I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Despite chills running through my body, sweat was pooling under my arms as I gawked at Mrs. Murphy, bewildered. This couldn’t be happening, I thought. Not again. My mind had betrayed me so many times before, I felt like a lunatic. I leaned against Mrs. Murphy’s chest, sobbing heartily, as she rocked me back and forth.
“What’s wrong with me?” I cried, dabbing my sleeve over my blotched face.
“Nothing is wrong with you, darling,” her voice was soft and soothing, “You just need to take your medicine.”
I squinted through my tears to see the bottle of pills sitting on the bedside table.
“You mean, neither Drew nor Luke is…” I couldn’t say the word.
She rubbed my arm reassuringly and nodded.
“This is your apartment,” she affirmed, reaching for the bottle of pills, and shaking one into her palm, “Here, take this, you’ll feel better.”
I swallowed the pill and sank onto my pillow, overwhelmed by the day’s events. I couldn’t wrap my mind around Mrs. Murphy’s words. My whole existence seemed to be in question, and I was afraid that soon I wouldn’t be able to discern my reality from the truth.
“Mrs. Murphy?” I said, staring up at the ceiling.
“Yes, Alan?” she turned her head to look at me.
“Will I have to be,” I swallowed, “Admitted?”
She hesitated.
“No, I shouldn’t think so,” she tried to sound positive, “As long as you take your medication.”
I nodded, drawing my gaze back to the ceiling. I’d have to take it. My reality had become too dangerous and my senses completely unreliable. I couldn’t run the risk of making a fool of myself in public, or worse, getting detained for my psychotic behaviour.
“It’s time for me to go now, Alan,” Mrs. Murphy said, gathering her belongings and making her way towards the door, “Get some rest.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, “For coming.”
Her eyes were filled with sympathy.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said, closing the bedroom door.
I laid in bed, mentally categorizing the events of the past week, month, year. I felt like a character in a movie - everything I knew was a simulation. My roommate, my friends, and even my sister were nothing more than animated puppets in my mind, meddling with my reality and life as I knew it.
As I heard Mrs. Murphy close the front door, I remembered that Drew was still in the living room. One way or another, I had to get rid of her. With heavy steps, I made my way there, praying silently that the medication had already taken effect and I wouldn’t find her. I opened the door and scanned the room. It was empty. No sign of Drew. I heaved a sigh of relief and leaned against the door frame.
Mrs. Murphy had been right. What on earth had I been thinking, not taking the medicine? I clearly needed it. I felt a wave of calmness wash over me. I was going to get better. I was going to survive this, just like I had survived that fateful day years ago, when I had found out my sister wasn’t real.
Voices outside the living room window caught my attention. My apartment was on the first floor, so I could easily hear the noises coming from the street. I walked over to the window and looked outside. A tree was blocking my view, but I could see a group of people standing behind it. I cracked the window open and leaned slightly to the left. My heart sank.
It was Mrs. Murphy. She was rummaging through her purse, frantically searching for something. Standing nonchalantly in a half-circle beside her, were Drew and Luke.
“I swear I had it with me,” Mrs. Murphy sounded panic-stricken.
Drew was tapping her foot on the pavement.
“We don’t really care, we just want our cut,” she said.
I felt like I was having an out of body experience. There they were, the people closest to me, all together, all talking, as though they didn’t have a care in the world.
“You’ll get your cut,” Mrs. Murphy was irate now, placing the contents of her purse in a neat pile on the sidewalk, “I must have left it inside.”
What? What were they talking about? I felt faint.
“Well go back in and get it then,” Luke retorted, “We don’t have all day.”
Alarm bells went off in my mind. Mrs. Murphy was about to come back to my apartment to retrieve something she had apparently left behind. I shut the window and bolted back to my room, looking around desperately for anything out of place.
Nothing caught my eye at first and I panicked, picturing Mrs. Murphy climbing up the stairs, about to let herself in the door any second. Then, I saw it. A black rectangular box peeking out from a couple of photo albums. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a small camcorder. I grabbed it off the shelf and stuffed it inside my sweatshirt pocket, just as the front door flung open and Mrs. Murphy barged in. She was out of breath and red in the face, which got even redder as she saw me watching her from the centre of my room.
“Alan!” she cried, “I thought you’d be asleep!”
I said nothing.
“Are you alright, dear?” she said, her eyes drifting towards the bookshelf.
She exhaled sharply as she noticed the camcorder was missing.
“Alan, there was a-”
“A camera?” I said, pulling it out of my pocket.
She tensed up, a vein appearing in her forehead.
“Alan, give that to me,” she kept her voice low, despite the hue of her face.
“No,” I waved it at her, “Why don’t we watch it together?”
I took several steps backwards to my desk, not wanting to turn my back on her. I knew I could easily overpower her if it came to it.
“Alan, please,” she said, “Let me explain.”
I stared at her silently. She’d dropped her purse and put her hands on her chest.
“We were very poor when we adopted you and Drew,” she began, tears welling up in her eyes, “We struggled to make ends meet.
I watched her, dispassionately.
“My husband, Mr. Murphy, found a doctor who offered us monthly payments, in exchange for-,” she sobbed, “for testing an experimental medication.”
I felt dread creeping up my spine but said nothing.
“They were particularly interested in sets of twins,” she sounded almost apologetic, “I thought it would benefit all of us.”
“All of us,” I repeated the words slowly.
“Yes,” she nodded, “Drew wasn’t supposed to know, but she heard me discussing it with Dr. Morgan over the phone and demanded a share of the money. That’s how we came up with this arrangement. We needed to find a way of keeping you on the pills. When Luke told me you haven’t been taking them, I sent Drew over to fight our cause.”
I swallowed.
“Is that why she came here?” I said, “To convince me I was sick?”
Mrs. Murphy flushed.
“The experiment went on longer than we had expected,” she said, “Dr. Morgan said the medication might have…lasting effects.”
“What-What do the pills do?”
Mrs. Murphy winced.
“You mustn’t stop taking them, Alan.”
“What. Do. They. Do?” I demanded, staring her dead in the eye.
She sighed.
“They maintain a… balance in your brain,” she said, wringing her hands nervously.
I broke out in a cold sweat.
“Which means?”
Mrs. Murphy took a few steps back.
“They keep you from going crazy,” she whispered.
Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/ubfzrt/adopted/
Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/uckjkl/adopted_part_2/
Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/udbydb/adopted_part_3/