He said he has voices in his head, they have been there for sometime now. That it started roughly 2 years ago. He was with a group of friends at the local park one evening, just a social gathering as kids do, and they all decided to smoke some cannabis. So they did, he did. As he walked home to his Dad’s house that night, probably still under the influence, he thought there were people walking a short distance behind him as he heard them chattering. He turned to look and no one was there. The voices continued to whisper, and after getting home, he realised the voices were in his head. The detail in which he speaks astounded me. He said the voices have names – identities. It’s too much to take in. Too much information all at once.

 As I listen, I can’t believe he has been dealing with this for so long, alone. At 6pm, after an 8 hour wait the psychiatrist comes. Joshua wants me to go in with him. She seems very young, apologises for keeping us waiting, then asks what happened.  He tells her everything while I sit, watch, listen and hold his hand. All the details come out. Two voices, either side of his head. They chat amongst themselves, and also to him. They speak in rhyme, or rap, and it’s fast. When they talk to him it’s all rather derogatory, putting him down, and making him feel worthless, useless. He likened it to a conversation overheard in the next room. The door is closed but he can hear them albeit a bit muffled. The two voices are scared of the third ‘being’.

Number three is the important one, he lives in the middle of his head, between the other two, pretty much on the crown of his head as he pointed out. He is the one that completely takes over. He can control Joshua's body movements, actions. He can see himself drinking and stuffing tablets, but he has no control, as if he is removed from his own body, it sounded like a so called out of body experience. So we are told about Number three, or as Joshua now calls him Mr Questionmark. He says that as he feels himself getting more and more anxious and paranoid when the two voices are getting louder and clearer. They take over his head, and invade his thoughts. As this progresses they are not so much behind a door, it’s as if they are behind a sheet of glass. He knows as they get louder, the pane of glass is getting thinner day by day, hour by hour, until it gets paper thin and about to shatter -  then he knows they are about to release Mr Questionmark. He said it’s like the two voices either side are like zoo keepers. Mr Questionmark is the caged wild animal. The zoo keepers hold the key to open the cage, and when they do, and he is set free, his aim is to hurt and ultimately destroy Joshua, and anyone else in his path who tries to stop him.

 I’m a mixture of being stunned, but also proud that he said this to a complete stranger. The psychiatrist is taking it all in, making notes, and asking many questions. She asks if we have been to our GP. So I tell her that yes we did, some months ago, but was fobbed off with anti depressants. She asks if we have heard of CAMHS. Its the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, and we should have been referred there by the GP.  She starts to put things in place, makes a few calls and assured us we will get help. We should get a call tomorrow. He is shattered and needs to sleep. We went home. This is all very hard to comprehend.