The Plague Doctor [RATED R] ✓

(54) Final Diagnosis

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"WINTER HOLLOW, THE TWELVE years old alter who has successfully manipulated the other alters and everyone else into thinking he's this innocent child who can't even hurt a fly," Dr. Van, who I know best as Dr. Romano, says as he directly looks at me.

     "Please, you give me too much credit," I say with a smile, but Dr. Romano doesn't say anything back. It seemed like he wasn't impressed by what I said, so the smile on my face immediately vanished.

     "I saw you a couple of times. You're the intern who always stood behind Dr. Steward back at the asylum. You were quiet, but you were actually observing me all this time. Now it makes perfect sense. When momma said that a doctor sent her a letter and offered to help cure me, I thought it was suspicious. But that doctor was actually you," I say, and Dr. Romano still kept his expression neutral.

     One of the nurses entered the room again, but this time they were holding a chair and a notebook. They placed the chair in front of me and gave the notebook to the psycho doctor. As soon as they leave the dark room, Dr. Romano takes a seat and faces me.

     He opens his notebook, reads through the notes, and looks back at me. "This will be our final session. But unlike the first time, I encourage you to answer them truthfully and straightforwardly. Is this understood, Patient 06?" He then asks, almost making me laugh.

     I decided not to answer him, but I could tell that he already knew that I'd answer him regardless. There is no other reason for me to hide anything now, and he knows that perfectly well.

     "Let's begin," he says, adjusting in his seat before looking directly into my eyes. "When did you first get diagnosed?" He asks me first.

     "1942, exactly ten years ago. When momma found out about my strange condition, she sent us to a mental hospital called Hope Garden Asylum, where I was taken by Dr. Harvey Steward. I stayed there for eight years," I answer without batting an eye.

     Dr. Romano writes the information down and looks back at me right after. "Are you aware of how many alters you have?" He asks next, making me grin as I realize that these are the same questions he asked us during our first session in this manor.

     "There are six of us in total. The first one is Bishop, the 22-year-old gatekeeper alter. He's the one who has the most control over our system, and he keeps the traumatized alters from appearing, AKA Tomorrow," I start explaining, making Dr. Romano write everything down so he doesn't miss anything.

     "And then we have me, Winter, the child alter. But Dr. Steward coined me as the host alter that didn't grow up and stayed 12, while Bishop is the adult version of me that had to grow up," I explain further, which doesn't seem to be much of a surprise to him anymore. I guess he checked a few things about me while he was working back at the asylum.

     "Next, we have Alice, the 36-year-old protector. That speaks for itself. She basically makes sure none of us experience any kind of trauma. Well, she tries to, at least. And then we have the old hag, Autumn, the 72-year-old caretaker alter. She's the one who cares for us and is very motherly to external people too."

     "And then you have Tomorrow and Krimson, is that correct?"

     "You're so eager, but yes, there's Tomorrow and Krimson."

     "What's their role?" He then asks. And based on his eagerness, I could tell that he knew little to nothing about these two alters. Dr. Steward barely studied them either, so it's difficult to understand their purpose in the system. They come out very rarely, so others might not even know if they really exist or not.