Her Reality

By Elayna Davis-Mercer
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining in the sky and the air was filled with laughter
as Maya and her friends lounged by the lake close to her home. Summer was coming to an end
and they wanted to make memories and go on adventures before going back to school. Maya
relaxed as the sun warmed her body, watching her friends playfully splash in the water. “I really
wish this vacation could last forever.” She murmured to herself. The happiness, the friendship,
the long summer days. It was a perfect recipe.
“Maya come on, get in the water!” screamed Julie, her head bobbing up and down. Maya
laughed but stayed where she was. She didn’t want the cold water to break the warm summer
daze she was in.
“I’m not going to let you just sit there, come have fun!” Julie insisted.
“Yeah, stop being a wimp, Maya,” shouted Josh. Soon, all her friends in the water were
insisting she join them, splashing at her and calling her name. Finally, she gave in. Walking
slowly and carefully towards the shore, butterflies flew in her stomach making her uneasy, but
she quickly pushed the feeling aside as she saw her friends smiling and having fun. She picked
up her pace and ran out onto the dock, diving headfirst into the water. It was icy cold, but felt
good against her sun-kissed skin. She opened her eyes underwater, looking around at the serene
world underneath the lake, enjoying the silence before she swam to the top, her head breaching
the surface.
“I did it, guys!” Maya exclaimed as she rubbed the water from her eyes. Hearing no
response, she looked around and her heart stopped. “Guys…?” The sky had turned grey and
snow could be seen on the shore, where there had once been golden sand. Her friends were
nowhere to be seen. No Julie, no Josh, no one, she was completely alone.
Maya started splashing and panicking in the water as the frigid cold of the lake sunk into
her, trying desperately to swim to the dock.
“Help! Is anyone there!?” she screamed, still fighting to get back to land. Silence
resonated from the snow covered trees, seemingly taunting her with the lack of response.
“Hello, please, somebody!” Yelling and screaming, Maya’s cries were met with pure
silence. Finally, she reached the shore, dragging herself onto the snowy banks of the lake, she
looked into the sky. “What is happening to me? Where is everyone?” she whimpered, cutting the
air with her desperate, exhausted voice. Shivering, Maya stood up, and grabbed a towel, clinging
to it trying to warm herself. She realized she was going to freeze to death if she didn’t act
quickly. She needed to get somewhere warm and safe. Looking around, Maya noticed the same
trail that she and her friends had taken to get to the lake hours before, and wandered towards it.
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The trees reached tall into the sky, their bare arms bending under the weight of the snow.
Maya looked back at the lake for a lingering moment, and for a second, she thought she saw Julie
splashing happily in the water, but was reminded of her reality as she shivered from the cold.
“Hopefully this trail will lead me home,” she murmured to herself, crossing her arms
against her chest in hopes that it would help to make the cold more bearable.
As Maya walked, her thoughts roamed… Was this a dream? Would she ever see her
friends again? Where was she? Why did this happen to her, of all people? The questions piled up
in her head and her eyes flitted back and forth, trying to comprehend the winter landscape that
surrounded her.
Mind racing with these questions, anxiety starting to build, the quiet of the forest was
pierced with her scream. Maya’s knees stung with cold as she collapsed onto the frozen ground,
her throat sore, wanting to succumb to the elements, hoping it would bring her back to when she
was happy.
“No, no, I can’t do this, I need to get out, I need to get out, I need to get out,” she
muttered to herself over and over. Maya pushed herself up. Forcing one foot in front of the other
with her head hanging heavy.
After walking until her feet were numb beneath her, Maya looked up. The trees faltered
as the forest came to an end, giving way to a beautiful sight:
“Home,” Maya breathed out, relieved and smiling with the reminder that all wasn’t lost.
The huge house towered over her. It was a large Victorian-style mansion with turrets,
towers, and a huge wrap around porch. The dark colors starkly contrasted against the white
snow. She ran forward and pushed against the big gates that led to a long, almost endless
driveway. Yellow lights shone through the many windows, taunting her with their glowing
warmth and an escape from the cold.
“I can’t take this anymore.” Maya sprinted up the driveway until she reached the porch.
Her ears strained as she slowly walked up the stairs, trying to hear voices or any sign of someone
being home. The double doors loomed in front of her, seemingly waiting for her touch. She
grabbed the doorknob and slowly pushed it inward. Maya was instantly bathed in a wave of
warmth and greeted with the sound of classical music drifting throughout the house. Closing the
door behind her, she surveyed her surroundings. “Hello? Is anybody there?” Her voice echoed
off the walls but was met with silence. She waited and waited, standing at the door, not knowing
what to do.
“Maya! Oh dear, oh dear, Maya, is that you?” a woman’s voice called from upstairs.
Maya strained her neck trying to see who it was until the woman came into view. She ran down
the stairs and almost knocked Maya down as she engulfed her wet, cold body in a hug.
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“Wh…who are you?” Maya questioned the woman who was embracing her.
“There’s no time for these questions again, come here before someone else sees you.”
The woman pulled Maya up the stairs into a small room with a cot and sink. It smelled of
disinfectant and powdery soap, tickling Maya’s nose.
“Come on, let’s get you into some dry clothes before the Doctor makes his rounds and
sees you sopping wet.”
“Wait, wait, who is the Doctor? Why is he here?” Mayas hands shook and her leg
twitched, her anxiety building. She didn’t remember her home being like this or who any of these
people were. “Where’s my family?” she stammered. The woman guided her down onto the cot
and gently sat down next to her.
“Oh, Maya, the visions had stopped for such a long time we all thought that it had gotten
better. How much do you remember?”
“The lake, the sun, my friends…I want to go back there, please.” She closed her eyes and
her thoughts wandered back, she could almost feel the warm sun on her skin again.
“No,” the woman’s soft voice snapped her out of the daydream. “You can’t go back there,
Maya. This is where you belong. You are a patient here, that was just a silly thought in your
head, it wasn’t real.”
Maya’s heart skipped a beat.
Her mind scattered.
Vision went from the warm lake to the cold room.
Flitting back and forth.
“You’re lying to me, I’m not crazy.”
“Maya, I’m no-”
“STOP LYING!” She jumped to her feet and covered her ears with her hands, blocking
her senses, trying to get her mind to escape, she needed to escape. The room started spinning and
Maya’s vision blurred. The last thing she remembered was the door bursting open and a man in a
white lab coat running in.
—————–
Maya’s eyelids were heavy as she tried to see where she was. She could feel restraints on
her wrists and ankles, preventing her from jumping up again.
“How did she get out in the first place?” spoke an angry man.
“I don’t know. I’m sorry, Sir.” She recognized that voice; it was the woman from before.
Maya wanted to scream, yell, anything to let them know she wouldn’t be kept like this, but it was
no use. Her throat was parched and aching, no sound would come out. All she could do was look
around trying to make sense of what was happening to her.
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Minutes, hours, what felt like days passed with no sign of the man or woman from
before. Maya’s eyes were locked on the white ceiling, arms and legs numb from lying still. Her
subconscious went back and forth from wanting to believe what they said to dreaming of the
lake. The lake. It was the only thing Maya could hold onto, the only thing keeping her from
falling off the edge of sanity. She knew she had to try and escape. To get back to the lake and the
memories it held. Once she got back there, everything would be ok, she wouldn’t leave again,
ever again.
BANG
The door slammed open, startling Maya. “Nice to have you back, Maya, dear.” The man
from earlier stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He stood next to the bed she
was restrained upon and looked down. His old eyes bore a hole into hers as they stared at each
other. She didn’t break the gaze, letting him know that she wouldn’t back down.
“Let me out of here, I’m not crazy!” Maya demanded, jerking her arms and kicking her
legs as much as she could under the restraints.
“Oh, but you are, Maya dear. Stop wearing yourself out and listen,” he said as he sat
down on a stool at her feet knowing she had to strain her head to look at him. “You have been in
this mental facility for years now. It’s your home. I diagnosed you with schizophrenia, a mental
disorder with no cure. It causes you have a faulty perception of reality which in extreme cases
can lead to long term hallucinations. Your mind goes into these alternate realities when it is
feeling anxious or scared, as a way to try and stop those negative emotions,” the Doctor told her.
Her fingers and legs started twitching again, Maya could not process what he just said. This all
had to be a lie.
The memories from the lake were all too vivid for them to be fake: the cold water, the warm
sun… that was her reality, not this.
“I won’t let you do this to me. Once I get back to my friends they will all have something
to say about this. Now, let. Me. GO!”
She started flailing again, summing up all the energy she had left. The Doctor didn’t
respond, he slowly got up and walked behind her head reaching underneath the bed she was on.
Maya couldn’t see what he was doing but soon felt straps on either side of her head, securing it in
place, making it impossible to see anything other than the white ceiling.
“No, please, i’m begging you, don’t do this.” He ignored her pleas and tightened the
restraints.
“We have been through this process before, Maya dear, but nothing seems to work with
you. I don’t like hurting you but if we want to see progress, we will have to get more extreme.”
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The Doctor went to get something from outside, leaving Maya alone in the room. All she had left
now was her voice.
“Someone? is anyone there? Please, I need help, I’m being held against my will.
Please?!” her voice echoed throughout the room as she begged for someone to come. Yelling and
yelling, soon Maya’s voice was almost gone. It was no use, if someone had not heard her by now
she knew no one would. Her throat ached from all the screaming. Yearning for water Maya
waited and waited. Time had lost all meaning to her since she had no idea how long the Doctor
had been gone or when he was coming back. The room was small with no windows or clock,
leaving no indication of the time of day. Her surroundings blurred in and out of her vision, sleep
threatening to overcome her body but Maya refused. She needed to stay awake and not give up,
she needed to know what they were going to do to her.
“I don’t think we should do this, I don’t think that’s safe.”
“She needs this, I just want her to get better, don’t you?” Voices were muttering outside
of her door. Maya couldn’t make out who it was but soon saw as the Doctor came in and leaned
over her once again, in his hands a headset with wires entangled all around it. “Wha, what is
that?” Maya stammered, her heart already racing with fear from being in the Doctors presence.
“I think you are going to like this contraption right here, Maya dear. It will help you, I
promise.” The sides of his mouth twitched upwards into a seemingly loving smile causing Mayas
stomach to turn.
The female nurse from before took the contraption and started placing the wires around
Maya’s face and neck, sticking them to her temples and the back of her head.
“Now, dear, I am going to place this blindfold over your eyes so they don’t get damaged.
Stay calm.” The nurse took a black sleeping mask and covered Maya’s eyes. Her whole world
had gone black. She was frozen with fear. No words could come out. No movement could be
made.
Is this the end? What is going to happen to me?
Maya could do nothing else. It was all in the hands of the Doctor. Soon she felt a cold
metal on her cheek and realized… she was now wearing the headset.
“This is going to sting a bit, Maya, but soon,everything will be better. I am going to count
down from three before I turn it on.” Silence filled the room. Time went slower and slower until
he spoke again.
“Three,”
“Two,”
“One.”
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Her body jolted and spasmed as her mind filled with pain. Millions of electric shocks
traveled through her. It was too painful to scream but Maya would not give in. She bore through
the pain slipping in and out of consciousness. She would not give up. She would get back to the
lake, to the sun, to her friends…
Water ran down her face and neck as her head broke the surface of the lake.
“Yay! Everybody look, she did it!” Julie shouted from nearby.
Maya opened her eyes and grinned. “Yea, yea no big deal,” she rolled her eyes with a
smile still on her face. Swimming over to where her friends were, Maya enjoyed the cool, crisp
water in the hot sun. She paused in the water to float on her back and admire the blue, cloudless
sky.
It was a beautiful day.
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