Chapter Text
Chapter 9 - Epilogue
Rhett’s bare feet dangled over the end of the hospital bed. But he didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything. He wasn’t hot or cold, nor happy or sad. He wasn’t anything.
Link and a doctor sat in the two chairs next to the bed.
“I just don’t understand,” Link said. “He thinks he’s married to a woman. He thinks he has kids. He kept asking for them. He doesn’t always remember that I’m his husband.”
“Your husband is clearly suffering from some kind of delusions. It appears to be similar to a dissociative identity disorder.”
“Multiple personalities?”
“Similar,” the doctor said. “But this is different. He isn’t living as multiple people. He’s living as two versions of himself. Usually, these types of delusions arise as the result of abuse or trauma. Has he had anything like that in his life?”
Link shook his head. “I’ve known him my whole life. Nothing like that has ever happened. And this happened out of the blue. Just a few days ago.”
There was a pause, and Link spoke again. “Is he going to get better?”
The doctor hesitated. “Treating multiple personalities traditionally involves integrating the different personas. As this is not a clear case, I am not sure exactly what therapeutic approach will be most effective.”
“So he might not.”
“Nothing is certain.”
Link took Rhett’s hand. “Get out,” he said, coldly, looking at Rhett not the doctor.
“I apologize for being realistic, but …”
“Just get out,” Link repeated.
The doctor nodded and backed out of the room. Rhett stared up at Link with no expression on his face.
Link stood and leaned over Rhett, kissing him on the forehead, and then both cheeks, and finally leaving a firm kiss on his lips. A tear slid down his cheek and landed in Rhett’s beard.
“Don’t leave me,” he begged, his voice quavering. “I don’t know how to exist without you. You have to come back to me.”
He sat again, collapsing into the chair. He grasped Rhett’s hand in his and squeezed, desperate to convey the only thing he could find to say. He spoke, but tears muffled the words.
“I do love you,” he said. “And I always will. Nothing will ever change that.”