"I am sorry Afzaal." She applogised while maintaining a mysterious gaze on him.

"It's okay, I'll get another glass of water for you." He excused confusingly because, no doubt he was an experienced doctor but Maria's case was actually getting on his nerves. Maria's eyes staring at him and her altered gesture was ringing bells in his mind already.

He unconsiously walked again towards the water jug, filled up another glass with water. While he was filling water he felt as if Maria just walked towards him and right now was standing right behind him.

He didn't turned around and pretended to be unknown of Maria's presence near him, waiting for her to make the next move.

Around thirty seconds passed she didn't made a any move so Afzaal decide to turn around.

Suddenly he noticed a pair of arms emerging around his sweaty neck and slowly griped his neck, tightening the grip moment by moment in order to strangle him right in between the throat.

For the first few milliseconds Afzaal remain steady until he could bare the pain so that he could see her move. Suddenly he felt the grip tightening further, strong enough to kill him any moment. He immediately held her palms with his hands roughly and pulled her into a struggle to losen her grip around his throat but with no doubt she was not a piece of cake to struggle with.

It took him almost a minute to overcome her grip otherwise his soul would have been departed by now. He held her wrist strongly to restrain her from any further tactics and turned around While still holding her hands.

He could see blood boiling in her dark eyes, with no signs of humanity in them, at the moment her gaze had the power to kill any one. She gritted her teeth aggresively, tightening her muscles throughout.

He looked into her red eyes just to read through them, she passed out, while he held her protectively in his arms.

***

After few minutes

Maria was lying on the same recliner, she sat on during the therapy. It seemed as if she was in deep and peaceful sleep with her facial muscles relaxed, dry lips and shallow breathing. Her arms fell softly on the arms while her legs rested on the foot rest.

Afzaal entered that moderately lighted room with a slow pace, moved towards her. He observed her features for a moment and then walked towards the a table with files in his hands. Though it looked like he was just looking at her but in real a lot more was going through his mind.

He noticed her unzipped handbag lying beside the recliner. He saw a yellow diary in her bag, and without caring about her privacy, he pulled out the diary.

He took it and started reading it while keeping an eye on Maria aswell. The first half of the diary comprised of her a journal of her daily routine. He roughly changed pages until something weird striked her gaze.

On every page of the diary, she had wrote

'Dear Ria' instead of 'Dear Diary' and then had cut the word Ria out with a different pen and handwriting and replaced it with ' diary'.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and took photos of every page of her diary. He then turned over to the second half of the diary, where she had wrote about the nightmares she had with specific dates.

He wondered why Maria lied about not dreaming of anything recently. She had almost four nightmares after Afzaal told her to mantain the diary of her dreams. This was very weird!

He started reading a page dated last week

'I was walking my way through the huge, beautiful villa which was more like a castle. I swinged, twirled and danced with essence of peace and well being all through the place when I heard a soothing voice.

"Maria."

I turned around looking out for it, but I couldn't figure out and kept on wandering in the huge empty room lightened with huge streaks of white light.

"Maria." I heard it again and my gaze caught my dull reflection in the window pane. I was totally engrossed in looking at it when I heard a crashing sound which increased bit by bit

I turned my head towards the roof and saw the huge wooden roof falling on my head. I felt as if my body was not able to move and the roof fell over me crushing my body and soul with that voice echoing around me.

"Maria." the echo.'

Suddenly he heard a moaning sound and abrubtly turned around, carefully putting the diary back in her bag. It was Maria, she woke up massaging her forehead lightly.

"Dr Afzaal." She called out and he being her doctor, rushed towards her.

"How are you Maria?" He asked her and she looked at him plainly.

"Did anything happen?" She asked still seated on the recliner.

"No,not at all, nothing happened," he answered calmly and moved a step forward, kneeling down to her.

"Just the usual therapy session and then you went to sleep." He finished.

"Hmm maybe that's why my head is hurting." She replied while stretching her hands.

"Could be the reason." He added casually as she moved to stand up.

"Ouch." She shrieked as she was about to step on a piece of glass lying just beside her recliner.

"Oh watch out." He moved forward offered her a hand.

She took his hand and walked over it. "Thanks Dr." She replied out of relief.

"I wonder where did it came from?" She asked him while she handled her bag and stuff.

"Oh It was me, I dropped it." He told her laughing embarrassingly.

"Ahan I get it." She laughed back.

"Is the therapy over now? I am tired." She asked him.

"Sure. You can go now. See you in three days." He comforted her with a slight smile.

"Okay Dr. See you in few days. " she greeted him and left the room leaving Afzaal in mumbled jumbled mess.

***

Afzaal being one of the best psychiatrist of the city, was pretty rich in terms of experience and knowledge in his field. During his medical career he had come across a number of diverse cases of mental disorders but with no doubt Maria's case was a unique one. Day by day her case had gotten on his nerves.

Everyday her case would point towards different mental condition. This made it almost impossible for him to point finger on the root cause and get to mental condition.

Especially what happened during the second episode of the free association therapy was shocking. Maria attempted to kill Afzaal.

A shy and introvert girl like Maria, turned into a extrovert and confident girl who just overcame her phobia of dark and sharp things and easily tried to strangle Afzaal.

This was a piece of information nobody could ignore or I should say nobody should ignore because this clearly pointed towards her condition.

***

It was late in the night around eleven. Afzaal was still present in his cabin. He looked entirely disorganised, his messy hair, crumpled shirt, unbuttoned cuffs, red eyes, and pale face.

He was seated by his desk with all Maria's files and his notes scattered on the table in front of him.

He read one file sharply, then suddenly took another file and started cramming it until he rudely threw it on the table.

He looked frustrated as if he was not getting answers to his questions. He took a deep breath while massaging his neck tiringly.

He rolled his eyes around the room casually when his gaze caught eye of an envelope lying by the water cooler. He walked up to the water dispenser and riped open the envelope curiously.

It was a blood report. Blood report of the person who broke into Afzaal's house that night. Unexpectedly the blood sample didn't matched with any of the suspects. He read the blood group aloud "O negative." And lousyly placed the report back.

He walked back to his desk to go through the remaining files as he was determined to get to some conclusion about Maria's condition.

He then randomly choose a file and started reading it when suddenly something rang a bell inside his mind. He hurriedly opened the first drawer of his desk and pulled out few stapled papers. These were Maria's vital reports. Her blood group was also O negative!

Afzaal POV

Could it be Maria who came to my place that night? Their heights were similar but that person was a guy, with long hair!

"What the freak!" I exclaimed.

But hold on a how come Maria could do such a thing. She is even afraid of dark!

But if Maria can attempt to murder me she can even do that. Maria was totally changed after that therapy session. She was not afraid of glass shrads or dark or loud noises and her tone changed as she communicated with me. She related to me as 'Afzaal' but previously she would call me as 'Dr Afzaal' or 'Dr'.

And how can I forget Ria. There is no Ria around Maria but still she proves to be sharing her issues with Ria.

I held my temples in my both palms.

"Maria....Ria....Ma..r..is.....R..ia....Ma.. Ria. Ma...Ria. Now I get it.

She is suffering from multiple personality disorder. Just like the name, Ria is a part of the name, Maria, Ria is actually a part of Maria's personality!"

'It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.'

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Hey readers, long time huh!
Really sorry for not being able to update the story for a while.

Phew the update is up now, kindly let me know your views on it.
Taura5