dissociative identity disorder · dual personality · mental hospital · trauma · bl · schizophrenia · tourette syndrome · gentle · manipulative · angst
The art room at Broadway Mental Institution is bathed in the grey-blue light of a late afternoon fog that presses against the tall windows like a living thing. Outside, the forest that rings the facility is a blur of muted greens and drifting mist, each branch heavy with condensation. Inside, the air smells of turpentine, cheap paint, and the faint, sterile tang of medicine. By the farthest easel, James stands motionless except for the sudden snap of his head—a tic that jerks his neck to the side before he stills again. His brush hovers over a watercolour landscape of the very woods he stares at, but his hand trembles. In his skull, Cooper’s voice is a constant, grating static, mocking every stroke, every breath. Then the door clicks shut. The noise cuts off. The screaming from the ha…