Split

Confidence

I had to force Kevin out of the house the next day, he was extremely reluctant to leave the safety of his home and was complaining about it, but I insisted that he should be getting some fresh air.
I reminded him that we needed to go shopping anyway so it didn't need to be anything stressful, but he still wasn't happy about it.
Once I managed to persuade him, we walked slowly to the shop, not really talking as he dragged his feet.

He acted very wary of people, going out of his way to avoid them and not looking up at them as we walked through town.
We entered the shop and began to walk around, adding things to our trolley and chatting a little about what we were going to eat that night. He was starting to open up a little more and we were having a nice time... that is until we got to the counter.
He went to pay and his card was declined, the woman behind the counter staring with a bored expression. Kevin looked down nervously at the card, trying again, and looked to the woman.
"It's not going through," she sighed and Kevin stumbled over his words.

"Oh, why would that be? Oh... um..." He looked like he was struggling with the pressure so I stepped in.

"It's okay, I'll get it," I offered my card and the woman put it in the card machine. Kevin stayed quiet while I bagged up the shopping.

He was distant as we left the shop and wrung his hands as he walked. There was only one bag so I carried it for him so that he had one less thing to freak out about.

As we got through the door, Kevin shuffled off to his room and I put the food away.
I had no idea how he'd ever lived on his own before, even such small tasks seemed to weigh him down. I felt sorry for him really, it was like he'd never experienced anything on his own before, and when I thought about how difficult it must be for him, I didn't feel so angry. He was always nervous and fretted about everything, but he had never had to cope on his own before. I put the kettle on and made him a coffee, hoping to be able to sit down and talk to him. I wanted to make sure he was okay and if I was going to be here a while then I needed to learn how to approach him. I stirred the contents of the mug and turned to get the milk, jumping a fraction when I noticed Kevin standing in the doorway. I would have continued to the fridge but something didn't seem right... I blinked, trying to put my finger on it, when I realised that he was making eye contact with me. It threw me off because over the time I'd spent with him, he never looked me in the eye unless I was directly speaking to him. I frowned, "is everything okay?"

He smiled a little and I felt my breath leave my lungs, how had I not noticed? "hi, sweetie."
My hand involuntarily covered my mouth, taken completely by surprise and tears formed in my eyes. I couldn't even move, just stood there staring at him in disbelief.
"Okay," He stepped a little closer, "It's okay."
I could feel the tears trickling down my face and onto my hand which sill remained clamped over my trembling lips. He walked over until he was right next to me and put his hands on my shoulders, "you're okay, you're okay," he pulled me into a hug and I released my mouth, my breathing becoming heavy in an attempt to stop myself from crying, and held onto him so hard I was sure he would break.
"It's okay, honey."
I couldn't believe he was really here... if I hadn't just spent the day dragging Kevin around I'd have thought I was dreaming. My arms didn't want to release his waist, and under different circumstances I'd have been worried that I was being clingy, but I didn't want to give him the chance to leave again. Not again.

"Where have you been, Barry?" I asked, looking up at him. He took my arms and I let him go, quickly ridding my cheeks of the dampness.

"I don't know, I don't know where the rest of them are either..."

"You mean they aren't back?"

"No one's in their chairs... I don't know what happened to them, or why I'm the only one that's here..."

"Is Kevin okay?" I tried not to let the disappointment drown my words.

"He's fine, he's resting."

"He hasn't been coping well..." I remembered that I was angry with Barry and hit I'm on the shoulder.

"Hey! What was that for, you psychopath?!"

"Kill yourself? That was you're bright idea? Fucking killing yourself?!"

"Technically it was Patricia-"

"Barry!" I snapped and he rubbed his arm.

"it worked didn't it? The beast isn't here anymore-"

"Well nor are the others! You could have killed Kevin, too!"

"It's not ideal, but it was the only thing I could think of... I'm sorry, I should have involved you, but I knew that you'd try and stop us. I'm sorry."

"It's okay... I... I'm just glad you're okay... but how do we get the others back?"

"I don't know... I don't even know why I'm back..."
A thought sparked and Barry cocked his head, "what are you thinking?"

"Kevin's card was declined today... he was really embarrassed and didn't talk the whole way home... You're the leader, right? You're the confident alter and the one that takes authority... what if you returned because he needed you in that situation? What if that's how we get the others back?"

"So... we have to put Kevin through what he went through before so the other personalities form again?"

"It's a possibility... isn't it?"

"I mean... yeah, it's definitely possible..." He scratched his head, "this could be interesting..."

"How so?"

"Kevin has spent almost a week on his own, I don't think he's going to want to cooperate just yet..."

"I can't wait that long to see Dennis... i miss Hedwig, I miss Jade, I even miss Orwell talking about... his damn views on world war one! I just want things back to the way they were."

"You think I don't miss them?" He hung his head briefly and then met my eyes again, "I can talk to him but I'm not making any promises..."

Sorry guys, this seemed a little rushed but I didn't want to drag it out with Kevin seeing as you've already got the idea of the character. He will be back, I'm sure, but didn't seem like much point keeping them at the same point for a long time... also I'm rapidly running out of pictures so I'll probably be leaving the chapters without images from now on... which is a shame becasue, ya know, James McAvoy...
But anyway, hope you enjoy!