That night in Hope’s cottage, I sit on the edge of the living room sofa she’s made into a bed. I hear the wind rattle windows and shake the front door and, after a while, decide this is a friendly sound, not something I should fear.
In the morning, I wake to unfamiliar surroundings, to a bed in a white room with a white door. My possessions are scattered across the top of a beat-up chest of drawers, and nothing from the previous day remains other than the echo in my mind of a little dog running in circles, barking at the chimes of a grandfather clock.
* * * *
Dr. Macias’ Log
I was surprised when the patient reappeared at the hospital after a seven-month absence. Nurse Jenkins discovered her in the solarium, sitting quietly by the palm tree, her hand moving back and forth over her empty lap. When Jenkins questioned her, the patient said she was petting her dog, Grover.
Physical examination has proved unremarkable. Patient’s hair is longer and dyed blond. She parts it in the middle and pulls it back in a bun. She no longer answers to Diane and wishes to be called Hope. She doesn’t initiate conversation and is mostly unresponsive during our sessions. She has the pallor of someone who has spent her time indoors, yet on one of her better days, she spoke of living on a windy, sun-drenched mesa in Central California.
Given the patient’s initial diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder, exacerbated by physical assault, it would appear a fourth personality, Hope, has emerged. We had previously documented three separate identities: the emotionally scared, nameless woman we admitted last year, then Selma, followed by Diane. I believe we can still make significant progress and integrate the separate personas into a stable, central consciousness, but for now, only time will tell.
THE END
* * * *
ABOUT PAUL ALAN FAHEY
Paul Alan Fahey created and edited Mindprints, an international literary journal for writers and artists with disabilities, at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. He retired in 2008. During his tenure, Mindprints made Writers Digest’s “Top 30 Short Story Markets” list for two consecutive years.
His writing has appeared in Byline, Palo Alto Review, Long Story Short, African American Review, The MacGuffin, Thema, Gertrude, Kaleidoscope, and in several other literary journals and anthologies like A Cup of Comfort, Somewhere in Crime, My Mom is My Hero, and Writing on Walls. His monthly online column at Coffeehouse For Writers focused on writing advice. Paul is a six-time winner of the Lillian Dean Writing Award for short stories and nonfiction at the California Central Coast Writer’s Conference.
ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC
JMS Books LLC is a small electronic press specializing in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender fiction (including erotica, romance, and young adult), as well as popular and literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. While our preference is for GLBT stories, we accept stories containing any and all sexualities, as well as general fiction without a romantic subplot. Visit our site at jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!
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