Reality

It was just another hard day at work and all she really wanted to do was unwind. “Let’s just go to Buddy’s.” She said as she looked into the eyes of her best friend. Ray however had other plans; he had been working night shifts for the past week and finally got a night off, he wanted to make it count.

“I’ve already called everyone home! It’ll be fun and much cheaper to drink there” he replied with a smile. He knew he would have his way and so she left with Ray, his roommates and five other people from work.

As always the conversation was as smooth as the alcohol, and the night did count just as Ray wanted it to.

In that moment she was happy she listened to him. She felt at ease in the familiar apartment that had housed her many nights when she had nowhere else to go. 

She got up, and so did Ray.

“Where are you going?”

“To the bathroom”

“Don’t use that one… Plumbing problems” he gave her a sheepish grin. “Come I’ll take you to another one”

“You guys are mad! How do you live like this?” She knew her comments would yield no results they seldom ever did. She laughed it off and followed.

She knew every inch of the house and wondered why he didn’t just tell her where to go, but she followed anyway, knowing very well that he was taking her towards the kitchen and not a bathroom.

“He’s probably messing with me, or he’s just really drunk” she thought.

“Ray, this is the kitchen.”

“Yeah, I know, come on!”

She found herself standing in front of a door near the kitchen counter. For as long as she could remember it had been locked; she never asked why or gave it a thought, only this time, she found that all it needed was a push.

“After you” he said.

She walked into dimly lit room with a flattering king sized bed with blue sheets that hadn’t been made in years. Sitting on the bed was an old woman in a pale yellow nightgown that was fading to white. She sat perfectly still and stared outside the window.

She moved towards the woman when Ray grabbed her hand and held her back.

“What are you doing?”

She looked and him and then back at the woman. The woman was as un-kept as the bed. She looked out of the window to see what it was that that held this woman’s gaze keeping her engrossed, and found she herself staring at a grey wall. She turned to look at the woman whose eyes were filled with wonder as though the wall had stories to tell.

“She’s my aunt.” Ray said pulling her back. “She’s was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia five years ago, and has been living me ever since.”

“…I, uh, you keep her in a locked room?” She stared at him and searched deep within his eyes for an explanation that was better than the one she knew was about to come.

Brown eyes, his eyes, ones that she had known for the longest time, ones that she trusted more than anything else.

“I don’t know what to say…” He looked back at her clearly not expecting this sort of a reaction. “I’ve told you about her!”

“Yeah, but you forget to mention that she stays with you!” She glared at him with indignation.

“These aren’t things that you talk about Aru, now can you just go take a piss so that we can get back to the party.” His eyes looked tired. “I’m going to wait right here”

She walked into the bathroom, and instantly her vexation turned to nervousness and then fear. All around her things were changing. Every fibre of her being was tingling and she couldn’t believe her eyes. At that moment her looked into the mirror and instead of seeing her own reflection she saw shadows instead. She stared and blinked hoping her eyes would stop playing tricks on her and when the shadows persisted, she opened the door and looked at Ray.

“Ray!” She gasped. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing hun, what’s the matter?”

“Ray…” She looked towards the woman who was now smiling as if the stories the grey wall was telling her brought her happiness, moving her, and she sank deeper into them.

“Ray, what if your aunt if fine and the problem is the room?”

“What?” He held her hand. “Aru are you okay?”

She looked at him and saw three of him standing in front of her. She didn’t know which one to look at, which one to talk to or which one was real. She stood still, “Movement can make it worse” she thought.

“Ray, what if there’s no problem with her and the problem is the room.” The words seemed to be spilling out of her mouth. Incoherent and uncontrollable, she knew he wouldn’t make sense out of what she was trying to say, but she repeated herself trice in the hopes that he would understand.

Tears filled her eyes, she looked towards the woman in the corner, and her heart went out to her. She had been locked up in a room for five years, wrongly diagnosed and now living with whatever she had. She wanted to go to her, hug her and make it right for her.

She found her words.

“Ray there is something wrong with the room.” “Supernatural or paranormal, I don’t know but I think your aunt is mentally sound and it’s the room that’s playing tricks on her.”

Ray shook her and then hugged her tight. He held her in his arms and assured her that there was nothing wrong with the room.

“You might have had a little too much to drink love, the room is fine. My aunt is unwell. Let it go.”

She pulled away and looked into three sets of eyes all belonging to her best friend, the man who she loved deeply, three pairs of eyes that made her feel safe, eyes that loved her and she whispered, “Then why do I see three of you, and why are the shadows that were in the mirror now all around you?”

As the words escaped her, she saw herself losing in those big brown eyes. They started to change from deep to distant, they didn’t feel safe anymore, they looked tired a weary, hard and cold. She barely recognized them anymore. How she longed to see them return to their normal state and make her feel safe once again, but instead fear engulfed her. She blinked but the distant eyes hadn’t changed, what did change was the skin around them. They had wrinkles now. Tired and droopy they stared at her. She felt conscious and confused, it was a mere second ago that these eyes were her world and now they just stared blandly.

She looked down at her clothes faded, yellow, and almost white. She ran her wrinkled hand over them and on to the blue bed sheet. She hated this bed sheet, and that’s why never bothered to make the bed in years. She looked up to find the eyes of her husband cold and hard with a hint of sadness, big and brown. They were staring at her from the across the room. She turned towards the window, and looked at a grey wall. The wall that held stories, that spoke to her, and was her friend. The wall had been more of a companion to her than her best friend, her husband, who introduced her to it. The wall that entertained her, listened to her, and loved her. She smiled as she looked at it and it told her yet another story.