"Just days ago, I woke up in a hospital bed thinking that it was heaven. Then I thought, I took a suicide, shouldn't I be going straight to hell? And then my mind wandered, and I was like thinking that I must be standing in the line facing the saint with a chicken. So then I thought, hey, why can't I hear the roos--"
"Miss Lila, this is a mental rehabilitation program. This is not a storytelling contest. So please, stick with the reality," the Ms. Bobbed-Hair-looking-Blondie, she'll be the one to look after me, said.
"But that is reality. I was actually thinking that, then somebody appeared out of nowhere, and disrupted me from my thoughts, and then I asked them if they were dead too. Believe me?" Gosh, I'm enjoying this.
"Yes, miss, but I do believe that there's more to the story than what you're letting. Why did you ask them if they were dead or not?"
"Simple. To confirm if I was actually in heaven. Right?" I opened my eyes wide, trying to look innocent.
"You asked them if they're dead so that you can kill them like what you did to your mother."
"What the actual--"
"Admit it, Lila. You wanted to know--"
"Guard! Open the goddamn door please! This consultant is harrassing me! Help!"
The next details were fuzzy, the guard came in and saw me clawing Miss Bobbed and then she was crying and crying. I think I blacked out. Again. Ugh! When is this anemia gonna stop intervening at the climaxes?
        ***
I found myself handing out a blue paper to a bobbed hair person. Told her it was a story. She was reading it, and I was waiting there, and waiting, and waiting. Finally, I got tired of waiting and moved her. She fell down the bench, her blood marking a spot in the bench.
I screamed.
The police arrived.
They questioned me.
I blacked out.
        ***
The nurses on duty heard a scream coming from the other side of the hallway. They stopped at the door numbered 61503, and just shrugging to each other, they went to do their jobs. They didn't even take a single glance on the girl whimpering at her bedroom door.
The screaming stopped. The nurses looked at the door. One of them turned the knob, and a piece of blue paper slipped out. The bobbed headed new nurse picked it up. She ended up with a pair of shears sticking on the back of her head.
        ***
"I didn't even do it! For God's sake, I was sleeping peacefully in my bed. Why would I even stick a pair of shears to people I don't know?"
"Miss Lila, calm down. We're not blaming you, we wouldn't--"
"You would not blame me because you have nothing to blame!"
A few goodbyes were exchanged and I went back at my room. I stopped at the door 61503. That was where the murder happened, they said. Who could be there? That girl would be a real sicko. But, seriously, why me? Killing a person in my sleep is not me. I don't have sleepwalking problems, not me, not me, not me. The guard urged me to the group room. Time for the group chat. And I seriously hate having a guard to bodyguard me. Ugh! Can't they just leave an innocent girl alone?
        ***
"Madame Anne, what do you think about your newest kid?"
"Lila's a work dear. A rare case. She's one of those kids."
"Those kids?"
"You specialize in child abuse, right Attorney?"
"Yes, Madame. I've won quite a number of cases, including one who was beaten by a policeman as a father. Policemen are tough cases."
"But not the toughest."
"Madame?"
"Have you ever heard of MPD?"
"Multiple Personality Disorder?"
"Yes." She only nodded, and looked at the attorney.
"You mean, Lila has MPD? But, she's too young. Only fifteen. Nothing would trigger it."
"You've read her files, I assume."
"Yes, a little bit, I'm afraid. You see, I also have different cases that are--"
"Attorney. I guarantee you that if you win this case, your name would be known throughout the whole country. This is a rare case, and child abuse is your specialty. You've said that yourself. Lila needs your help."
"Madame, surely you can't say that. That girl is, uh, she is quite... um, I hate to say this, disturbed."
"Ah, yes, she is disturbed. A serious case of depression, yes indeed. Why? Her biological mother blinded Lila's right eye because she was misbehaving. Lila was 4 at that time. Raped by her uncle and his drunken son when she was still 6. At the orphanage, one of the poorest, she burned her hands because she helped a fellow escape. Age 7. Adopted on her 8th birthday, ended up falling down the stairs due to protecting siblings who started a gang fight. Extreme concussion, caused amnesia. Her adopted parents had divorced, left to her mother, who had a number of lovers who would also touch Lila. An unwanted pregnancy when she reached 14. She almost died. Now, you say that nothing can trigger her MPD?"
The attorney was speechless. She continued.
"She has 4 identities now. The friendly Lila, the one who we can see with the other children on her group. Characteristics: She loves to socialize. She's almost afraid of the dark, and she loves the younger kids. The other is the matured one. You interviewed her, and that is what we call matured, wise, and too much so of her own age. Abnormality. The third identity. When she talked today with her consultant. Moody. Temperamental. Almost like a kid. The fourth one would be the deadliest of all. Silent. Unnerving. The first ever identity to be formed. We usually find this at nighttime, when Lila thinks she's asleep. She also came out of her once. I saw her with my own eyes. She calls herself "Avenging", and told me that was what she did. She is aware of the other identities, and she even knew who I was before I told her. She's dangerous."
"Take this case, Attorney. Charge your fee, I will pay it. All Lila's poems and stories and files, you can search it. Just make sure you can clear my only granddaughter's name."
It was a while before the attorney can reply.
"Don't mind the fee. I'll see to it that I'll win the case."
The attorney was about to turn the knob.
"You are her father, aren't you, son?"
The question hung on the air, like a rope in Lila's ceiling.
        ***
"Hello, Avenging."
"Well hello there, grandmother. How are you?"
"I'm fine."
"Oh no, you're trembling in your seat. Are you scared of me? Are you scared of your granddaughter?"
Lila's maniac laugh echoed through the whole room.
"We are to begin your treatment, and help you out for good."
"But grandmother, do you know who's the real Lila anyway?"