Delusional, Taylor Quinn [the dot read aloud txt] 📗

of the animals we found would be studied thoroughly in class for the rest of the year. Jess and I found a robin, a field mouse, and a squirrel. I also thought I saw a vulture, but Jess convinced me that there had been no vulture. At the end of the day, I thought I had witnessed someone get hit by a bus! But I felt it wasn't real, and with a quick shake of my head, the horrifying image was gone from the real world. 

I stepped onto the bus, not giving the hallucination a second thought. Then, I started imagining things on the bus. I imagined a world of giant butterflies and happy rainbows. David snapped me out of this when he started to talk to me. But then I drifted off into the hills that are my imagination once again, and this time, I find an altnerate universe, where everything is perfect and goes well. David eventually shook me awake, but I had no idea how long he had been trying to do so. I realised what had happened, and saw that everyone was looking straight at me. I heard someone mutter "She's weird..." to one of their friends. I looked straight down, got up, and exited the bus as quickly as possible. As soon as I got into the house, I went straight up to my bedroom and didn't leave until dinner came around. While I was up in my room, I reread the scrap of paper. And noted one part specifically. That part being the part that says "don't spend your whole life fantasizing about what could be... or you'll start twiddling your thumbs... looking around anxiously... hallucinating... no one talks to you... they'll look at you strangely". How?! How did I not realize the first time. It's because I found this stupid piece of paper, isn't it?! I ripped the paper to shreds, but the words stayed with me. The wind suddenly howled outside my window. I was probably hallucinating, but I swear I heard a hushed voice in the wind, saying "You shouldn't have done that, Ruby". But I didn't care. I was rid of the paper that was causing my hallucinations and fantasizing fits. Or so I thought.

Distort

On a walk later that day, because I felt I needed some fresh air, I thought I saw a shadow in an alleyway. Suddenly, what I'd seen popped out in front of me. A murderer with a butcher knife. I shrieked and closed my eyes to brace for the pain, but the pain never came. I opened my eyes and all I saw was an empty street other than a few people watching me and holding their kids closer. "You're crazy!" one man shouted. "Stay at your house, schitzophrenic freak!" another yelled. I quickly walked home. I hadn't fixed the problem. I'd made it much, much more severe. I now knew for sure the wind had told me I shouldn't have done that, because it just made the hallucinations worse. I can't go to school. I can't.... I can't.... And so, I listened to myself and didn't go to school. I got another letter in the mail. Same envelope. No return address. A piece of paper inside with the letter N on it. Funny joke, everyone. I sat on my bed all day. Imagining. I continued to imagine the world of perfection I had imagined that day on the bus. It was so much better than what I’d been going through in the Real World.

The world of Humans, not of creatures found only in the depths of the imagination. I learned in my imagination that the world in question was called Distort. That’s it. Just Distort. I learned this from… a hydra. I think. Or at least, it looked like a hydra. I don’t know anymore! I woke up with a start at a clatter. I’d accidentally knocked a lightbulb off of the desk beside me with my hand. I got up slowly, being careful to avoid the scattered shards of broken glass. When I got into the living room, where the rest of my family was; my mother reading a magazine, my dad reading the paper, and my brother playing Xbox, I realized how crazy I must look. My eyes probably looked wide with fright, and my hair was probably a mess. My entire family was staring at me. Blinking slowly. Ignoring it, I walked into the kitchen, and grabbed a poptart. I ripped the poptart into two pieces and bit into it. Brown cinnamon. I hadn’t even looked to check what kind it was. I got lucky and hadn’t grabbed my brother’s blueberry ones, which I greatly disliked. Finishing off the poptart, which I had also forgotten to toast, I went and got the milk and a cup. I poured the milk into the cup, but with one problem. I’d imagined getting the cup, and ended up pouring the milk all over the counter and myself. I realized this only after I’d started pouring, and screamed when I had. The milk was, obviously, very cold. Crap!

My mother was the first to run in. She must of thought I was dying or something, like she always seems to.

“What happened!” she shouted as she ran in, only to realize I’d only poured milk on the counter and my clothes.

“Jesus Christ, Ruby! I thought you’d cut your hand off with a knife, or something!” she yelled at me, rather disappointed.

“Well I’m sorry! I thought I’d gotten a cup! It’s not my freaking fault!” I yelled back, going back to my bedroom to change into some dry clothes. After I’d changed into my pajamas, I sat down on my bed and went back into my perfect world of imagination. Tomorrow was Saturday. I don’t need to eat? Who needs to eat? Eating is retarded. Eating is overrated…

Magenta Skies, Blue Eyes

And as said, I did not eat. I got one more letter in the mail. Same envelope and no return address, once again. The letter S. God, this joke is getting old. I stacked the three pieces of paper I’d gotten on my desk, and went to bed for the rest of the day.

Then, I woke up, once again, to a clatter. Sounded like a pot or pan falling off of the counter in the kitchen. I glanced at the clock. 2:24 AM. No way. Carefully sitting up, and putting on my slippers, I stood and walked to the door. My hand was seconds from grabbing the doorknob, when I heard the heavy breathing of a panting canine on the other side. Pitch? I cracked open the door, but I did not see Pitch. I saw nothing at all, for that matter. But I still heard the breathing. It was not going away. I took a look behind me and in my closet. Nothing. Totally forgetting about the clattering pot in the kitchen, I did a full search of the area around my door. Then, I realized that it might've been my brother breathing. But I pushed that idea aside when I realized how close to the farthest wall of the house his bed is. There's no way I could've heard his breathing from the door, unless he was snoring. I suddenly remembered the kitchen. I walked carefully down the stairs, holding my phone as a flashlight. I thought I saw a shadow flash across the living room, but it might have been Pitch running around. I didn't think it was Pitch, however, when I saw blue eyes glowing under the staircase as I walked by. Pitch's eyes are brown. Not blue. I kept walking, and the blue eyes watched me, though the owner of those eyes never left their perch. But the eyes didn't look evil. They didn't look like they wanted to hurt me. But that didn't stop me from thinking they might.

Now that I think about it, that creature's eyes are rather pretty, actually. Prettier than my own dark brown eyes, that's for sure.

I stopped worrying about the eyes and looked straight ahead. I was in the kitchen, now. I tried to turn on the light, but it wouldn't work. And there actually was a pot on the floor. But there wasn't a soul around who could've dropped it. I went over to window and pulled back the curtains to take a look outside, to see if someone had tried breaking in, but had knocked over the pot and split. But what I saw actually ended up scaring me.

The sky was a somewhat dark magenta. But it was about 2:35 in the morning! There's no way it could look like either dusk or dawn. Then I noticed the sky had what looked like deep purple swirls across it. Swirls? Where was I? I looked down the street. Thick fog kept me from even seeing past my house. I saw the forecast while I was in my bedroom, and they didn't say shit about "magenta swirly skies" and thick fog! I was not on Earth! There was no way I was on Earth! Suddenly, I heard a sound. A clicking sound, to be exact. Then, I started snapping my fingers, to see if what I heard was what I thought. No, but as soon as I snapped, everything zoomed around, making me dizzy. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them again, everything was normal. The light was on, the pot wasn't on the floor anymore. It was sitting on the counter. I looked out the window, since the curtains were still drawn. The sky was dark blue, like it should be. A soft rain falling. The fog had lifted, and I could see my neighbors' houses again. I went back into the connection between the living room and kitchen, and saw that Pitch was sitting under the stairs, staring intently up at me, just like the blue eyed creature I'd seen before. Apparently, Pitch was that creature I'd seen. Then I snapped to get Pitch to come over to me. She didn't react to clapping, whistling, or any sound other than snapping, for that matter.

But when I snapped, the same dizzying zooming repeated itself, and I fell to the ground by the staircase. Probably the last place I wanted to be. The room returned to the darkness of before. In front of my face, something stepped forward. I heard it sniffing my head. I looked at its feet. I saw green toed paws of a