Member-only story
With Friends Like That
What he said, and why I almost believed him
Names have been changed.
“Listen to me,” he hissed, leaning across the table to bring his face closer to mine. We sat in a rundown pizza joint in some strip mall, pushing ever closer to closing time. The employees wanted us to leave, I could tell. I didn’t blame them. We’d been here for hours, and all we’d bought was two sodas. I met his stare with vitriol, unwavering in my resolve. “You have multiple personalities. You are not being rational.”
I met Edward my second semester at community college. I’d dropped out from my first university when the first symptoms of my schizoaffective disorder hit, and had come home with little to show for it. This time around, I was determined to make friends. While I’d made a few my first semester, we weren’t close, and I didn’t really hang out with them outside of school. With all my high school friends miles away at four-year universities, I was exceptionally lonely.
Edward and I were fast friends. We’d started studying together twice a week for our biology class, a regular meeting that had quickly devolved into more screwing around than studying. By the second month of the semester, we were hiking, going bowling, and grabbing food. He thought I was hilarious, he told me. He’d never met someone as funny as me. While I…
