Me at the beginning of writing this chapter: I'm going to move the plot forward!

Me 2000 words later: ... Nope. it hasn't moved. but now there's some questions answered... and more questions made... :| Raven will be in it properly eventually! It is now Tuesday. She will be coming to the story on Thursday! we just need to get through Tuesday and Wednesday!

BBUUTTT someone else is turning up before her ;)


The sound of typing filled the room again as dim, florescent light shone through his closed eyelid. Someone was singing quietly at the other end of the room, and although they were in tune, the lyrics weren't right.

"...What's the use in tryin' , du dum du dum, All you get is pain, du dum du dum When I needed sunshine I got rain. And then I saw her face, now I'm a believer...hum hum hum hum. Erasing that part... du dum dum du-um. I'm a believer, I couldn't leave her if I tried..."

Vic sat up, looked about and groaned. "Ah, man! I was really hoping it was just a bad dream!"

"Oh, hay. Morning! Not a dream." Gar smiled at him, from over his laptop. "You want nachos?"

There was a plate of chips on the table, some jars of dip and a large bottle of soda that was already half empty.

"How long have you been up?"

"Oh. Since, like, 5... I did a lot of thinking and I, um, I think I've come up with an idea for your... youness..."

"What does that even mean?"

Yea, Gar. What does that mean? "Well, um. You didn't want people to see you yesterday. So I thought it might make you feel... less bad... if, um. If you looked like how you used to look..."

Victor was quiet. A sigh escaped his lips as he looked away from Garfield and stared blankly at a chair.

"Believe me..." He began, bringing his gaze back to the boy. "I wish I could, but how?"

"Well. Like this..." Gar turned the laptop round. 'Special effect face make up' was in the search engine, and there were photos of cosplayers in the image section. "And, the best part is I met this guy, Eddie, when I was at the Warner Brothers Studios. And he's, like, Marla Blooms nephew-"

"THE Marla Bloom? Like. The director of the superhero movies, Marla Bloom!?"

"Yeah. That one. Well, Eddie has been working with Dan Cassidy, who does the special effect make up and props on the Blue Devil films-"

"How do you know the people who make the Blue Devil films?"

"Marla phones me when they need animals."

Yep. By using you they can break both first rules of theatre. Never work with children or animals...

Craig! Shut up!

"Um... Where was I? Um. Well. Oh yeah! Eddie is in Metropolis!"

Victor thought about it, nodding. "Hum. You know, that's not actually a bad idea."

"Jeeze, don't sound so surprised. I know I don't have a reputation for being smart, but I didn't think I had one for being stupid... Um... " Craig... Shut up...

"OK! Damn! I didn't mean to offend you..."

"Sorry... I, um, I guess I, um... That came out more aggressive then I intended..."

"... Then I'm sorry if I sounded patronising..."

They ate chips and faced the difficult task of writing a list for Vic to do. It grew slowly as Gar scrawled out each point on a post-it.

"Hay, Garfield... Can I ask you a favour?" Vic was quiet as he spoke. "It's kinda important..."

"Um, sure? I guess... It, um, it- it depends what it is..."

"Can you ask the guys in the morgue... about..."

"Yeah. I can do that... are there any specifics or...?"

"Anything, really... I need to watch the news, eventually... find out what they've said about me... My grandma must be so upset! I should have called her yesterday!"

"Do it now."

There were tears, but it was such a relief for Vic to finally talk to someone he loved. They talked for an hour, and somehow everything became a little less daunting. As he wiped his eyes and let Gar know it was time to hang up, he felt some of the pressure lifting.

More time passed, and Dick continued to sleep. Then a familiar phone alarm went off.

"Oh, and it is officially 9! Dicky-bird never sleeps this much, hope he's OK..."

Gar pulled out the pink pill organiser and tipped Tuesday AM into the palm of his hand. With a heavy gulp he swallowed the lot in a wash of Cola, whilst Vic watched.

"Last night Dick was determined to make you take those... What do they do?"

"Um, well, they um, they keep me alive..."

To Craig, this seemed like a good reply; it was true, but also vague enough to not reveal anything. Gar thought it was a little insulting not to tell their new friends at least something. And David was oblivious about each pills significance, knowing only the premise of what they did and why they needed to take them.

"Well, that's good..." Vic wanted to know more. He had heard them talking about antidepressants yesterday, but didn't know if it was his place to bring it up. Maybe he could probe? "Anything... specific?"

Craig: Nope! NO NO NO. People who take certain medication, like some of the things we are on, aren't well received.

Gar: I don't think he's going to judge us... He is a cyborg...

David: I think he seems nice. You could just give him a slight idea. The stigma around meds needs to end at some point.

Craig: OK, fine. I am out voted. But don't say too much.

After blinking for a while and looking hazy, Gar licked his lips and let out a slow breath.

"Um. I, um. I don't know if you may have noticed..." He stopped, shaking his head a little. "You'll have noticed. I'm not stupid, or naïve, I, um, I know you've seen what happens to me and, um... I-I guess I should just tell you. I don't want you to, um, to, um, to treat me differently though."

"Hay, you haven't been treating me strange, I'm not about to take that for-granted and treat you strange. And you don't have to tell me things if you don't want to. I'm not pressuring you into it. I'm just curious."

"I, I, I suppose curious is good. It, um, it leads to seeking knowledge. So, um. I, guess... I have a dissociative disorder..."

Vic was quiet and nodded slightly. "I'm going to have to be honest with you... I don't know what that means."

Gar: You're doing well! Keep going!

Craig: I'm only doing this 'cause you're bad at nervous situations. I didn't want to do this!

David: No turning back now...

"Um. So. Um. I... I … Um. I turn into animals and I end up not being in charge... sometimes I am in charge. Sometimes it is like being in the passenger seat... and sometimes I, um, I am not even knowing what is happening. Dick left me a note to say that it happen last night..." He was focused on his hands and had been breaking a chip into small pieces. Crumbs littered the table and he occasionally rubbed one in between his fingers, causing it to shrink even more. "I wish this was only it... but..." He sunk his head into his arms and focused on his breathing.

"Hay, if it's too much to talk about, you don't have to tell me."

David: You alright, buddy? You start thinking about something you don't want to?

Craig: um-hum

Gar:You want me to go back out there?

Craig: um-hum

David: But, we sent him out because this isn't the kind of thing you can deal with...

Gar: Well, what are we gonna do? Send you out there?

"So." He picked his head up and tapped his fingers. "You asked about the tablets... Well, there's the, uh, ones for our mind and then there's the ones for our body." He slid some broken pieces of tortilla into two piles on the table. "The pills we take for our mind consist mostly of mood stabilisers, antipsychotics and antidepressants. There's also an anticonvulsant, but it's not used for what it was made for. Then, there's the pills for our body. The supplements and general everyday pills most people take, that kinda thing. But we also have to take pills for the Sakutia. Inhibitors and such. Heh, that damn virus is probably what started all of this."

Vic was quiet as his brain mulled over what was happened. A few seconds ago Gar had been stumbling over his words and looking shaky, but now he had just described everything like he was delivering a rehearsed lecture. 'Did he say 'I' at all in that explanation?' Vic thought. It was one of the letters he stuttered most, so it's absence was obvious. Then, it hit him.

"Now, you see, that looks tells me that you're confused and scared."

Vic snapped back. "What? No, I'm not scared..."

"Hum. No, it's OK. We're scared too. We're scared that we'll turn into a dog and end getting up hit by a car. Or we'll turn into a tiger and hurt someone. What if there's some... beast... deep inside of us that comes out that we can't control? Believe me, no matter how many times our therapist assures us that people with dissociative disorders don't have 'Evil Alters', we still can't stop thinking that she could be wrong."

Craig: Stop using plurals! People aren't supposed to know!

David: Oops...

Gar: We don't need to hide it from him any more.

Craig: He's going to figure out we're here! I just told Gar I exist, and I'm in his body! I'm not ready to deal with this! I can't keep us safe! Think of the internet trolling!

Gar: But, what if we help someone else who's... suffering?

Craig: We're suffering! You can't help everyone and forget about yourself! Or us!

Gar: But-

Craig: NO! I'm taking over! Move asside, David, we're going for a walk!

in the break room, Garfield suddenly grunted and stood. Everything was spinning so he put his hand on the chair to steady himself.

"Oh, I, I- I did that too quick..."

"Careful there."

Vic put a helping hand on the boys shoulder and urged him back into the metal chair.

"Look... I know it must have taken a lot for you to open up to me. And I am... honoured? If that's the right word? Hum. I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me. And you can keep whatever secrets you need. But if you one day feel ready to tell someone, I hope you trust me enough to tell me."

"Hum. That's, um, That's rather profound for a teenager... you get it from a movie?"

Vic smiled. "I may have been inspired by some shows."

"OK. But I, um, I, um. I-I am going to take you up on that one day, so, um, just, like, be warned... I- I... I will be keeping my secrets 'till then... But, first I, um, I'm going to the, um. To the toilet."

As Vic watched him go, he thought about all the pieces. The dissociative disorder, not being in charge, the sudden change in talking. He glanced at Dick, who was still sleeping, and then at the laptop.

"Just a quick bit of research... Nothing invasive..."

He typed 'Dissociative disorder' into the search engine and pressed enter.

Key phrases popped out at him as he read though the information.

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) used to be called multiple personality disorder.

The main symptoms of DID are:

memory gaps about everyday events and personal information

having several distinct identities

Associated conditions

post-traumatic stress disorder

depression

mood swings

anxiety and panic attacks

suicidal tendencies or self-harm

phobias

problems sleeping (insomnia).

feeling little or no physical pain

Many people with a dissociative disorder have had a traumatic event during childhood.

They may dissociate and avoid dealing with it as a way of coping with it.

10 types of alters:

Animal alters, Infant alters, Child/little alters, Demonic alters, Fictives/fictional character alters, Fragments, Gate keeper alters, Persecutors, Protectors.

It was a lot to take in. Vic quickly closed the tab and started pacing about the room as he thought more. Things were beginning to make sense. Then he thought about another small piece of information he has almost neglected. What was that virus called again? Sakura? Skeeter? Skeksis? It must have been important for Gar (or whoever it was) to say it was the start of 'all this'... What exactly had happened to Garfield as a child?

I hope this has now cleared up some of the things surrounding Garfield. Although I don't know anyone personally with DID I have been researching the hell out of it and hope that I am representing it well. The information used in this text is from the NHS website (the British national health service)
So i hope you are noticing the kinds of alters Gar has, and recall back to all the hints that have been dropped about them. David makes a bit more sense now, I hope. He is also a bit of a soother. (reassuring words and such.) Craig is the protector. you may have noticed he fronts when things get stressful, and he doesn't want Gar getting hurt. Gar is the host (apparently normal part) just means he's out the most and takes care of every day tasks. obviously there's the animals, but they also have their own personalities.
there's a lot of great video of you tube about all this! it's becoming a more open world :) thank you for reading and look forward to reading your comments!