Chapter II - Diagnosis

"Hang on…so Dahlia was…ill?" Phoenix perked up, this was news to him.

"She had a chronic illness." Iris replied softly and looked slightly downcast.

"It was extremely worrying when she had a flare up."

"Flare up?"

"…When it got serious."

"Ah…" Phoenix scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"So she had to take daily meds for it?"

"Yes…there was no way for us to get the medicine into her other than have her inject herself twice each day. She got used to it in the end. But when she refused to take it, she would get very…violent."

"Violent?"

"I don't blame her at all!" Iris said suddenly, looking up and staring with intensity at Phoenix.

"It must have been so painful for her, and yet I couldn't do anything about it! She would start seeing hallucinations and feel as if there was something crawling inside her veins if she missed a single shot."

"That's…truly horrifying." Phoenix was aware that he had placed a hand to his mouth and was slightly hunched over.

"She would have a flare up if she was under any forms of stress or anxiety. This happened regularly when she was unable to display any sort of spiritual power when Mother asked her to summon a spirit. When Mother finally gave up on her, it did a miracle on Dahlia's health. But she was emotionally distraught…as she had been rejected by her own parent."

"You…can't channel spirits either, is that correct?" He swallowed slightly and straightened up once more.

"That's right…however, a magatama had been placed on both of our chests a few minutes after the two of us were born, and mine was the only one that glowed…which meant that I had some form of spirit channeling power, no matter how small and weak it is."

"I…see…So after that, you and her were separated, and then the so called 'murder' at Dusky Bridge occurred…"

"Yes…I was overjoyed to see my sister again. But I was horrified at how much she'd changed. She had stopped carrying her syringe around, and had resorted to taking tablets. But they were never good enough. Thus, she turned into someone who wasn't my beloved sister anymore."

Iris looked wounded and paused slightly.

"But I still loved her as my family and did everything I could to help her. I knew the reason she would feel horrible and sick towards the night and stopped her every time she itched away at her throat."

"Every time she…what?"

"She kept telling me there were parasites crawling in her neck veins." Phoenix's eyes widened slightly at the thought.

"She said it was so itchy and she couldn't bear it. And no matter how much medication she took, it still felt as if they were squirming away inside of her."

"Gosh…I'm sorry…I think I need to go and um…get some air." He managed weakly and stood up from his seat slowly.

"I completely understand." Iris smiled gently at him and rose up herself.

"You will be taking your leave then?"

"Yes…for today." He murmured and quickly fetched out a dark blue notebook and pen Maya had given to him for his last birthday.

"Is it alright with you if I take down the details for today…and also the name of the illness that your sister had?"

Iris was silent for a few heartbeats and Phoenix thought she would refuse him. So the surprise was plain on his face when she nodded and murmured quietly.

"Peduncular hallucinosis."

Phoenix couldn't sleep that night. His thoughts were filled with what Iris had told him this afternoon.

Before going to bed, Phoenix had spent much time researching on the internet about Dahlia's condition. It took him a while just to figure out how to pronounce the term.

He had taken the following notes in his notebook:

"Peduncular hallucinosis is characterized by visual hallucinations that arise following an infarct of the midbrain.

It was originally described in 1922 by Lhermitte and has since been the topic of many case reports.

The hallucinations are thought to be a release phenomenon and often involve colorful, vivid scenes with people, animals, and other patterns.

The visual hallucinations usually start within a few days of the initial insult and resolve within a few weeks, but they may last for years.

Each hallucination may last from minutes to hours, often occurring in the evening.

Patients eventually develop insight into their hallucinations, and they may find them interesting or amusing."

The images that had come up from the research process were extremely gut wrenching to view. Most of them were depictions on the interpretations of the patient's hallucinations.

Phoenix could now finally understand a little amount of how Dahlia was driven insane and resorted to committing numerous murders.

Still, just because you have a medical condition, doesn't mean you can use it as an excuse to hurt others…

And with that thought, Phoenix sat up in bed and hurriedly grabbed his notebook from the bedside table and began quickly scribbling down the questions he wanted to ask Iris tomorrow.

Only after that could he finally fall into an uneasy sleep.

"Hey, Nick? Are you going out again?" Maya stuck her head through the bedroom door and noticed he was putting on his jacket.

"Erm…yes, that's right…" He looked guiltily at his feet.

"I'm just going to get some information on the case I'm w-working on and…"

"Nick, you're not on any cases…and I heard from Pearly already that you were seeing Iris." Maya sighed and puffed out her cheeks like she usually did when she was annoyed at him.

"Oh…I'm sorry…" Phoenix now found it even harder to look into her eyes.

"…That's okay. I don't mind. Just make sure you be nice to her, okay?"

"Oh…sure thing." He blinked.

It was rare of Maya to sound so mature all of a sudden.

"Be sure to buy me burgers on the way back, don't forget!" And with that she ran out of the room with a slight giggle.

"And…she's back again." Phoenix sighed and found a grin creeping up to his face.

There was just no way to predict what her next move would be.