Insanity

By LiLin

18th May 2006, 12pm

"We'll be going out of town for the day, do you think you'll be okay alone at home?" A middle aged woman asked her daughter in concern. Her daughter was currently lying on her bed, reading a novel.

"I'll be fine, mummy. Don't you worry about me," her daughter smiled at her sweetly, looking up from her book. "Bye mummy, bye daddy."

Her father gave her a pat on the head and a knowing wink as he took his wife's arm and guided her out of their daughter's room. His daughter returned to reading her book in silence. It was not long after they were gone when she felt her eyes slowly drooping shut. She set the book aside and slid beneath the covers.

-

18th May 2006, 1pm

It was terrifying to watch the dark silhouette slowly lift an arm and aim the gun barrel at the young girl before it. Behind the translucent black curtains, she bit her lip as the young girl pleaded for her life, throwing herself at the silhouette's feet. Her pleas for mercy were desperate and heart-rending. Daisy, the girl was called. She was a pretty girl with a sweet smile and a demure deposition. She was a social butterfly, and undeniably smart. She had the looks, the brains and the friends. Everyone envied her to no end. The guys wanted to be her boyfriend and the girls wanted to be her. She was popular, she was lucky, but her luck ran out. "Let me off, please let me off! You're a good, kind person, please don't do this to- " The person in hiding cringed as the trigger was pulled and Daisy's words were cut off. Keeping an eye on Daisy's limp body, she backed out of the room and ran as fast as she could.

Her footsteps were light as she tried her best not to be heard. Behind her, she heard footsteps far heavier than hers, and they were drawing closer and closer. Her heart thumped with trepidation as she slowly turned the knob of a nearby door and slipped into the room. Shutting the door, she leant against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on her heels. There was a soft voice from the bed positioned in the middle of the room. "What are you doing here?" There was yet another teenage girl sprawled across the bed with an open magazine before her. She was Delilah, a girl who had her hair dyed black and her nails perpetually painted in shades of purple. She was a rebel, and often kept to herself. They always talked about her behind her back, but she never cared. She was always oblivious to everything around her, always in her own little world. And as the footsteps approached the door, her own little world was about to be destroyed. The girl behind the door wanted to warn Delilah, but she never got the chance to as the door was thrown open and the dark figure walked menacingly towards Delilah. Delilah sat up and opened her mouth to scream but the figure clamped a pale hand across her mouth and another hand around her slim throat. The girl dashed out of the room in a panic.

No, no, she could not let the figure catch her. She had to run; she had to hide.

The stairs. She ran down the carpeted stairs, her feet not making a single sound. The bathroom, she decided, would be a good place to hide. The figure wouldn't think anyone would hide in there, no it wouldn't. She stepped into the cold, spacious bathroom and shut the door. She turned the lock and leaned her forehead against the cool tiled wall. Her eyes fluttered shut and she fought to calm her heart and resume her normal breathing rate. Adrenaline was still coursing through her veins as her chest rose and fell with every deep, shaking breath she took.

That was when the images started to flash through her mind. Before Daisy, there was Desiree - the loud, aggressive girl who beat up anyone whom she didn't like. They all cowered at the sight of her and stayed out of her way. She drove fear into their hearts the way a human would drive a stake through a vampire's heart and she scared the living daylights out of them. This time however, she was the prey and the figure was the predator. The girl wept when in her mind's eye, the image of Desiree's vulnerable body lay across the marble floor, blood flowing relentlessly from the gash in her throat. She cringed even more when she saw Daisy's pale, upturned face with her wide blue eyes and the neat bullet hole right through her chest. Then finally, Delilah's face, purple from the lack of air, her dark eyes bulging as they stared right through the girl, and blamed her for not helping, for not saving her life.

There was a loud bang and the bathroom door flew open. The girl whirled around and let out a wild shriek. Before her stood the murderer, the dark silhouette, the unknown figure. She gave the murderer a punch, and heard a loud crack. She went right on screaming. She could see the face of the silhouette now. Unkempt auburn hair, frightened, swollen green eyes and tear-stained cheeks. She was Desiree; she was Daisy; she was Delilah and she was a murderer. They were her, they were all her. She had been running away from herself, but who was the girl in front of her? That girl was the murderer, not her. She, her, she, her, who?

The rosy lips opened and another agonized screech left her raw throat and she punched the murderer again. And again. And again. And again.

-

18th May 2006, 10pm

They found her lying alone on her bathroom floor, amidst pieces of a shattered mirror and little pools of blood. There was dried blood all over her knuckles and cuts across her arms and legs. Her body was stone cold and her eyes were shut. She had been lying there for more than ten hours. Her mother was hysterical and her father was horrified. Her condition had lain dormant for two months, and now it was back.

Soon enough, the police and paramedics were called and they arrived within minutes to barricade the house with the blaringly yellow "Crime Scene - Do Not Enter" tape. She was pronounced dead immediately and a body bag was prepared, ready to zip her up once the investigators had done their job.

"I'd say the cuts came from the broken glass," one of the two investigators in the bathroom said. "The mirror probably injured her when it shattered."

His partner tutted and picked up a bottle from the sink, "Look what we have here. An empty bottle of antidepressants and the prescription date was just yesterday. Looks like someone has been overdosing."

"Why didn't her parents realize that? Her medical records show that she often sleepwalked, they should have known better than to let her down so many pills and leave her alone at home."

"It isn't our place to criticize how parents look after their kids. Our job here currently is done. We'll talk more about it in the office."

The investigator walked over to the paramedics and nodded his consent for them to place her body in the body bag. As the two men left the bathroom, the girl's stiff body was placed into the bag and carried out of the house.

-

18th June 2006, 10am

Her mother found her diary in her drawer as she was cleaning her deceased daughter's room.

Dear Diary,

Y'know how Pink's song goes "everyday I fight a war against the mirror, I can't take the person staring back at me"? Yeah well, that's how I feel all the time. Doctor Lee tells me that I have three alter-egos. Daisy, Delilah and Desiree. Why can't I be normal? Why can't I be me? Why can't I know just who the hell I really am? I'm only sixteen and my life is such a lie. I hate myself, I really do. But nobody knows. They tell me I can be cured and I will recover but I know myself, that the only way for that to happen will be when I kill them all myself. And then maybe I'll be me.

Love,

Dawn

2/11/2005

And that was when her mother started to cry.