The Perfect Son (3 page)

“What is all of this?”

“Those are writings from some of our previous sessions before your accident. I think you will find them insightful.”

Quickly, Cody riffled through them before looking up again, even more confused.

“Are you sure? This isn’t my handwriting. I can barely even read it,” he said.

“When you first came to me, you were very depressed, and depression can affect people in profound ways, including changing their penmanship.”

At that, Cody nodded, and then quickly read through the papers. Meanwhile, Dr. Cruson analyzed every expression that flitted across the boy’s face. He knew exactly what those notes contained; anger and despair at feeling abandoned by his father, feelings of failure and rejection in regards to his mother, thoughts of suicide, and thoughts of running away from it all.

“I showed you those writings, now, because you mentioned your father last night, right before you attacked your mother.”

Completely forgotten, all of the papers Cody was holding fell to the floor.

“What?”

“It would seem some of your past memories are trying to return, but it is too early to tell. This is why it is important you alert your mother, or someone else that you trust, if any little thing comes to mind. Recovering from amnesia can be traumatic in itself, but you must remember, no matter how hurtful or scary the memories may seem, you’ve already lived through them once before, so you know that you can do it again,” Dr. Cruson said, before Cody nodded, firmly.

“I understand, Sir.”

“I’m glad that you do. Just remember that I am always here for you,” Dr. Cruson said as he walked Cody out. He made eye contact with Kelly, and she immediately sent Cody to the car.

“Well, how did he seem?”

“He didn’t appear to be any different from my last session. I even pushed him a bit more than I normally feel comfortable doing, but I did not get an atypical reaction. At this point, it is too early to tell. His memories can be naturally returning, or it could be the product of sleep deprivation. This could be the start of many memories returning, or an event like this may never happen again. It’s too early to tell. What I recommend you to do is document all of his behavioral nuances over the course of the weekend, and then return to my office for a session on Monday.  We’ll then go from there.”

***

“When I told you to document all of his behaviors, this isn’t quite what I had in mind,” Dr. Cruson said as he watched the video tape in his office. Instead of bringing him a journal filled with writing, Kelly had hidden cameras installed in every room in the house, including the bathroom.

“Say what you will, but after everything I’ve been through this past weekend, I’m glad I had those cameras installed. It was money well spent.”

On the screen, Cody was casually reading and writing, and then he got up and straightened his room, before he worked on his homework. He then went to sleep with Sandy joining him after his breath evened out. Fast forward to roughly an hour later, Sandy darted under the bed, only for Cody to spring awake looking disheveled and crazed. Cautiously, Sandy approached him before sniffing and licking his hand, and then darted back under the bed. Seconds later, with purpose, Cody made his way to his mother’s office, but the door was locked.

“It appears that there is something of interest to him in that room,” Dr. Cruson said, without turning from the screen.

“There’s nothing in there but papers for my work. He shouldn’t be concerned with any of that.”

Seeing that he couldn’t enter the office, Cody casually walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, and rapidly searched every cabinet he could reach. Finally finding what he was looking for in the pantry, he ravenously ate a family size package of cookies and half a dozen doughnuts, before he turned to the fridge and guzzled milk directly from the carton.

“Didn’t you inform me that since the accident his taste buds have changed, and sweet foods have fallen from his favor?” Dr. Cruson asked as he stared at the screen in wonderment.

“I used to scold Cody about his diet almost daily, but since the accident, he’s been the one scolding me. This is the first time I’ve seen him eat anything remotely unhealthy in six months.”

Finally satiated, Cody returned to his room, locked his door, pulled all of the drapes in his room, and then pulled out his laptop. For several hours, he typed without pause until he started losing his battle with sleep. Like a madman, he aggressively fought it off until he was shaking himself awake every few seconds. Not soon after that, he lost, and slept for an hour and a half, before he calmly woke up, cleaned the mess he seemed to be confused about, and then selected another book to read.

“He did that all weekend. During the day, he’d be his normal calm and polite self, and then he’d sleep for a short while, only to wake up like that. The cycle did not stop until midday Sunday when he collapsed from exhaustion, and slept for twelve hours. I almost kept him out of school today, but he insisted on going,” Kelly said after setting the video to sixteen times normal speed.

“Did you interact with him during these alternative episodes?”

“Not willingly, no. They seem to only occur at night, which is scary as hell. On Friday night, the night of the same day we last spoke, I woke up to him standing over me, just staring through me as if he was in a trance. I had the cameras installed the next morning.”

That admittance caused Dr. Cruson’s brow to furrow, and it appeared as if he had lots to say, but at the last moment he shook his head, and returned his expression to one of placidness.

“Are you certain that this behavior only occurs at night? The pattern appears to be tied to his sleep cycle. Does he take naps at all?” he asked.

“No, Cody has never liked naps, even when he was a baby. He’s one of the only people I know that can sleep for large blocks of uninterrupted time, so he usually just goes to bed earlier in the evening if he gets tired.”

“I see,” Dr. Cruson said, before rewinding the film to a few parts of interest. Multiple times during his Saturday night escapade, Cody was seen with his head in his hands, rocking and crying, before flying into a rage, and then rapidly pacing. He’d then return to his typing as if his life depended on it.

“Do you know what he’s typing?” Dr. Cruson asked.

“No, that’s the thing. Ever since the accident, he’s been signing on under a guest account, because he couldn’t remember his password–” Kelly began.

“But he remembered it just fine Saturday night,” Dr. Cruson finished.

“
Exactly
. This is madness. Sean mentioned something about Cody
not
being Cody before he stopped coming over, but I didn’t pay him any attention. I figured he was just mad he couldn’t talk him into doing stupid shit anymore, but maybe this has been going on for longer than I thought. Is it possible for him to be two different people? What do they call it, multiple personalities or something?”

“You’re referring to dissociative identity disorder. There is a possibility that he could fall along the dissociative spectrum, but it is far too early to make a diagnosis, especially one as extreme as that. The first thing we need to do is get him in for another round of testing to rule out any abnormal changes in his physiology, especially considering how quickly these behaviors have arose. In the meantime, I need to speak with him to see how he has responded to these changes,” Dr. Cruson said, calmly.

“That’s fine by me as long as we’re actively moving towards a diagnosis and a solution,” Kelly said before walking out into the lobby to retrieve Cody. A moment later, they both returned.

“I’ve decided to sit in on this session,” Kelly said.

“Mrs. Winters, I understand your concerns, but to truly–”

“No, I’m sitting in on this session. Since you’ve been seeing my son, I’ve stepped back, and gave you as much privacy as you wanted. Now, however, it is clear that something is seriously wrong, and I need every bit of available information at my disposal to make sound decisions regarding his physical and mental health, including those previous writings of his,” Kelly said, causing Dr. Cruson to let out a tired sigh.

“Cody, please give me and your mother a moment as we discuss a few things,” he said, before beckoning Kelly to follow him out into the hallway. Once outside with the door closed, he turned to her.

“Kelly, I know that you’re worried, but I really don’t think that this is a good idea. He may say that he isn’t bothered by your presence, and may even genuinely appear to be accepting of it, but nine times out of ten, patients hold back, especially children, when a loved one is present. Please allow me to speak with him alone. If anything even remotely serious arises, I will disclose it to you,” he said, before unlocking the door directly next to his office.

“If it makes you feel better about the situation, you can watch us from here. You won’t be able to hear anything, but you’ll be able to observe,” he said, while revealing a secret room with a two-way mirror. Kelly looked around the room, and then turned to stare at Cody, who was quietly sitting in front of Dr. Cruson’s desk.

“Very well. As for the writings?” Kelly asked.

“I’ll give you those of most concern,” Dr. Cruson said.

Hurriedly, he left the room, rifled through his file cabinet, gave Kelly the papers, and then returned to Cody.

“Okay, now we can have each other’s undivided attention. How have you been feeling? Your mother has informed me that you’ve had quite an eventful weekend.”

“Yes, she says I have, but she won’t go into detail with me. Even so, I know that something is going on,” Cody said, and a dejected expression flashed across his face. Dr. Cruson didn’t miss it.

“Why do you say that?” he asked.

“I don’t know how exactly, but I know something is wrong. No matter how much I sleep, I always wake up tired, if I even can wake up.”

“You’re having problems waking up?”

“Yes. It only just started happening. Sometimes I’ll try to awaken, but I can’t no matter how hard I attempt it. It’s a frightening feeling, so I just let myself fall back to sleep to try again later.”

“I see.”

Dr. Cruson knew precisely what Cody was describing, because he had experienced it many times himself: sleeper paralysis. He most certainly never heard of it being paired with an alter ego, however.

“When you return to sleep, do you dream?”

“I do, actually. Every time I can’t wake up, I always dream that I’m in some place that I’ve never visited before. It’s always the same place.”

“Interesting. If I give you a pen and a sheet of paper, do you think you’ll be able to recall the details of this place?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Wordlessly, Dr. Cruson handed Cody his personal notepad and special pen, and immediately the boy began writing. Dr. Cruson thought it would be a quick affair, but once Cody turned the page and kept going, Dr. Cruson realized that he had lots to say, so he quietly excused himself, and headed to the secret room. He found Kelly with her head bowed, carefully wiping her eyes.

“I never knew he felt this way. I have so much I want to say to him, but he doesn’t remember any of this,” she said as she sat the papers down and stared at her son through the glass. He had been writing for several minutes and didn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.

“What is he writing?” she asked.

“Cody has informed me that there have been periods during this past weekend where he felt as if he couldn’t wake up. He also informed me that he has a reoccurring dream during these episodes, so I’ve asked him to record everything he can remember from the dream,” Dr. Cruson said.

“Do you think those periods coincide with his bouts of insanity?”

“I am uncertain. Speaking with him has given me more questions than answers, so while he is getting tested over the next few days, I will be researching his condition. I’ll be honest with you, dissociative identity disorder is a large area of debate in the psychotherapy community, and I have always been in the camp that denied its existence due to me never personally encountering a single case in nearly thirty years in the field. If there is such a disorder, however, I would have no choice but to consider it,” Dr. Cruson said while staring intensely at Cody through the glass.

“Why do you say that? What is it about Cody that’s making you consider it?” Kelly asked, but Dr. Cruson just answered her question with a question.

“Correct me, if I am wrong, but Cody is left-handed, right?”

“Yes, the same as me and his father,” Kelly said while looking at Dr. Cruson. Not breaking his gaze, he nodded towards the glass, drawing Kelly’s attention back to Cody. He was still filling the paper with neat, decorative cursive writing, a skill Kelly didn’t know Cody had. He was also doing it with his right hand.

***

“Thanks again for gathering all of his missed assignments, Mrs. Walker. I really do appreciate it,” Kelly said as she leafed through the hefty stacks of paper.

“Oh Mrs. Winters, it is my pleasure to help in any way, and all of Cody’s teachers feel the same. He is a great student, and I feel terrible that he has fallen ill again. Do you know when he will be returning to us?” Mrs. Walker asked, looking genuinely concerned.