[ WP ] A schizophrenic falls in love with one of her hallucinations .

`` No I have n't! ``, she stood up yelling at the top of her voice. `` and why do you care....?''. 
 `` Keep your voice down'', said her father, in a loud hushing tone, `` you're upsetting your mother.'' In the quiet few seconds that followed her sitting back down, her mother could be heard sobbing on the other side of the door. `` I know you do n't want me. I can hear that bitch praying every night for me to die, you hear that mother, I know you want me dead.'' 
 
 `` Enough'', yelled her father standing up from his seat, `` that's enough out of you''. Her mother's footsteps could be heard running down the hall away from them, then, a door slammed. `` Honey, you have to take your medication, you know that right?'' said her father, she slowly nodded. 
 
 `` Your mother and I both love you. Just…'', and he paused, `` we just do n't understand why you wo n't take your medicine.'' 
 She looked at him. This was the first time she was asked why she did n't want to take her medication. Before, it was always, `` do n't forget to take your medication'', or `` Have you taken it yet, you know what happens if you do n't''. But now, now this was a chance for her to explain. 
 
 `` Dad, when you met mom, did you know you loved her?'' 
 
 `` Yes'', he replied, ``, from the instant I saw her.'' 
 
 `` and what would you do to stay by her side?'' 
 
 `` I guess I would do just about anything.'' he replied, 
 
 `` Then what if I told you that I found the love of my life?'' 
 He paused, he was not sure where this was going but he had inkling. 
 She continued, 
 
 “ I met the man I want to be with. It ’ s just that when I am on the medicine, when I ’ m …… not myself…. Well he doesn ’ t like me when I ’ m like that, do you understand? ” 
 
 “ I ’ m not sure I follow hun ”, he said. 
 “ The way I am now, he likes me like this, he says I ’ m a lot happier like this, and he ’ s right. Everything is a lot clearer to me. ” 
 “ Have I ever met this guy before? ” her father asked. 
 “ No you haven ’ t, but he has seen you and mom, and he says that she is trying to keep us apart, because she hates the fact that we are in love, and she would rather see me die than be with him. And that ’ s how I know mom is trying to kill me ”. 
 
 Her dad sat lost in his own thoughts for a moment. His only child was seventeen, schizophrenic and in love with someone that didn ’ t exist. There was no book, no manuscript, nothing to prepare him for this. 
 
 What happened to the little girl who loved ponies and everything pink and wanted to grow up to be an accountant like her daddy. What happened to the girl that loved sitting on his lap and watching Saturday morning cartoons, what happened to the girl that loved making crafts with her mother every summer? It took all of his strength not to break down and cry in that moment. He simple smiled at her and said. 
 
 “ The only thing I have ever wanted is for you to be happy. As a human being, I am glad that you have found someone that makes you happy, but as your father, my responsibility is to look after you to the best of my ability. In 6 months ’ time, you will be 18, you will be considered an adult, and you will be liable for all the decisions you make. All I ask, is that for these six months, you take the medication and if you still feel as though you aren ’ t happy, then you may do as you please ”. She agreed. 
 
 That night he cried as his wife held him in her arms. “ I don ’ t want to lose her he said. ” She held him knowing that he had been the rock in the family for the last three years. She had to be the strong one tonight. 
 
 They enjoyed five more years with their daughter before the disease took its toll. As she sat in the corner of the room at the facility, restrained so that she couldn ’ t hurt herself or the people around her, her head against the padded room, she looked up at the window on the door and saw her parents looking in. She smiled and gently whispered “ I ’ m Happy ”, as her last bit of sanity faded. 

