HOSPITAL (any gender, mid teens through late life)
Jess. JESS! Put them down. For God's sake, if you're going to try and kill yourself, at least don't do it here.
Just think about it, you dummy.
Okay, granted: You've got a whole bottle of pretty strong pills.
Granted: You're in a locked bathroom.
Granted: I'm in a coma so I'm unable to alert anybody.
But Jess, the nurse is going to be coming back around to check on me at SOME point. What do think she's going to do? Eventually, she's going to know somebody's in the bathroom, it's obviously not me and then she'll get the bathroom door open, and you'll be wheeled off to have a very embarrassing and painful stomach pumping because you tried to overdose IN A HOSPITAL!
Duh.
Yeah, I know you can hear me, even if you think it's a voice in your head. No, I don't know what's happening either, how I'm able to see what you're doing, how I'm able to communicate with you. Maybe I really AM about to die and this is like, my last chance to do some good. Maybe it's because we're twins, huh? I never believed we were linked in that way but here I am.
And here you are trying to copy me and do your own overdose. And maybe it WILL work, Jess, and maybe you WILL get to join me in this weird limbo... but I don't want you here with me. For the first time, I don't want you around me, Jess. This isn't a good place. The only thing that makes it bearable is to see you on the other side, still alive.
Copyright 2016 by Matt Haynes.
If you would like to use this piece, please credit: "Courtesy of Matt Haynes and The Pulp Stage"