“Constant, severe headaches, especially when the two mentioned situations take place.”
“You find yourself in a place but don’t remember how you got there.”
“You find yourself wearing unfamiliar clothes but have no idea how you ended up wearing them.”
“Sometimes it feels like the people around you, the objects, or the world isn’t real.”
“Or you feel like you’re standing next to yourself and watching ‘yourself’ do something, or watching yourself as if you’re someone else.”
“When you look into the mirror you feel as though the person in the mirror isn’t yourself or you don’t seem to recognize yourself.”
“You feel like you’re in a familiar place, but you realize you’re actually not familiar with it.”
“You focus on a fantasy or daydream so much that you feel as if it’s really happening to you.”
“Talking aloud to yourself when you’re alone.”
…
“You find that you can’t remember if you did something.”
“You find that sometimes it’s as if you’re observing the world through a layer of fog. People and objects are far away from you, and you can’t see them clearly…”
…
Alice rattled off one example after another. Every one of those made Gong Jie shudder. The world of someone with multiple personalities is indeed a scary one.
Gong Jie’s expression grew grave. “Is it difficult to treat?”
“Difficult, but not impossible.” Alice spoke again after a pause. “A dozen years ago, there was a patient with multiple personality disorder in Lima. This patient had 10 personalities, three of which were very violent and rebellious. So the hospital came up with a very brutal electric shock therapy program for this disobedient patient.”
“Electric shock?!”
Gong Jie paled at that. “Isn’t that…”
“It’s painful.” Alice turned to look at him directly. “Billy had gone through such painful treatment in Lima as well. After the electric shocks, Billy was put in the most heavily guarded Ward 9. Most of the personalities gave up hope of living and focused on going into the ‘land of the dead.’”
“The land of the dead?”
“Uh huh. Once in the land of the dead, these personalities would be brutally destroyed, meaning they would sleep forever, but that does not guarantee they would not awaken again. However, one of the 24 personalities, the Teacher, appeared to take over the body. He was the sum of 23 personalities and possessed the memories and abilities of all of them. Unwilling to bow his head to Lima, he refused to admit defeat by death. He resisted and wanted to announce Lima’s tyranny to the world, destroying this hell once and for all. After that, using his brilliant acting and communication skills, the personality convinced Lima that he had become ‘obedient enough’ to be transferred from the strictest Ward 9 to the least secured Ward 6. One of the personalities wanted to kill the doctor in-charge, but was restrained by the Teacher. The Teacher was the most astute of all the personalities. He then set out to collect evidence against the crimes of the hospital. Without pen and paper, he pulled cotton out of the quilt, wet it, and adhered it to the underside of the bed. He used this to keep written notes. He stole a fellow patient’s tape recorder, and reaching through a vent in the toilet, he recorded the discussions of the medical teams and managed to capture evidence that they were overdosing the patients. With this, he threatened Lima into giving him pen and paper, and visitation rights.”
“This personality is really smart.”
“Uh huh.”
Alice continued, “Actually, at the moment I’m more worried about the boy becoming more difficult to manage should he create more personalities.”
