The Diary Keeper ["The Dark Legacies" Series]

Chapter 49: Illusions

"Lia!"

The word echoed in my dream, a distant call that seemed to pierce through the layers of my sleep.

"Lia, I know you hear me."

The voice grew clearer, more urgent. I felt a strange sensation, as if the words were not just in my dream, but reverberating around me.

"Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize me?" her voice was absolutely familiar, I had definitely heard it earlier... but where?

I opened my eyes. And there she was. Mia. This time she wasn't transparent and resembled rather a human than a ghost. She seemed so real, so alive.

"Now, do you understand who I am?" Mia smiled gently and kindly. Her presence seemed tangible, her features no longer ethereal.

"Why do I see you? Am I hallucinating?" My voice trembled as I voiced the question that had been nagging at me.

"Liandra, everything is OK with you. You are alive and healthy. They say you are sick but actually it's not a disease."

"Then, what is it?" My curiosity outweighed my fear now. I needed answers.

"Your mind is playing with you. Do not allow dark forces to control you and possess your conscience. Both me and Hazel didn't manage to do this - we were so weak, so lonely, so deprived of any support. And you - you are strong, you are optimistic and never lose hope."

She smiled even more kindly. It seemed so mysterious. I wanted to move and get up from my bed but just couldn't - it felt like being paralized.

"Remember, Lia - the strongest magic is not the magic itself. It's more about your strength and personal qualities. It's in those how you treat other people and the choices you make during your life. So, choose the correct ones. Goodbye."

And then she disappeared.

***
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the sterile, white ceiling of a hospital room. Confusion swept over me as I tried to piece together how I had ended up here. Beside the bed, my mother sat, her worried gaze fixed on me.

"Mum... Mum? Why are we here?" I instantly sat.

"Liandra, you're in the hospital," she said gently, her voice tinged with concern.

"Was I hurt or..." I didn't know what to say.

"It's a mental hospital, sweetheart."

What... Mental hospital? Just what I needed, really!

"We had to bring you here because of some severe hallucinations you had last night. Your father and I were really worried."

Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. Hallucinations? I struggled to comprehend what she was saying. My mind raced back to the previous night, trying to remember what had happened. The memories were hazy, like fragments of a dream, but the fear in my mother's eyes told me that something was seriously wrong.

"They're not completely sure about the diagnosis yet," my mother continued, her voice quivering slightly. "The doctors want to observe you for a while to understand what's going on. They think it's best for you to stay here and get the help you need."

"Mom, I don't have time to go insane. First, I need to finish school!"

But she didn't even smile. Yes, my joke was not funny.

Surely, I'm going crazy. I'm losing my mind. First, you chase ghosts, and then ghosts chase you. It's a pity I didn't realize this pattern right away.

They will give me medications that won't heal me even a little bit. They will lock me within four walls to isolate me from those for whom I am completely safe. They will search for a problem where there is none.

Because ghosts do not exist, right? They simply don't. It's unscientific, impossible, absurd. No one sees them except for people like me. Well, or those who are truly insane.

A glint of metal caught my eye, and my gaze flickered downward to the source. There it was, attached to a small tube that led from my arm to a bag hanging above me - a drip. The realization hit me like a wave crashing onto the shore. That's why I felt so strangely relaxed, even a bit dizzy.

The drip, a messenger of tranquility, had been gradually infusing its contents into my bloodstream, coaxing my tense muscles to surrender, my racing thoughts to slow down. And the dizziness, the cottony sensation in my head, had its origin in this slow and steady infusion. It was both unsettling and strangely comforting to realize that my current state of calm was chemically induced.

Suddenly, I remembered everything. Mia... It wasn't a hallucination. She called me from afterlife. There was a reason for it.