"Sarah, don't forget to take your medicine."
"Right, Dad."
Footsteps sound down the stairs behind the closed door of my room.
I jiggle the plastic bottle of meds in my hand. Dad will be out with Karen tonight again. Two years. It'd been two years. It was my fault really. I shouldn't have called Hoggle and the gang back so often. Then I wouldn't have started to doubt myself.
The mirror shifts and I see a face. Turning to meet the noise at the window, I spot the owl again.
Damn me. Why do I always think it's him?
Suddenly the pills look far more attractive than they did a few moments ago. Will it really help? Or am I too far gone?
"Sarah…" I hear the voice. No, I don't hear it. I imagine I hear it. Warm, plaintive, exasperated.
"Stop it, you're making me crazy. You don't exist. It's all in my mind. Stop," I whisper to no one with my head buried between my hands. What's the point in talking to it that way? I just encourage the delusion. I'm the one making myself crazy. No one else's doing it. It's all me.
I feel my eyes start to itch with salt and the familiar tension in my stomach.
"Sarah, don't take that. It's no good for you. Listen to me," the voice pleads again.
My palm stings with the first blow. Cheek blooms pink in the mirror.
"Stop it. Don't be ridiculous. You're hurting yourself," the voice is growing more impatient.
My stomach lurches harder. Taking a breath to collect what was left of my wits, I head down to get a glass of water from the kitchen.
"Wait!" The voice calls, but I ignore it.
As the faucet hums and my glass fills with dancing liquid, to my dismay I see the owl alight on the branch outside once more. It's just your mind. Take the pill and you won't think these thoughts anymore.
Sitting down at the table with my back to the window, I pop the pill and take a long swig. Breathing slowly again, I do my best to keep a tear from rolling down the side of my cheek.
I'll miss you, Goblin King.