I.N.S.A.N.E

Sanity was never really an option for Tressa.
        She was born eccentric, sticking out from the crowd. As she peered at the spinning world from behind her glasses, insanity became a less of a glamourous possibility and more of a nessecary resort. She knew she would never fit in to the puzzle of society. So gradually, her little piece of the world became more misshapen, her colors more distorted, as she hid away from reality.
    The world around her merged into the fantasy reflected by her glasses. She lived in a perfect world, where everyone understood her, where nobody yelled at her for being disjointed.
   But even through her thin wire frames, Tressa couldn't see that her little corner of the universe was actually crooked.
                                                      ~     ~     ~
      I don’t have friends. I have my books.                                     
     And a few thousand pens, hidden in boxes under my bed.
     I guess you could count the imaginary people in my head as friends. I don’t. I don’t even know what friendship is.
                                           
                                                   ~      ~    ~
    As Tressa spent her days in her little world, it became more of a prison than a sanctuary. The once bright pigments of her realm melted into shades of gray.
  The eyes behind her glasses grew glazed and faraway as she tried to push away both worlds. Her perfect hideout was now a dark void, darkened by the pressure of actuality.
 The voices in her head weren't happy, though.
 
                                                ~      ~     ~
  I was sitting the darkest corner of my closet when she appeared.
  "Hey. Tressa." I felt a slight nudge on my shoudler, then two bright amber nocturnal eyes smiling deviously. "Remember me? It's 6. Your old pal."
  I ran my hand along the wall until I found the light. Flicked it on. Saw one of them.
  I had gotten rid of my imaginary "friends" a long time ago. Yet here was Number 6, crouching in my closet with her usual devious smile.
  "Why did you-"
  "Oh, I just thought I'd pay a little visit." She stood up and tossed her long platinum over her shoulder. "You know. Brighten up this dreary existance for you."
   I tried to open the door with my shaking hands, but 6's fiendish grin stopped me. "Oh, everything's the same out there. You might as well hide your pityful self in the corner and cry." She tossed her head back and laughed, a sound that wasn't that far away from fingernails running down a chalkboard. "I'm here. You can't stop that."
                                    
                                              ~        ~       ~
    Only until 6 appeared in her closet did Tressa realize her seemingly flawless creation was a twisted jumble of nightmares who would haunt her once she threw them away.
  She had finally lost all sense of reality. 6 took away the people of her world - her family, all the people she saw in her life, the ones she took for granted.
  But Tressa had no choice to play along. There was no telling what the twisted creations of her mind could do if she refused.
  The walls were closing in on her.

                                            *       *       *
  "C'mon." 6 tugged on my sweater sleeve, pulling me up the steep slope. The thick canopy of trees prevented me from seeing any sunlight, which I used to miss.
   Used to. I wasn't sure I could feel any emotions anymore.
   We were hiking through the hills that extended into my backyard. I guess you couldn't really call them hills. They were more like half-mountains, their peaks almost brushing the sky.
   "We'll reach the river, then eat lunch," 6 said with an upbeat tone that didn't match the dimness of the path.
     After a few hours of wordless trekking, I could hear the cheerful splashing of the river off the path. 6 skipped off into the pine trees that surrounded the dusty road. I followed her, brushing away the stinging branches of the evergreens.
    I pushed away the last tree to find 6 sitting on the banks of the river, lunch spread out on a blanket, and wearing a smile so cheerful it was sickening to see it on someone like her.
   "Go on. It isn't poisoned." She smirked, revealing two rows of crooked teeth.
    I tentatively sat down opposite to her, knowing there had to be a hidden plan to her facade of friendliness.
    Before I had even touched my food, 6's eyes blazed red and she grabbed my arm, holding a death grip on it as she growled in a voice so menacing it didn't sound human. "Listen, Tressa. You created me to be your friend." She shoved me in the direction of the river, who's gentle waves had morphed into gushing rapids. "I intended to stay that way." Another push. "Instead, you banish me to a wasteland." Inches away. "Do you know what's in that place?!" She shrieked. "You need to come with me." She gripped my shoulders, her eerie eyes frantically searching my own. “You have to. I’m all alone in that void…all alone…”
    I was plunged into the fridgid rapids. I thrashed against the intense current, trying to scream, but instead sputtering out icy water. I grabbed at a rock jutting out from the surface.
    It was as if my emotions were all hiding in that river and the fall had brought them back. Anger bubbled at my throat, trying to find a way out of my mouth without exploding.
    "It isn't my fault!" I struggled to hold on to the boulder. "You can't control me! I'm sick of you ruling my life!" I took a deep breath, trembling from the effort of letting out what was trapped inside me. "You know what? I liked you where you were. Deep in the depths of my mind. Why don't you go back there?"
    But 6 wasn't at the shore.

                                         ~           ~         ~
   Beep. Beep. Beep.
   I woke up in a world of white.
   I was in a bed, a heart monitor to my right, an I.V. machine to my left.  The smell of alchohol entered my nose.
   Of course. I was in a hospital.
   I sighed, then let my head sink into the thin pillow. 6 is gone. 6 is gone. 6 is gone.
   The door creaked open a bit. "Tressa?"
   I turned my head a bit to the side. "Nathaniel?"
   The door opened all the way and there stood my older brother, a shy smile on his face. "You're awake then?"
    "Look, what happened?" I propped myself up on my elbow.
    "Well, you disappeared one day. We sent out a search party, and they found you unconscious in the river. You were starving and had hypothermia." He shook his head. "Gee, sis, what were you thinking?"
     I really didn't know. 
     All I knew is that 6 was gone. Probably the lot of them, too.
     And that was good enough for me.