Hunted

by Monty Marsden

  The professor smiled again. “A multi-storey building – that’s an interesting metaphor.”

  Claps spoke, addressing Greta. “The book that tells Billy Milligan’s story is titled An overcrowded room. Interesting, isn’t it?”

  Greta pulled a perplexed face in reply. Then she turned towards the professor. “I’m sorry if we interrupted you – please carry on.”

  “No problem at all. It took some time – weeks – until this new personality showed up and things changed radically after that. This personality has a very strong character. His name is Jack and he says that he knows all the other personalities. He also said… hang on, I still have the recording of our… let’s call it first meeting. Do you want to listen to it?”

  “Yes please – we’re here to find out as much as possible.”

  “Let me turn the laptop on…” Reti said and he opened the laptop that was lying on his desk.

  A few minutes later, the professor’s voice echoed in the room, it sounded a little distorted. “Good morning – I’m talking to the Fox, right?”

  “You know me well, Professor…”

  “I can read your eyes, your posture. You and the Wimp are very different from each other.”

  “Yeah – I wouldn’t want to be like him at all. He’s a loser, nothing like me.”

  “Can we talk a little, Fox?”

  “Not with me, today. Jack wants to talk to you.”

  “Jack?”

  “What, you don’t like his name? You’ve been trying to talk to him for weeks. He wants to talk, now.”

  “You never told me his name before… yeah, I’m looking forward to talking to him.”

  For a few seconds, only a rustling noise was audible, then another voice spoke – the tone was lower than that of the Fox, but equally sharp.

  “Did you want to talk, Professor?”

  “Nice to meet you, Jack. Can you tell me about yourself?”

  “Go easy with your questions. Don’t you want to know why I decided to show up at last?”

  “Yes. You never wanted to reveal yourself. What has made you change your mind?”

  “I was pissed off. Nobody had to know about me and the others.”

  “The others? Are there any more people apart from the Fox and the Wimp?”

  “I told you to go easy with your questions.”

  “Sorry, you don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to.”

  “Of course I don’t have to, for fuck’s sake.”

  “Why did you not want anybody to know about yourself and the others? Can we talk about this?”

  “I’m not going to answer that question, but I can tell you why I decided to talk to you.”

  “I’m listening, Jack.”

  “Tell me something first – are we friends?”

  “I hope we can be… in fact, I’m certain that we will.”

  “Of course, best friends! Fuck yeah. Oh good grief, why are you so slow? Are we friends? Do we eat together? I don’t think so. In that case, why do you call me Jack? Do you think you’re so much better than me that you can address me like anyone else?”

  “Of course not, it’s just a habit, I talk to the Fox like that.”

  “Forget the Fox, the Wimp… they’re only secondary people. I control them all. I want respect.”

  “Control?”

  “I decide what happens all the time and I oversee everything.”

  “Do you mean that you know what they do and what they say?”

  “I can follow what they do and what they say minute by minute, if I want.”

  “Can they see what you do?”

  “Of course not, they’re secondary, as I said. Did you forget already?”

  “I see… are there any other people apart from those two?”

  “Maybe… but this is not the right time to talk about it.”

  “Can you explain a little better what you mean by overseeing them?”

  “If they have to make a decision, I’ll make it for them and I’ll tell them what to do.”

  “Otherwise they’re free to do whatever they want?”

  “Yeah, but they normally know that they have to behave.”

  “Apart from when they…”

  “When they revealed our identity, yes.”

  “So you’re aware that you’re all different… why is it important to keep it a secret? Did you ever think that you could get some professional help?”

  “That’s a silly question – why do you think we’d want to end up in the hands of scientists who can’t wait to dissect our brain? We don’t want to end up in test tubes, you know? After all, how can they even help? Listen, Professor. That’s the way it goes down and we like it like that. Full Stop.”

  “Regarding the others… the ones that you oversee… has it happened before that they did something… wrong?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “Who’s responsible? Hannibal?”

  “Yeah, and that’s the reason why we’re talking right now.”

  “Do you oversee him, too?”

  “For goodness’ sake, do you think that I was controlling him when he went on a killing spree?”

  Jack remained silent for a while, then after some background noise, Riondino spoke again.

  “I allowed him to show up every now and then – that’s the type of control that I had. He has always been a problem, but he never even got close to doing what he did before it happened. Hannibal would show up very rarely and on specific occasions. He won’t come back any more now anyway – he’s been buried.”

  “But…”

  “Enough. I won’t say anything else about Hannibal for now. Now, you keep saying to the Fox that you want to help us. Well, the reason why I showed up is that I want to ask you something. Does getting help from you mean that we’ll be able to get out of here? That’s all I want to know.”

  “It’s a little early to say this… but yes, the therapy that I would like you to follow, if you let me, would allow you to be freed from the secure psychiatric unit. You wouldn’t need to be here any more.”

  “That’s a fancy way to say something simple, Professor. Do you mean that we’ll be out of here?”

  “As I said…”

  “Listen, I’m not interested in having a conversation – you might think that we’re an interesting case to study, a quirky evolutionary error, a freak… whatever you want. What we know is that we haven’t committed any crimes. Hannibal will not be back. Can you get us out of here?”

  “We’ll have to work together for a long time to be able to do that – you’ll have to agree to take medication, accept the help that you’ve never wanted to get and that you decided to refuse. That’s the only way forward. As I said, it’s going to take a long time.”

  “Well, we’re not that busy after all, right now. Let’s start tomorrow. See you soon, Professor.”

  The audio file ended a moment later. Claps was about to say something but the professor stopped him with a hand gesture. “Hang on, I want you to listen to the conversation that I had with Jack the following day… it’s a video, this time. An interesting one.”

  The professor turned the laptop towards Claps and Greta and clicked on the file in question.

  “Good morning, Jack.”

  Riondino was at the centre of the screen. He was wearing a tracksuit. Unlike the last time that Claps had seen him, his beard was thick and his hair incredibly long. His posture, however, was the same – he was sitting behind a desk looking sorry for himself, his fingers intertwined, his chest and his head leaning forward.

  “Jack? Why do you call me that?” Riondino said. His eyes betrayed his confusion as he looked over to the professor.

  “Sorry, I didn’t figure out that it was you for a moment. Good morning, Riondino. How are you today?”

  “I’m okay, thanks, Professor… just a little… confused.”

  “Do you want me to help you to relax?”

  Riondino didn’t reply, but his posture became incredibl
y rigid and his eyes began to be affected by a frantic twitching.

  “I’m here, Professor. We don’t need hypnosis. Let’s get started.”

  The Wimp had gone, but the personality who had taken over Riondino was not the Fox that Claps had met before. Riondino’s posture was rigid, yet not as much so as a moment earlier, and his shoulders were hunched forward slightly. His face had wrinkles that the Wimp had never had, his eyes were deep and dark, yet without any emotion.

  “I thought I would find you here straight away when I entered, Jack.”

  “It’s safer for us to let the Wimp show up when we’re talking to people. He doesn’t get us into trouble.”

  “Does he not know about you and the Fox?”

  “No, he’s not aware of us. I’m pretty sure that you know this already.”

  “Yes, but there’s something that I’d like to ask about that.”

  Riondino’s eyes remained firm, intense and impenetrable. He hadn’t blinked once yet. “I promised you that I would co-operate – ask away. I’ll answer anything so long as it’s not related to Hannibal and whatever he did. We will talk about him, but not today or tomorrow.”

  “Okay, Jack. So yesterday you said that you oversee the Wimp – how do you do that without letting him realise that you exist?”

  “I talk to him, I tell him what to do, but he doesn’t feel my presence.”

  “A bit like hearing voices in your head?”

  Riondino became a little nervous.

  “Psychiatrists like you are obsessed with fucking voices in people’s heads, right? You’ve been on about them since Joan of Arc or even before then. Saints, witches and magic… nowadays, it’s the insane. They all hear voices in their heads.”

  “What is it like then?”

  “He perceives them as his thoughts… what’s best to do and what isn’t. In a way, I’m his conscience.”

  “Do you have a proper dialogue with the Fox, instead?”

  “Yeah, I talk to everyone else.”

  “Everyone else. I’ll ask you a question that I asked yesterday – who else is there apart from the Fox and Hannibal?”

  “People, Professor. Personalities. Individuals.” Riondino spoke clearly.

  “Okay, individuals. Are there any other individuals?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. Before asking about them, I’d like to know how your dialogues work. Do you speak to each other out loud or are they just thoughts? Do you use sentences or are they more like feelings, mental images?”

  “Both. Sometimes it’s just something internal, it’s difficult to explain. It’s a bit like a thought crossing the mind for a millisecond. More often it’s more like a dialogue – when we’re sure that we’re alone, we speak out loud.”

  “How many… individuals are there?”

  “About ten.”

  “Do you talk to each and every one of them, Jack?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do they talk to each other?”

  “Some of them. Those who know each other.”

  “Not all of them are aware of the existence of the others?”

  “Correct. I’m the only one who knows them all.” A pause. “I oversee them.”

  “I’ll have to understand a little better what you mean by overseeing and I would like to be able to talk to the others, Jack.”

  “We have plenty of time on our hands, Professor.”

  “Let’s begin talking about your interesting situation. That is to say, the existence of multiple… let’s say individuals… in the same body. Individuals who take over the body in turns. How would you describe this process, Jack? How does it happen?”

  “Since you like metaphors…” his tone was sarcastic. “Imagine a theatre. A fucking beautiful theatre – a huge stage where each of us performs. Some of us sleep in the background, others think in silence or speak to each other. The spotlight illuminates one person at a time – that’s the one who shows up and interacts with the world outside. To interact – do you like this big word, Professor?”

  “Good word choice, Jack… can you explain a little what you mean when you say that the others think in silence or speak to each other, while one of you is under the spotlight?”

  “It means exactly what I said – our life isn’t limited to appearing to the external world. We still exist even if one person at a time shows up on the stage. Is it too difficult to understand, Professor? I reckon you also have more than one thought that co-exists in your mind? Do they not intertwine and contaminate each other sometimes?”

  Professor Reti remained silent for a while, then he carried on talking.

  “How does the person who shows up interact with the world outside? I mean, does he interact autonomously?”

  “Of course. As I said several times, they are not just an aspect of my personality, as you seem to view it – each of them is an individual.”

  “I believe you, Jack. We wouldn’t be here talking otherwise. I’m just trying to understand. You must admit that your situation is a little… out of the ordinary.”

  “You hesitated… did you mean ‘pathological’ instead of ‘out of the ordinary’?”

  “Jack – you wouldn’t be in a secure psychiatric unit if you weren’t mentally ill.”

  Riondino squinted slightly. “Do you think I’m a loony?”

  “As I said, I’m just trying to understand. For example, do you see what one of the individuals does when he’s on stage?”

  “I can if I want to. Or I can just rest. I’m the only one who’s able to do either of those things – the others won’t see what that individual does.”

  “Do you know what they think?”

  “Do you think that I’m a fucking wizard who reads people’s minds? That’s impossible, come on!”

  “So the others can’t see the… individual who’s on stage and they can only get glimpses of it every now and again – now, when the spotlight is on each of them, are they not confused by the lack of a continuation in their memory? The Wimp, for example – he doesn’t know about the other individuals…”

  “That’s right – he doesn’t know about our existence. What he knows is that he… zones out sometimes.”

  “Can you explain this further?”

  “It happens to all of us – you’re doing something outside and then, all of a sudden, you find yourself somewhere else. You know that time hasn’t stopped in the meantime but you don’t remember what has happened.”

  “It must be terrifying.”

  “For you, perhaps – it’s always been like that for us. There’s nothing terrifying about it, it’s just the way we are.”

  “You said a few times that you oversee the others… What do you mean exactly – what is your role in particular?”

  “First of all – let’s carry on with the stage metaphor. I’m the one who moves the spotlight.”

  “You decide who can show up on stage?”

  “Only partially – each of them has their own space and when I rest I don’t know who’s out on stage. I can only stop somebody from showing up if I don’t want him to.”

  “How do you do that? Can you explain it to me?”

  “I just will it, that’s it.” Riondino spoke in a sarcastic tone, again. “I can’t explain it otherwise. If you don’t like my answer, feel free to explain to me what happens – you’re the headshrinker after all.”

  “Let’s focus on being on stage for a moment, the spotlight. Does it move on different individuals casually?”

  “When I was young, that’s how it worked… or maybe the situations that I found myself in favoured one person over the others.”

  “Is it different now?”

  “There’s some kind of agreement, based on the need to hide our condition. We have rules – space for all, but no mess allowed to affect anyone else. People’s safety must not be put in danger for no reason at all. We also have to be completely honest with each other – it’s a matter of pride, we will never lie to each other.”

>   “It never happens?”

  “Never.”

  “Does it happen that somebody just omits some information?”

  Riondino looked shocked by the question. “Omitting information? Omitting isn’t like lying. If somebody asks a direct question, the others will always reply sincerely. It can happen that they don’t answer or that they give an ambiguous answer – our language allows that quite easily, but according to our rules, this is not lying.”

  “Who has decided your… rules?”

  “Have a guess, Professor.” Riondino said, looking a little frustrated.

  “You?”

  “That’s right.”

  “So you have authority over the others.”

  “Wasn’t that obvious to you already, Professor? I’m the only one who knows them all and I’m the only one who decides what to do when there’s an important decision to make… or a response to a critical situation is required.”

  “Like right now?”

  “I can’t think of anything worse than being in prison.”

  “If I got it right, you’re giving orders to all the others about how to behave, right?”

  “That’s right, sir.”

  “Do they all obey you? Have they always obeyed?”

  Riondino exclaimed. “I said that I don’t want to talk about Hannibal, for fuck’s sake!”

  “I wasn’t talking about him, Jack. Didn’t you say that he’s buried?”

  “Yeah, he’s gone.” Riondino hesitated for a moment and looked away. Then he carried on talking, this time faster than before. “That’s the reason why we want to get out of here – we’re not guilty.”

  “We’ll have to work a lot before this happens, but we’re taking a first step today. Do you agree? You still haven’t told me if they all obey you…”

  “I must admit that I sometimes struggle with a couple of them.”

  “Can you expand on that? Do you want to tell me about the other individuals that live with you?”

  “I’m tired right now…” Riondino’s tone of voice had suddenly lowered. “I think we’ve talked enough for today.”

  “Okay, let’s stop here – we’ll carry on some other day. One more thing though, it’s not a question… it’s more like a task, something that I’d like you to do, Jack. It’s for our next meeting and it’s important.”