Echoalia

TW: violent killing

"Don't go in there," Connor mumbled. His caretaker, Katrina, was going nuts. "What do you mean 'don't go in there'?" Katrina asked.

"Don't go in there," Connor said more emphatically. Katrina had cared for Connor for the past two years. He had schizophrenia and moderate autism and his family had just given up on him.

Katrina was his live in home care aide. She liked this sweet but strange middle aged man, but sometimes he could be irritating. "Connor," she prompted. "Where am I supposed to stay out of?"

This time Connor pointed at a room. "Don't go in there!" He shouted. Clearly he was convinced there was danger and it was making him agitated. "The laundry room?" Katrina said. "Listen, Connor, I have to clean your dirty clothes. I promise I'll be carefull."

Apparently this answer didn't satisfy Connor. He groaned loudly, ran to the armchair he always sat in and began rocking back and forth. Katrina knew this was his way of comforting himself so she backed off and let him have some alone time.

Instead of starting in on the wash, Katrina began sweeping the kitchen floor. It was a soothing task but some noise caught her attention. A sound like whispering and scratching was coming from another room.

"Connor?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay out there?"

"Yeah."

Katrina went back to sweeping the floor. The noise started again. If Connor was okay, what was causing the whispers?

She put the broom back in the cupboard. Walking down the hallway she listened intently. It seemed to be coming from the laundry room. Katrina opened the door and peeped through.

There was nothing; the noises stopped. Katrina closed the door. "Ahh!" She shouted. "Connor! You scared me! How long have you been there?" He stared at Katrina his eyes wide. "I told you," he said. "Don't go in there!"

This was frustrating! But Katrina knew yelling at Connor would only agitate him more. If he was too upset, Connor could become aggressive. "Okay," Katrina said. "Can you tell me why I can't go in the laundry room? "

"The evil man is there," Connor answered. Katrina locked the doors and windows at night; how could anyone else be in the house? Still it was best not to argue with Connor about his delusions. "Fine," she said. "I'll stay out of there." Katrina made a mental note to call Connor's doctor about upping meds.

The rest of the day passed routinely. Katrina bought the week's groceries. Dinner was at six sharp. Connor watched Jeopardy at seven.

"It's time for bed," Connor announced. He always did after he took his nighttime meds. "Goodnight Connor," Katrina told him. "Goodnight, goodbye and good luck!" He answered. This was one of Connor's more endearing rituals.

Katrina wasn't tired so she opened up her sudoku book and began doing a few puzzles. Just when she was trying to place the last nine on the grid, Katrina heard scratching again.

She put down her pencil and tried to be as quiet as possible. She could hear Connor's light snores in his bedroom. It wasn't Connor making the noise.

"It has to be coming from the same place as earlier," Katrina told herself. She went down the hallway again. This time she heard a male voice chanting. "Is that Latin?" She wondered aloud. "It certainly doesn't sound like English."

Upon opening the door, Katrina was frozen with terror. A gaunt, inhumanly tall figure sat on top of the dryer. It was cloaked in a blood red robe. A dagger clutched in its talloned hands.

Katrina's primary urge was to slam the door and run. As the figure advanced towards her, she felt paralyzed. The figure drove the knife into Katrina's belly and pulled upwards reciting some sort of incantation.

Her body fell to the ground. She was still alive as she watched the apparition begin devouring her intestines. Katrina couldn't even scream some sort of energy kept her from making any sound.

In the morning Connor found Katrina's badly mutilated body on the floor. He dialed emergency services on the home's land line. All the dispatch heard was Connor repeating "I told her not to go in there!"

Uniformed police officers came to the house. To them it seemed obvious what had happened. They thought

Connor had had a break with reality and killed his aide. The police arrested Connor.

In interrogation Connor kept inisting he hadn't killed Katrina. There were no windows in that room and the front door had been locked. Detectives concluded there was no possible way anyone else could have murdered the victim.

A court psychologist evaluated Connor and found him non-compismentus. After the trial, Connor was sentenced to life in a psychiatric hospital.

During his therapy sessions Connor tried to tell the doctors about 'the evil man.'

"Are you the evil man?" Dr. Rosenbaum asked. "No," Connor told him. He was rocking himself in his folding chair. "Where did the evil man come from?" Connor looked around anxiously. "The Other," he said. Rosenbaum tapped her pen on her notepad. "What do you mean the other?" She asked. "The Other," he said. "The Other is The Other."

The doctor's brow furrowed. "Connor," she said. "I don't know what that means help me understand." He stood up and began pacing. "The Other," he said. "It's where the people and things you can't see are."

"You mean like ghosts or something?"

"Yes!"

"You think a ghost killed Katrina?"

"Yes!"

Dr. Rosenbaum could see her patient getting more worked up. "Thank you for telling me that," she said. "This has been hard on you. Why don't we pick up where we left off tomorrow? "

"No!" Connor shouted. He had turned to face the doctor. "No!" He repeated. "The evil man is coming for me!" Dr. Rosenbaum pushed the panic button on the wall near her.

It took three men to subdue Connor. They sedated him and took him back to his room.

The next morning, Connor was found dead. All his viscera had been removed just like 'The evil man' had done to Katrina.