Paranoia:
Persecutory.
Jacob Polo´s story
By Alexandra Riera
© 2007 Alexandra Riera

"I knew it!" Jacob Polo said to himself as he looked out of the window. The grocer had just waved at him from the front door of his shop from across the street. He’s spying on me Jacob thought to himself as he waved back. He didn’t really want to show the grocer that he knew that he was spying on him. Let him think I don’t know he’s spying on me, yes… He’ll see. He’s forever checking on me, the bastard. Always saying things about me behind my back; ha! He thinks I don’t know he does it, but I do, don’t I? He should be taught. How can he deal with the public if he’s forever gossiping about his clients? His goods are no good anyway, the apples I bought from him are just rotting in the fridge; it’s his fault I can’t eat them. A knock on the door brought him back down to earth and he went to open the door. It was Suszie, the cleaning girl.

"Hello Suzie, come in, come in."

"Good morning Mr Polo; how are you? Did you have a nice weekend?" she asked him with a smile as she walked in.

"Did you get the new broom?"

"Yes Mr Polo, I did; here it is, look. I bought it from the grocer’s..." She took it out of the bag and showed it to him.

Jacob’s face went red; he grabbed the broom and threw it on the floor. "Not from the grocer’s shop! Out of all the places there are to buy a broom from, why on earth did you have to buy it from the grocer?" he screamed at her.

"I bought it there so I wouldn’t have to carry it all the way in the bus; besides, he’s got good prices."

"I don’t care about his prices, he’s a no gooder, that’s what he is, he’s just conned you, he probably wanted to look up your skirt or touch you…You will not use that broom to clean my house!" He picked up the broom and hit the wall with it until the broom was left in pieces.

Suzie couldn’t figure out how the grocer could look up her skirt as she was wearing trousers or why he should try to touch her when he was behind the counter. She just shrugged it off and decided to ignore Mr Polo. She was sure he would get over it in a while. All she had to do was go about her business and not talk to him anymore. He’ll ignore her, and the sooner she finished the sooner she would leave. She went to the kitchen to clean up the dishes.

Jacob was back at the window but his mind was in the kitchen. I’m sure she’s teamed up with the grocer, she’s probably checking on what I’ve done over the weekend;, finding out if I’ve had a girl over or not, she’ll count the dishes and the cutlery in the sink. Perhaps I should have washed them before she came in. How dare she bring that broom into my house. She’s done it on purpose to annoy me. After all I pay her! How ungrateful of her! "Hey! Where are you going now?" he asked her as he saw her coming out of the kitchen.

"I’m just going to your bedroom to get all your dirty clothes so that I can wash them Mr Polo.

There she is again, he thought, now she is going to check on his underwear and see if she had soiled himself; oh, no! She’ll be checking on his bed sheets too; he had to avoid that; she will tell the grocer!" Jacob ran past her and dived onto his bed.

"Aren’t you feeling well today Mr Polo?" she asked him surprised to see him getting in bed.

"Mind your own business Suzie, go away!" he said as he pulled the sheets over himself.

Suzie ignored him once again; she quickly picked up the dirty clothes and just as she was about to get out of the room, Jacob was right behind her.

"What are you doing with those clothes?, Hein?" He asked her as he snatched the clothes from her hands.

"I was just going to put them in the washing machine Mr Polo"

"You’re a spying bitch! You were going to look into the pockets, weren’t you?"

"I usually check pockets before I put clothes in the washing machine, you might have left some money inside, or a note."

"So…. You admit you were going to steal from me then?" he said menacingly. "Thief!" He shouted. "You’re no better than the grocer! Leave my clothes alone! Get out of my room!" he shouted at her as he pushed her out of the room and closed the door.

I don’t know what’s gone into her, she usually cleans up and leaves, but today, she wants to check on everything. Maybe the grocer is paying her to spy on me. Jacob left the room and went back to the window where he could see the grocer’s shop. Just as I thought; he’s outside the shop; he’s probably waiting for a signal of some kind from that stupid girl. I’d better check on her and see what she’s doing.

Jacob found her with a spray bottle and a cloth in her hands.

"What are you doing with that?"

"I was just going to clean the bathroom mirror Mr Polo; were you going to use the bathroom now? I can do it after I’ve hovered if you like." She told him patiently.

"Yes, yes.. I was just going to use the bathroom, so please go and clean some place else." He told her as he went into the bathroom and locked himself in. Oh, what have I done? Now she’ll go to the window and tell the grocer! He got out of the bathroom and went into the dinning room. Just as I thought! She’s signalling the grocer! I’ve got to stop that! Jacob ran up to her and grabbed her hands as she was cleaning the window. He pulled her arms behind her back. She can’t signal the grocer now; no more spying on him.

Zusie fell down backwards on top of Jacob and they struggled. "No! you will not signal the grocer! No way! You’re just as bad" Jacob said screaming into her ear whilst he held onto her wrists. I’ll just tie her up and leave her in the cleaning closet; she’s a cleaning girl so that place will be ok for her. I’ll leave her there until she confesses.

Suzie was trying to wriggle out of Jacob’s grasp; she froze when she suddenly felt how the cloth she had used to clean the window was put into her mouth. She couldn’t scream anymore.

"Be quiet woman!" he screamed at her as he pushed the cloth further down into her mouth. "You’re doing it on purpose to annoy me, you spy, filthy spy; you and the grocer, you’re together in this, aren’t you?

So engrossed was Jacob pinning Suzie down on the floor that he didn’t hear the sirens outside his house nor heard how two stocky policemen pushed the door of his house down.

"That’s it Mister, leave that lady now" one of the policemen told Jacob whilst he pulled his shoulders to get him off Suzie.

Jacob struggled but in the end he was handcuffed and taken to the police station. A doctor had to be called in as Jacob suddenly went into a fit and couldn’t breathe properly.

"Oh, it’s him again," said the doctor.

"Do you know him? Asked the policeman.

"Yes, he’s a patient of mine, he’s got persecutory paranoia; he’s supposed to be on medication but he obviously hasn’t taken any in a while."

"Bloody hell! If it hadn’t been for that grocer, Mr Conrad; that girl would be dead."

"The grocer is his father."

The end
(1327 Words)
© 2007 Alexandra Riera

April´s super extra

I stumbled into this medical condition and I’ve decided to do a story for each type of paranoia.


1. Persecutory paranoia - This is the most prevalent type of paranoia, and in this patient makes himself believe that all those around him are his enemies, bent on harming him or even taking his life. In this delusion people of an aggressive temperament often turns dangerous killers.