Catfish (Minizerk)

Chapter 24

TW FOR THIS CHAPTER, DEPICTIONS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Josh's POV:

I had just had my paper collected. It was the maths exam, and I was pretty sure I'd done okay. We were just sitting in there for another fifteen minutes while the students who got extra time finished up.

"Tick, tick, tick, tick. Because the ticking is louder than the scratching, but not for me. I can hear it. And you all think I'm crazy, but that's because nobody else knows. I know. Because I can hear the scratching-"

"Simon, come on. We're gonna sit outside." The maths teacher's voice came from behind. I turned around to see Simon looking around the room, eyes wide and dilated.

The teacher guided him out of the room, Simon rambling the whole way out, hands twitching.

"You can play dumb all you like, but you can't hear what I can. You need to get them out. They're in the walls, and if you don't let them free, they're gonna kill you. They know you put them in there."

I was panicking now. Simon was having another episode. I tried my hardest to stay put, but when I heard him let out a blood curdling scream, I was on autopilot. I ran out of the room and into the classroom he was in with just the teacher.

"Josh, you can't be in here." The teacher said firmly.

"Please, I know what's wrong with him. He needs me." I pleaded.

"You could get disqualified from the exam."

"I don't care, Simon's more important." I insisted, moving around him to get to where Simon was sat on the floor. He had his knees to his chest, and he was rocking back and forth, looking around the room wildly. "Simon, it's okay. You're hallucinating, and if we can get you calmed down, it'll go away."

"They sent you here, didn't they? They want me to stop because they don't want me to tell everyone. But it's too late, I know they're in the walls, and I know they're trying to kill you all." He babbled.

"They didn't send me here, Simon. I'm here to tell you that they can't hurt you. They can't get to you." I promised. I didn't want to fight with his perception too hard when I knew it was the equivalent of telling me that 2+2 wasn't four while in this state of mind. Instead, I wanted to make him feel safe.

"You don't understand because you can't hear the scratching. You can't hear them trying to escape. But when they do, they'll get in your skin, and they'll eat their way out. That's how they kill you. They're tricky things, demons." He giggled.

"Simon-" I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" He screamed, swatting me away.