Chapter 2: Hallucinations

Author's Note: KH FRPHV IURP WKH ZDWHUIDOOV

"Lorenza." Toby's voice came through the door. "I made you breakfast if you wanted any." Shuffling could be heard outside the room. "I have to go, there's a big scoop downtown and I can't miss it. That is unless I have...but anyways I'll be going now."

Throwing the covers off, Lorenza rubbed her eyes and yawned. Her legs felt like jello and her back felt stiff. Standing up, she began her morning ritual.

Grabbed at whatever covered the mattress, she tossed everything onto the floor. Seeing what was supposed to be actually white be yellow, with different blotches of brown scattered across it, made her shudder. Grabbing the sheets off the ground, she walked out of the room to find a washing machine. Seeing that there wasn't one, she went off to look for a washboard.

Searching around the house, she noticed that the house only had three actual rooms; the main room, kitchen, and bedroom. All color fled from her face as she realized that her mother's cousin just gave her the only bed he owned.

Seeing that her efforts to clean the sheets here were fruitless, she tossed the laundry in an empty basket she found in the bathroom. Walking into the kitchen, she saw that 'breakfast' was something she would never see unless it was lunch or dinner. Sitting in the only chair at the table, she picked up a crooked fork and stabbed at the, probably microwaved, mixed vegetables. Sorting the vegetables, she slowly began going for the carrots.

Before her fork could touch the plate, Lorenza found herself engulfed in darkness. She felt herself floating in the dark abyss, her mind spinning as she tried to find logic on what was happening to her. Her breathing seemed to speed up as she sensed herself falling. As if her heart stopped, she felt everything around her cease.

A forest slowly shaped itself around her and soon she found herself laying in a bed of grass. Propping herself on her elbows, she looked around to check her surrounds. The forest was brightly lit by the morning sun, making it look like a scene out of a fairy tale. The sound of a waterfall caught her attention as she started to stand up. Walking towards the noise, she walked through the forest as if she already knew her way through it.

After walking what felt like hours, she finally made it towards a clearing. Covering her eyes at the sudden burst of light, she found herself staring up at a waterfall that was flowing into a river next to her. An enormous face was suddenly submerging from the pouring water, it almost seemed feline. It's mouth began opening as it's slit eyes locked on hers.

"Lorenza."

Lorenza threw the covers off herself as her breathing came fast and heavy. Her heart was pounding as she wiped the cold sweat from her brow.

"I made you breakfast if want any." Toby's voice came through the door. Shuffling could be heard outside the room. "I have to go, there's a big scoop downtown and I can't miss it. That is unless I have, but anyways I'll be going now."

Lorenza gave a breathy sigh as she pulled her knees up to her chest. Counting to twenty, she finally got up to pull the sheets off the bed and paled when she saw the mattress. It was just like she imagined in her dream. She didn't even dare to check what 'breakfast' was. All she wanted to do was walk down to the local laundromat and come back to make the bed.

After taking a much needed shower, she grabbed a basket filled with yesterday's clothes, the bed sheets, and cheap laundry soap. Finding her green coin purse and the key Toby gave her yesterday, she walked out of the house and onto the streets.

Walking down unfamiliar streets, Lorenza couldn't help, but feel anxious as she past every stranger. A few of them even stared at her for long periods of time. Then she saw a group of teenagers walking on the other side of the road. Now her nervous were really on the fritz.

"And then I said 'Whatcha gonna do about it? Call your mom?'"

Lorenza heard one of them bragged, the others laughed.

"Man, I can't believe you said that to a little kid." One them shook their head in disapproval.

"Come on Wendy, it's supposed to be funny." The bragging teen put his arm around a redhead girl.

"Yeah, supposed." She sneered and turned her head away.

"Hey, look!" The biggest teen out of the group shouted. "That girl looks like Robbie's long lost twin sister."

"What, where?" Another, with possibly foreign heritage, teen swiveled his head around.

"Quit clowning around Thompson." The teen with his arm around Wendy said.

"But she has the same dopey look and everything! I mean, look at the hoodie she's wearing!" Thompson cried out.

"Oh my gosh, you're right." The tall and lanky one point over to Lorenza. "Look!"

All the teens chattered in agreement and excitement. Except for the one with the hoodie.

Robbie, Lorenza assumed, glared at girl. He threw the hood of his hoodie on and marched to the other side of the road.

He was almost hit by a truck.

"Hey, watch it! I'm walking here!" He threw his hands up in exaggeration. When he finally made it to Lorenza, he shoved a finger to her face. "Hey, the heart hoodie is my look, get your own."

"Technically, it's a bleeding heart," Lorenza was startled by the redhead. When did she, and her friends, cross the street? "Not mention yours is in boring old black, and hers is in different funky colors."

"Alright, funky colors." The tall one shouted and high-fived his dark skinned friend.

"Hey, name's Wendy," Wendy nodded towards her friends. "These are my friends; Thompson, Lee, Nate, Tambry, and my boyfriend Robbie."

Every teen greeted her with the mention of their respective names. Except Robbie who just silently glared at her.

"Lorenza," she offered her name. "Can you tell me where the laundromat is at?" The sheets were getting dirtier by the second, she could feel it.

"Er, sure," Wendy gave a questionable look, "it's right down that street." She pointed behind herself. "Hey, are you new here? I haven't seen you around before."

Lorenza nodded, "I'm staying with my third half cousin, Toby."

"Toby, as in, Toby Determined? That Toby?" Robbie started laughing as Lorenza nodded. "Oh man, you're related to that loser? He's like a total weirdo." The others joined in on the laughter.

"Be nice." Wendy punched him and glared at the others, Robbie flinched back and pouted as he rubbed his arm. "I have to admit, Toby can be...a bit weird, but he's not a bad guy. Hey, if we catch you later, we should hang."

Lorenza only nodded at the offer and smiled. It was nice to meet a person who would stick up for others when they're not around.

Wendy patted her on the shoulder as she left, the others said their own goodbyes.

As they finally went out of view, Lorenza gave out a sigh. She just wasn't used to getting attention, much less from her peers.

Shaking her head, she brought her attention towards what was in her arms; the sheets. Walking in the direction that Wendy pointed at early, she felt the atmosphere drop. Her eyes darted back and forth as the buildings around her began to be engulfed in leaves and branches. Breathing hard through her mouth, she started to to quicken her pace. The branches were growing larger and larger, the leaves reached high up to the sky, and the streets were starting to be covered in grass.

When she made it to the laundromat, she was in her dream again. The waterfall was in front of her again. The feline face was submerging from the pouring water, it's mouth opening to speak.

"Woah there!"

Lorenza saw a door almost hitting her face.

"Sorry," a plump woman with one eye closed apologized. "I didn't see you there. Are you alright?"

Lorenza merely nodded.

"Good!" She smiled in relief. "You shouldn't be standing around doors like that, unless you want to be bonked in the face." The woman laughed. "I'm Susan, Lazy Susan, by the way," she offered a hand. "I haven't seen you around, so you must be new, huh?"

""Yeah," Lorenza shook her hand and felt her skin crawl. "I'm Lorenza."

Susan clasped her hands together. "You should come on down to Greasy's Diner sometime. Not only can you meet the whole town there, but I make the greatest omelette in town!"

Lorenza awkwardly smiled at the cheery woman.

"Well alrighty then," Lazy Susan announced. "It was nice meeting you and all, but I have go."

Seeing the strange woman walk away, she opened the door to the laundromat and stared on shock.

There was a large red headed man yelling at a washing machine to go faster. Stains covered the floor, walls, and ceiling along with forgotten clothes. A large amount rodent feces were piled high in the corners of the buildings. It was as if the owner didn't care what it looked like, or didn't paid their employers enough to clean. It also looked like there wasn't anyone in there, but herself and the yelling man.

Walking up to the counter, she noticed a teenager snoozing in a fold-able chair. No wonder this place was a mess. Stepping back, she felt herself bump into someone.

"Hey," a voice boomed over her. "Do you change for a dollar?"

Lorenza turned around to see the man hovering her with a dollar bill in his hand. She quickly nodded and took out her coin purse and gave the man four quarters.

"Thanks." The man stated as he gave her the dollar.

She sighed and settled her basket on the closest bench. Her eyes darted across the room.

It was clean.

The stains, clothes, and feces were all gone. Everything was left spotless and the air even had a slight chlorine smell to it.

She finished her laundry as quickly as possibly.

"Well, it turns out the scoop downtown was a broke." Toby sighed sadly.

Lorenza gave him a sympathetic look and went back to looking at the side effects of her medication. She noticed that hallucinations was one of them. Maybe it was the medicine that caused her to have those visions.

She heard a rumbling, the image of the waterfall came back to her.

"Well it looks like it's time to eat." Toby chuckled. "How about we head downtown and get something to chow?"

Lorenza shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

Toby frowned, he saw that Lorenza didn't eat breakfast. Sure he wasn't cook, but vegetables were good for kids. Even if did come from a can.

"We should go to Greasy's Diner!" Toby exclaimed. "Lazy Susan makes the best omelette in town!"

Her eyes widen with recognition. She only briefly meet the woman a while ago, but it was good to know she didn't hallucinate her.

"Come on!" Toby practically begged.

She looked at her third half cousin for a moment before nodding.

Toby gave out a happy shout as the two made it out of the house.

Walking into the diner was pleasant. Everything seemed clean and it was practically empty. Save for Lazy Susan who was at the counter.

"Well look who it is!" Lazy Susan beamed. "It's door girl!"

"Door girl?" Toby gave a questioning look.

Lorenza waved at Susan.

"Aw, aren't you a shy little thing, thin too." She cooed. "What are you doing with Toby Determined?"

"I'm her third half cousin." Toby hopped onto a counter stool.

Lorenza followed his action.

Lazy Susan squinted her eye, then lifted her closed eyelid. "You two don't really look that much alike." She let the eyelid fall. "What can I do for you?"

"Two omelettes and a coffee please!" Toby smiled.

"Coming right up!" Susan went to the kitchen and began cooking.

Lorenza closed her eyes and let the silence soothe her. Voices echoed around her as she glanced at the emptiness.

Her heart started to race.

She saw Toby wave at an empty stool and chatter to an empty booth.

What was going on?

She jumped as she felt someone pull on her hoodie. Swiveling her head around, she saw no one.

"Down here!" A familiar voice shouted.

Blinking, Lorenza looked down to see the girl she saw yesterday.

"I made you something, my brother said it would be stupid to make it. He said I would probably never see you again. Can you believe that? I made sure to put lots and lots of glitter on it." She rambled as she pulled a card out of her sweater. "Welcome to Gravity Falls!"

Lorenza took the card. It covered in 'lots and lots of glitter' and had doodles here and there with the words 'Welcome To Gravity Falls Friend' spelled with a glitter pen.

"Thank you." She said to girl, Maple was it?

"You're welcome!" The girl ran off to the booth that Toby was talking to. It had the girl's family in it.

She turned to the empty stools to see two offices talking to each other. She even saw Wendy, the man from the laundromat, and three boys that looked like the man sitting at a booth. Wendy waved at her, she waved back.

"Here you are," Lazy Susan said. "Two of my coffee omelettes and a coffee."

Lorenza stared at her omelette. A burnt pattern formed a waterfall with a feline face. As Lazy Susan gave them a bottle of ketchup, she snatched it and drowned the image.

"Dr. Miles," Lorenza spoke into the phone. "My medication is giving me hallucinations."

She made sure Toby was out of earshot in the main room. She quickly paced herself in the kitchen.

"What kinds of hallucinations?" Dr. Miles asked.

"I'm seeing things that aren't there, not seeing things that are there, and a cat." Lorenza ran a shaking hand through her hair, letting the beanie hit the floor.

"Are your parents aware?" She asked.

Lorenza shook her head, but remembered she couldn't see her. "I'm staying with a relative for a while, so they don't."

She heard her doctor hum in wonder. "Are you anywhere near my office?" As Lorenza told her 'no' she sighed. "There isn't much I can do at the moment. But, you can stop taking them for awhile. If the hallucinations start continuing even without the medication, I need you to go to the nearest hospital."

Lorenza felt fear swallow her. What could possibly be so wrong that she had to go to the hospital? "Ok," she agreed.

"Alright, I'll keep in touch." hanged up before Lorenza could say anything. She put her smartphone away.

"Everything alright in here?" Toby popped in.

Lorenza nodded and spotted her beanie on the floor. Picking it up, she felt it to make sure it was real before putting it on her head.

"There's going to be a monster marathon on TV soon, want to watch it with me?" Toby asked.

She shook her. "I'm gonna go to sleep."

Toby nodded and walked to the main room again.

She quickly made it to the bedroom and closed the door. Throwing the curtains open, she began counting the stars. But, she could only say twenty.

"Twenty, twenty, twenty!" She began panicking. What was happening to her?

Then a white pair of eyes stared at her through the window. Her anxiety calmly left as she and the thing outside looked at each other.

As soon as it appeared, it vanished.

She looked at the stars again.

"One, two, three..."

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