Veronica's Voices

Veronica hears voices... And havoc ensues...

“Make them stop!” She clenched her fists to her temples in rage.  The screaming - it never stopped.  So many voices - all at once - never stopping - never, ever stopping.

 

“Only you can do that” was all the Doctor said to her, a patience in his voice that seemed terribly out of key.  He sat himself gently down behind his desk, as she rocked back and forth furiously on the leather couch.  “Can you tell me, Veronica, what do they say?” He took out a pen, tapping it against a blank page in his book.  The red, leather-covered book, filled with every word the voices had ever spoken.

 

Veronica rocked still, back and forth, back and forth.  “It- It hurts.” A cold tear slid down her cheek and onto the tired old leather of the couch.

 

“They’re not real, Veronica. They can’t hurt you.”  He seemed bored. He tapped his pen against the page, in time with Veronica’s rocking.  “What do they say?”

 

“Liar.” Veronica muttered, her long auburn hair obscuring her face.  “Th-they c-call you that.” They did - they always did.  After the pills.  After the treatments. They would always scream louder after her medication.  They didn’t want to leave.

 

He held back a yawn, filling in the corner of the page with tiny circles and lines. “And why would they say that?”

 

She looked up, but he didn’t notice her.  The yellow striped wallpaper was picked away at places.  The light coming in through the window - through the sullied curtains - was repugnantly sepia, coating everything it touched with a wretched, brown light.  The wallpaper - she was sure - smelt of the drugs they gave her.

 

Veronica watched the doctor doodling for a moment.

 

The voices - they stopped screaming…  She smiled - she laughed! Silence! … Then one spoke to her.  Just the one.  It told her such - such horrible things.  That made such perfect sense.  It was right.  She knew what she had to do.  Why hadn’t she seen it before?  Now that there was only one, it was all so clear.

 

The doctor was still absentmindedly decorating the page when he looked away from the book. “Veronica?”  She was on her feet, stepping towards his desk. “G-Go sit down.”  He pushed himself back in his chair, watching her with slightly widened eyes.  He seperated his shoulders and poised himself so as to attempt to look authoritative.

 

“You’re a liar.”  She told him steadily.  The pain was gone now.  Soon, it would never come back.  There was just one thing she had to do. “People shouldn’t lie.”

 

She was at his desk now, her hand reached for a pen - his pen.  He had left it on the open book, intricately decorated with boredom.  She grasped it tightly.  The doctor watched her, and moved to stand.

 

With one swift motion, she swung her arm around, aiming for his temple.  The voices told her, that was the weakest spot.  They were right.  The skin popped.  The pen slid between rolls of flesh and vein.  Blood spurted from around the pen as it fought its way into his brain.

 

Veronica released her grasp of the pen as the doctor’s shell slumped onto his desk, his face into the book.  She smiled.  There was silence!  She laughed.  She hugged herself and giggled into the room.  Veronica had never heard the silence like this.  The pressure was gone.  She was normal now! Her knees hit the carpet; she was liberated.

Author's Note

Yet another piece of work along the lines of a mental asylum, I know. Thrown together because I wanted to try out the ideas from the poems in a different format.

All feedback welcome.

Reviews

[Not Your Typical New Yo..]

I usually get bored or try to avoid reading asylum stuff, because it often is overdone or just the same thing over and over again, but you're short story really got me hooked! You took me more a realistic place and what would happen to a person who "followed orders" from the voices. Very well done, great details

[Harley (arbiter)]

Hm I like it good job

[Legolas]

Very interesting story. A little disturbing but very well written. Great job!