Chapter 18

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[Joey's POV]

The road to the bridge seems awfully quiet. I didn't expect a lot of traffic, but the quietness and desertedness make the road look eerie. On top of that, I'm driving in an area of L.A that is rarely visited, which makes it the perfect getaway. I pull over, the hood parallel with the bridge's railing, and focus on the dying-out of the engine. The headlights illuminate the slightly-curved bridge and the part of the road leading to it, but on both sides next to the bridge, there's just darkness. I turn off the headlights and get out of the car, sluggishly walking past the car and on the bridge. My eyes gaze into the dark distance, and I realize I have no idea how far or how close everything is. Pure darkness. Exactly what I need it to be.

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[Shane's POV]

I literally cannot stand it anymore. If I don't see him this very second, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. The shortage of answers to my prayers drives me mad. I have to see him now. I need to see him now. He's everything I've left. When I see Fay, I see him. When I see friends, I'm reminded of how he saw them as friends. Our lives have fused and him not being around me would feel as if I'm split in half. After having paced down the living room over a hundred times and having walked up and down the stairs the whole evening, I decide to look for him. Where? No idea. How? No idea as well. But he has to be somewhere. And that's the only clue I have as I take off. 

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[Joey's POV]

Wait. I need something to leave behind. Fay, my husband, my friends. I need to thank them. I owe them something at least.

"Stop it."

A voice calls out behind me. Since I turned my headlights off, it takes some time for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I stumble backwards as I see who it is. 

"That was close. Good luck you bumped against the railing, or you would've fallen off."

I feel the cold metal of the fence behind me piercing through my back. A guy, somewhat similar to the guy who called me a "fucktard" earlier in the car. I could have sworn I was hallucinating, but now again? As he steps closer, I'm able to distinguish the similarities and differences. He has the exact same face of mine. So far, the only difference I manage to see is the hair. My blond quiff has switched places with brown, rather unstyled hair, swooped to the left side. As the moonlight is directly shining into his eyes, I see that his eyes are greyish blue, and not green.

"Don't recognize me?"

I shake my head.

"I'm Shane."

No. This can't be true.

"No, it's not true. Yes, I can read your mind, though. Why, you ask. Because we're your mind."

We? What the hell?

"Yes, we. I've heard you had a brief encounter with Jekyll? I told him not to, but yeah..."

"Wh-... wh-what?" I stutter. 

"You see, Joey. Here's the deal. You're a lunatic. I guess you've figured that out yourself, right? That was a rhetorical question, stupid, I can still read your mind, remember? Now, you have this kind of disorder, which you should've realized. It's called DID, which stands for Dissociative Identity Disorder. This has got to sound awfully reminiscent, doesn't it? Basically, you have people hiding inside you. Some are good, some are bad. I'll take the credit: I am a good one. I am your imagination of Shane. Whenever he's not around, I'm here to comfort you and love you, in an asexual and less creepy way, though. Then you have a bad kind of person hiding inside you: Jekyll. He is everything you're not. I believe he says and does everything you think about saying or doing, but never actually say or do. Like how you wanted to slam the can of tuna against the old lady's head in aisle 3 in the grocery store last week, because she was moving too slow. You think about it, but Jekyll would do it."

I'm baffled. I don't know whether to believe him or not. When it comes to the point, this is just my mind telling me things.

"I'm not just your mind. I'm your protector, carer. Guardian angel, if you will. Now, my time's almost up, so I'll end it short. Don't jump. Seek help. Goodbye!"

During the time I blinked, he's gone.

I'm still flabbergasted as I see the headlights of Real-Shane's car coming up to me.

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