***

The next day

Maria POV

Dr Afzaal had already informed me about the therapy session due today so I was pretty confident or I should say apparently confident enough to be part of it.

I took another deep breath standing just behind the door to the therapy room where I was expecting Dr Afzaal to be waiting for me inside.

I peeked into the room, slipping into the room slowly until I pointed Dr Afzaal. He was roaming casually to and fro in the middle of the room anxiously, dressed in grey white formal attire and for the first time his coat was lying on the nearby sofa.

"Morning Dr." I killed the silence in the room and he stopped walking she turned towards me.

"Ahan good morning Maria," he replied and started walking towards me confidently.

"You look well today." He wished and walked towards the sofa while I followed him towards the recliner.

"Let's begin shall we?" He asked me and I enthusiastically nodded while putting my purse on the sofa. I unhooked the flowery hair clip off my purse strap and tied my hair, took off my shoes and sat on the recliner calmly.

"Great start." He said and looking at me closely he switched off the lights leaving the room pitch black. I shivered as my phobia of darkness kicked in, under the influence of darkness until he turned on a lamp and I could see a glimpse of light which made me feel better.

He took seat on the sofa beside me with his notebook in his hands as usual

"Close your eyes." He told me so and I did so without any questioning.

***

"Maria, how are you?" Afzaal begin with the session few minutes after she shut her eyes.

"Hmm good. " she softly replied.

"What's up?" He casually asked her closely observed her physical features.

"Everything is fine." She replied.

"I read it somewhere that fear define alot about a person. Do you have any fears?" He asked.

"Ummm yeah a few like rain, loud noises,"She sarcastically chuckled embarrassingly and he giggled apparently.

"And?" He moved on.

"And dark and sharp things." She stuttered for a while and her heart beat amplified a bit. Afzaal could clearly see the changes taking place in her body and remained steady with his questions.

"Why do you fear dark and sharp things?" He begin with a tinge of seriousness in his voice. She remained quiet as if she was thinking on it for few seconds.

"I don't fear darkness, I fear light." She started and his eyebrows rose high in surprise.

"I like darkness because there I am all alone. Light makes me realize that people who hurt me every passing second are still around me." She narrated.

"Hmmm true." He complimented while maintaining a strict gaze on her sweaty hands.

"How is your family? How is Haider?" He asked.

"Haider is fine but has common flu these days." She innocently answered.

"And your mother and father?" He moved forward with the questions.

Her closed eyes squished a bit, her lips twisted and face shivered.

"Mother, father. I have none! They are dead!" She exclaimed and this this Afzaal was not even a little shocked at her because he expected her to talk like this.

"What?" He asked again, pretending to be shocked.

"I guess they died years back right after they divorced." She answered naively.

"And?" He asked again but this time his voice was calmer.

"They left me alone right after I was questioned in the court by the judge." She told him and her body started to tremble from head to toe.

"Judge?" He pretended to be unknown of this fact.

"After the declaration of their separation the judge turned to me. He asked me that whom do I wish to stay with, father or mother?. I looked at my mother and father who stood opposite to me. I expected them not to be looking at me expressionless. Their faces were plain as if they didn't cared about my answer," her shivering was increasing as she said those words and now her hands, feet and face was cold as ice and pale.

"I don't remember anything after that, nothing happened then. Over, everything was over and they died!" She finished and clutched the arm roughly.

"I always wanted a happy family just like in those Disney fairy tales. A happy ending, 'lived happily ever after' one." She stopped and Afzaal, now standing beside her could clearly see heavy tear drops flowing down her eyes. She was now crying profusely.

Afzaal affectionately moved forward and warmly gripped her left hand in order to calm her down and it did worked. Moment by moment her shivering reduced to minimal and her tears dried thus he removed his hand.

"Dr...Dr." suddenly she started shouting in pain.

"Yes Maria?" He turned to her.

She was calling out loudly with her upper lip biting her lower lip, her close eyes squinted and her for forehead started to sweat. She gripped the arm as hard such that if she had the freaking power to rip it off with her manicured nails.

"Dr, my head, it's hurting really bad," she struggled to even utter the full sentence.

Afzaal looked the least surprised maybe because he wanted to observe such an episode as narrated by her during the previous sessions.

"Stay calm I'll get the medicine." He assured her and took a step ahead but stopped right there, behind her recliner, carefully observing her go through that pain.

"Dr ....Dr Afzaal hurry.... Ahh..." She cried as the pain intensified.

"Ahhh....ahhhh." She shouted this time clutching her head in her palms.

"Please help me D....o.ct.....or I'll die..." She started calling out to him once again but after a minute calmed down as if she had felt almost no pain, it seemed like the pain had now vanished.

She now lied smoothly on the recliner, with her eyes still close and breathing became shallow. Her facial muscles had now loosened hence she showed no facial expression. Her grip on the arm of the recliner had loosened thus she remained seated on it.

"Afzaal I need water." She added suddenly and Afzaal nodded.

"Sure." He replied and walked smoothly towards the wooden counter.

He filled a glass of sparkling water from the jug and turned around to walk towards her but was pretty amazed as he observed Maria.

He saw that the room was still dark, the only source of light was that small lamp, still lighted by the couch. Maria was now standing in front on her recliner, she untied her hair and let them fall down her shoulder as she swirled her fingers through her hair mysteriously and nodded, she moved ahead and started to wander around the room while observing each and every nook confidently.

He was startled at first to see this because Maria was actually afraid of dark and she wouldn't even prefer to stand up from her recliner while still in a dark room and now she was roaming around fearlessly as if she had no fear of dark but is really fond of dark places.

"Water." Afzaal forwarded the glass towards her, without showing any prominent reaction to her changed behavior.

She slowly moved forward and was about to grip the glass but didn't do so, intentionally, the glass dropped and shattered with the shrill sound echoing through the isolated room.

Afzaal involuntarily moved a step behind as the glass fell but despite of the fact she was still barefoot, she didn't even moved a bit. This was pretty unnatural act any person would do!

'A multiple personality is in a certain sense is normal'
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