She was shaking. Unconsciously, the thought rose to the forefront of her cluttered mind, but she couldn't do anything about it. Clumsily, her hand rose to fumble with the wetness that was on her cheek. She stared at her hand detachedly. She was crying. WORTHLESS! A single voice suddenly yelled and faded quickly into the swirl of voices crowding her mind, and she jumped, gasping loudly. You can't do anything, you piece of shit. What are you doing? You're pathetic, crying by yourself in a dark room.

"I'm not…" She mumbled quietly. "Stop saying that." She clutched vainly at her head, knowing all the while that it would do no good. The voices rose in volume, but no one could hear. No one could help her. She sobbed quietly, and picked up a knife. The voices faded into the distance as she focussed on slicing into her thighs, into her wrists, into her forearms. She watched herself bleed onto the floor, red trickling down tan skin, and she sighed in relief as her ever-present companions faded into mere whispers.

At school, it was difficult. She forced herself not to interact with them, to not talk back to them, even though they made regular appearances in her everyday life. Sometimes they showed up in real life, just standing there, watching her as she rounded the corner to her locker. Judging her. She wore jeans, and always wore a hoodie or a cardigan, to cover up the story of the night before. To avoid questions. There were times when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, and her head was just too full. There was no room. Music was her salvation during those times. It was something she could focus on to make the voices back off just a little. To allow her room to breathe.

"Tori. TORI!" She jumped, looking up suddenly.

"Sorry," she breathed, as she blinked rapidly to focus on the girl in front of her. "Jade. Hi."

"Hi." The raven-haired girl drawled derisively, with a smirk. "I asked if you were hungry. Actually, Beck asked. Three times. Before I did." Jade rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Tori's eyes flickered briefly over to Jade's boyfriend.

"Yeah. I am. Thanks. I'll just be a sec." She smiled, picking up her bag as Jade stalked off. She opened her locker and pulled out a textbook, fighting to urge to shake it off as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Tori." Beck's voice reached her ear quietly. She turned around as she closed her locker door.

"Yes…?" She asked, as she busied herself with putting her books into her bag.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concern touching his features. She laughed, flipping her hair casually over her shoulder.

"Of course." She smiled reassuringly, as they followed Jade out to lunch.

You messed it up, loser. He said to act like a middle-aged woman, not an old lady! Why are you here? You're not an actor. You're a fake! Tori shook her head to steady herself as she took her seat in class. Even she was disappointed in her performance today. She couldn't believe how badly she had overacted the scene. Overacted? You might as well have taken a frying pan and whacked the character over the head with it! You wrecked it! She massaged her temple discretely, as she tried to focus on something else to dim the voices. As the bell rang, she quickly made her way out of class to the washroom, locking the door and leaning her back against a wall, hyperventilating. She leaned on her elbows over a sink, trying to slow her breathing, before tripping over to a toilet and emptying her stomach's contents into it. Anxiety settled in her chest, crushing her lungs in its grip and forcing her to take shallow breaths. She gingerly got up and hobbled over to the sink to rinse out her mouth, splashing water over her face to calm herself down. Gradually, her breathing slowed and the voices faded in volume a little, so she picked up her bag and left the washroom, sticking an earbud in one ear to have something to focus on. She decided she was going to take a walk in favour of having lunch with her friends, to get her mind off things for a little while, so she snuck off campus to head to the nearby beach. As she sat on a driftwood log, the constant sound of the ocean comforted her, and the voices slowly faded into a whisper.

"You messed up today, loser!" Tori shook her head as the voice reached her ear, sighing. The faded whispers in her head were good while they had lasted. She tried to focus on the ocean and calm them again. "Hey! I'm talking to you." A hand grabbed her shoulder and Tori jumped up in fear, throwing off the hand.

"Jesus, Jade. You scared me!" As she turned and saw that it was, in fact, a real voice berating her. "I thought you were…" Tori's voice trailed off as she shook her head. "Never mind. Why are you here?" She asked, instead.

"Beck and Andre were concerned since you ran out of class so they told me to go find you. I'm not sure why they thought that I was the best choice to look for you, but then again, those two aren't exactly sane." Jade said dryly, with her arms crossed over her chest. Tori fiddled with the zipper on her hoodie as Jade spoke, not meeting the other girl's eyes.

"Well, here I am, safe and sound. You can leave now." She smiled, brown eyes flitting up to meet Jade's briefly before looking away again.

"You are here. You are safe. I'm not sure I would go so far as to say….sound." Jade dragged out her words. She reached out to grab Tori's chin and tilted her face up to look at her. Tori's jaw clenched and she forced herself to stay still.

"Please…don't touch me." She said through her teeth. Jade smirked, but didn't acquiesce to the request. Tori took a deep breath and tried again. "Please…let go of my…face."

"No." The Goth grinned, showing teeth. Green eyes met amber and Tori's gaze flickered to land on the ice cream truck behind Jade. Anxiety settled into Tori's chest once more as her breathing sped up.

"Let go. I can't…breathe…" She gasped, yanking her chin away from Jade's grasp, picking up her bag and sprinting away from the other girl.

"Tori! Wait!" Jade called, chasing after her.

Keep running. You can't talk to her. She thinks you're a freak now. RUN, GODDAMMIT! WHY ARE YOU SO USELESS?! SHE'S GOING TO CATCH YOU! The volume increased, the multitude of voices swirling around her head screaming insults at her from seemingly every direction.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" She screamed. Tears poured down Tori's face as she ran, sobs wrenched from her mouth as she ran blindly, away from the judgment she knew would come. She couldn't focus on anything, her mind jumping sporadically between voices and events that had happened during the week. She felt carpet underneath her feet, and that was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.

Oh, good. You're awake. She blinked slowly as she came to, surprised to find herself staring up at the ceiling of her room. She groaned as she sat up, wincing as she saw the bruise on her elbow that must have come from passing out. She looked around, her movement stilling when she saw a familiar figure sitting with her back to the door. Here we go, Tori. Looks like we won't be the only ones talking shit to you anymore. Tori shook her head to dim the cackling.

"No...stop..." She muttered, clutching her head.

"Tori." Jade murmured, moving to sit, cross-legged, in front of the singer. Tori clutched at her head, oblivious to the fact that someone was talking to her. "Tori." Jade tried again, and amber eyes snapped up to meet hers.

"What?" She spat, anger burning in her eyes. Jade blinked and reeled, having never seen the girl angry before. "Go ahead. Judge me. The fuck do I care?" Tori sneered, and this time it was Tori who crossed her arms.

"Do your parents know?" The Goth asked gently, taking care not to touch the other girl.

"Yeah. They do. Notice there's a fucking padlock on my door? Notice how nobody's ever home?" Tori taunted, curling her lip. Jade sighed.

"Look. I know you're probably angry – "

" – probably? Give the girl a fucking Nobel prize, she just realized that I'm angry!" Tori laughed hysterically, tears welling in her eyes. You're a fucking asshole. "Oh, I'm the asshole? I'm the asshole. How many times have you people told me I'm worthless?!" She screamed at the crowd of sneering people standing behind Jade. Jade looked behind her, and back at Tori.

"Tori. There's nobody there."

"Don't you lie to me! You've all been ganging up on me." Tori laughed, swiping angrily at the tears. "How does it feel, now that you're all together in one room?"

"TORI. It's just me in here." Jade yelled, grasping Tori's shoulders to steady her.

"STOP LYING TO ME! HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH?!" Tori screamed, sobbing hysterically, doubled over in pain. Jade pulled the girl into her lap and wrapped her arms tightly around her, so she couldn't hurt herself. "Why does nobody care?" Tori sobbed painfully into Jade's shoulder.

"I don't know, Tor. But I'm here for you now. I'm sorry, Tor. I'm sorry." The Goth repeated over and over again, until Tori fell asleep.

When she woke up again, she didn't recognize the ceiling. She sat up quickly, wincing at the pain in her hand.

"I brought you here." Jade said quietly, curled up in a chair beside her bed. "The psychiatrist put you on some antipsychotics to help you for a little bit. She said you're probably schizophrenic."

"I don't hear them." Tori whispered, feeling her head gingerly. Jade nodded, anxiously gnawing at her thumbnail.

"I didn't know how you would react." Jade whispered. Tears welled up in Tori's eyes. Jade stumbled towards her. "I'm sorry. I just thought it would help – "

" – thank you." Tori breathed, clutching Jade's hands in her own. "Thank you so much." Jade wiped tears off her own cheeks as she smiled.

"I'll be here for you, Tor. Always."