Unconditionally Conditioned |

•☯︎𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟸☯︎︎•

Jason spent the night at his place for once, he needed to stream, especially now that he had an actual purpose to do so.
He pulled up his stream and began by playing a few games of among us and just anything he could get his hands on
Chat started to notice he had a message on him stream.
'Any and all donations are really appreciated :)' when chat questioned him about it he said that his friend needed surgery that could give them a new life. He didn't go too much into detail, besides, Alice still doesn't know yet.
Alice resided on her sofa as she usually did in the evenings, Milo was at her side. She would normally focus her attention on the tv, but tonight she was interested in the sunset.
She gazed, mesmerised as the sun exploded in a pool of colour across the sky, all until it was a clean yellow line across the horizon. It always made her feel more calm. It was as if , in these small moments, she was normal. No OCD, no anxiety, no feelings of doom if she did the slightest thing wrong or if she had strayed away from her routine in the slightest. She was normal.
She dreaded waking up in the mornings, her days always controlled by pills to help keep her afloat, she could never picture a time where her life where it wasn't controlled by the cocktail of pills that kept her from tearing herself apart.

She was soon torn away from her blissful peace when realising that the shades of orange and yellow had once graced the sky had diminished into a dark blue and purple, back to reality...

Alice decided to call it a night, taking whatever necessary precautions she needed to before collapsing on her bed, Milo curling up beside her, obviously picking up on her off mood.

The next morning felt different, Alice woke to the feeling of peace?
She got up out of bed and walked to the kitchen, it was different, it didn't look the same. Once in the kitchen it dawned on her... she didn't do any of her usual routines before getting out of bed... she waited, waited for the panic to set in and consume her, but it didn't.
She felt nothing. She felt...fine.
She knew something wasn't right, she didn't like this new normal feeling, though it had been a feeling she yearned for for so long, now that she had it, she didn't know what to do with herself.
She walked over to her couch, taking a seat on the opposite side. It was a nice change, she thought.
Milo was asleep beside the couch, Alice not taking much notice.
She just kind of sat there, for a while. Mainly confused by her new found normality.
She should tell Jason!
She sprung to her feet and made way to the door.
She stopped. Why did she stop? Her feet were stuck. She was frozen.
She glanced up to the door, the textured window was consumed with a black shadow. She glanced to the window on the other side of the room, it was bright outside. She glanced back to the door, realising it wasn't night time and in fact someone there.
'What are you doing alice'
'Why haven't you taken your meds'
"I-I don't need them"
'Yes you do Alice, you're sick. You didn't think you were normal did you?' The mysterious voice snarked.
"N-no, but I'm better, look see I'm okay!" She announced.
The malicious voice laughed.
'Oh Alice, don't be so stupid. You really don't believe that do you?'
'Why don't you just wake up?'
What.
'Wake up Alice.'
'Wake'
'UP'
The voice kept repeating, strong thuds started to make known as the voice drove their fists into the door.
'WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP'
It screamed.
Alice, still far from being able to move, covered her ears in pure terror, hoping it would silence the stranger that was terrorising her.
She crouched down, resting her elbows on her thighs, ears still covered. She scrunched her eyes up, praying it would all be over soon, between being caught up with keeping her eyes closed and her fast paced breathe, she didn't realise the sounds had stopped.
Upon the realisation, she slowly opened her eyes, it was dark.
Looking around she realised, she was in bed...it was all a nightmare.
Her dream of normality wasn't real after all...
She looked to her side and saw her alarm blaring at her, the same pace and volume as the black shadow in her dream.

'Well, another day...'