"George?"
He snaps back into reality at the sound of her voice.
"Oh, Ang. I didn't see you there." He tries to mask his emotions with a smile, but from the expression on her face, he knows he hasn't quite succeeded.
"You never do, these days. You are always spaced-out." She looks tired, exhausted even, he notices. And sad. She never used to look this sad before. He wonders if she looks the same.
"I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
She sighs, and he stops himself, realising he had no way to make amends.
"I know you didn't. I just," she takes a deep breath, and his heart begins to beat faster, out of fear. "I cannot do this, anymore. I love you, but..."
Her voice trails off and the silence hangs heavy in the air between them.
"Would it help if I told you?" he asks, after a pause.
"Told me what?" She whips her head around to look at him, and it is his turn to see the fear in her eyes. He wonders if she thinks he has a guilty lover's confession to make, and if so, whether she will be disappointed.
"About the voices, in my head. Well, voice, singular. It's his voice. His words, his thoughts, all of him."
"Fred," Angelina whispers, in horror and awe.
"Yes," George replies, looking away. "I can hear him, Ang. All the time. As if he was right here, next to me. And most of the time it is brilliant and beautiful but sometimes, I get...distracted."
She doesn't speak, and he continues after a pause.
"I said the voice was in my head. but, it isn't really. See, I know he isn't there, but I hear him, the same way I hear you, and Mum and-"
She slams the door as she leaves, and in the quiet that she leaves behind, he realises how excited, no, manic, he must have sounded.
"I'm sorry," he whispers the wood of the door, to her, as tears well up in his eyes.
She doesn't reply. No one does.
For once, even Fred is silent.
Notes: This is not meant to trivialise or mock anyone with auditory hallucinations or psychosis. I wanted to write a piece about George's trauma, reflecting some of my own experiences as well. Also please note that I do not advocate what Angelina did.
