Free Within by Rachel Rae

Krys?”
    She nodded her head then stood up quietly, walking into the kitchen. I laid there for another five minutes, and then peeled myself off the couch. I don't remember ever feeling this way before, I guess I've just been too busy to notice and for the first time in a long time, I felt drained and unable to keep it together.
    “You look tired,” Krystle said, sitting at the breakfast table.
    “I am,” I responded, grabbing the seasonings and her pill bottle from the cabinet over the stove. Just because I'm feeling some type of way, doesn't mean I stop doing what I think is right for Krystle. I have to figure out some way to get these meds in her soup without her knowing.
    “So let's talk a little about yesterday,” I said, speaking louder than usual, trying to disguise the sound of the bottle.
    “I don't really know what to say, except I know what I saw.”
    “Umm…hmm,” I said, fumbling with the little bottle.
    “You know, it really opened my eyes yesterday, it's time I face everything head on. I think I'm ready to see Bishop today.”
    “Really?” I asked, my back towards her as I continued to fight with the pill bottle.
    “Do you need some help?” Krystle asked, sounding like she was scooting the chair across the wooden floor.
    “No!” I exclaimed, turning around nervously. I spun around so quickly, I opened the top, spilling Krystle’s meds all on the floor.
    I bent down, trying to scoop them all up at once, but it was too late.
    “Aunt Courtney?” she asked, calmly squatting down next to me, picking up the empty pill container. “What were you about to do with my medication?”
    I sighed deeply and then stood up, putting my hands on my waist, shaking my head. “I'm sorry, honey.”
    “What did you do?” she asked, taking a few steps backwards.
    “It was for your own good, I had to get you to start taking it somehow,” I said, walking up to her.
    Her forehead wrinkled in confusion as her eyes welled up with tears, “How could you? How could you do this to me?”
    “Just let me explain Krystle, okay?” I pleaded.
     
    Chapter Ten
    KRYSTLE
    “Explain? After I repeatedly said no, you go against everything I asked. No one trusts me, but it should be me who don't trust y'all!”
    My aunt stood there as if she was lost. She looked like she was sorry, but at this time right now; I had no sympathy.
    “How long have you been doing this to me and does my father know?”
    She cleared her throat before she spoke, and then took a deep breath, “Yes he knows and it's been going on for a while now.”
    “What's a while? How long is that? Wait…” I stopped, and then started to remember, “ I made your favorite lunch grilled cheese and tomato basil soup…”
    “The day you gave me back my phone, the last time I spoke to Akira…” I heard my voice trail off as memories started to pour in as if someone had opened a floodgate in my head. They began to play in my head like the movie,  A Christmas Carol where a ghost takes Scrooge back in time, so he could see himself in a different light; that's what was happening to me and I couldn't control it.
    That day, Akira, FiFi, and I met at the park by the fountain; I need to remember. I closed my eyes tight and thought back to then. “What the fuck you looking at bitch! You and ya stupid ass dogs get from out of our mouths!” I stood in that memory; watching myself talk to myself, using different voices and different personalities while strangers walked past me…
    Alone… I was alone…
    I opened my eyes back up, placing my right hand over my mouth and my left over my chest. I begin to weep as my aunt looked at me, frozen in her stance. I didn't really understand what my dad and aunt tried to tell me before, but seeing it through my own eyes; I get it.
    “I get it!” I cried. “I get it! They were never real!” I said, crying harder, I felt my knees buckle as if I was about to pass out.
    “Why would you do this to me?”
    “You have to stand in