Crazy Files Read online

  “It’s alright, I’m sure we can figure out what’s going on with you,” she said in a soft, sweet tone. I knew she was trying to reassure me, but it didn’t really work. “I do have to ask you a few questions about your medical history first.”

  “Alright.”

  She then proceeded to ask me countless questions about my family’s medical history as well as mine. There wasn’t much for me to tell. She continued with the exam by checking my reflexes and eyes, the typical checkup. When everything was done, she said, “It seems like everything is just fine. I can’t find anything that hints at why you’re seeing these things.”

  I couldn’t believe everything seemed normal. How was that possible? I could feel the blood drain out of my face. I expected there to be something at least a little off about me. I was expecting for her to need to run some extra tests or something, but nothing like that. I was normal? How? A million thoughts ran through my mind. I managed to pull myself out of my own head and asked, “How is that possible?”

  “Maybe you’re just gifted,” she suggested.

  “I don’t know. It all just seems so hard to believe.”

  “I know, but maybe it’s time to start exploring that possibility.”

  I debated on whether or not I should have asked the one question that was on my mind since everything started. I was sure Dr. Robins could sense my internal debate because she flashed me a look of sympathy. I found it odd that she seemed very caring towards me. No doctor has ever had such an attitude towards me and I wondered why she did. Eventually I decided I had to ask, it was better than torturing myself with it. I summoned up the courage and finally asked. “What’s the difference between seeing and hearing ghosts and schizophrenia?”

  A hint of understanding flashed across her face. “Is that what this whole thing is about?”

  “Yes,” I said shyly. “I…umm…I just want to know if I’m going crazy or not.” I thought I had taken her by surprise. She paused for a moment. I guessed she was carefully thinking about what she was going to say next. The more time that went by in silence, the more I thought I was crazy. I was seeing and hearing what no one else seemed to, and I highly doubted it was a normal occurrence. It seemed like I was waiting an eternity for her to respond and the longer the wait, the more nervous I got. Realistically, no more than 30 seconds had passed, but with my nerves, time seemed to slow down.

  “Well…first, let’s look at the symptoms of schizophrenia and see if you are exhibiting any of them,” the doctor said. It was exactly the response you would have expected from a doctor.

  “What are these symptoms?” I nervously asked. I hoped I didn’t have any of them, but if I didn’t, there would still be the question of what exactly was going on with me…what other explanation could there have been?

  She walked over to the computer and started typing. Was she looking up the symptoms of schizophrenia? What kind of doctor didn’t already know these things? Maybe it was because she didn’t specialize in crazy. I didn’t know what it was, but for some reason, I had a bad feeling. I didn’t think it was possible for me to get any more nervous.

  After a moment of typing, she turned the monitor towards me and said, “Here are the symptoms. You can read them and see if any of them are true for you.” Was that really how doctors did things? I thought they were supposed to ask the questions, not let me see for myself. My bad feeling had gotten much worse.

  I looked at the screen in front of me and read the list of symptoms. I started telling the doctor whether or not I had been experiencing anything that was on the list. “You already know that I’ve been seeing and hearing things,” I said. “I don’t really find it hard to talk or organize my thoughts….umm…I know that I have tons of emotions and I definitely show them.” As I was reading and talking I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Dr. Robins was writing something down. I figured she was writing down everything I said.

  She looked up from her clipboard and said, “Okay, so far so good, why don’t you keep reading…just to make sure.” As I was reading I felt relieved that I wasn’t displaying the other symptoms. Maybe I wasn’t as crazy as I thought.

  “Let’s see…” I said to myself. “I have no problems planning and doing activities, I’m not withdrawn and I don’t lack personal hygiene. Sometimes I can be forgetful, but it hasn’t been a huge problem for me. I don’t have problems making sense of information or paying attention.” I let out the breath I was holding in. I kind of understood why Dr. Robins had me read the list of symptoms myself. “And I sometimes daydream but I don’t have any problems telling the difference between those and reality.”

  She looked up at me seeming content and said, “From what I just heard, it seems that you are not schizophrenic.”

  “Really?” I couldn’t hide my shock. “You don’t need to put me in an MRI or something just to make sure?”

  “Based on everything from today, I don’t think it’s necessary.”

  “Then how do you explain the things I’ve been seeing? There has to be some explanation for it, right?” I was so confused…why was this happening to me?

  Chapter 3

  I was sprawled out on my bed tracing the Eye of Horus tattoo on my wrist with my finger for comfort. I thought about my visit to the doctor’s office and everything else that was happening to me. “So I’m not schizophrenic,” I mumbled to myself. “Think Aimee, think. What other reason could there be for everything that has been happening?” I was then scared out of my own head by the blaring sound of my phone ringing.

  “Hey Brian, what’s up?” I said enthusiastically. Brian has been my best friend for years. Neither of us knew how long we knew each other, but that never really mattered to us. He was always there for me during the ups and downs of life and I was always there for him. He always seemed to know what I needed before I did. Even though I suspected him of something, I was still happy to hear from him. He was the only person I could talk to about this sort of thing.

  “Hey Aims, you seemed a little out of it when I talked to you last week, so I was wondering if you wanted to go out. You know, to get you out of your own head.”

  “Sounds good, what did you have in mind?”

  “How about that pizza and beer I owe you?”

  I burst out laughing and managed to say, “Finally! It’s been how many years?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know,” he laughed. “I’ll be over in about an hour, sound good?”

  “An hour is fine. We’ll have pizza at my place and beers at the bar,” I said, hardly able to contain my excitement.

  “Sounds like a plan. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  “K, see you!”

  The phone clicked as Brian ended the call. I locked the screen on my phone and threw it onto my bed as I ran to my closet to find an outfit suitable for the night’s plans. I decided to go with jeans and a blue t-shirt with a green tank top showing underneath. I tied up the bottom of the t-shirt so more of the tank top could be seen. It was cute, yet casual. I French braided a section of my hair in the front so it would go across the top of my head. It was my signature hairstyle. I put on my favorite lapis lazuli heart pendant and by the time I finished putting my makeup on, I heard the buzzer go off. I ran over to let Brian in.

  It wasn’t long before he was at my door. “Hey kiddo!” Brian exclaimed. “I brought your favorite.”

  “Great, thanks,” I said. There was no way to hide my excitement. I really needed this and I knew Brian could tell.

  “Don’t mention it.” We sat down and turned on the TV while we ate the long awaited pizza. I could tell Brian wanted to say something, but he was holding himself back. I wished people would stop trying to tiptoe around my feelings. After a moment, he asked, “So how are you dealing with everything?”

  “The hardest part is that I don’t know what I’ve been seeing. I thought seeing a doctor was going to shed some light on the situation, but all it did was leave me with more questions. I’m not schizophrenic, so that’s a good thi
ng but now I’m left with even more questions than when I started.”

  “You’re not thinking it would be better if you were schizophrenic are you?” He furrowed his brows in concern which was unusual for me to see. Brian has always been the goofball in my life and seeing him anything but was a shock.

  “I don’t know…maybe. At least then I would know what’s going on, but this unknowing is just driving me crazy.” I took a deep breath, not wanting to ruin what was sure to be a fun night. We finished eating and headed out to the bar. Once we got there, we sat down in our usual spot at the bar and ordered a much needed beer.

  “Well, we know that you can see ghosts and people’s auras. Those are psychic abilities, what are the odds that the other stuff has to do with psychic abilities too?” Brian offered.

  “I never thought of it like that…do you think there will be a way I can look it up?” I asked as I took a sip of my beer.

  “Maybe, it would be hard to look up though, lots of fakes out there.”

  “That’s true, but what else can I do at this point?”

  “No clue.”

  We sat there in silence for a moment, just drinking our beer and watching whatever was on the TV. I was hardly paying attention to the screen, I was lost in thought. Eventually I snapped out of it and asked, “Do you think there could be other people like me out there, people who can see things like I do?”

  “What?” Brian asked. I could tell he was lost in the game. There was no point in continuing the conversation. I decided to put it out of my mind for the moment and enjoy the night out with my best friend.

  “Never mind,” I said, defeated.

  Just then, I noticed a man walk into the bar. He was wearing a black leather jacket and his jeans were torn and dirty. His dirty-blonde hair was messy like he had run his fingers through it one too many times. I wasn’t sure if that was the look he was going for or if he was in a hurry to get to the bar. Either way I was mesmerized by him. His piercing grey eyes were glancing all around the bar, like he was looking for someone. He seemed familiar and suddenly I felt anxious. I remembered the man from my dream and thought the man who walked into the bar could have been him, but I wasn’t too sure.

  “Hey, need a wingman?” Brian punched me on the arm. I didn’t realize I was being so obvious.

  “No,” I said, blushing and still mesmerized by the man. I turned to look at Brian and said, “I have a bad feeling about him.”

  “What do you mean? You were practically drooling over him just now and don’t try to deny it, I saw the way you were staring at him.”

  “Busted,” I laughed. “He is cute, but I just have a feeling in the pit of my stomach, I think he might be up to something. Something is going to happen.”

  “I think that feeling is lower than your stomach,” Brian teased.

  “Brian! Could you be any louder?” I said half horrified.

  “Maybe,” he said even louder than before. “Come on Aims, you know you’re attracted to him, live a little!”

  “Will you shut up if I go talk to him?”

  “Absolutely!”

  I swiveled the barstool around to look for the mystery man and was startled to see him standing right in front of me. I clutched my necklace as I gasped and said, “You scared me.”

  He flashed a smile that made my heart melt a little and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

  “Oh, no problem, I think I’ll live.” I couldn’t stop staring at him. He looked even better up close, as if that were possible. But despite his good looks, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Whether or not it involved him, I wasn’t sure, but I did know I first got the feeling the moment I saw him.

  “I’m Andy,” he said while holding out his hand.

  I shook his hand. “Aimee.” As our hands touched I couldn’t help but notice a massive amount of energy flow through my hand and I was sure he felt it too. It was like a spark of electricity that made me jump a little in my seat. The weird thing is that it was a good feeling and part of me didn’t want to let go. I hoped he didn’t notice. I turned to look at Brian, only to find an empty barstool. “That bastard,” I said under my breath.

  “I’m sorry?” Andy asked with a confused expression on his face.

  “Oh…sorry…umm…I just realized that my best friend left.”

  “Oh, do you need to go find him?” I somehow could feel his disappointment and knew he was hoping I wouldn’t leave.

  “No, I just think it was rude of him to leave without at least saying bye to me.” I could feel my cheeks getting hot.

  He smiled as I spoke those words. I knew I was right. I was getting better at reading people. He regained his composure, probably hoping I didn’t notice and said, “Yeah, that is pretty rude.”

  “Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.” My cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so much but I wasn’t sure why, I still had a bad feeling about him. Maybe it was because of his attractiveness or the feeling I got when we touched. He couldn’t be that bad…could he?

  He sat down in the stool where Brian was only moments before and asked, “Can I buy you a drink?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I answered. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. This sort of thing never happened…not to me. I heard him order me the beer I had been drinking all night. How did he know what kind of beer I was drinking? I didn’t have a beer in my hand when he walked in. It was weird. I was sure I had a confused expression on my face as he handed me the beer. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” Andy said as he flashed a smile my way. “I just had a feeling you would like that beer, call it a hunch.”

  I didn’t even ask him about that. Was he reading my mind? I was being crazy; he probably saw the confusion all over my face and decided to respond to it. I snapped out of it and said, “Yeah, this is the beer I’ve been drinking all night.”

  “Oh,” he nervously laughed. “Lucky guess.” For a brief moment I saw that he was uncomfortable. What could possibly have made him uncomfortable? Something was off about the whole thing, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Between the way Brian had been acting and then Andy, I knew something was going on. I had no clue what to do…nothing had been proven, so I couldn’t do anything in that moment but wait for something to happen.

  “So, tell me about yourself.” I unsuccessfully tried to shake the feeling, hoping that having a normal conversation would do the trick. I noticed Andy staring at me. It was like he was trying to find something. It was obvious he was concentrating. What could he possibly have been concentrating on while staring at me? Was there something on my face? Did I mess up my makeup?

  “You look beautiful.” It was as if he answered my thoughts. The loving expression on his face confused me. I had never seen this man before in my life, there was no reason for him too look at me that way. I was so confused but part of me knew I had some sort of connection to this man I didn’t know. I desperately wanted to find out what was going on.

  “Thank you,” I said suspiciously. I struggled to find the words to say next in response.

  “You have a lot of questions, don’t you Aimee?” Andy said. His demeanor changed. He didn’t seem interested in getting to know me at all. It was almost as if he already knew everything he needed to know.

  “H-how did you know that?” My bad feeling intensified. “What’s going on?”

  He looked all around the bar and it seemed like panic set in when he saw something or someone. He turned to me and said, “I can give you the answers you’ve been looking for, but you have to come with me.”

  “Answers?” I asked, totally bewildered. “Answers to what? And go where? I’m not going anywhere with you unless you tell me what the hell is going on.” This couldn’t have been happening to me. I must have been dreaming.

  “You’re not dreaming Aimee.”

  “You have been reading my mind, haven’t you?” I asked, trying to suppress my panic.

  “
Yes, I have,” he answered. “Aimee, we have to go…now.”

  Chapter 4

  “Please,” I whispered. “Don’t hurt me.” My vision was still blurry as I woke up and saw a figure sitting next to me. Whoever it was grabbed my arm and I shot straight up in complete terror. I must have gotten up way too fast because I felt a little dizzy, but I couldn’t let that stop me. I had to find a way to get out…wherever I was.

  “It’s me. Aimee, it’s Brian,” he said. My vision became clear as I rubbed my eyes and I realized I was in my bed. How did I manage to make it back from the bar?

  “What happened?” I asked. “I feel like I just ran a marathon on empty.”

  “Seems like that’s what happened, I saw you running out of the bar, you looked terrified so I ran to you to see what you were running from and you passed out. I know you don’t like hospitals so I decided to carry you home.”

  “Thanks.” I felt so weak that I had to lie back down. I felt safe knowing I was home in my own bed with Brian there to help me.

  “Anything for you kiddo, you must have made quite an impression on that guy from the bar, Andy.” His tone suggested he knew something I didn’t.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, hoping he didn’t notice me shudder at the sound of his name.

  “After you passed out, Andy came looking for you and saw me carrying you. He seemed worried and offered to help me carry you home and take care of you.”

  “What!?” I yelled. My eyes were wide open as I was unable to hide my panic. I lowered my voice and asked, “You let him in my house? Is he here now?” So many thoughts flashed through my mind. He knew where I lived, I had to move away. He could come back and try to kidnap me or something. I heard footsteps followed by a soft knock on the door. I looked around for a way to escape when the door opened.

  “I thought I heard voices in here,” Andy cheerfully said. “I was hoping you were awake. You gave us quite a scare.” He moved from the doorway and towards the bed. I felt myself getting weaker followed by my vision starting to go dark. I was struggling to keep myself from passing out again as everything around me seemed to be spinning, but all efforts failed.