"Psychotherapy? Somehow I think Freddy's condition is far past simply talking it out," I sighed, my breath no doubt crinkling the sound on Dylan's end of the line.

"Well, according to what I could find on my own, long-term therapy is really the only known way of dealing with Disassociative Identity Disorder," he repeated, "It's a really rare condition as is. Sometimes antipsychotics or mood stabilizers are used to help the symptoms, but they don't cure the actual problem because the cause of the disorder is typically some sort of trauma. Medicine can't rewrite events."

"It sounds to me that we'll likely be trying a different method. Something a little less scientific," I observed.

"You have an idea then?" Dylan's interest seemed to pique.

"I think-" I was interrupted by my bedroom door suddenly swinging open.

"Honey, I got your-"

"JESUS CHRIST, MOM!" I yelled at the woman who appeared in the doorway holding a grocery bag.

"Sorry..." her tone was only half-sincere as she watched me retrieve the phone I had dropped in my startle.

While lifting the device back to my ear, I could hear Dylan worriedly asking if I was alright, "Sorry, Mom just popped in and scared me."

"How did you not hear me come in the house?" she crossed her arms.

"Hang on a second, Dylan," I carefully set the phone down and turned to my visitor, "Because I was on the phone," I answered with a hint of attitude.

"Well, here," Mom let her arms down and walked toward me, "I picked up those snacks you wanted."

I took the bag from her, glancing at it only momentarily before I realized she had started to leave again, "Hey, what you up to?"

"Probably going to watch a movie and head to bed early, why?" she was turned to see me again.

"Just wondering," I lied, "Thanks for the snacks."

"You're welcome, dear," she smiled, then continued on her way, "Let me know if you need anything."

"I will," I offered a weak grin, "Thanks." I lifted my phone again as I watched her depart, "Yeah, I might have found a way. I'm talking to someone online about it."

"Cool. My dad just finished up with some paperwork and is down in the kitchen. I'm going to go catch him before he goes to sleep or gets busy with something else and ask him about this," my friend informed, "Working at Westin Hills for so long, I bet he has some firsthand experience that might help."

"Okay, keep me updated. I gotta keep an eye on Mom," was the last thing said before I put the phone down and read the latest reply in a conversation I'd been having with one of the Pagans from the Facebook group I joined.

ISIS: No problem. I've practiced witchcraft most of my life. My whole family is Pagan. Mostly Wiccan.

Like I said on your post, it's all based on your particular situation, how you go about it, and of course the strength of your energy.
What exactly are you trying to do? Not meaning to be nosey, but if I had more details, I could be of more use.

ME: Well, it's kind of complicated and you'll think I'm crazy.....

ISIS: lol I doubt I will

ME: well...I've been in contact with this spirit and I've found out that part of him is evil, but not all of him is.
"Ideally, I'm looking for a way to just lock his evil side away, but since they're the same person I figure it wouldn't work that way and I'd just be trapping all of him.

But I don't want the good side of him suffering. I just want to keep everyone safe and I don't really know what else can be done.

ISIS: wow yeah, that is complicated lol but not crazy. Hm. Wanting to split someone's soul is very much out of our realm of things. If there is somebody who can do it, like a human I mean, I wouldn't
trust it. It'd be a very dark use of magick and that sort of thing is very precarious to handle...especially for someone new to witchcraft.

But on the bright side, you should be able to trap the spirit and still be able to safely communicate with it without fear of it getting loose again. It would require a lot
of work to keep it up of course and I can't guarantee your success

ME: I don't really have an other options so successful or not, if it's possible, I need to try.

ISIS: Alright, the first thing you need is the supplies to make the physical part of the trap.

ME: I have yarn? The ones I saw online were mostly made of types of string so...

ISIS: That's good. The physical part is less important than the energy work. Were you planning on weaving it or?

ME: um...

ISIS: alternatively, you can just wrap the string around a frame. Anything really- a can, a piece of wood... Hell, even fold some paper together.

I got up from the bed and walked over to where I'd set my backpack down. Quickly unzipping it and pulling out the folder I used to store blank paper, I took out a handful of pages and returned to where my computer and the bundle of yarn I'd found was. I shot Isis a message saying I got the paper before folding several of the sheets in half over each other.

ISIS: Okay, so when you wrap the yarn around it, you need to occasionally tie little knots in it. That's to help entangle the spirit.

ME: "So where does the spellwork come in?"

ISIS: "Do you know how to channel energy at all?"

ME: I've watched documentaries and movies where people channel ghosts but that's about it.

ISIS: lol channeling energy is a bit
different than channeling a ghost. No worries, it's simpler. Most people can teach themselves to do it to some degree. I'd recommend practicing a while before
actually working on your trap though.

ME: How long is a while? I don't have much time.

ISIS: How much time do you have?

ME: A couple days?

ISIS: then take tonight for practice.
I can send energy to you to help when you sit down to make the trap.

ME: You can send energy?

ISIS: Think of it like a prayer. You've
heard of people praying for someone to get over an illness right? That's all a prayer is is sending energy towards a cause.

ME: Oh I see. That makes sense. Thank you.

ISIS: no problem. Now, I want you to close your eyes and picture your body, then think about a color, whichever first comes to mind.

This color is rushing up and down your arms, legs, chest, head... everywhere inside you in circles. That is your energy, your soul, your
inner strength, whatever you want to call it.

Keep picturing it moving like that until you start to actually feel it in your body. It might feel like warmth or vibrations or even tingles or some other sensation.

After you feel it, focus on trying to push all of that energy upward through you and into your chest, then into you shoulders, then one arm, and down to your hand. When you can feel it moving and getting stronger in your hand, imagine that feeling pooling like a fresh wound
in the palm of your hand.

I took my time reading her messages as they popped up, hanging on to every instruction and memorizing them. After the last response, she stopped talking for a while which I took to mean she was waiting for me to say something.

ME: When I feel the energy like blood in my hand... What do I do then?

ISIS: That's the end of your practice. Just keep doing that exercise over and over until you can do it easily and it starts feeling stronger. When you start on your trap, you'll be forcing that energy in your palm into the yarn with the intent of capturing the creature
you're after behind it.

ME: The information I've read says you need some sort of bait for the spirit. Is that what my energy is supposed to be?

ISIS: Yes. There is the option of working other things into it such as the essence of something important to your intended prey or even a physical item with a powerful
energetic transcription such as blood to attract the type of spirit you're setting out for, but it's not common to.

ME: Okay thanks. I'm going to go try this now.

ISIS: TTYL

I put my supplies and my laptop off to the side and made myself comfortable on the bed with my back against the wall as I reached for the sack of snacks Mom brought. Dipping inside the plastic, I scooped out a smaller bag of my favorite chips and dropped the rest of the food to the floor beside me. I absentmindedly opened the chips and began munching on them whilst staring at my free hand.

Curling and uncurling its fingers, I went over what Isis had said about my energy. My vision almost blurred as I went too long without blinking, the color of my inner power almost instantly appearing in my mind. I lost interest in my snack then and tossed the bag to the ground with the others. Closing my eyes to give them the rest they were longing for, I began envisioning my body, the color I'd seen circulating. Slowly, I followed each step that had been given me and found that this channeling stuff was much easier than anticipated.

Was I a natural at this too like with fighting Freddy in the dream world?

I kept at my practice, determined to become as strong as I possibly could within the short time that I had to work with. I got so lost in training that I lost track of time as well. When this dawned on me, I threw myself out of thought so abruptly that it gave me a headache. A rapid glance at the phone on my nightstand told me that nearly three hours had passed since Mom had left my room.

"Shit!" I cursed aloud as I jumped from the bed and sprinted to the door, then down the hallway.

Mom's door was closed, but I could hear the television going. Good. She was probably still watching one of her stupid shows. Even so, I had to be sure. I knocked on the door to receive no answer other than a roar of laughter from the TV.

"Mom?" I called strongly with another rap on the wood. This time when I didn't hear her, I let my hand find the knob and twisted it open. Carefully pushing the door open, I laid sight on the dark room, illuminated only by the small projector that appeared to be set on a sitcom rerun. Creeping in with my eyes on the lump in the center of the bed, I called out once more.

Nothing.

My hand reached out, taking hold of the comforter and tugging it away from the barely decipherable outline of a human that it'd been concealing.

To my relief, my mother was laying there, dressed in a nightgown and sleeping. There were no injuries or damage done to her and I could see her chest moving upward and downward in a relaxed motion. She shifted in her slumber, making a short snorting sound that was almost humorous. I sat down at her feet and shook her.

"Mom! Mom! Wake up!"

The woman made the same noise as her head slowly rose a bit and her eyes fluttered to a barely open position that made her look like she was high. The smile that spread across her face didn't help that either. I grinned in return and opened my mouth to speak.

But I was interrupted again.

And this time, not by the pleasant or even partly annoyed voice of the woman laying next to me that I was expecting. Instead, her mouth opened and Freddy's raspy voice came out of it.

"Checkmate, bitch."

I was on my feet the second the words sounded. I lunged at the woman, desperate to shake him away and wake her, but she only fell limp in my arms, completely asleep. Frantically, I began screaming at her, hitting her chest, and tugging at her clothes. In a last effort, I slapped her cheek so hard it turned red. Yet still, she remained unconscious. I heard a tearing sound then and looked at her gown where invisible knives were ripping through the fabric, cutting into her skin another message:

"Isn't this fun?"

I had to go after him. It seemed he wasn't bluffing after all. Mom was like me and didn't have a big social life. She certainly didn't know a lot of kids which was Freddy's main attraction, but she did know other people. I had to stop him before he hurt her and before he spread.

Not planning anything but acting on instinct, I ran back to my room and retrieved the glove before rushing to Mom's side once more. I laid down in the bed beside her and closed my eyes, relaxing my body as if going to sleep, and focusing everything on Freddy.

You want to play games? Well, this queen doesn't pull her punches.