The Voice Within

 

“Anya, are you okay, hon?”

My mom’s voice brought me back to my senses. I had walked into the kitchen, although I could not recall why. “I… I didn’t remember why I came to the kitchen.”

“Maybe you should get some rest. You must be still exhausted after yesterday’s game.”

“Okay, mom.” I went back upstairs and sunk into my bed. Was I really tired? My body felt fine; it was just my mind that was foggy. It was then that a familiar voice resurfaced in my mind.

“You forgot again, Anya. I need you to go back; you need to kill your mother.”

“What? No! I’m not killing my mom!”

“You will obey me,” the voice said. I suddenly sensed a chill course through my body; it felt as if thousands of needles were sinking into my skin. There was a presence to that voice that was far more sinister than anything I had ever felt before.

Right then, my mom walked into my room. “Anya, were you talking to someone?”

I shook my head. “No, mom.”

Mom asked me whether I wanted some tea. I nodded and said yes. As she went down the stairs, the voice returned. “You will do as I say,” it said. That was the last thing I heard before my vision blurred and blackened. When I regained consciousness, I was being tackled by my brother, Andy. Mom was leaning against the counter, shivering as she held onto the handle of a shattered cup. I didn’t realise why until Andy held down my arm and pulled a knife out of my hand.

“Wh-what happened?” I asked.

“That’s what we need to ask you, Anya. What’re you doing?” Andy asked.

Seeing the horror in mom’s face, I felt tears flood my eyes at once. My entire body began to tremble. I slowly crawled away until I was leaning against the wall. There, I buried my face in my legs, not knowing what to say.

That evening, I was admitted to an institution. Andy dropped me off; mom didn’t join. I couldn’t blame her after what I had done. But was it really me? It was that night that the voice returned, along with my memory. I screamed and cursed it. I punched and kicked the walls around me in frustration. What was happening to me? Was it all just in my head? I was restrained by the medical staff that night.

The voice continued to torment me in the days that followed. “You’re such a failure,” it said. “I asked you to do just one thing and you couldn’t even do that.” I hated every second I breathed. And then, it happened again. This time, I came to my senses when two nurses restrained me as another helped a doctor sit up from the floor. He was gasping for hair whilst clutching his throat. I was losing to the voice.

Months passed by, but nothing changed. The doctors had tried everything they knew, but I wasn’t getting any better. One day, after months of not seeing any of my family, mom finally visited the institution. But she wasn’t there to take me home, not just yet. She placed me in the care of her psychiatrist friend, Dr. Letitia, who ran her own institution. However, I came to know that night that Letitia practised more than just medicine.

I was given an injection that evening that was meant to help calm me down. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a poorly lit room. I was restrained to a seat at its centre, which was placed upon a sigil that had been carved into the ground. I looked around, but Letitia wasn’t in the room.

“What’s happening? What is this place?” I asked, yelling to hear an answer but receiving only an echo in return.

“She’s a witch?” the voice said.

Right then, I heard the doctor’s voice reverberate throughout the room. She was speaking in a foreign language; it seemed like a chant. The voice began to bellow in rage inside my head. I felt as if my mind would explode from the noise. A sudden gust of wind began to swirl around me, slowly emanating a bright light that enveloped me in moments. The more the light shone, the louder the voice screamed. And then, silence. The voice vanished and the light dissolved into the shadows. I gasped and shivered in my seat, not knowing what had just happened, or what was to come next. It was then that a door hidden in the shadows before me opened, shining a dim light on Dr. Letitia’s face.

“Don’t worry, it’s over,” she said, smiling. “The demon has been exorcised.” She then approached me and released me from my bounds. My body wouldn’t stop shaking, so she hugged me tight. Mom came over the next evening to pick me up. I could finally go home.