Chapter 49

                                    

                                          
Living with the idea that you have schizophrenia, you hear a lot of stereotypes from people‒‒especially ignorant ones. I'd been told so many different things by the other kids in the group homes. I once heard there were different people that lived in my head, and that with the snap of my fingers I could switch between these personalities whenever I wanted. Another time, someone said I could read other people's thoughts or even see the dead. 
                          
Of course, children weren't really the leading experts in the field of psychology, but I was too young and naive to not take a nervous heed to their words. I was always afraid for the day the voices would consume me, but it never came. It was always a tiny voice that floated in whenever I stood too close to the deep end of the pool or warned me to hide from the local bully. This voice turned out to be River.
                          
With my past experiences, I should have been ready to handle anything that came my way, but apparently there had been things I could not foresee.
                          
'What's happening?'
                          
'Why can we hear them?'
                          
Strange loud voices rang through my head, like a steady highway with endless droves of conversations, waking me from the fear they carried. The morning light of the new day was slowly filling my room, watching my ceiling painted in the sun's glow. The sun was up and I didn't want to fight the daylight, dusting my eyes of sleep that clung to my heavy eyelids.
                          
Covering my ears, I thought it was the TV left on from the night before. However it was off, and this added to the overwhelming anxiety. 



                          
Just where were these voices coming from?



                          
Thinking about it didn't help, and my hands over my ears somehow only amplified the string of conversations that poured into my head. The pressure was straining and trying to decipher what was going on was beginning to be too much.  It freaked me out that I couldn't silence them. 
                          
'Attention. This is an RICP emergency broadcast. Attention. This is an RICP emergency broadcast. Everyone report to town hall immediately.'



                          
Town hall? What is this?



                          
Wrestling myself free from the sets of arms wrapped around me, I sat up to see I wasn't alone‒‒Theo and Nate on either side, and the night before hazily coming back to me now that I was awake.



                          
Oh shit, my mate! 



                          
I remembered River yelling those words before those two...



                          
Oh... Right.



                          
My cheeks reddened at the steamy flashbacks. Definitely did not see that coming, but I couldn't deny that it was more than hot.
                          
Peeking under the sheets, we had all somehow made it down to our boxers and nothing else. My body shivered from the lack of clothing, and I instinctively covered my chest like I was a fair maiden, my innocence exposed to the world. Theo was laid out, tattoos on display as his chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. Nate was laying on his side, his bare chest and cut abs playfully inviting my touch. One of them was my mate... but just who was it? The answer danced around in my mind but the idea of it seemed preposterous. It was too good to be true.



                          
But it couldn't be... Could it? 



                          
It was tough to explain but the idea that both of them were my mates rang out as the obvious choice. Nonsense. Utterly total bullshit.
                          
Delicately and more precisely this time around, I climbed over the two, heading to the end of the bed to escape. Didn't want to wake any of them up yet, not at least until I figured out what the hell was going on with the fucking radio alerts inside my head.