October 21st

"Everybody’s going to know what you did," the voice said.

"Shut up," screamed Tina. She was filthy, barefoot, and had walked through the woods for days. Her lacerations on the souls of her feet continued to open up and bleed with each step. She was oblivious to the pain, completely incoherent, and badly injured from the car accident. She'd been driving fast, that was clear from the impact of the truck on the tree. Her memories were hazy at best. She was unsure of her own name, her home, family, or any of her actions leading up to her current state. All she had was the voice — her voice, or at least a version of it. It kept taunting her, telling her she was going to be caught for what she'd done. What had she done? She couldn't remember. What kind of trouble was she in? She continued stumbling among the trees until she stepped into a clearing. Cars rushed by on the highway, their headlights bright and blinding in the nighttime darkness. She remained along the side of the road, walking slowly.

"You killed them," the voice said. "You're a killer."

"No, I'm not. Shut up. You did it."

"You are me," the voice said. "We did it. And I — we — will do it again."

"I'm not a bad person," she muttered to herself. "I'm not a killer. Not bad. I don't kill."

"You do kill," the voice said. "You have killed." The voice paused for a moment. "You love to kill."

"Shut up!" she screamed. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

She stumbled into the road. Horns blared as cars approached. She felt her legs weaken and collapse beneath her.

***

"Wake up, sleepy head."

Tina opened her eyes. She stared up from the bed. Her vision was blurry at first, but when it came into focus, she saw a pumpkin sitting on a table across the room. It began as a single base but split off towards the top, to where it had two stems and became two separate pumpkins in a distorted heart-like shape. It had two faces carved into each side with a mouth that joined at the base.

A person leaned over her. She recognized the face. It was her. A reflection of herself, but the face staring back was cold and dark. There was no soul in those eyes.

“How are you there?” she murmured, slowly coming back to consciousness. “You’re a voice in my head.”

“Not anymore,” she said. “You can’t stop me any more than you can stop yourself. We’re the same, you and I. So stop kidding yourself and give in to those urges you know you have deep down.”

Tina saw a pen lying next to her hospital bed. She swung it violently towards her alter ego’s neck. The blood sprayed out, covering both of their clothes in scarlet — bright, shiny, and slick.

 Nurses and security guards ran into the room to find a doctor lying dead on the floor, blood pouring from the wound in his throat. As they dragged Tina away, she kept screaming.

"She can't make me kill! I stopped her! She can't make me kill!"

Go to October 20th                              Go to October 22nd