Her Fragmented Mind

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Darby heard a man call out that he would be there soon. At this Ethan pulled in a little more behind Darby, as if he was scared of the voice. She heard footsteps coming down a hallway and the jostle of the door as it was unlocked.

When the door opened a man was standing there, hair that seemed like he had fallen asleep on one side, and wearing a T-shirt based on some tabletop game and loose jeans. As he saw Darby, she could see he was about to ask her purpose at his door, however, he stopped as his eyes fell upon Ethan cowering behind her.

"Kristin?" he asked, clearly confused by the behaviour of the young alter.

As he said this Ethan made a small squeak and seemed to try to meld into the wall at the entryway.

"I'm sorry, uh are you Kristin's dad?" Darby asked imposing herself between the man and Ethan. She didn't sense that Ethan was afraid of the man, the quick look back confirmed that he seemed more embarrassed.

"I'm her uncle, Sam Wynter. Can you tell me what's wrong with my niece?" Sam responded, his voice clearly taking on the tone of the concerned guardian.

"I can try but perhaps standing here on the doorstep isn't the best place for that," Darby said trying to be as clear as possible.

"Of course, come in," Sam said as he backed up to give the two space to enter the house.

Ethan kept Darby between himself and the uncle of the body as he entered. Darby looked around and saw that to the side of the entry hall there was a lounge room, and guided Ethan over to the couch. She picked up the remote and turned the television on, flipping through the channels until she found some children's shows. Leaving him there as he seemed entranced by the television, Darby walked back to Sam, who had watched on with disbelief of what he was seeing.

"He should be entertained for a while and I can explain what is going on. At least what I think is happening," Darby said.

As stunned as he was Sam could only form a single response. "She uses She her pronouns."

Darby attempted to stifle a small giggle as it seemed Sam had gone back to a familiar response, clearly one he had used many times.

"I will explain it as best I can," she said, "is there somewhere we can go talk?"

Sam indicated further into the house as they entered the kitchen-dining area. He seemed to recover some of his wits as he offered Darby a seat.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask your name," he asked.

"It's Darby, Darby Hanson. I met your niece last week at a park nearby. Well, I'm not sure it was the person you know as your niece that I first met."

"I'm sorry I don't understand," Sam said, shaking his head.

"I believe that your niece has a mental health condition that causes her to have different identities living in her head," she began, "these identities can take control of the body and act as any real person. The one who is sitting over there watching children's television is named Ethan. He is a six-year-old boy who called me because he was hiding in a park scared."

She looked over at the young boy, sitting there in an older girl's body. "I don't know what scared him but something must have been very wrong."

Sam sat listening to Darby's explanation nodding along with each thing she said. Darby could see confusion, worry, and perhaps a small amount of understanding written across his face.

Sam sighed, stood, and without looking at Darby said to her quietly, "thank you for all you have done."

Sam slowly made his way over to the couch and crouched down a small distance away from Ethan, who looked over to Darby for reassurance. She gave him a small nod to say it was alright.