1. Of Pills, Paranoia, and Peaches

Agateophobia is the fear of insanity. In this case, for the man known and called Robert Danbury, it was just excessive paranoia. Maniaphobia was another tag for fear of madness which was more or less the same thing as the previous phobia. Robert played around with the two phobias in his head many times before and for the past five years it had been the reason for his small success.

The day was Monday and the time, according to a small digital clock sitting on a bedside table, was four thirty-one. Robert lay on his bed staring at the clock quietly in the darkness of his apartment bedroom. The small red lights that blinked the time were just some of the few things his dull blue eyes could see from his position. His head was lying on a pillow which his hands hugged loosely and he was on his stomach at the time being. It wouldn’t be until the lights blinked four forty-nine that he would roll over and sit up, thus beginning the day properly.

The bed he sat on was a single which came with the apartment. Robert’s bedroom was simple, with a dresser to one side, a writing desk to another and a keyboard. Both of these pieces of furniture also came with the apartment except for the keyboard which was his. By this time, Robert’s eyes adjusted well to the dim room making him see things more clearly. The walls of his room were filled with numerous sticky-notes and paper each with a phrase, a note, a scribble of some kind. There were several occasions where some people would ask what they were for whenever they’d come into the room. And simply Robert replied,

“It’s for inspiration…”

By the time Robert stumbled out of his bedroom and into the main room of his residence it was already five o’ four, as shown on a wall clock in the kitchen area of the room. The main room didn’t have as much glamour as his bedroom did. It was simple, functional, and small. The man walked over behind the counter of the kitchen and to the fridge where he pulled out some canned peaches before closing the fridge.

There were five things you should know about Robert Danbury. The first is that he’s absolutely paranoid about certain stuff. Twenty-two years, that’s how long Robert’s been on this life, and it was only when he turned eighteen did he begin to suspect specific things. Whether it was about how he believed the government was tied to every single computer in the world or about how he assumed he had a fifty-fifty chance of waking up each morning, Robert was simply unreasonable in several cases.

As Robert opened his can of peaches, the window outside showed him that it was still gray outside. Not to mention it was drizzling. Next to him was a radio which he turned on to a weather station.

“It seems like there’s going to be a big chance of rain all morning and possibly the afternoon too! Furthermore it’s going to be cold out as well. So I advise all of you who are planning to be out for the day to get out your jackets and umbrellas.”

He nodded with each piece of information the man on the radio said. In truth, Robert did feel a slight chill in the area. But then again, standing shirtless in the kitchen so early in the morning always did that for him. With the can open, he opened a drawer and pulled out a plastic fork which he fished out a peach with. Robert, enjoyed peaches.

That however isn’t the second thing you should know about him. The second thing about Robert is that his income came from playing music and writing it. He played piano in some club a few blocks from his apartment during most evenings. The band he played with had been trying to get into the music industry for over a year now. After numerous covers of songs the club owner required them to play it was only when Robert joined in did they make their own music. He supplied the lyrics.

His living room area in front of the kitchen was messy. The couch had stains, the coffee table before it was cluttered with papers and some magazines, and the bookshelf next to the TV had books that looked like no care was given to them when placed there. Though, perhaps there wasn’t any care to begin with. Grabbing the remote, can of peaches still in one hand, he switched on the TV and began channel scanning. Occasionally he let out a small word or two with each channel he passed.

“Junk.” He said to the cooking channel. “More junk.” He said passing over ESPN. For a second or two he stopped at a channel which was showing a porn film. “…too tired.” He muttered before flipping through a few more channels until he gave up and turned the machine off.

Robert’s voice was low and a bit raspy. He sounded as if he drank several bottles of booze the previous evening but this was just his regular voice. His voice suited him very well though pertaining to his looks. He was a lanky male. With uneven skin tones here and there and a torso that could’ve looked more appealing to most people were it fatter. Looks-wise, he resembled his father who, hearing time and time again from a collection of relatives he would never remember by name, used to be handsome. Time had a way of taking that from the old man but Robert had it now but treated it poorly.

Now, the third thing you should know about Robert is that he wasn’t very healthy. He didn’t eat food unless he trusted the person who made it and normally he’d only touch his own concoctions or his own food bought by himself. His drinking list consisted of water, vodka and coffee. And to top this all, he has asthma. Well, at least he strongly thinks he still has it. Thus he strays away from much physical activities and the company of smokers as well as the idea of smoking. With all of this, it didn’t help that he stayed up late and woke up early just to earn some extra cash. This explained the faint dark circles around his eyes. As for his hair, that seemed to be the only thing not-too-shabby about him, it was a plain brown that he didn’t cut frequently making it almost always near shoulder’s length and messy.

Getting up from bed, eating breakfast, the next Robert had to do was take a shower. On the clock it now showed five fifteen exactly. No later than five twenty-two would he come out of his bathroom in a towel and around five thirty would he be dressed. He switched off the TV and grabbed the now empty can of peaches and tossed it into a garbage bin in the kitchen before heading for the door. He had put on his old brown coat which was now a bit small for him length-wise. He rummaged through the pocket of his jeans and felt if all he needed was there.

Wallet, in my back pocket…keys, in my left…pills…to my right.

The fourth thing you should know about Robert is this. He goes through the day as sane as possible with medications. These medications kept him proper and not so paranoid when walking about with the normal people. Robert once had to go a week without them and it resulted to what is now a not-so-funny but yet funny story about how he nearly killed his neighbor’s cat.

With a turn to the knob, he pulled the door open and stepped out ready to get through another day in his life and hoped he’d come back alive with most (if not all) his limbs attached when he reached the inside of his crumby apartment again.

The last thing you should know about Robert is that he is deeply in love with someone who he isn’t quite sure on whether they had met before or not. Nonetheless he thought about her often. The way she looked and acted and each tiny detail he was smitten about. She was his muse, the reason for all his brilliant lyrics and some of the nice sane qualities about himself. To put it all in perspective, Robert was (no pun intended) crazy about her and if only the poor girl had known sooner, perhaps Robert would be spared from many of his restless nights that have only just begun.

--

Ramblings from the author:

More or less this is my try on writing a decent short story with a hopefully pretty okay plot. This is also my practice on third-person writing. My friend who is known here as Loud Cancer is just awesome for helping me with the idea, much love to her and you should check out her one-shots, they’re lovely.

Reviews, comments, critiques and the sorts are welcomed and make me smile. Making me smile makes me update more…not that you have to do that. –cough-

That’s about it, on my last note I don’t like flames and flamers so if you don’t like, then just don’t read. Thanks a bunch.

-Saint Cali Skitzles

Minor Edit: I went for a double and triple check on this after Neferity’s review, much love that. Hopefully it reads better that earlier. Much love for the review.