City of Delusion

Have you ever woken up one day with no idea of where you are?

You're so disillusioned that you don't realize you aren't where you were yesterday: home, friend's house, hotel, wherever.

"Wake up Darling..."

Unfortunately, for me, that seems to be happening on overtime today.

Upon hearing this voice, I opened my eyes to see a brightly lit room. The bright light was coming from the window on the opposite wall. Judging from the amount of sunlight coming in, it was a nice sunny day. I smiled at that thought and turned over to see where the strangely familiar voice had come from.

"How'd you sleep?"

I turned to see a man I vaguely recognized leaning over me, smiling. Paul. Annoying little bastard from high school. He was older and more mature, but I could still tell it was him. I stared at him for awhile, before realizing where I was or wasn't.

"What the hell?!"

I jumped out of the bed and towards the window, letting my eyes adjust to the sunlight before looking at him again. My mind was racing. Where was I? What year was it? More importantly, why was I here, in this room, with Paul?

"Are you okay darling? Do you need your medication?"

"Where the hell am I?"

"At home... where else would you be?"

"What? What do you mean home?" I looked out the window, where unfamiliar surroundings taunted me. At that moment, a glint from my left hand caught my eye. There was a ring on my ring finger. It didn't take long for me to put two and two together.

"Oh my god! What the hell is going on?" I ran out of the room and without a care in the world as where I was going. I just wanted to get away from Paul. I found myself in the kitchen. There were some car keys hanging on a hook, so I grabbed them and ran towards the door. Unfortunately, Paul came up and grabbed my wrist before I could leave.

"You're not able to drive yet. If you want to go somewhere, I'll take you later. Right now we have to start getting ready for the party."

"Party? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Eddie's 'yay! I'm born' party? Don't you remember? You thought of it."

"Who is this Eddie you speak of?"

"Our child." I cringed. This could not be happening. "What? Oh no... No... This has to be some mistake... I hate you... you get on my nerves without even trying... why would I marry you, much less... have a child with you?"

Paul simply smiled. "You need your medication, don't you? I'll get it for you..."

"You drugged me!!! That's how all of this happened!"

"No, I-"

"I hate you!"

"I thought you loved me..." Paul gave me a really sad look. I merely glared.

"What could've ever given you that thought?"

Suddenly we found ourselves in the kitchen. Paul had my arm in one hand and was fumbling for a glass of water in the other. I was trying to escape his grip, but he wouldn't let go. As I was struggling to get away, I didn't notice him suddenly come around me and try to shove pills into my mouth. Instead of letting him drug me anymore, I grabbed a knife and held it to his throat.

"Tell me what is going on... now." Paul looked at me and the knife in my hand. I backed him against the wall, just to make sure he didn't try to get away. "Well?"

"You just need..."

"Shut up with the damn medication! I want answers, goddammit!" At that moment I noticed
what I presumed to be our wedding photo hanging on the wall. I shook my head and sighed.

"What is it?" Paul's voice shook as he noticed that I seemed even more pissed off. I looked at him.

"I'm about to slice your throat open with no mercy. I think the last thing you sho-"

"Hello Paul! Hello Joa-" Paul's mother suddenly barged into the kitchen. Paul and I both stared her. She did the same.

"Joanna, what are you doing? Paul did you give her her medication today?" Paul and I looked at each other. At the same time, his mother took the knife from my hand and set it on the counter. She then took my hand and scolded Paul.

"You need to remember these things. Anyway, I'll give it to her and help her get dressed. You and your brother start setting up." Paul looked relieved as his mother dragged me upstairs to the bedroom that I had woken up in. Along the way, she chastised me too. I was too busy planning to get away to care.

"Joanna, you really need to get a hold on your life. Please, we all want you to get better. Just take you medication. First, you started out trying to kill yourself, now you're taking it out on the man you love."

"I don't love him."

"Of course not," she smiled and handed me two pills and a glass of water when we got to the bathroom. "Take this. I'll get you some clothes." I threw the pills behind my back and drank the water. When she came back, I handed the empty glass back to her.

"Better?"

"Much..." She handed me the clothes she'd picked out and left. I changed quickly and went downstairs. Unfortunately, in the half hour or so that I'd been upstairs, about a hundred people had arrived to our "party," which meant there was no way for me to get away. As I looked at the guests, they looked back with unfamiliar faces. I greeted those who greeted me, trying to act like everything was normal. I maneuvered around the crowd to the living room, where Paul was surrounded by some more random people, holding what I presumed to be Eddie.

"Aww... he's so cute... he has Joanna's eyes... and nose... Aww..." I listened to the cooing of the people around him and walked away from them. Suddenly, a familiar face popped up in the form of my best friend, Sarah.

"Oh, thank god. I think I'm going insane"

"Eddie's so cute... you're so lucky..."

"Uhh...thanks? Hey, Sarah, can you tell m-"

"Hey, let's go outside." Sarah started pulling me toward the backyard. When we were outside, she closed the door and turned to me.

"Why didn't you tell anyone Eddie looks so much like him?!"

"Umm... what?"

Sarah pulled me in closer, looking around before she started speaking.
"You know I still don't approve of what you did, but why didn't you tell me Eddie looks so much like John? Didn't you think it might be a HUGE mistake to invite him here?"

"Wait... what?"

"Don't act dumb. John's over there. He wants to leave before anyone notices the similarities." I turned to see John standing near the fence to the front yard. Blushing, I walked over to him, still confused.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I... didn't know?"

John gave me a skeptical look. "Anyway, I'm going to leave." He started for the gate, but turned to look at me. "Still going through with the plan?"

"Uhh... sure..."

He smiled and left. I turned, hoping to see Sarah, but she'd left too. I sighed and went back inside. As I passed Paul and his group, I heard more cooing. "Aww... so perfect..."

"Hey Paul, Eddie actually looks nothing like you. In fact, he looks like someone else I know..." I froze. Based on the information I'd just gotten, this could not be good.

"I know... It's okay... the fact that Eddie looks more like his mother is alright with me... maybe he'll also have her good looks..." Paul smiled at me. I turned away guiltily. I felt really bad. I walked out of the living room and into another random room. No one was there. I sat down on the small couch and sighed. So much had happened in less than an hour and my head was spinning from it all. I lay down and stared the wall, slowly thinking my way back to sleep.