8th August 2018

Lip Gallagher is not a stranger to bipolar disorder. Hurricane Monica has been going on since he was six, and it was only when he started reading up on it in middle school that he actually understood what was ‘wrong’ with her.

He could easily spot the signs in Fiona by the time he was fourteen, and when Ian had his first manic episode, he felt utterly sick. It hurt seeing his baby brother so broken.

You were easily the best thing to happen to Lip. The first ever relationship he took slow. You went on walks together, you brought him food at the bike shop, you helped him clean up at home. It wasn’t the usual sex and drug induced fling. It was actual love; you were here to stay.

So when he spotted the signs again, in you, that sick feeling returned. The obsessive compulsions, the excessive energy, the insomnia, the delusions, the deteriorating hygiene… you were manic.

And what comes after the high? The inevitable crash.

Sunday is walk day, it always has been, since the start of your relationship. You’d get Liam in his stroller and walk into town, just talking and wandering round Costco with a pocket full of coupons. But today, you’re not budging, buried beneath the duvet and facing away from the door. This has to be the sixth time he’s checked on you today, sitting down on the edge of the bed gingerly, hand going straight for your greasy locks. So tender. So scared. He needs to get you help.

“Hey, beautiful… Y’not gettin’ up today?…”