Chapter 105 - Eros Et Psyche 8: The Other Woman (1/2)

”Are you ready?”

Swallowing hard, Ria exchanged looks with her sisters as they gave her a squeeze for support before she nodded. They were sitting side by side at the doctor's office where she would undergo therapy so she could retrieve all her lost memories, and if possible, cure her other malady too.

Honestly, she felt like a nervous wreck but her determination to get things over and done with was just as strong.

Ria already knew what was wrong with her. Her sisters told her that when she was a child, when they were still living in the US, their father had received a transfer letter to South Korea. She was too young then, and since both her parents were busy she and her other sister were left in the hands of a relative and her family to take care of them. Left alone in the hands of a nice caretaker, never had they thought that the very same person would abuse them. Since her older sister went to school, Ria was mostly the one who was hit.

Her sisters said that it was the shock and her denial of what had been done to her made Ria create another person— a stronger version of her to bear with it. At the beginning, none of them noticed the changes, until her personality transformed completely.

When they brought her to a specialist years ago, they had discovered that she had a mental disorder bordering on dual personality but they kept it from her since it was mild and the other Ria, aside from being more impulsive and mischievous was still a good person and she rarely came out.

Ria could remember her abusive aunt and her brood. But after those events when she had first been hurt, she couldn't. Even when the abuse stopped when her dad finally got a bigger house for them in Korea, Ria's memory ŀȧpses continued.

Thinking about it, she never really had a serious problem with that since the memory ŀȧpses weren't grave. That was until she realized that she had completely forgotten fifteen months of her life.

”Let's start,” her sister announced and she breathed in, a nervous smile curving her lips as she turned to the psychiatrist who looked at her kindly.

”This won't hurt Ria. I will just make you relax and then put you in a trance,” the elderly doctor said and Ria swallowed once more before she nodded.

The plan was to get the other her out, let the doctor talk to her and by that maybe compromise with herself so that the two personalities would meld.

Ria knew this healing would take a long time but she didn't mind. What she wanted to know was what made the other her disappear so suddenly. Aside from that…

”Will I remember after that?” she asked the doctor in a small voice; her heart and breath in a standstill as she waited for the answer. She wanted— she needed to remember her other self's memories.

”That Ria, only you can answer,” the kind doctor told her. ”It depends on your self-acceptance whether you'd remember or not. The reason why you made the other version of you in the first place was because you refused to accept what had been done to you,” he continued, and she nodded in understanding.

”I will try my best,” she stated with conviction. She wanted to know everything. She desperately wanted to know everything about herself, and she wouldn't let any version of her run away anymore.

”I'm ready,” she said as she swallowed hard. Her heart pounded loudly in her ċhėst but she was more determined than scared now. ”I'm ready,” she said again, this time in a much steadier voice.

In a few minutes, Ria was inclining against the couch, her body totally relaxed as she let the doctor's soothing voice lull her. The next thing she knew, she was already somewhere far away— somewhere he'd never been before where everything was dark except for the area where she was standing. It was as if she was on a stage with the surroundings pitch black with a spotlight trained on her.

”W-where…?” her voice trailed off as she searched the place but she couldn't see past a couple of steps from her.

Realizing she was alone, she once again felt fear in her ċhėst, thinking she'd been abandoned until she heard a rustling sound behind her and she turned.

”Who's there?” she demanded.

Panic rose in her throat as the rustling noise became louder and she stepped back. As soon as she did however, the source of the sound showed itself— or rather herself.

”Y-you…” she whispered as she stared wide-eyed at her, the other Ria Davis.