0010 Disconnected

“Will you tell her the truth?” Liz was dumbfounded, and Francis looked guilty.

“I know. I made you suffer all those years for nothing. In the end, I still have to tell her the truth...”

Liz shook her head again as she patted his arm. If Francis decided to tell Evely about everything, then something really serious happened that was more important than keeping that secret, and something did. If her husband suspected that his ex-wife was the one behind Evely’s kidnapping, then it’s best for the truth to come out so that Evely would stop seeing that person.

Actually, when Francis and his ex-wife divorced, her husband got full custody of Evely since the woman was not her biological mother anyway. Also, since she did something appalling towards the child by purposely making her sick, she had committed a crime and supposed to be forbidden from seeing the child. The only reason why she was not sent to prison was because she was related to his late fiancée who was Evely’s real mother, and the family begged him to spare her.

Things should have ended there. But Evely was very close to her “mother” and did not understand that the reason why her mother and sister were kicked out was because they were mean to her. She refused to accept not seeing them anymore. She had cried and refused to eat for two days, and Francis was not able to do anything but allow supervised meetings monthly until Liz came into their lives.

That woman and the other child never visited again, and Evely was livid upon being abandoned by her mother and she blamed her dad and his new wife.

“I’m alright. But I’m worried about Evely. She has a severe injury on her head. It will take a long time for her to fully recover. Even if her condition stabilizes, no one will know what will happen if she gets upset.”

Francis was quiet for a while, before letting out a heavy sigh and nodding.

“We’ll ask the doctors about it later,” he said. “Let’s go.”

The doctors were of course Evely’s attending physician and the psychologist who wanted to see them at his office. Soon, the two of them were seated in front of the table where the friendly looking psychologist was seated behind.

Dr. Carl Jensen— he was the youngest psychologist at the hospital. But he was also the one with the best reputation in the city. Due to Evely’s seemingly continuous confusion about things, the attending physician advised the couple to seek the help of the psychologist. Well, it was also a standard procedure for crime victims.

In the beginning, they thought that Evely’s strangeness was due to the after effects of ketamine. But it’s been days, and the drug should have been out of her system, but her confusion and strangeness did not change. The attending physician thought that the reason must be psychological already since Evely was a victim of a heinous crime. Trauma could cause a lot of mental issues, and they feared that it was the case with Evely.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, how are you?” Dr. Jensen asked in a very polite but friendly manner, making the couple relax.

Soon, they went to discuss the real topic at hand. Since this was very important for Evely’s health, Francis and Liz told the doctor everything.

Everything meant including the early childhood trauma Evely had experienced with her surrogate mother. They also told him the changes that happened while she was growing up and the drastic changes she showed after her incident.

“So aside from the kidnapping incident, she also experienced intense trauma from someone she treated as a parent,” Francis narrated. “My ex-wife would give her medicine that would give her stomach cramps and diarrhea. She would also bathe Evely with freezing water so she’d catch a cold. She—”

Francis choked, remembering the horrifying things that nasty woman did to his daughter, and Liz squeezed his hand as she looked at him worriedly. But Francis, who had avoided the truth and kept it buried deep within, finally broke down.

Evely was in that woman’s hands from birth until she was six years old. She had been sick plenty of times throughout that period. Francis could only imagine the torment and the countless horrors his little daughter had gone through. Even until now, he could not imagine it.

And he blamed himself. This was why he could not really berate Evely for hating him and continued to give everything his daughter wanted out of guilt. Francis thought that he deserved it. He hated himself too.

“Evely totally depended on that woman. She could not even remember how she was tortured by that bitch!”

By this time, Francis was openly sobbing, and Liz hugged him tight as she too cried. Dr. Jensen also said a few comforting words and assured them that he understood. He waited patiently until Francis calmed down enough to continue their discussion.

“Mr. Hunt, please don’t blame yourself too much. The most important thing was that you were able to discover and save Evely before something irreversible happened.”

Of course, this thing that was irreversible was no other than death.

“It’s unfortunate that she went through all that, but we are still lucky that Evely survived,” Dr. Jensen said. “As for her relationship with your ex-wife…”

The psychologist explained that since she was so young, it was natural that Evely would forget what has been done to her. To the child, the lady was her mother and she trusted and loved her. Also…

Although the trauma Evely experienced in the past was very important to understand her mental health, the bottom line was what Evely’s state of mind was at present. Dr. Jensen explained to them about his conversation with Evely the day before and his observations.

“I believe that Evely might be suffering from a dissociative disorder. The word “dissociation” means to be disconnected from others, from the world around you, or from yourself. In Evie’s case, even if she did not forget anything, she’s a bit confused and deals with what happened to her as if it has nothing to do with her…”

“Is that bad?” the couple asked worriedly.

“Well, it can be a temporary thing. It’s maybe due to the physical and mental trauma she recently received. She has a fractured skull, after all. But on the other hand…”

“What is it, doctor?”

Dr. Jensen sighed as if the other possibility that he was about to tell them was a bit complicated.

“The other thing that she might have is called dissociative identity disorder, or what people normally know as split personality disorder.”

The couple was shocked.

“You mean…”

Their voices trailed off as Dr. Jensen nodded.

“Again, due to all the trauma she received, there’s a possibility that there’s another soul or identity in her body that emerged. To explain to you further without confusion, let’s name the other her as ‘Evie’,” Dr. Jensen suggested as he explained to the Hunts what the disorder was.