Same But Different (Completed)

Chapter Five

The room was filled with an oppressive silence, the only sound breaking through the stillness being the rhythmic tapping of Yuri's fingers against the keys of her laptop. She had been at it for hours, her mind whirling with the most absurd possibilities about her strange condition. Was she going mad? Was she hallucinating?  Her thoughts spiraled as dramatically as her life was quickly unraveling.

As the minutes passed, Yuri poured over endless articles and medical websites, trying to make sense of what was happening to her body, her mind, her life. Each click on the search bar felt like a desperate attempt to find an answer, to find anything that could explain the chaos that had become her reality.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of dead ends, she clicked on one article that made her stop dead in her tracks.

Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Yuri read the title and felt her pulse quicken. The description hit her like a cold slap. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a severe form of dissociation, often caused by trauma, where a person's identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personalities. The disorder is marked by memory gaps, a sense of detachment from oneself, and the emergence of alters – distinct personalities that may take over a person's body without their awareness or consent.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she processed the words. Was that what was happening to her? Could it really be? It felt so... unreal. The idea of having multiple personalities seemed too outlandish, too insane. But the symptoms matched, especially the memory lapses and the feeling of losing time. Some parts of the article described experiences she hadn't yet gone through—yet.

Yuri took a deep breath, her nerves tingling with anxiety. She glanced toward the camera, which sat quietly on her desk, as if it were waiting for her. She had to face it. She couldn't hide from this anymore. She had to be brave.

Pressing the record button, she spoke, her voice trembling but determined.

"Who are you?" she asked the camera, the words feeling strange on her tongue. "What do you want?" She paused, then laughed bitterly, knowing how absurd the question sounded. But what else was she supposed to do? "Am I being possessed by a demon?" She scoffed at herself, unsure whether she was trying to reassure herself or invite something even worse. "Answer me!"

Then, the words from the article hit her again. The possibility she could be dealing with an alter—a different personality living inside her.

"Are you my alter?" she asked quietly, almost pleading for an answer, though she wasn't sure who she was asking.

Her hands trembled as she turned off the camera. She didn't know what to expect, but deep down, she hoped someone—or something—would answer.

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts, before finally deciding to call it a night.

"I hope she sees this and responds..." Yuri murmured to herself, the exhaustion weighing heavily on her.

Life was crazy. First, Jason had walked away from her, and now she was having blackouts and losing chunks of time, not even knowing what she was doing in those moments. She felt like she was watching someone else's life unfold while being trapped in her own body. Her life had turned into a complete mess. She checked her emails in a daze, and the moment her eyes landed on Jason's name, her heart skipped a beat.

Yuri, the email started.

"I don't know how I felt when you just ignored me yesterday. Despite everything we went through, I still care about you. And I broke things off irrationally. I should have known how much pain I was putting you through. You just stared at my face and ignored me in front of everybody, like I was nobody. And I just want to apologize. I miss you."

Love,
Jason

Yuri let out a low whistle, her heart both swelling and aching. Wow, she thought. Although she couldn't remember ever blowing Jason off, the sincerity in his words moved her. Maybe they could fix things. Maybe they could get back together, even after everything that had happened. But then, the crushing reality of her situation hit her. The blackouts, the strange lapses in time—this could cause problems between them.

It was her—her other self—that had ignored Jason.

"That means she went to school," Yuri murmured, a bitter realization settling in her chest. The pieces were starting to fall into place, but the picture they formed was only making things more complicated. She needed to talk to Belle, her go-to for anything, especially now.

She grabbed her phone and dialed Belle, the nerves tingling in her fingertips.

"Belle. I need to ask you a few questions," Yuri said, her voice sweet but laced with anxiety. "How was I in school yesterday?" she asked, her stomach tightening.

"You were okay. Why?" Belle answered, her voice groggy from being woken up.

"No, I mean how was I towards Jason?" Yuri's voice quivered slightly, the anticipation hanging in the air like a storm cloud.

Belle paused, clearly unsure of what Yuri was getting at. "You ignored him, Yuri," she said, her tone a mix of confusion and surprise. "The entire school was watching."

The shock on Yuri's face was nothing short of flabbergasting—a word that didn't even begin to express the deep, tongue-tied disbelief Yuri was feeling.

"Wait, what?!" Yuri gasped, her mouth agape. "I... I ignored him?!"

Belle sighed, clearly frustrated. "Yes, Yuri, you shocked him. Congratulations, you shocked Jason Haynes. Now, can I go back to sleep?"

Yuri bit back a smile, though her mind was racing. "How did he react?" she asked, barely able to contain her curiosity.

"Do you really need to interrupt my sleep to ask about this? He was shocked, okay? You shocked him. That's what you wanted to know, right?"

"Be a little nicer, Belle. I wouldn't wanna shock you like I did Jason," Yuri shot back.

"I'm hanging up now," Belle muttered, clearly annoyed but too tired to keep up with Yuri's antics.

Yuri stared at the phone as Belle hung up, her mind whirling. She could hardly believe it. Jason had finally cracked under his usual stubbornness. It was about time he realized how much he needed her in his life. And it was about time for Yuri Williams to get Jason Haynes back. It was a matter of life and death.

She gritted her teeth, determination burning in her chest. She'd do whatever it took. She'd eliminate any threat to her and Jason's future, no matter what.

But how could she eliminate something that was living inside her?