{Victoria}

"Oh wow! Victoria, these pictures are amazing!" My art teacher said. I have no idea why she was fascinated with my drawings because they weren't all that great. All I drew was a picture of Walter and the other picture was of a soccer ball with angel wings behind it.

My art teacher even went so far as to call a couple of students over to look at my drawings. I wasn't comfortable with this type of attention and I was hoping that I didn't have a panic attack because of it. I was starting to regret asking Walter to just drop me off for class and then come back when class is over.

Fuck! This isn't good! I hate this, this is exactly why I had to quit working! I thought.

I think my art teacher noticed how uncomfortable I looked so she said, "Alright class, let's focus on today's lesson and Victoria, I need to speak to you after class."

I nodded. "Yes ma'am."

Today's lesson was mostly freestyle drawing. This means to just draw whatever we felt like drawing. For whatever the reason I felt like drawing a door. It was a large wooden door with a door knocker that was in the shape of an angel. Underneath the angel was an upside down cross.

"Alright everybody, show me your work!" The art teacher said. I guess it would be easier for me to refer to the art teacher to her real name, which is Ms. Rae. That would be easier instead of referring to her as 'the art teacher,' right?

I reluctantly did as I was told and Ms. Rae smiled at me. "Yeah, I need to see you after class for sure. The question is with this piece, is it protecting you from something? Or is it hiding something?"

I shook my head. "Honestly, I don't know. It just came to me."

I looked at my drawing and the door seemed very familiar. But I have no idea where the door was from or what it led to. I didn't know how long I sat there staring at the picture because I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. It was Ms. Rae and she motioned for me to follow her to her office.

She took a seat at her desk and I sat down across from her. "What's this about?"

"There's something interesting about you but I can't put my finger on it. However, your drawings are awesome! Have you ever considered drawing to sell?" Ms. Rae asked.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think I'm that good. But art is just a hobby for me, I don't think I can handle having a job at the moment. I'm just lucky I didn't have a panic attack in class today."

Ms. Rae looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Hmmm, so you don't respond well to stress or pressure and being an artist isn't really an easy job. However, for art exhibits and whatnot you can always send a representative in your place to meet future clients. You know what? Why don't you test the waters and see how well your drawings are received?"

I tilted my head. "Huh?"

She nodded. "Oh yes, there's a small competition going on and the deadline is within two weeks. There's a theme to it and that is fantasy and horror. You know, considering Halloween is right around the corner. You would only need to do two drawings one with the fantasy theme and one with the horror theme. Anything goes, the only exception would be lewd pictures so no nudity. So, what do you say?"

I thought about it and then nodded. "Okay sure, I'll give it a shot. You said it's in two weeks?"

She nodded again. "Yup! It's in two weeks. Here's a form for it."

She handed me a piece of paper.

"Alright then and I hope I won't let you down," I said.

I took the form and Ms. Rae dismissed me. As soon as I left art class I saw Walter standing outside waiting for me. When he saw me he frowned. "What's wrong?"

I paused. "Huh?"

"You have a look that says that you're bothered by something," He said.

I paused again and wondered. Am I that easy to read? Am I an open book?

Walter chuckled, "Yes, you're that easy to read at least with your facial expressions."

"Oh," I said. "Do you mind if we talk in the car?"

He nodded. "Sure."

When got into the car, he started driving away.

"So, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Well, um, I'm not sure how I feel about what just happened today. I mean, I know it's a good opportunity and all but I don't want to let my teacher down," I answered. "She liked the pictures that I drew for my homework and today in class. And she suggested that I enter in an art competition and the deadline is in a couple of weeks. The theme for it is fantasy and horror and I would need to draw a picture for each of them."

"That's good news!" Walter exclaimed. "Your artwork is excellent. You should totally give it a try!"

"Yeah, that's where the problem lies for me. I told my teacher I'd give it a try, but what if I fail? Or what if I succeed and I have to worry about being in the limelight? I mean, true I wouldn't mind the praise from people and I'd have to figure out how to deal with criticism…" I said.

"It doesn't hurt to try, you know. And then worry about what happens afterwards. One step at a time and I'll be there to help you as your caretaker and all," Walter said. He perked up. "Hey, I just so happen to know a couple of local celebrities who have struggles with mental health disorders like you. Maybe if you meet them and talk with them, they can give you a perspective that might help?"

"Are they celebrities that have caretakers like me?" I asked.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He smiled. "Yup! True, they're rich but they do have problems that they can't always cope with on their own."

"Okay, I'll think about it, but like what you said, one step at a time right?" I said. "Besides, Rome wasn't built in a day, right?"

He snorted. "Yeah, an interesting way of reassuring yourself!"

"What? It's true right? Rome wasn't built in a day!" I said.

"Yeah, yeah, we're home!" He said.

I got out of the car and walked up to my house and as soon as I opened the door I heard a creaking noise coming from upstairs.

Walter paused. "Is that noise coming from my room again?"

I shook my head. "Wait, I'll go up and check."

Before Walter could respond I went over the stairs and went upstairs. When I got to my room my eyes went wide in horror because my bed had been moved all the way across on the other side of the room. I wanted to turn around and run but the door slammed behind me and I screamed, banging on the door to let me out.

I heard a strange voice laughing as I saw the bed quickly move towards me. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I passed out.

***

{Walter}

I should've known Victoria was going to have an episode, but it came out of nowhere. She went upstairs to her room to check out where the creaking noise was coming from and the next thing I knew she slammed the door to her room shut. Then she banged on it screaming to help her get out and when I opened the door I found her passed out on the floor of her room.

I didn't understand what happened exactly but I checked her vitals like her blood pressure and everything and she seemed fine. She just passed out. I've seen people have episodes before but not this bad.

I hope she'll be fine soon. Maybe she's just stressed about the art competition? I have no idea what's going on in her mind but as I said, I'll be there for her as long as she needs me. That reminded me to make a call to my friend Megan Sanders. She's a local celebrity who has a friend that has mental health issues he struggles with. His name is Parker Williams. Parker Williams is a singer with Megan in a band.

Parker Williams band is a diverse genre of music running from metal, heavy metal to pop music and rap music. He's an awesome singer and Megan does back up vocals for him from time to time.

So I gave Megan a call and she picked up. "Hello there! This is Megan Sanders' phone! This is Megan speaking!"

I snorted. "Hey Megan what's up?"

"Walter! It's so nice of you to finally rise from the dead! It's been months since I've heard from you and that hurts. And here I thought we were friends!" Megan said with sarcasm.

"Aww I'm sorry I've been busy you know working at a hospital and now I just started a live-in caretaker job," I said.

"Oh yeah! Aiden told me about that, he said it was a woman? What's she like?" Megan said.

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously? Being a caretaker isn't a dating service! Yes, the woman I'm taking care of is cute and all but she says she's not bad looking either."

"Oh really? So that means I have a shot?" Megan teased.

"Not funny Megan. Anyway, I found out that she's really good at art and she just started drawing a couple of months ago. She's going to enter into an art contest but she's afraid she'll let her art teacher down and whatnot. Is there a chance I can get her to meet up with Parker and he can give her some sort of perspective on this?" I explained.

"Sure! What's her name?" Megan asked.

"It's Victoria Lee," I said.

It surprised me when Megan screamed. She composed herself. "Sorry about that, how on earth did you manage to find my high school sweetheart? I often wondered how she's been doing," She paused. "Wait, if she needs a caretaker, how bad are things?"

I paused that statement. I couldn't fathom the chances of my friend Megan being the same Megan that Victoria dated in high school!

"Well, that's not for me to say you can ask Victoria yourself if you manage to meet her?" I said.

"Yeah, I would like to meet her and no, I don't think I'll be asking for another shot with her. I mean, she didn't stay friends after we broke up. But I think you two would probably make a good couple," Megan said.

"Seriously?" I said as I groaned in disbelief.

Megan laughed, "Okay, okay I can't help it! When was the last time you had a relationship? I heard you're pretty much married to your work no matter what hospital you work at. You love your job that much huh? Anyways, yeah I can set up a time for Victoria to meet Parker. I'll send you a text when I find out his schedule for the week, sound good?"

"Yeah that's fine," I said.

After I got off the phone, Victoria started waking up. She sat up and looked around. "What the fuck happened?"

I paused. "You don't remember what happened before you passed out?"

She scratched the back of her neck and then shook her head. "No, this is why I call them 'blackout episodes' because most of the time I don't remember what happened."

"I see," I said. "Oh, before I forget I was able to call one of my friends who's a local celebrity that has issues like you do. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a meeting set up with them soon."

She nodded. "Sure. Um, how long was I out?"

"Only a couple of hours," I replied.

She let out a sigh of relief, "Oh good, because I've been out for longer one time. What time is it?"

I looked at the clock on the nightstand. "It's only 8pm."

"Okay then, that means I have a couple of hours until I have to take my evening medicine," Victoria said.

"So what do you plan on doing until then?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I have no idea."

***

{Megan}

I can't believe I'll be getting a chance to see high school sweetheart Victoria again after all this time. I wonder why she didn't want to remain friends after we broke up and she quit the soccer team? I know she probably has her reasons for not saying anything but I do remember the day after we broke up she wasn't in school for a whole week.

When she returned to school, her arm was in a cast and she had a black eye. I overheard the teacher asking what happened to her and she said that she had gotten into a car accident with family when they were traveling home. I could tell by the tone of Victoria's voice that she was lying but I didn't out her because I knew she had her reasons for lying.

Years later I found out that she was getting married to some rich dude named Wyatt and I felt sorry for her because I knew what kind of person he was. Fortunately, I heard that three days before the wedding Victoria ran and left him at the altar. Then I found out from Wyatt's brother that Wyatt died in a car accident while he was headed to wherever Victoria was staying to drag her back to the altar.

The funny thing is Wyatt's brother is happy the Wyatt is dead because of the type of person Wyatt was.

But either way I have so many questions for Victoria when I see her if I get a chance to ask them.

When I got off the phone with Walter, Parker who was sitting next to me this whole entire time looked at me. "So you're finally gonna get a chance to talk to Victoria?"

"Well, Walter wants you to talk to her because she's entering into an art competition and she's worried about what might happen. I don't know why he's so sure about her abilities but she must be good in order for him to want to talk to a celebrity who has mental health issues like her," I responded.

"I see," Parker said. He looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "Why not ask Walter to get Victoria to bring some of her pictures to show us? I can put her mind at ease with my advice then."

I nodded. "Sure."

I knew exactly what Parker was thinking. He wanted to see for himself if Victoria's were good enough to enter into the competition. He also wanted to see how bad her issues were. I agree with him because if it's bad enough for Victoria to need to have a live-in caretaker things must be pretty bad.