The Intrusion

I tried to retire to somewhere quiet to listen to myself think. Just completely away from any people and any sound. I wanted to see if it was true that you'd hear your heartbeat, that you'd establish an ethereal and complete state of peace. What started out as an experiment born of curiosity evolved in a few brief minutes into full-blown chaos.

There were voices in my head.

They were retelling stories; recounting memories and reciting poems. One moment they were breathing warm whispers in my left ear; in the next moment they were buzzing about at my right, excited and inconsiderately loud. Somewhere in the back of my head was a shrill, falsetto (and decidedly male) little voice singing a song in slurred staccato. Yet another voice is demanding my attention, grumbling and complaining about something somewhere to my right. The oddest part of it is that I recognize these voices. I've heard them well and often--but to think they now existed in my head?

Even now, sitting here, I can hear vitriolic practicing her presentation to the rhythm of Sanjana's mellow scatting. Karina is screaming Pink!! and chasing something in circles in the left hemisphere of my brain, and the voice to my right is my sister complaining about the noise (I was tempted to respond; you think?!). There's cynix singing his "You're Ugly" tune and Kendal is desperately trying to convince me to do something ("Chel...!")--probably to stop the unbelievable mess scattered shipwrecked across my entire plane of thought.

The worst part was what came later.

I stopped concentrating on the silence, and I stopped blocking out the noise. The voices receded as the A.C.'s comforting humming poured like cool, refreshing mist into my head. That silence was nearly complete. The deafening white noise was like a veil that saved me from the pandemonium that had momentarily ruled my head.

"It's cold." What?

"No, it's not. You're such a sissy." No way...

"I didn't say anything." Go away.

"Not youuuuuu...!" Argh.

"Rach, you're stepping on my foot." I would have stepped on heads if they had been there.

Later on I would realize that I had been falling asleep as I was thinking these things. Or rather, as these things thought themselves out. It was heavily odd, of course. Anyone would be freaked out by the notion of voices in their head. Only this was more like an imaginary recap--courtesy of a tired and sugar-ridden brain--of the day's conversations. Presented in delightful jumbles with a shot of bizzare eerieness to top.

I really need a holiday.

"I know! Me too."