FrAcTuReD (Part One) (Completed continued in Part Two)

Chapter. 15

"More or less," she admitted and didn't even look away when she said it. "But I don't have multiple ones; it's just the other personality. That's all."

That's all she had to say about it, and so straight faced too. "Seriously?"

Charla looked at her blankly. "Yes,"

"Then why not say something about it right when we came into your room?" Alex asked. "Why ask me how my family was and all those other random things rather than getting right to the point of the matter?"

"Because doing it this way makes things easier, at least to some degree. Besides it's not like starting off with "I have a split personality floating around in my head" is an easy topic to start right off of. You aren't the first to come and talk to me about all of this; I doubt you'll be the last one ether."

Alex frowned, so there was another who knew about this? "Who was the first?"

"My father... apparently I had come home late one night, and my other personality talked to him, told him some things, how long it had been around, what it was doing and such. But never spoke in full details. Even I'm not sure why."

"You can't just talk to this other personality?"

Charla gave a disgusted look. "You're joking right? This isn't some TV show; I don't have mystical powers that can allow me to speak to this other side in a goddamn mirror."

Made sense, it would be a little odd if Charla could do such a thing.

"So what about switching? Could I talk to that other side of yours then?"

Again she slowly shook her head. "I can't do that. It's not like I'm able to switch from myself to that other personality on a whim."

"Are you sure about that? I mean have you ever even tried? When I did research I found that those who had multiple personalities could switch between moments."

"That may be true but that is not me. Those people are different from me, what I experience and what they experience is very, very different." She looked to her own hand. "There had been times where I could feel that other personality wanting to come out, but I would always fight back, I had no clue what it would do. And I had no intention of giving in."

"So you can switch, you just choose not to, well the answer here is pretty simple then isn't it? Besides, I spoke to this other side before I don't see why I couldn't again. Why not just let it out this once."

"Simple?" Charla repeated before getting up and stood slowly stood over Alex. "You really think that?"

"Well... yeah, I mean why not you know?" But then Alex noticed how Charla seemed so angry by that, how she gritting her teeth in anger before grabbing her.

"You think it's simple!?" Charla demanded as she grabbed Alex by the collar of her shirt as the two of them fell to the floor. Alex was unable to respond as Charla straddle Alex's wait and looked down at her with rage filled eyes and began to shake her. "You think any of this is really that simple? I just told you I can't just magically switch to this other personality that's stuck in my head! I didn't even know that I had it until a year after the incidents started! And even then I couldn't understand what the hell was going on!" Charla's body began to shake as she looked at Alex right in the eye. "How the hell is any of that simple to you!?"

Alex just stared up at Charla who was now breathing hard and looking down at her with a glare of anger. "I... I... no, you're right." she said when Charla slowly let go of Alex's shirt. "None of that would be simple; in fact it's probably insanely complicated."

"That's right," Charla's voice came softly, almost as if it wasn't there at all. "You hear stories of people with split personalities, seen in movies and TV shows and the like. A lot of it makes it all seem so simple when it's really not. Then people keep asking questions, like it's their own show, much with my accident. But no one knew about this other side, this other personality that was there, if they had it would have been a shit-storm." She then got off of Alex completely and almost collapsed to the floor next to her, leaning on the leather loveseat with her eyes closed. "I didn't know, or at least I acted like it, pretended I didn't notice the faint differences, or things that seemed out of place. I didn't want to know, probably because I had been dealing with so much then that I felt like I'd lose my mind. But I guess in a sense I did, a lot of people would probably call me insane, or delusional for how this other me is acting."

"But, what made you become aware of it, or should I say acknowledge it?"

"The money..."

Alex frowned. "Money?"

Charla tilted her head to her bed where the red notebook was hidden but looked back to Alex. "I started finding certain amounts of money, drug money, things like that hidden within my room. But it'd be gone within a day or two."

"Where would it go?"

She moved and rested her chin on her knees as her arms wrapped around her legs. "I don't know, at least not then, like I said I didn't want to know, I wanted to act like nothing was wrong. Even though I know that wasn't the case..."

Alex remained quiet, as the two sat on the floor with their backs pressed along the leather warn loveseat. Though Charla gave nothing she held a feeling of what Alex could only think as loneliness, she had been subsequently alone, dealing with these feelings and emotions all on her own. All the while keeping at bay from people in thinking they wouldn't understand.

Alex couldn't, she didn't know what it was like, but at the same time she knew Charla could be a caring individual while remaining silent. Alex then tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling. "Is that mug of coffee still open?" Charla looked at Alex and merely nodded. She then got up and then offered Charla a hand to her. "Come on then."

Charla's gaze then went to Alex's hand then her face for a long moment before taking it. "I surprised..."

She pulled Charla up to stand. "What that I like coffee? Well since our family owns a restaurant it shouldn't be all that surprising to you."

"No, that's not what I..." Charla stopped midsentence and shook her head. "No never mind, what do you take with your coffee? Anything, or do you leave it black?"

"I take it with five sugars and five creams with a bit of milk." Charla made a rather concerned expression. "What?"

"Don't you think that's a bit much?" Charla asked. "Isn't that a bit too sweet?"

"Nah, not really, plus I don't really drink bitter things."

I understand if it's too bitter but that just seems a bit over the top at being too sweet... Charla thought but didn't say anything else, but then looked to Alex who still grasped Charla's hand in her's, then asked. "Isn't there anything else you want to ask me, about all of this so far?"

"No, those were all my questions." Charla looked at her with surprise. "At least for now, sure there are some other things I want to know but I think spacing them out makes some sense and so not to make you overly stressed. I'm sure all of this was causing you to feel uneasy. Not that I was making it any better for you. Besides," she smiled at Charla warmly. "You're a good person Charla; you really are regardless of what you've been put through."

Charla suddenly fell silent as her gaze fell back to their hands right before Alex let go and headed into the hall. She hadn't expected that, not in the slightest, but it made Charla wonder just how Alex would feel if she were to know more about it.

"You're a good person Charla; you really are regardless of what you've been put through."

Even though Alex had just said that Charla began to wonder if any of that was true anymore with all that had happened. But as of now, there were no deaths; nothing of the sort, other than the fights and taking of illegal funds nothing else seemed to happen. Perhaps it was the town itself that caused the incidents to change, but as of now all she could do was wait. Wait and see what would happen, if anything at all would occur.

She hoped it wouldn't, but with the events in her life Charla had grown used to disappointment.