Beautiful Delirium

Henry, a Senior in High School, can't seem to find his parents and loneliness is starting to drive him off the ledge. He can't recall periods of time for unknown reasons.

“Henry?” asked Mrs.Zamora, “I need your parents to sign this form, so that they know you’re on an Academic Probation.”

“My parents haven’t been home in a while,” said Henry.

“I’m sorry about that, but they’ll turn up soon. When was the last time you saw them?”

“A couple days ago.. I don’t remember.  My dad’s car is still in the driveway.”

“You can take care of yourself though, you’re a Senior. I’m going to have to alert the authorities though. Okay?” Mrs.Zamora made a call.

Behind Henry was a whisper, “hey, hey you” Mrs.Zamora couldn’t hear it, only Henry did. There was a boy, who looked like Henry, though he wore all black. He looked really familiar. “I’ll see you after this.”

“What?” asked Henry.

“Did you say something Henry?” asked Mrs.Zamora.

“No, that boy was just talking to me,” said Henry pointing to the lonely chair in the hall

.

“What kid? No one’s there,” Mrs.Zamora said walking out of her office, “nope, no one out here. How’d he look like?” she said, closing the door to her office.

“He looked.. just like me. But.. he wore black,” a chill ran down Henry’s back.

“Henry, go home and get some sleep. Okay?”

Henry got up and left, down the end of the hall, he saw the kid, from before. But no one else seemed to notice him. People just walked right around him. No one looked at him. Henry decided to take the other exit. A jock, slapped the side of Henry’s head. Henry just smiled, “sorry Bill.”

“Go kill yourself,” Bill said, laughing with his friends.

Henry walked a few hallways down, and leaning on the corner of a room, was the kid.

“You shouldn’t let them push you around. You’re stronger than you look, and you know that.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Henry walking away.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You let people put you down like that your whole life, now you’re used to it. One of these days you’re just going to snap. You won’t smile anymore.” Henry walked even faster, “my name’s Henry too!” The kid yelled.

Henry made a sharp turn around a corner of a building bumping into a girl who was carrying a folder. The folder fell, and Henry picked it up.

“I’m so..” Henry looked up to see a girl who wore a white dress that ended just before her knee, a black rose in her curly brunette hair, dark red lipstick and a cute black bow around her small waist.

“Sorry?” she said smiling.

“What?” asked Henry confused.

.

“You’re sorry?” she said giggling.

“Yeah?”

“What’s your name?”

“Henry, Henry Penn.”

“Thank you Henry,” she said giving Henry a hug, he didn’t return, “I’m Veronica.” Veronica walked away, but turned and gave Henry another smile.

Henry went home, and cooked himself another TV dinner. Droplets of water in the sink, echoed through the lonely house as Henry sat up on his bed, crying. Loneliness overwhelmed him. Henry felt a nudge at his feet, and looked up. His mother, looking nothing but as prime as she was in her old black and white pictures, sat at the end of his bed, smiling. His dad sat on the other side of his bed, also in his prime.

“It’s okay. We’re here now. You’re not alone.” They said simultaneously.

There was a knock on the door, Henry looked at the hallway, and back at his parents who weren’t there anymore. Henry got up and looked around. The knock on the door sounded louder, and harder. Henry ran at the door, “what!”

“I’m detective John Hall. Are you Henry Penn?”

“Oh yes, I’m sorry. Come in.” The detective walked in and Henry saw a figure at the end of the street and  realized, it was him, it was Henry. Henry felt a chill go down his spine, and shut the door.

“When was the last time you saw your parents?”

“A couple days ago? Monday?”

“Did you notice anything unusual?”

“Not at all. Their car is in the driveway though, they have to be close.”

“Can I have a look around their room?”

“Yeah, it’s right down the hall.”

The detective walked down into their room, and kept asking Henry questions. They then sat back down in the living room.

“Henry, I have a few files pulled out from your time in grade school. They say that you had bruises, marks? Might have been left from your dad? Henry, did you hate your parents?” Henry got real uneasy, and stared into the detectives’ white shirt. Everything the detective said was a blur.

“Come.. police.. station..” Henry kept staring at his white shirt, then everything faded into black loneliness. Henry had a dream, of blood dripping from the walls, and from the ceiling. Henry woke up in the hallway, under the entrance to the attic. His knuckles were swollen, and he had marks in and around his body.

“Hey, hey you,” said a voice from the living room. Henry walked to it, and saw Henry sitting in his living room. Henry rushed to the door, opened it, “get out” and noticed the detective's car still there out front.

“Shut the door,” said Henry.

Henry felt so confused, he sat down.

“The way everyone treats you, Henry. You have to stick up for yourself. You can’t just be all smiles about everything. Stop pushing all of this in the back of your mind, because you come up with something like me. One of these days, you’re going to have to snap, and I’m going to help you.”

“I’m going to call-”

“Go ahead. You’re going to snap anytime soon.” Henry got up and left.

Henry talked to Veronica a lot more which made him feel less lonely. Henry didn’t come around anymore.

“Henry?” asked Veronica the next day.

“Yes Veronica?”

“I’m going out with Bill. We’re running for prom queen and king.”

“Oh, cool.” Loneliness hit him.

Henry was walking to school and noticed someone tailing him, wearing all black. Henry reached the school, made a sharp turn and lashed out at the kid, and yelled for help. They were both separated, but the guy wasn’t Henry. Both were taken to the office and at the end of the hall, Henry noticed a dark figure, Henry. No one noticed. Henry rushed into the room, and tried to explain to the the principal Mrs.Joda, his situation. But she accused him of being uncooperative. Henry asked to go to the restroom out in the hall. On his way outside, he noticed Henry outside too, while Veronica and Bill passed by. Henry realized why he looked so familiar, he saw him before his parents went missing.

“You have to leave,” he told Henry, while he just smiled. Bill, and Veronica, confused at the moment, just stood there. Bill called Henry crazy. Henry, blacked out. And opened his eyes to the body of Bill laying motionless on the floor. Veronica was up against the wall, shocked. Blood, smeared all over the pavement. Henry wasn’t there anymore. He was gone.

Henry was arrested, and charged as an adult. The incident made police officers raid his house, but didn’t find anything, until blood began to drip from cracks in the ceiling. They found mangled bodies of both parents, and Detective Hall in the attic, all three were brutally beat to death.

“I want to close my argument by stating, Henry, suffers from PTSD, and Schizophrenia, which he acquired from living brutal years with abusive parents. He has no recollection of what was going on during the events that took place. Henry just had too much in mind, and emotions, that drove him a bit to the insane.”

Henry was sent to prison for +120 years for 4 counts of murder.

“Prisoner 18392, cell block D-123”, said a guard.

“Who’s this guy?” asked another.

“He killed both his parents, a detective, and a classmate. If you ask me, I don't think he deserves a cell for himself.”

Henry felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness as he got in his cell. From behind him, he heard a sweet voice say, “hey Henry.” There sitting on the top bunk was Veronica, in her white dress, including Henry but this time, wearing all white. Sitting on the bottom bunk was both his parents, both in their prime, and also smiling.

“It’s okay. We’re here now. You’re not alone.” They said simultaneously.

Henry smiled, got one of his thin bed sheets, and ripped a landscape four feet piece of cloth from it. Henry stood on the bottom bunk, and tied the cloth to the top bar of the cell, and the other half around his neck. Henry let out a small gasp, and jumped. As the cloth tightened around his neck, loneliness loosened its’ grip on Henry. Everything faded into black loneliness.

The last thing he saw was the four people he loved the most.

Author's Note

Just want feedback, I'll return the love.

Reviews

[Warrior]

You captured the dark tone of the story. Very dark. It's nice how you added that tone to the psychological aspect of the story. Usually those go together in movies as well such as Requiem For A Dream, Memento, etc. But nice theme of the story which explores loneliness, and how it can affect the mind, something that many people are dealing with today.