Cat stowed her hoard in the closet and didn’t dare to try them on. Both her and Catherine agreed they were too distressed to do naughty things for a while. She added piano lessons to her daily routine, taking up more of her time. With the time dedicated to exercise and other activities, she didn’t have to worry with the proverbial devil’s workshop, an idle mind.
And she needed the training. Her body was still far from being at its best and it had to adapt to the permanent damage from the accident. She missed a bit more salt in her food but it was a dietary limitation from living with a single kidney. A precaution that might not be warranted because of her boosted vitality but also one she had no desire to challenge. Her plate was full of trouble to add another variable. She had to keep an eye on the protein levels in her urine and did weekly tests to monitor it because her diet still had a lot of meat in it.
Her physical therapist came every two days, to help her cement the gains from the time at the hospital and to help her adapt to the missing lung lobe. It was the same treatment for lung cancer survivors who had to remove the damaged tissue. The other two lobes would expand and fill the empty space but wouldn’t recover the full capacity. It permanently lowered her stamina, already smaller than average because of Catherine's physical disposition and quiet lifestyle.
It gave the specter another argument against gaining any weight. Keeping her body light would counterbalance this lack of stamina. Cat struggled but had to admit she might be stuck in the legendary size zero for all life.
The days blurred by until it was time for their appointment at the hospital. The discussions on social media were in full throttle as well but the subject shifted from her to the threat of terrorism. While most of her detractors gave up on attacking her, so did the supporters also find something else to champion. Her follower count went down by 25% but Agatha said it was expected and a good sign that the worst was behind them.
The George Washington Bridge was reopened and every single politician fought for space in the media to give their statement and show their faces to the people. It was limited to the New York side, as New Jersey had its state elections while she was in a coma. The midterm elections for Congress were in full-throttle on both states. The governor of NY announced during the reopening ceremony that the ones responsible for the terrorist attacks were all captured (or killed, but he didn’t say that).
It didn’t surprise her that Catherine’s rapist had charges of terrorist support, money laundering, domestic terrorism, twenty-seven counts of murder in the first degree, and a ridiculous amount of other minor charges brought against him. Political analysts estimated that he would serve twelve life sentences if he wasn’t sentenced to the death penalty by the federal government, who transferred him to Guantanamo despite being a US citizen. The guy was so vilified that even civil rights support groups kept mum about this move.
Roger Marthan quit being his attorney after the hearing with Hendrickson. The controversial lawyer was cited only twice during the news segment, and one of them was for a very concerning reason.
He'd left his law practice behind to create a new religion. What could possibly go wrong?
----------------------------------------
Jack drove them in the armored car to the hospital but this time they weren’t attacked. Cat did her CT scan, answered a lengthy questionnaire about her mental health, then went to do some other exams like an EEG and a hearing response test. It was already dark when the test results came in and they were invited to the doctor’s office where, after a long interview, Drs. Coleman and Whitman gave the verdict regarding Cat’s psychiatric condition.
“I don’t believe your daughter suffers from any mental disorder, Mrs. Wallenstein. She is lucid, conscious, and all her test results were within acceptable parameters. Now, the response people have to traumatic events is as numerous as are those that experience them. Most often, the responses fall outside of diagnostic criteria. So I’m not saying she wasn’t affected, just that the effects are minor and not worthy of concern. Catherine here has to adapt to her new reality, and if that is the way she is coping with it, we need to accept her,” Victoria said.
“I don’t want to guilt-trip you and we know you are on the way to mending your relationship, but Catherine had a lonely year here at the hospital and under police custody, nonetheless,” Ophelia continued. “What you told me about Cathy trying to play the piano for you was really touching. She’s willing to get over this mental block and embrace her passions for you, Mrs. Wallenstein. Your daughter loves and admires you and she needs you to be there for her. You need to open up and let her into your world. All the advice I can give you is to keep trying. Be charitable and try to understand that Cathy is crossing a delicate threshold where she is putting behind her life as a child and blooming into a wonderful adult.”
Listening to the soothing psychologist lay praise at her feet made Cat’s eyes sting. Absorbed in her own emotions, she missed a question Mrs. Wallenstein made but quickly inferred what it was about from the answer.
“She did?” Victoria asked back. “That was unexpected, but not bad. Catherine, is it true? That you bought dozens of sex toys online?”
Blood drained from her face as she felt shame and fear. All she could do was nod.
“Would you mind sharing with us why?” Ophelia nudged.
Lowering her head, she mumbled, [Go, mate. It’s with you. We need an authentic answer here]. She then relayed Catherine’s words.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Oh, geez, that’s embarrassing!” Cat giggled. “I’ll be honest. The days after I was (deep breath) raped, I felt like trash. I wished to cut it off and never again think about it. I heard the girls at school talking about sex and how their boyfriends treated them like queens or goddesses and how good it felt, but to me, it didn’t. It felt like hell. It hurt and I wished to die. When Esther… Dr. Hill told me I was pregnant, my world ended. I fell into a pit of despair so dark and deep only the thought I could end it all by dying made me move. I stole the pliers, cut the wires on autopilot. As I fell, I felt peace, not fear. My troubles had ended. Only when I saw William inches from me did I regret doing so. He was such a good guy and didn’t...”
Cat slapped her own cheek, not daring to finish the ghost’s speech, “That’s not true, Catherine. Ah...” She slowly took in her surroundings, seeing the three older women staring at her. “Nobody blames you for what happened. Not even the prosecutor whose job is literally throwing people in jail for profit couldn’t find blame on us.”
Silence. Cat sighed and met each of the three pairs of eyes fixed on her. “Greetings. I’m Cat, Catherine’s alter ego. Mom told you about me in private and the cat is out of the bag, te-he,” she tittered a giggle, then tapped her head. “Catherine and I are roommates in here. We do not have memory blanks or fight for dominance. She’s here with me, conscious all the time.”
“Have some faith,” Cat answered out loud. She believed mumbling to herself in front of others was worse than just replying like that.
“Cat, is it?” Ophelia asked. “Can I talk to you?”
“Sure!” Cat tried to sound positive but her voice broke. She was afraid to be thrown in a cushioned room wearing a straightjacket. “You’re always talking to both of us. As I said, we don’t fight against one another or dominate the body while the other is dormant. We are awake together and go to sleep together.”
“Since when?” The psychologist asked, excited. “I mean, when did you become separate entities?”
“Since the accident. Catherine had a vision before she fell unconscious. An angel came to her and told her of the sins she’d committed. Then he gave her an opportunity to repent for the wrongs she did. That’s when I came into existence here and the reason we survived our wounds. I believe we were granted a blessing that makes us heal faster. Also, Catherine is a terrible liar. Seriously, she can’t lie even if her freedom depended on it. It is worse around mom. We can’t lie to her at all. Even misdirection is hard.”
Her confession was so candid it touched Ophelia to the verge of tears.
“We noticed the different speech patterns,” Victoria admitted. “But the tests for the usual patterns of dissociative disorder didn’t show.”
“No, and they won’t,” Cat replied. “I did some research online, Dr. Coleman. I don’t have changes in my sense of self, and as you stated earlier, I don’t have memory blanks. I did lose some motor skills like playing the piano and dancing but I’m slowly regaining those as I retrain my body. I don’t have a problem sleeping, I’ve even recorded a few nights with my camera to prove. And, most importantly, I am in love with my new life even with all the shitty events that transpired in the last couple of weeks. I’ll state and repeat as often as needed. Here it goes,” she took a deep breath, “I intend to live to a century or two old. I told you why I jumped and I’m now stronger than that. Just like my broken bones are stronger, my mind and willpower are leagues more resilient than it was. I’m sure I would take the alprazolam regularly if I was my old self, but I want to be in control of my life. I want to prove I’m strong enough to defeat this illness and control my anxiety without the medication.”
“That’s very good,” Victoria replied. “The antidepressants can only help keep you stable. To treat your illness, we need to shore up all aspects of your life. Your body, your lifestyle, the food you eat, and especially your mindset. Our brains are very sensitive and the neurotransmitters are produced according to the stimuli you provide it. Focus on that strength you found, and keep doing your psychotherapy with Dr. Whitmann.”
“I also noticed Catherine never finished her explanation on why WE bought all those sex toys, so I’ll leave it to her now.”
“Sorry I went on a tangent but I needed to put that out of my chest. Wow. I’m sorry for all the trouble. So, sex toys,” she giggled. “After our second chance at life, I didn’t want to feel dirty. I wanted what the other girls at school had with their boyfriends, although I don’t believe I’m ready to be in a relationship. A couple of days after we returned home, I tried to masturbate for the first time. Sorry, mom.”
“Go on,” Both Victoria and Ophelia comforted her at the same time. “We are here to help everyone heal,” Victoria said and glared at Mrs. Wallenstein, “We won’t make any judgment.”
“Thanks, Dr. Coleman. Well, I masturbated for the first time in my life. Seriously! Only once before I’d tried rubbing a pillow but mom caught me. I swear, mom, you have some kind of naughty radar, don’t you?”
“How did you feel?” Ophelia asked.
“I felt great,” Cat relayed Catherine’s reply, trying to sound as bashful as the ghostly girl. “I climaxed, more than once. It felt amazing and I regretted losing all this time. It was just this one time, I swear. After that, the incident at the bridge happened, and Oliver got hurt… I didn’t feel like doing it again. Until a few days ago I tried searching online for sex toys. I hadn’t had a shopping spree since the day I went buy a few clothes,” Cat burst into laughter.
“You call that a few clothes?” She replied to the ghost. “No wonder the reporters wanted to drag you down into the mud.”
“It’s not my fault you have no sense of fashion!” Cat parroted Catherine’s protest. “Geez, I didn’t mean to say that out loud!”
Cat laughed and wiped some tears. “What Catherine wanted to say is that we got a bit too engrossed with the variety and we weren’t sure which toys would work for us. So we bought a wide variety. And no, we didn’t intend to lock ourselves in and...”
“You got the gist of it,” Cat concluded. “I’m going to stop here. Catherine wants to dig a hole and bury herself in shame.”
“How much did you spend?” Mrs. Wallenstein asked.
“Less than ten thousand,” Cat answered. “But those LELO vibrators are so expensive! It’s the brand of the one I gave you, mom. At least we didn’t buy the gold-plated one Catherine wanted us to.”
“Gold plated?” Ophelia let her curiosity surpass her discretion.
“A gold-plated butt plug,” Cat answered with a snicker while Catherine screeched in their head. “It cost twenty-four grand.”
Victoria took a deep breath while Ophelia was frozen with surprise and Mrs. Wallenstein proved the desire to dig a hole and bury herself in shame was probably genetic.
“Would you mind doing a few more tests? In light of this new information, I have some questions I want your answers on.”
Cat nodded, “Sure, Dr. Coleman. I trust all of you here, and I want to feel as healthy as I can. Bring it on.”
“Not today, though I love this excitement. Catherine and Cat, you have nothing to fear. We’ll do our utmost to help both of you,” Ophelia cut in and tapped her smartwatch. “Sorry, Vic. We need to clock out.”