Just a Little Game of Psychology

“Listen to me! I know what I am talking about, I swear Edward is alive and is plotting to kill me.” Amanda said very flustered. 

Sarah sighed, “Honey, we have been friends forever and I know you are still hurting about his sudden death but-” 

Amanda cuts her off, “Oh wow, my own best friend thinks I’m insane.” 

“Come on, I just think maybe you should go to therapy.” Sarah says. “Okay, but I have good points.” Amanda says convincingly. 

“Okay, I’m all ears.” 

“So, Isn’t it weird that three days after we broke up he died? 

“No, not really. Accidents happen.” Sarah sighs. 

“Anyway, since Edwards' funeral I have been receiving letters. They all mention how I broke his heart, and how I’m going to pay for it.” Amanda says a little too quickly.

“Honey, you caught him cheating. It could be his side piece.” Sarah tries to convince Amanda. 

“Well, that makes sense but the letters also mention stuff only we knew about. Like dates and certain days when we did things together.” 

“Maybe he kept a diary and she saw it?” Sarah suggests.

“Okay, that is possible. Anywho, I have to get ready for work.” Amanda says sadly. 

“Ugh, they work you too much. Your last day off was three and a half weeks ago for his funeral.”

“Yeah, I know. Okay got to go, love ya!” Amanda says, trying to make it sound like she was okay.

“Yeah love you boo. Talk to you after your shift.” 

Amanda grabs her morning coffee and heads out to her car to get to work. She is a Cosmetologist, but she also is in school to be a mental health therapist. Today is a short day for her at the salon. She has four hair appointments, one waxing, and she is doing two manicures for two of the hair appointments. She entered the salon, but she was fifteen minutes early so she took out her phone. As she pulls her phone out she gets a call from an unknown number, but she never answers those. She declines the call and starts looking through social media. The unknown caller calls once again, but she declines the call once more. Not even thirty seconds after she declined the call, they call again so she picks up.

“Hello?” Amanda says into the phone.

“Hello Manda, the color blue suits you.” The caller says eerily.

“Excuse me? Who is this?” Amanda asks.

“You’ll figure that out soon.” The caller says to her.

“Okay, you are obviously a prank caller, r-right?” Amanda chirps.

“Ah, I love that I have that effect on you. Alright, I'll watch ya later.” The caller says quickly then hangs the phone up. 

“Oh no. This can’t be good.” Amanda murmurs to herself. Her coworker, Stacy, walks in.

“What can’t be good?” Stacy asks. Amanda is stunned just thinking about what happened when she remembers that the caller called her Manda. The only person who has ever called her Manda was Edward. But it couldn’t be him. Right?

“Um nothing, I’m gonna get ready for um, a client.” Amanda mustered. She walks out of the front of the salon, leaving Stacy just standing there confused.

★★★

Throughout the day, Amanda just felt really off. She had a huge pit in her stomach. She had the feeling you feel when you know someone is staring at you. She just wanted to see Sarah tonight, but she had to close the salon up tonight. Stacy had her last client and went home, so that left Amanda to finish up her manicure client then close up shop.

“Alright Hun, there you go. This color is beautiful!” Her client says after paying.

“Yes, anytime! You might be my favorite client!” Amanda says happily. After finishing with the last customer, she felt a lot better. She locked the front door so she could start cleaning up. 

“I thought I was your favorite.” A rough voice says. Amanda freezes. She is so terrified she can’t even move a limb. 

“Who’s there?” Amanda squeaks. 

"I don’t know who do you think?” The strange voice answers. After what seemed like forever she finally turns around. The second she turns around something covers her face and then the world goes black.

Amanda wakes up still not able to see anything but pitch black. She can hear a woman's voice, talking to someone on the phone. She wonders what happened to the man who was speaking to her. She immediately thinks of Edward. All she can think about is that this had something to do with him.

“Hold on, she is squirming.” The woman says to someone. The next thing she knows, the woman takes the sack off of her head.

“Good, you’re awake. Now the fun can begin.” The woman says. But Amanda knows this woman. It is Camille. The girl Edward cheated on her with. She has a sudden adrenaline rush, and starts trying to get out of wherever she is.

“Oh, I wouldn’t try that if I were you.” Camille says. Camille leaves the room, and the lights go out. If a hand was in front of her right now, she wouldn’t have been able to see it. 

★★★

It had been a few hours since Amanda had any light, or human interaction. Not to mention she hadn’t eaten anything in what seemed to be forever. She knew exactly how they were going to torture her. They are using a psychology trick. They aren’t feeding her, leaving her in darkness, and not allowing other human interaction. She was tied to a chair, and as the hours went by there was a ticking sound that was very faint; the trick was that after a while of hearing this ticking, it would seem to get closer, and louder to slowly drive her insane. And It was working. She started to rock back and forth, back and forth to the point the rope they used to tie her was cutting her torso. Soon she started talking to no one.

“Hey little birdie, how was your day. Is that your clock ticking. Oh, can you please turn it down.”

Soon the ticking stopped. But the dripping and tapping started next. It was much worse.

“Birdie. I thought we were friends, huh? Can you please stop making noises? Yes, yes, yes. Please stop-p-p. IF YOU DON'T STOP THE NOISES I WILL MAKE YOUR HEART STOP MAKING LIFE FOR YOU.” Amanda screamed. The talking, and annoying noises didn’t stop. With each tick, or drop, the more mad this hatter grew.

“Tick...tick...tick. Drip..drip..drip-p.” Amanda soon would see humans. But the experiment was only half done. They had been monitoring her behavior since they had sent the letters, and most definitely since the day they took her. This was a twenty five day experiment. She only has been in that room for eight days. So sit back, relax, and get ready to see how crazy she gets. Not even her knowledge about psychology could save her. Even if the smartest person on earth experienced this, they would eventually, well crumble. Just like poor Amanda. But, Edward deserved this. It was his, well, special treat. Now he could see the girl who crushed him, get crushed. She used her knowledge from training to be a therapist on him all the time. She told him all about it. Now it was his turn. All this is, is just a game of psychology.