Disclaimer: The following story deals with the mental illness schizophrenia. I am not claiming to be all knowing of the illness, its treatments, etc. The following is based off of minimal amounts of research, which I did ata website about schizophrenia. Do not take what I've said here as hard facts about schizophrenia. Thank you.

Double Reality

Schizophrenia. They barely knew the meaning of it for they’d only seen one of its sides portrayed in movies. The side that was deranged; the other personality that was usually either full of malicious intent or bizarre to the extreme. But what they didn't know was that movies and television was that they mal-portrayed the illness on several occasions, or gave the wrong impression of what the illness was. Schizophrenia had nothing to do with a split personality, especially not in this case.

“Are you saying that our daughter suffers from a split personality disorder?” These were the words of fear escaping the mouth of Mrs. Samuels. She was sitting in the office of some psychiatrist that she and her husband had decided to call when their daughter started acting strangely, and this odd behaviour didn't go away. It didn't seem to her like her daughter had a split persona at all, but that's what the doctor was telling her, or so she thought.

“No, Mrs. Samuels. Schizophrenia is not a split personality disorder, as commonly believed. Schizophrenia deals with various different things. Hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, all which can be interrelated a lot of the time. What I'm saying is that your daughter could have what is referred to as Childhood Schizophrenia, which can be harder to diagnose and is often mistaken for other illnesses. With the brief observations we've had of her, it seems that it could definitely be a possibility at this point,” the doctor explained almost in a blunt manner. It wasn't uncommon for him to have to explain what schizophrenia was, but he often didn't go into to much detail about it so not to further confuse the parents.

Crystal knew he was continuing on even though she couldn’t hear him. She watched his mouth continue to move with her brown eyes, but they held a blank look in them. With those same brown eyes, she saw the tears fall from her mother’s eyes and the fear on her father’s face. She didn’t understand these emotions or expressions any; she didn't even find them mildly amusing as she sometimes would. Why were they afraid, or sad, or whatever they were? Had she changed? No, she hadn’t changed any. Not that she saw.

What she did understand was that they’d discovered her secret: her other world. They thought it wasn’t real and that she’d just created it with her imagination because of some illness that they decided she had. She wasn’t crazy; she didn’t have some illness. The world was real and she knew it. It just felt so real, so it had to be real, right? That was how she thought of it. It felt real, so it was real.

Just like that office they were in. That dull office in the psychiatric ward of that hospital she was growing to hate. She’d realized that no matter where she went, it smelled stale and it was not very inviting as far as appearance went. The walls bore a plain white colour that was actually looking like it was somehow fading back to whatever colour it had been before. Maybe it was just dirty and the hospital people needed to clean it; she didn't know, nor did she really care.

Her attention fell back to the doctor now and the comfortable chair he was sitting in while her and her parents were in the ever-uncomfortable wooden chairs. The wooden chairs that caused one’s constant shifting every five to ten minutes because the position they thought was comfortable had suddenly taken a drastic turn towards discomfort. Was he making them sit in those uncomfortable chairs on purpose? Did he want them to be shifting around and look crazy? She wouldn't doubt it.

“What is going to happen to her?” These words came from her father and he looked like he was about to burst into the same kind of tears that her mother was in. He was trying to suppress these tears, which was hard, but he wanted to be strong for his wife as well as his child. It was just difficult hearing that someone you love might have some illness which could harm them, whether just mentally or physically.

The young child drifted off again, this time tuning out completely and going to the world they claimed didn’t exist. She was never really sure how she got there, but she knew it was always when she completely drifted away from the world. The noises dulled and changed while her surroundings blurred and shifted to something different. It didn’t take long to happen, but yet every time something would seem different from the previous time it took place, whether it be the speed or the blurred shapes. But yet she always ended up in relatively the same place. The place would change if someone from the other world was already occupying that spot, or so she'd discovered after a few trips to this other world.

She saw it now and heard the change, too. The noises changed from the undetermined droning sound of the psychiatric ward’s office to the outdoorsy sound of the world she wasn’t even sure the name of. The scenery shifted, becoming a blur for a moment before changing to the image of that which went with the outdoorsy sounds. The air even seemed to change from the thick musty smell to the brisk, clean air of the other world.

In the middle of the cobblestone street was where she’d ended up that time; before she had been on the side of the street by all the shops. The street was rarely used for carts or carriages, so it was just groups of people drifting along going about their business, talking with their friends or whatever else occupied their lives. A few of them bumped into her as she appeared out of nowhere, but no one seemed to notice her sudden appearance. It was like they thought she’d been there the whole time, and maybe to them she had.

Crystal made sure to dodge any others that threatened to crash into her as she began to make her way through the crowd. She would have thought she’d stick out within the crowd since it was far from modern, but, luckily for her, every time she went there her attire also shifted to fit that world. At first, she’d questioned it, but after a while it just became habit to feel the change in material as she changed from normal clothes to old peasant dresses. Even if she did question it, she couldn't explain it, and she wasn't about to ask others who were there. They'd think she was crazy, too.

“Is this the schizophrenic state you were talking about, doctor?” Mr. Samuels asked this with worry as he looked at his daughter now. He was leaning forward in his chair to observe her current state, looking to his wife briefly who was sitting on the other side of their child.

Crystal’s form was motionless in the chairs that were somehow looking oddly comfortable considering the state the young girl was in. Her body was slumped over in the chair with one arm hanging limply over the side while the other was sort of slung across her stomach. Her head hung off to towards the side with her eyes open, staring blankly while the rest of her held the same emotionless image. Her pupils were dilated, almost engulfing her brown irises. Her corneas almost appeared to be grey too going along with the other oddities. It was like she was in some sort of sleep, though completely awake; more like a trance than anything.

“I’m afraid it is. She believes that she is in that other world right now, but she’s actually just trapped within her own mind. I believe that we should try to pull her out before something drastic happens in that place,” the doctor paused for a moment, looking at the child and then continued, “I’m really not sure what effects would be taken on if something were to happen in her made up world. I honestly can’t tell you if she would create some self-inflicted injuries to match any she'd get in that world or not. Like I said, it's hard to tell at the moment what's going to happen because it's so early on. That is also why we must attempt to pull her out of this now, before it becomes too drastic.”

His words impacted them and made them begin to seriously wonder if their nine-year-old child would be safe with her illness. Mrs. Samuels looked down at her laced hands in her lap, thinking that she wished there was a cure. Perhaps she could deal with a split persona better than realities that didn’t exist and they knew nothing about. With a split persona, they would be able to witness exactly what they were facing, but that wasn’t the case.

Mr. Samuels feared the doctor’s words as much as his wife did. What if she did try to hurt herself because she became injured in her other reality? What if she became trapped there? Too many ‘what ifs’, far too many. They needed to do something and he knew it.

“What do we have to do to pull her out?” he asked, looking the doctor right in the eye.

The girl made her way out of the little town into an open field, which eventually led to a wooded area. She’d gone that way before, heading past the dense forest to yet another open plane. There she would usually encounter the magical creatures that were her friends of that world. They were much friendlier than the people were by far. These weren’t any creatures though; these were dragons, which were once thought to be the most powerful and grand of creatures.

When she'd first come across the dragons, among the other creatures, she'd been afraid, terrified even that they were going to harm her. They, for some reason, showed her compassion though and treated her kindly. They'd play with her for long periods of time, taking her flying or even just to go by the lake and swim. The young girl was sure that this was what real friends were, not the kinds of friends humans tried to be.

As she made her way through the woods, avoiding branches and roots all the way, she thought about how there were barely any dragons left in that world. She knew why they were diminishing in numbers, but she didn’t understand it. Her dragon friend, Yarii, had told her that the villagers had begun to kill them. Yarii didn’t say why they were killing dragons, just that they were; it was probably to protect the child from their corruption.

Her dress tore a bit with every tree that tried to grab her and entangle her within. She didn’t worry about it though, for she had discovered that every time she materialized in that world her plain grey dress was as good as new. She didn’t know exactly why it reformed, but she guessed it was because of some form of magic as this world seemed to be full of it.

Crystal reached the empty field after a while of stumbling along and saw that it was rather vacant. She wondered why because they were usually there when she arrived. They’d once told her that they could sense her presence because of their dragon powers, thus their absence made her panic. Had they too been killed? Had they killed her only friends?

“Yarii?” she called out, hoping that her friend was playing a game, even if it was unkind. She spun around a few times, searching for her dragon companion, but that only caused her to panic more because she couldn't see her.

For a long moment there was no response, just the rustling of tree branches in the breeze and a sound that she couldn’t really determine. For a moment, it sounded like movement, but then the sound of stone and wood scraping against one another transpired. Her mind couldn’t grasp at what it could be, even though it was so familiar.

She froze instantly at the sound of cords snapping a release and something whistling through the air. She now fully recognized that sound; the sound of an arrow being released and flying in her direction.

“Crystal, honey, please come back to us. It’s mom, come on,” Mrs. Samuels pleaded with her daughter. She could tell this wasn’t working, even if the doctor tried to convince her it was.

He’d just told them to try and reach her through voice for they didn’t want to run the risk of harming her. It wasn’t enough! It couldn’t be enough to save their daughter. Sure, maybe that kind of thing worked in the movies or on the television, but this was real. There was no way of seeing otherwise, unlike the place their daughter was trapped. That wasn’t real and that’s why they needed her back, but more importantly they wanted her back. They loved her too much to let her go.

“Crystal,” Mrs. Samuels pleaded further, the tears still coming from within her eyes. She could also feel her husband’s hand within her own and it comforted her a little, but not fully.

She’d just found out about it and it already seemed as if they were going to lose her. This wasn’t the first time these bouts of withdrawing had occurred though. This had been happening for quite a while, weeks, or maybe it was months now, and she couldn’t really even remember when it had started. At first, they hadn’t really thought much of it, just that perhaps their daughter was misbehaving in some way or going through a childhood phase. Now they knew what it more than likely was and it explained a lot.

The doctor stood back, watching them attempt to draw her back to reality. There was really nothing he could do for he feared that his voice would only drive her further away due to the amount of distrust that Crystal had displayed previously. While they had been testing to see what ailed the young girl, she’d refused to listen to him. With the other doctors it wasn’t so bad, but it was as if she was blaming him for what was wrong. He’d faced this before, thus he knew to back off from a patient such as that one. It always gave him a feeling of helplessness and guilt though because watching was all he could do.

The arrow nearly hit her, but yet it missed by a long shot as far as aim went. That’s when she realized that it wasn’t meant to hit her, but something behind her. Panic struck her again at this realization.

She saw as the arrow passed right over her shoulder and continued on behind her. Once it was safely out of her reach, she spun around just in time to see it strike her dragon friend. Her eyes widened and began to flood with tears at the sight.

The form of the majestic beast was pierced with the arrow; it caused the large dragon to stumble backwards a little. Blood began to fall from the wound in the dragon’s sable neck and trickle downwards, barely visible on the hue of the creature's flesh. A mere arrow couldn’t easily kill it, but even the dragon was intelligent enough to know that they’d been aiming for vital veins that would kill it. Piercing those would probably kill anything on impact.

A snarl emitted from the beast’s throat in anger, as it looked right past the child and into the shadows the trees created to conceal them. There was only a small number of them and they couldn’t have possibly found the way there on their own. It was rare that anyone went past half way through the woods for fear of what lay beyond. The rumours of vicious creatures and monsters held the villagers back, but now they'd seemingly overcome this fear…

To the dragon that only meant one thing. It was the girl, yes; she had led them there. But why? Had she turned on him? Had this been planned all along? No matter, it was unforgivable! To betray a dragon was something that brought many their death before they should have died. A dragon’s wrath was definitely something not to be messed with. For the moment though, he would deal with those who shot him.

“Doctor, please. This is not working. Isn’t there anything else we can do?” Mr. Samuels looked to him with pleading eyes.

“I really don’t think there is anything we can try but continuing with this manner without risk of harming her. We could try medication, but if in pill form there’s the possibility of choking and if through needle, then there’s the risk of her retaliating unconsciously and flinching away. If that were to happen, then there would be risk of injecting it in the wrong place.” He couldn’t lie, well, actually he could, but not if he wanted to keep his job. That he did want to keep, so he wouldn’t lie.

“Try the needle,” Mrs. Samuels muttered, her words catching in her throat and on the film that had formed on her lips from crying.

“Pardon me?” the doctor looked to the woman, wondering if he’d heard her correctly.

“Try the needle! Just do something!” Mrs. Samuels was nearly shouting. Had it not been for her gritted teeth, she probably would have been.

“I honestly don’t think that would be wise…” the doctor began. This was nothing really new to him and only to be expected by those concerned. He’d experienced those who were worried beyond all reasoning and it seemed that Mrs. Samuels was nearing the beyond all reasoning point.

“Please!” she said loudly and she dared not look at anyone, not even her daughter. If she had, she feared that she’d release all the tears that were burning in her eyes. She just couldn’t sit there and watch as whatever was happening happened.

There had been four men there in the shadows shooting at the great beast, but now there were only their lifeless forms in a pile. Their open eyes held fear though there was no shine of life within them. They’d screamed in their terror, oh how they’d screamed. It didn’t last long though as the dragon tore their very essence away from them. The dragon had ripped out their souls to add to its power. It was the cruellest of punishments to come from any creature, but especially a dragon.

“Yarii? What have you done?” Crystal was afraid; there was no denying that. She’d never witnessed something as horrid as that, but had heard about it from the villagers. They’d warned her, telling her not to trust a dragon. When she’d refused to hear them out, they’d called her a fool and now, she wondered if she really was the fool they’d branded her to be.

“You child, you’ve betrayed me,” he told her through means of telepathy. Even though it could only be heard in the child’s mind, he knew that the sound held malice. He growled as well, as though to prove he was cross.

“No!” she protested, and she shook her head also. She wouldn’t betray him; never would she betray him. He was one of her only friends in that land and she wasn’t willing to give up on that.

The ground shuddered as he slammed down his giant paw as though to command silence. Crystal’s eyes were drawn to his claws, which sunk into the soft earth like a hot knife in butter. For once, she didn’t want to guess how long they were; unlike before when she’d try to guess out of fascination. Now there was risk of him using those as weapons against her.

“Please, let me explain!” Her mind screamed for her to run, but that didn’t seem like it would work. Those men, they’d tried to run, but their souls were ripped from them nonetheless.

“Silence! You shall perish, just as your comrades have!” He towered over her now, seeming twice as tall as his normal fifteen feet of height. He outstretched his wings to their full twenty-five foot wingspan and it blocked out the light on the ground surrounding the quivering girl.

She fell to her knees, bowing her head down and shutting her eyes. Perhaps if she showed submission then he would spare her, let her explain or be merciful in some way. It didn’t seem like that was going to work though because she heard the air begin to hum, just as it had before he killed the others. She could also see a light covering the shadows, though it was through her eyelids.

Her eyes snapped open upon hearing a roar emit from his throat. Her breath caught in her chest at the same moment as her final tears fell from her eyes. She knew she had been a fool now, and she knew that she should have listened to them. She could only guess that they had been trying to save her that day, but it was obvious that it was to no avail. Maybe she should have listened to her parents, too, even though she didn't think she was crazy. She now felt that they were trying to protect her, yet it was far too late.

A male nurse came in bearing a needle with some medication that could possibly help, but he had not been in the room thirty seconds and the doctor told him to hold on a minute. He was crouched beside Luna, watching her as he prepared her arm for the needle. Something had caught his attention.

“What’s wrong, doctor?” Mr. Samuels asked upon hearing his command for the nurse to stop.

“I’m not sure…”

Her eyes, that’s what had caught his attention. Her pupils, which had been so dilated where now so tiny; it almost appeared as if her irises had now taken hold. He couldn’t explain it, but something had happened. He could tell this not only because of her eyes, but because her body became more relaxed than it had already been. It was like she was dead, but she was still breathing and he knew this because her chest continued to rise and fall. She was also breathing heavily, but still at a normal rate.

They determined later that she’d fallen into a coma-like state, but how was what they didn’t know. Her body still reacted to things, but her mind wouldn’t allow her to awaken. It was like her mind had cut itself off from reality entirely and locked her in the other one. That’s what they’d guessed anyway, that was the only thing they could guess. They would never know for sure until she woke up, that was assuming she would wake up. Because they didn’t know when or if she’d wake up, her parents were distraught. There wasn’t a thing they could do though, but wait and even that didn't guarantee anything…

END