to me, and quirks his eyebrow, “Are you talking to yourself?”

I nod.

“Bit weird, isn’t it?” he laughs at his joke, and I have to clench my teeth in an effort not to hit him because aren’t we all a bit weird here?

“Yeah,” I say bitterly.

Dusty shrugs, resuming his pacing in front of me like a yo-yo.

“You could make him go away, you know?”

Just ignore him, I tell myself. Ignore them all.

“You don’t want to ignore me, Alice. You need me to tell you what to do; otherwise, you are lost.”

“Lost, lost, lost!” Queenie shrieks,

“Shut up!” I hiss.

Dusty whirls around to face me. “I said we are late! Look!” He shoves his finger in my face, then turns to the clock, which is still ticking each second.

Tick.

“Just hit him.”

Tick

“Kill him.”

Tick.

“I can’t.”

Tick.

“You can’t what?” Dusty asks.

Tick.

“I just can’t! I can’t sit here with that fucking clock ticking and you pacing!” I shove up from the bed, getting into Dusty’s space.

The sterile white walls of the room seem to get closer, pressing on me, and each breath I attemptto take becomes a desperate gasp for air. I know why I’m here, and the weight of what I did settles on my shoulders like an anchor pulling me deeper into the abyss.

Alice’s face floats in front of me, her eyes filled with betrayal and pain. “I loved you,” her voice floats towards me, but her lips don’t move. Instead, they turn up into a wicked smile filled with rows of pointy teeth.

“Chesh,” I growl, sick of the games he wishes to play.

If I could reach out and strangle his head from his body, I would, but he would just vanish into thin air as he always does.

“Al?” Dusty’s voice breaks through the fog, “Are you ok?”

I shake my head because how will I ever be ok?

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