"Larry, how bad is it?", asked Linda.
Larry and Linda were standing outside Jay's psychiatric hospital room at Paul D. Johnson Mental Institute, just outside Smithville. Jay had checked himself in, voluntarily, with much convincing by both Larry and Linda. Since that day at the house where Jay had an episode in front of Larry, Jay had spent the past two weeks trying to right himself. However, Larry was attempting to run interference at Smithville University in the hopes that his friend would get to keep his job. Larry was about to give Linda the scoop.
"It's bad, Linda. They have all of the reports of the physicians and nurses here, and I've told them how he's progressed from my standpoint, but the bottom line is if he can't come back in two more weeks, they'll have no choice but to let him go."
Linda looked down and began to walk slowly away from Larry. Larry looked down, saddened at what he had to tell Linda about her husband's job. He felt he had to add an air of hope to the conversation again.
"Linda?"
Linda, her back to Larry, turned back around to face him. The strain of this ordeal was taking it's toll on her. Larry could see it in her face. She had no idea how to deal with something like this. Now with the prospect of Jay losing his job, it was all too overwhelming.
"I think that's positive, Linda. At least they haven't already given up on him."
"Positive? You think it's positive that a job my husband has performed to the best of his ability for fifteen years could be yanked out from under him after a few months of inactivity when it's clear he is having some sort of life crisis? Positive? He's not doing this on purpose, Larry. He's not doing this to get out of work."
"And that's why they have been trying to stick by him, Linda. But the bottom line is, they need a teacher to teach the students. If he's not there, they have to find someone else that will be. They really don't have a choice. Believe me, they don't want to let him go."
Linda looked down, trying to process what Larry was telling her. She took a deep breath and looked back up at Larry. She realized that he was in fact right about this.
"I know, Larry, I know. I understand. I know Jay does too. He would be the first to say that the students have to have a teacher. We both know that."
Larry stood there looking at Linda, as tears began to form in her eyes.
"I just can't believe this is happening. One day, Jay is his normal self, happy, loving, caring, doing what he always does. Then out of nowhere he just starts having these crazy stories he brings up. He brings them up to you, to me. Where did this come from?"
"Well, the docs called it Disassociative Identity Disorder. Especially from the reports you made about him being a completely different person at times."
"I know what they 'diagnosed' him with, Larry. I also know that diagnsis stems from conditions in their childhood sometimes. I can look things up on the Arpanet too. Jay had a normal childhood, his parents love and adore him. His life has been about as stressless as you can get. Sure there's the everyday things we all go through, but nothing ridiculous, Larry. He's perfectly normal."
"Then what's been happening when he is sleeping, Linda?"
Linda just stared back at Larry. She could see he was questioning her stories now too. She looked away for a moment, contemplating what Larry had just asked. My God, he's going to start thinking I'm crazy next. That was all real, that really happened to me.
"Linda?"
She turned back around to face Larry, who had come up closer to her now.
"I've gotta tell ya, these stories are crazy. I mean, I don't know what to think. He's a completely different person and is awake when he's supposed to be asleep? He's seeing zombies chasing after him? He's seeing explosions outside his home that don't happen? I don't think crazy describes it well enough, Linda."
Linda continued to look at him, stone faced, as a tear ran down her right cheek.
Larry put his hand on Linda's shoulder and turned her slightly to face him. He looked straight into her eyes so she could see the truth in them as he spoke next.
"But I saw something in his eyes when he finally snapped back to reality, Linda. He really believed he had been somewhere else. He really believed he was in that place called Anderson, South Carolina and that a bomb had just gone off. Not just any bomb, but a nuclear bomb. He looked like the life was just scared out of him, like he had actually been there."
Linda could see in Larry's eyes, he meant what he was saying. This was a message to her that he did believe something could be going on.
"I saw a different man those nights, Larry. When I looked into his eyes I could see that was not my husband looking back at me. For God's sakes, Larry, one time his eyes looked brown. They are hazel, always have been. How could they change color?"
"I don't know, Linda. But that's why I keep trying to help. That's also why I talked to my friend up at Crimson. I told Jay about him too. He does studies on people with dementia."
"Dementia? You think he's completely losing his mind now?"
"I think we need to explore all possibilities. Some of the symptoms of dementia can mimic issues with this other diagnosis they've stuck on him. The main thing is this guy has the ability to scan Jay's mind. He can hook him up to electrodes and such, scan his brainwaves and see what might be going on in his head. Listen, I want to believe Jay isn't losing his mind. But something is going on that no one here seems to be able to understand. I mean, they're thinking about putting him in the padded room on a permanent basis if he has many more outbursts like he did last night. And I'm sorry, but I don't want to see him like this again."
Larry pointed into Jay's room at Jay lying in the bed. Jay was dosed up with Haldol and was unconscious. Linda could only stare at the shell of the man she once loved. She had to find a way to help him, some way.
Linda looked back up at Larry, as they both had been looking at Jay.
"You know what the worst part is, Larry? It's not the dreams or the person he becomes in the middle of the night. Jay told me that he dreamed about Britton's death before it even happened."
"What?"
"And the frightening part about that..."
She paused for a moment to formulate words she never wanted to believe. Larry stood there completely hanging on every word.
"...he thinks he killed her. He thinks he raped and murdered her, Larry."
Tears started streaming down Linda's face. Larry couldn't speak, he didn't know what to say.
"That's why I've been living in the camper. That's why I've been staying away. And it was all at his insistence, Larry. Would a crazy person or demented person be able to rationalize another's statements and tell them a course of action to pursue? I don't believe so. But I do believe that the man I saw in the middle of the night sometimes could be capable of doing whatever he wants to whomever he wants. And I don't believe he'd bat an eyelash or shed a tear if it came right down to it. I'm telling you, they are two completely different people, Larry. My husband....and the devil himself."
Larry took all of that in. He gave a look to his friend and colleague lying in the bed, nearly comatose to the world from medication. He knew something had to be done.
"Then that's why we'll take him to my friend. But for now, that stuff about Britton, we need to keep that under wraps."
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