Chapter 37
Katherine
The steel door shut behind me, and the sound echoed through the hallway long after the orderly had walked away.
I belonged here. This is where I had to stay to get the help I needed.
White walls and a narrow bed bolted to the floor.
A desk, and one window heavily secured so the possibility of escape was zero.
Since my conversation with Detective Walker, everything in my mind went silent.
I tried to talk to them, but nobody was there.
Where was The Librarian? Sunny? I knew Dahlia was asleep for good, so I didn’t expect her to answer.
The things she had done. Horrible things.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.
When I was at the cottage, I didn’t have to think about it.
Everything was perfect. The sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline.
The birds singing their songs. The light breeze that kept me cool when the sun grew too hot.
My beautiful garden. My beautiful home. And of course, my handsome husband.
He understood why I had to leave. He always understood everything.
I heard a key go into the lock and the door opened. A nurse walked in and smiled.
“Hi, Katherine. I’m Emily, and I’ll be your nurse this week. I’m just going to take your blood pressure before I give you your meds. Okay?”
I nodded as I sat on the edge of the bed. She wrapped the cuff around my arm and squeezed the ball attached to it. The cuff tightened around me as a low hiss escaped the pressure cuff.
“Perfect.” She smiled, taking the cuff off. Here’s your meds.” She handed me a small paper cup. “And here is some water.”
I popped them into my mouth and took a sip.
“I need to make sure you swallowed them. Open wide.”
I did what she asked as she checked my mouth.
“Good. Dr. Bondi will be in soon. Until then, try to get some rest.”
About an hour later, the door opened, and an attractive woman walked in.
She stood about five feet eight, with her blonde hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail.
She wore a tailored black skirt and a crisp white blouse which disappeared beneath the white lab coat she had on.
Her green eyes studied me before she spoke.
There was no doubt she was the psychiatrist who was sent to evaluate me.
“Hello, Katherine. I’m Dr. Isabella Bondi.” She extended her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you.” I softly placed my hand in hers.
“I’m a psychiatrist who specializes in dissociative identity disorder. I’m here to help you.”
“Okay.” I nervously played with my hands.
“I read over your files. You are quite an interesting person.” She smiled.
“Not really. I’m just someone who wants to live a normal life.”
She reached over and placed her hand on mine. “That’s our goal. I don’t want to overwhelm you right now, and I want you to get settled. I just wanted to introduce myself, and we’ll start our sessions tomorrow.
She left the room. She seemed nice enough. I was tired, so I climbed into bed and pulled the blanket up to my neck.
The Next Day
The door opened, and one of the orderlies told me it was time for my session with Dr. Bondi. He took me to her office and made me wait inside the waiting room where another orderly stood guard at the door.
“Hi, Katherine.” Dr. Bondi smiled as she opened her office door. “Come on in.”
I stepped inside the office with the two large windows.
Bookshelves lined one wall with psychology books and framed family photographs.
The walls were painted white, with a navy-blue couch beneath the window and a knitted cream throw folded neatly across one arm.
Two oversized chairs faced each other with a small glass table holding a box of tissues and a vase of fresh flowers. It looked comfortable.
“Have a seat.” She gestured to the couch. She walked over to her desk, grabbed a notepad and a pen, and sat in one of the chairs directly across from me.
“So.” She smiled. “How are you feeling today?”
“Okay.” I played with my hands.
“Are you comfortable?”
“As comfortable as one can be in this place,” I said.
“Tell me about the alters. I want to know everything about them.”
“Well, there’s The Librarian. She was in charge, I think. Then there’s Sunny. She’s nineteen, fun, and full of life. Then there’s Dahlia. She protected me. She sent me to my happy place, so I wouldn’t have to remember the awful things that happened to me, Brian, and Oliver.”
“But wasn’t she responsible for your injuries and your two husbands’ deaths?”
“She was. I came to find out that my husbands were cheating on me. She was protecting me from that.”
“Would it be okay if I spoke to Dahlia?” she asked.
“You can’t. She’s asleep and can’t wake up.”
“Interesting. How about the others?”
“Dr. Bondi, I don’t know where they are. My mind is silent. Nobody is saying a word. It almost feels as if they’re gone.”
“The alters don’t just disappear. Maybe they’re hiding right now because they’re frightened to talk to me.” She smiled.
Our session lasted a little over an hour. After I left her office, I was escorted back to my room. I did ask Dr. Bondi if it would be okay to get an easel, paints, brushes, and canvases. She agreed that art therapy would help me and help her to understand me better since the alters weren’t talking.
Later that afternoon, the nice orderly named George brought my art supplies into my room.
He smiled, and I smiled back. He looked to be about forty years old.
He stood six feet three inches with short dark hair, brown eyes, and a perfectly manicured five o’clock shadow along his jawline.
He was very muscular. I supposed you had to be to work in a place like this, for some of the patients tended to get very violent.
“Here you go, Katherine.” He smiled.
“Thank you.” I smiled back.
After he left, I started to become tired. The medication they had me on was strong. Dr. Bondi told me that once my body adjusted to the meds, the fatigue would subside. I climbed into bed and stared at the blank canvas on the easel. I’d try to paint something when I woke up.
My eyes slowly opened, and it took me a moment to remember where I was. I glanced at the canvas on the easel, and my eyes widened when I saw what was on it. My cottage. My garden. Birds flying in the air. The warm sand. The ocean. It was beautiful and peaceful.
But I didn’t paint it.