The House

The House by Joey Hwang



1

Jenny's mental illness, like depression, flared up again today. It has been a while since she has suffered from it-about six months. She talked at the wall a few months at first, and she has  started to tear the wallpapers up a few weeks ago. Some of my neighbors are asking me why I leave her alone even though I am a psychopathologist. It is, maybe, because her state was far more than I can control. One side of the wallpaper was torn almost half or more and even it is going creepy yellow color, so I put a red fabric on it.

But she is not under this condition all day. She is a completely normal woman usually, however, especially at night, she cries, yells, and so on, and even she has tried to strangle me. I cannot feel comfortable in this house anymore.

2

One day, I was working on something in my room, and she came to me with torn wallpaper in her hand,

" You killed her... save her... My heart cannot take any more... save her... save!!!"

She shook me violently by the shoulders, shaking her head angrily and shouting at me. So I said that there is no woman in the wall, please wake up, and go back to the past where we were in the happy days. But, she didn't listen to me at all. Of course there is no "poor her" at all in the yellow wallpaper, the black cement. Jenny has said it makes her like ominous, and strange sounds raise the hair on her neck. Also, she finally threw the red fabric away, tearing all of the wallpaper up and tried to drag "her" out of the wall. And Jenny put the blame on me for "her death". I think it would be better to find some quarantine for her and me.

3

Her disease gets worse and worse. Jenny said she is seeing "her apparition" and hearing "her voice". So I locked Jenny in her room even now. I cannot understand at all what she is saying-someone, especially "she" is in the wall. Now I feel that I have the illness, also.

Really, is there someone in the wall? Break it down! That cannot be true. It should not be that someone in the black, spooky and thick wall. So I found some facilities for her, but they do not want to take care of her.

I want to get out of the her clutches and feel freedom. I do not want to take care of her anymore, either. It's time to do anything for my freedom right now.

4

There are police lines around the house of a doctor couple in Hartford, Connecticut. Some cops are finding evidence, some reporters are taking pictures inside and outside of the house, and some crowds are talking in whispers. Then, John showed up in the nick of time and was handcuffed. According to the police officers, a little girl was found dead on one side of the wall in the house. She was an 8-year-old girl and she was often called, "Little Red Riding Hood". She was killed on her way to John's house to talk about her grandmother's depression.