❝𝙸 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜,
𝚆𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚘𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚗.
𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗,
𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝.❞
𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 — 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜

Juliana Gilbert looked out her window of the car. It was a stormy night, something that she usually enjoyed, but considering everything that had happened, the fact that she was coming back from the mental hospital the next town over, she really wasn't in the mood to appreciate the rain. Jeremy was looking bored as hell. Juliana was sure that he was happy to see her after three months of her being in the mental hospital, but now on the drive back, it was boring.

It was funny that when a person is younger and claimed things, it was cute. But when a person gets older and claims the same thing, it's worrying and possibly has something to do with a mental illness. Of course, no one told Juliana to stop claiming she was a witch when she got older and kept claiming that she was one. Maybe that was was why she had no friends besides her brother, but he didn't count.

The rather unpleasant mood had worsened when the road that they were supposed to take to get back home ended up blocked so they had to go through Wickery Bridge to get back home.

Juliana really hated Wickery Bridge because she always felt like bad things happen on that bridge; things that were never talked about and kept well-hidden. Things like a few drunken college guys risking a walk across the bridge and somehow falling to their deaths; maybe there was a few suicides...and perhaps a few murders as well. Sometimes Juliana is surprised by how dark her mind can go.

"I don't like the idea of medicating a teenage girl," their mother was saying.

"And I don't like the idea of her running around claiming that she's a witch," replied their father. "She almost burnt down a barn while having one of her delusional episodes. She needs to be medicated so she doesn't get killed or accidentally killed someone. We just have to...make sure that another repeat of the past doesn't happen."

Juliana frowned at how her dad had phrased it. She also didn't want a reminder of that incident because she still felt guilty for accidentally leaving behind a burning candle, which caught the barn on fire.

"How will people react to finding out that she has delusions?" snarled Miranda. "Small towns don't like freaks."

Juliana felt a pang in her heart at that. Her mom thought that she was a freak?

"Lia's not a freak!" exclaimed Jeremy angrily.

Juliana took Jeremy's hand and gave it a squeeze as thanks. Jeremy shook her hand away from him.

"I'm not calling her a freak," Miranda said calmly. "I'm just saying that some people won't take to kindly of Lia because she has a mental illness."

"Nobody takes mental illness kindly anywhere," Jeremy pointed out.

"We're just worried about your sister, that's all." Grayson replied in what Juliana guessed was supposed to be a soothing voice. "That's why we decided to get her treated for it."

"Yet you're not worried about Lia when you were casually insulting her when she's sitting right here," replied Jeremy sounding like he was growing angry.

"Its fine, Jer," replied Juliana weakly. It really wasn't, but she just didn't want to have an argument, in the night, during a storm.

"No, it isn't," replied Jeremy hotly. "They're talking about you like you're a problem when you're not. They're the problem!"

Grayson started talking loudly, "We're not saying that she's a problem—"

"Pull over," replied Jeremy.

"What?" asked Grayson.

"Pull over," replied Jeremy. "Lia and I will walk back since she's obviously a problem for you both."

Juliana wasn't sure if she wanted to cross the bridge on foot. It was probably easy for her brother, considering that Juliana was 5'5. Then again, what was life without a few risks?

"Yeah, pull over," replied Juliana.

"You two aren't crossing the bridge, especially not in this weather," scolded their mother.

"Then how about you try treating Lia like a normal person," said Jeremy.

"We are treating her like a normal person," said Grayson.

Juliana wished that they weren't arguing in this type of weather, especially when they had to cross the goddamn bridge in a car, during a storm. She hated getting worst-case scenarios. Her mind seemed to decide that it was going to be very unhelpful by flashing to various death-inducing accidents. She grabbed Jeremy's hand as they seemed to rapidly approach the bridge.

"Doesn't seem like it," replied Jeremy, shaking Juliana's hand off again.

Juliana noticed something and screamed, "Watch out!"

The car swerved and went over the railing. Juliana screamed as the car plummeted into the water below.

Juliana felt someone shaking her. She didn't want to move because her head was throbbing very painfully and it felt like her limbs were being held down by weights.

"Lia," a hoarse voice whispered. "Lia." The voice sounded more insistent and terrified. "Lia!"

Juliana groaned and coughed. She managed to say, "Just leave me alone to die."

"Oh, thank god," said the voice sounding very relieved. "You're still your usual grumpy self."

Juliana cracked open her eyes. Despite her vision being blurry she can make out her brother hovering over her.

"Am I in hell?" asked Juliana, her vision finally clearing.

"N-no," replied Jeremy, sounding very shaken.

"Then why is your face the first thing that I'm seeing when I got to heaven?" Juliana asked. She sat up, wincing as her body felt like one giant bruise. She looked around. They were on the river's edge.

"What heaven would allow you through the gates?" joked Jeremy.

Juliana smacked his arm and rubbed at her forehead. Her temple was bleeding and she wiped her nose with her other hand. Her nose was bleeding as well. That's just great, she thought bitterly.

"What's the last thing you remember?" asked Jeremy.

Juliana remembered screaming and seeing the black water rushing at them. She got up and looked over at the rushing river. "Are they okay?"

There were red flashing lights and sirens piercing the air that made Juliana feel sick.

"Lia," said Jeremy once again.

"I need to know if they're alive," replied Juliana. The sick feeling in her stomach that she was trying to ignore worsened. Why did everything have to go to hell? Why did everything have to go to hell especially when she just got out of the mental hospital? She just reunited with her parents and then they...no, she wasn't going to say it. Her parents had to be alive. They just had to be! Maybe they were farther down the river...

"Lia," Jeremy started saying.

Juliana turned to Jeremy. He was soaking wet and Juliana was sure that she was too. "What is it?"

"How did we get out of the car?" asked Jeremy sounding a little distressed.

An ambulance, fire truck, and a police car pulled up.

That...was a very good question, Juliana had to admit.

How did they get out of the car?

It was when a doctor started poking and prodding at certain spots on Juliana that she winced at and when she tried answering questions that she already forgot from a police officer, that she came to a conclusion.

Her magic must have saved her and her brother.

But now she had another question that she had to ask: why did her magic save her and her brother, but not their parents?

A/N: I know that this isn't how delusional disorder works, but I have to make it work, somehow. Small towns sometimes hates people who are different, especially when people have mental illnesses, at least for that time-period where it wasn't taken as seriously as now. Also, some people would see Juliana as a progressing threat to herself/others when she accidentally caught a building on fire and her parents realized that they had to do something to squash those fears.