Hallucination by Josie Wu (room on the broom read aloud TXT) 📕

worried.”

“Uh, just went out for a walk. I couldn’t sleep.”

“With a car?”

“I wanted to go a little farther from home.”

“Oh, okay. Would you wanna join me and watch the movie?” Looking at Katy now, I suddenly wonder whether she is my real sister or not.

“Um, actually I want to ask you something.” Katy knows something that I don’t and I need her to confide in me.

“Okay. Let’s go to the dining table and have a profound brother-and-sister talk!”

 

 

“So, what do want to ask me?” She says with her eyes blazing.

“How much do you know about Rosie?”

“Not much. Why?” Her smile suddenly fades away and she looks serious right now.

“When we talked about Rosie last time, you look really surprised and shocked. Do you know anything about her that I don’t?”

“All I know is that she is a totally bastard! The only reason she was willing to be with you was that she wanted to exploit you out of your money!” I look at her in disbelief. Rosie couldn’t have done that to me, I mean she loves me…, or could she?

“I can’t believe that! Is that true?” My eyes are wide.

“I am your sister, Alex. Why the hell do I lie to you? It was such a relief when I heard that she was dead because she would never hurt you anymore. Now, you said that she’s still alive and came back to you. I am starting to worry about you, Alex. But I promise that everything will be fine, okay? You got to let all those shit behind you and move on with your life. I’m sure that Rosie will no longer bother you.” Looking at my sister, I suddenly fail to say anything.

“Do you want some lavender tea? It’ll make you feel calm.” She tries to lighten the mood between us.

“Just some water, please.”

Who should I trust now? Rosie or Katy? Holy shit, I’m screwed. But I have faith in my sister. We have watched each other’s back for so long and there is no way that she would lie to me. I see it now. Rosie is such a liar.

After a while, Katy hands me a glass of water.

“Drink it and you’ll feel better.” She makes herself some tea though, and she is sipping that while I quickly drink up mine.

“How do you feel?”

“I feel…” My head becomes more and more heavy and I am really dizzy right now.

“It is okay, Alex. You are under so much pressure and all you need to do is relax and have some sleep.” I see Katy smiling at me.

Then all I can see is dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter7

I am in the dark alone, looking for my parents and my sister.

Where are they?

The eerie ambiance keeps me in suspense and sends a chill down my spine.

“Where are you?” I shout at the empty space.

“Dad?” No one answers.

“Mom?” No one responds.

“Katy?” I exclaim.

But all I get in response is silence.

Just as I am going to find someone for help, some noise makes me back to the house.

“Dad, is that you? Mom? Katy?”

I walk up the stairs, trying to find where the noise is.

Suddenly, I blanch at the sight of the blood. What I see is my mom and dad lying on the floor with their eyes closed and they are bleeding!

“Mom! Dad!” I cry out loud.

I hold them tightly, hoping they can open their eyes and talk to me, but nothing changes. They don’t even move a bit.

“Oh, god! Please don’t die on me! Mom, Dad, please wake up!” I cry louder and touch their faces.

They are cold like ice, so I hold them tighter, trying to keep them warm.

Why are they cold?

Why don’t they wake up?

Why don’t they talk to me?

I feel so helpless and all my hands are stained with blood.

I want to scream. I want to run. I want to get out of here.

But I can’t leave them alone.

Then I see someone stand in front of me and I notice that there is big green diamond ring on her left hand’s little finger.

“It’s gonna be okay.” She says to me, but her face is blurred.

“What happened?” I cry.

“It’s gonna be okay.” She says again and then she hugs me.

Suddenly I see. I see there is a man standing in the dark of the room, but I can’t see clearly who he is.

What really got my intention is that he is holding a gun!

I rouse suddenly from my sleep. This is the dream I have always dreamed of recently and it is so … real like it really happened to me before.

Although I try hard to remember what happened after I got home last night, the only thing I could think of is that my sister helped me climb up the stairs and tucked me in before I finally drifted into a dark and troubled sleep.

Feeling starving and thirsty, I go downstairs to grab something to eat.

Sitting on the couch is my sister and … a woman.

“Who’s that?” I ask Katy vigilantly.

Katy doesn’t answer me; instead, she looks at me in a really weird way.

“I’m your stepmother.” The woman says to me.

“What the hell? There is only me and my sister! Katy, tell her! Tell her that we don’t have any motherfucking stepmother!”

I look at Katy, but she remains silent.

“Shit, Katy! What wrong with you? Just tell her that we have nothing to do with her!” Now I am really agitated and irritated.

“Please calm down, Alex. What I said is true. I AM your stepmother and she’s not your sister by the way. Her name is Kathleen.” The woman says with her eyes still looking at me.

“So you are telling me that you never take care of me and not even let me know you, but now, you just show up and want me to accept that you are my stepmother?” I yell at her.

“I have no choice. After your parents and your sister died, I just wanted to do my best to help you because your father was a good friend of mine. Your father, Mr. Stewart, was a really good man though. But you were just so upset and didn’t want me to walk into your life, so I had Kathleen to take care of you for me. And I guess it was because you refused to believe that all your family members had already gone, so you took Kathleen as your sister. It’s a good thing though. I’m really happy to see you two get along. But you have to believe that I care about you all the time. Just try to accept the truth, please.”

“You are insane! I don’t and will never believe any fucking word you said!”

“Alex!” The woman shouts as I run out of the house.

The world I used to know has just collapsed.

I just want to escape from my house, from the town, and from this world.

I wander along the street, feeling like a five-year-old child got lost in an unfamiliar place. Everything seems so different now and I don’t know where to go.

What has changed? The world? Or it is me that have changed?

I lie down on the ground and close my eyes. When I am about to fall asleep, I see something out of the blue.

I see who the man holding a gun in my dream is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter8

I rush to Rosie’s house and bump hard on the door so as to make it open.

I run into the house as soon as the door opens and search for Brian.

“Brian, where the fuck are you? Get the fucking out! You coward!” I yelled angrily as I see Rosie walking down the stairs and she blanches at the sight of me.

“What are you doing here?” She asks with misgivings.

“I know what your brother has done to me. Now tell him to come the motherfucking out!”

“What the…” I see Brian walking down the stairs and standing in front of Rosie.

“You killed my parents and my sister! You son of a bitch! I thought we were friends!” I shouted.

“Friends?” Brian sneers. “You thought we were friends but I didn’t. I don’t give a shit to you. You are nothing to me, okay?” Looking at Brian, I know my friend is gone. Standing in front of me is a totally stranger.

“I want to kill you!”

I rush to Brian as he takes out his gun and he shots me in the abdomen before we both fall to the ground. Thanks god that the gun is closer to me and I take it in spite of the pain.

I see him running to me and I pull the trigger.

“No! He’s my brother!”

What I see next is Rosie falling down in front of me and I feel my shirt saturated by my blood. I can barely move now.

“What the fuck have you done!” Brian burrs.

Out of nowhere, there are two stout men coming to the house and one of them pulls Brian out while the other takes Rosie’s body up from the floor.

“It’s gonna be okay.” Standing in front of me is the woman who claimed to be my stepmother and she reaches out her hands, trying to give me a hug.

Almost instantly, I see that there is a big green diamond ring on her left hand’s little finger, and it dawns on me that she is the woman who appears in my dream.

Then I soon pass out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter9

I see myself running happily on a field full of green and fresh grass with my parents and Katy. It is weird to see myself in this way because it is like I am just a spirit, looking down from the sky. But I am really happy to see the scene because it makes me feel that my family still stays with me.

“Alex!” I hear someone saying my name.

I look around, trying to find where the voice is from.

“Alex!” Someone keeps calling me but I can’t find who the person is and…

“Alex!” My eyes suddenly open and I see “the woman” looking down at me with a worried look.

“How do you feel?” She asks.

“Why are you here? And where am I?” I say vigilantly.

“Please calm down. I’m your doctor. You can call me Maryann. And you are in Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital now.”

“Why am I here?”

She sighs as a girl comes in. It is … Katy!

“Katy! What are you doing here?”

“Hey!” She gives me a warm smile. “Of course I am here, knucklehead! I take care of you. I am Kathleen, your nurse.”

She hands me a glass of water. “Drink it. It’ll make you feel better.”

“What the fuck? Katy, it’s me! Your brother, Alex! Don’t you remember? What did they do to you?”

“Oh, I know who you are, Alex. Now, be a good boy and drink it.” From her eyes, I know she just sees me as a patient.

I take the glass of water but don’t drink it immediately. There are still some things I want to know.

“What happened to me?” I look at both of them, who give each other a quick glimpse and then turn to look at me.

“It’s better that you tell him, darling.” Says Maryann.

“Okay.” Kathleen then clears her throat.

“Alex, you are one of our patients in this hospital.” She pauses, waiting for my reaction. I gasp sharply and feel my heart skips a beat. What the hell is she talking about?

“You’ve been here for five years after your parents and your sister were murdered.”

No! It can’t be true!

“Stop it!” I exclaim.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true, Alex.” Maryann stops for a while and continues. “You’ve been resisting to face the truth, so you created your own world. A world that goes in your way. I really want to let you stay in that world. I do. But you got to came back to earth now, Alex.”

Looking at her, I suddenly don’t know what to believe.

“You became too violent and fierce over the past few weeks, leaving me with no choice. You killed another patient and were injured by her brother, so that’s why you are lying on this bed, waiting for