Young Writers Society

Words Swirled in her mind, pulling her from under the thick blanket of unconsciousness. As a reflex her brain began to put together the pieces of the night before. The thick fog blurring her minds eye began to part slightly.

Something was dancing on the very edges of her memory, as she tried to grasp the images she had to stop her brain falling back into the abyss. Slowly a story emerged before her. She had been at the bar, as usual, she had left and staggered home after she scored a bit of weed from another of the bars patrons. A black blob lay on her memory, obscuring the details, the next clear thought was of herself sitting on her moth eaten red couch in her apartment.

As she thought this, another part of her registered she could feel her body. She was lying in a cool bed, with crisp sheets, that she knew were white before even opening her eyes. She concentrated on her eyes and began to open them, it took much more effort than she expected.

At first she thought she hadn’t succeeded in the eye opening struggle, everything was white. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she could make out the line of the windows, the bed holding her and the edges of the crisp white sheets. The floor was tiled, a small bedside cabinet held a lamp next to her head. A lamp bolted to the table, a table bolted to the floor.

As she looked around the room she was unsurprised to find her brain tell her she was in a hospital of some kind. Lacey had probably came to check on her, found her in a puddle of her own vomit and sent her into another rehab clinic. It had been the same sorry story for over three years now, ever since her mother's death.

Closing her eyes, she tried to remember Alice, her name was Alice. She had been walking to her parents house, after her father left it was a Sunday night tradition, dinner and a chick flick. About four streets away she had seen the blue lights and heard the sirens screeching. She rounded the corner and saw a mob of people, all in various uniforms, all screaming at her to stand back. Alice's vision faded slightly, probably her minds way of protecting her from what she had seen. Repression is always a winner in rehab.

The sounds though, she couldn't get rid of the sounds, cops yelling at the crowd, sirens wailing and the unearthly howl that tore from her own body as she began to comprehend why she had arms around her waist dragging her back. The minutes that followed haunted her dreams and stalked her while she woke, never far and always lurking in the dark of her mind

A paramedic had forced her to sit down, but before she had finished the motion her body froze. Electricity seemed to be rooting her to the spot unable to move, and incapable of making a sound.

Her vision had blurred and a warm feeling began started to creep its way up her body, coiling, like a boa constricter, winding its way up. Her eyes saw a black alley, with a woman scurrying along, heels scratching asphalt. She watched an alien arm attached to her raise a knife and was voiceless as foreign legs carried her towards the woman.

She squirmed away from the scenario, it was too strong, after a feeble attempt at resistance, she was sucked back in. Her eyes snapped back into focus as she let the sensation wash over her. She stood above the body of a broken woman, heart beating fast, adrenaline and euphoria running through her body. The knife in her hand dripped red life into a pool of blood streaming from the body. The body, she realised, her mother.

She lay in her bed, with Lacey rambling about institutions, police interviews, sedation and vaious other meaningless noises. For months she refused to leave the apartment, drinking and screaming she killed her mother. Eventually she realised it wasn't her that was her mothers killer, the police caught the guy and connected him to another two separate attacks on women. The sick vision was obviously a symptom of shock, her body had been pumping her full of chemicals, numbing her until she could deal with the situation. Unfortunately Alice never could deal with it, she drank to numb her mind and smoked pot to have nightmare free dreams. She became addicted, the thought of facing the world sober scared her so deep her body would start to shake violently. Her best friend Lacey had tried to help her, telling her the drugs and alcohol were causing delusions she first had when in shock to haunt her.

A black cloud threatened to draw her back under, she dragged her mind back to her present situation and forced her body to sit up. A bought of nausea hit her, so she contented herself adjusting her pillows so she could lie more upright. From her higher vantage point she could now see out of the windows that dominate the south wall of the small room. She could see lots of green, trees lined the perimeter of her new facilities lands, a see of grass ran from the building to meet them. A white van appeared through a gap in the trees, driving up a dirt stream that broke through the green ocean, winding its way towards her.

Footsteps sounded outside the door approaching fast.

“Here we go” she sighed to herself

Drawing a deep breath she closed her eyes, waiting for another chance to play the game of early release.