- DISCLAIMER - 

I have thoroughly researched DID (Dissociative identity disorder) to the best of my abilities. I've read articles, journals, and research papers, and have watched educational videos and documentaries to get this as accurate as I can, but this does not mean I am a professional in any way. I discourage you to use this book as a basis for DID. This book is still a work of fiction and most of the things that happen here are based on pure imagination. Thank you.

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"THERE ARE A TOTAL of 58 rooms in this manor, while 32 are unusable. They're either flooded or damaged after the war. Now out of the 26 usable rooms, there are five that you're not allowed to enter. I'll show them to you later after breakfast," the man says as I follow behind him with my hands inside my pockets.

     "How long is this fucking corridor?" I ask with an annoyed expression, making the man look over his shoulder so he could face him.

     "Is there a problem?" He asks.

     I take a deep breath and pull a hand out of my pocket so I could scratch my neck. "How many people live in this dump?" I ask instead.

     The man looked annoyed, but he tries his best not to get affected by it as he says, "If I count you and Winter as one then there's supposed to be five individuals living here. I just haven't met the other one," he answers, making me roll my eyes in irritation as soon as he mentioned Winter's name.

     "By the way, what do people call you here?" I ask him next.

     The man turns his head away from me and continues walking with his back facing my direction. "My name is Marcelino, but you can call me—"

     "Lino," I say, instantly making him stop walking. He then turns back around and looks at me with an angry expression. "That's not how I want you to call me."

(NOTE: Lino is pronounced as /li/ like lee, and /no/ like the word nor, so lee-no. Marcelino.)

     "But that's how I want to call you," I stubbornly say. "There is no way in hell a twenty-four-year-old man like me will call you Mr. M. I'm not into role plays, so you better get used to getting called Lino before I start calling you Mr. smiley-face instead."

    Lino looks at me with annoyance and irritation. "How can a twenty-four-year-old man have such a rotten mouth?" He asks before turning back in defeat. He starts walking away, so I immediately jog to his side so I could walk beside him instead of behind him.

     While we walk down the stairs, I glance at Lino and finally ask the question that I've been dying to ask since I first saw him. "So how did you get that scar? Did you cut it because you got tired of seeing a frown on your face, or did someone cut it for you?"

     "Do you not know how to shut up? You might be twenty-four now but I am still older than you. The only reason why I haven't pulled your tongue out and minced it like garlic is because Winter was polite to me last night," Lino says, and I almost thought that he was joking if it weren't for the serious expression that's on his face.

     I seriously almost vomited in front of him if I wasn't able to swallow it down on time.

     "Winter? That weak good-for-nothing kid? Don't believe any word he says. Don't believe in his intelligence and his innocent demure. That kid's a devil," I warn him, but Lino wasn't interested in what I was saying to him anymore.

     We both walk in silence until we arrive at a dining room fit for a king. It looked clean and expensive. Imagine how much this single room costs. "Please tell me you didn't cook breakfast," I say as I was about to take a seat at the dining table when Lino suddenly grabs me by the collar and pulls me away.

     "Hey! What gives?!" I complain as he starts dragging me towards a different room. It was actually the kitchen that had a small table on the side which I suspect would be where we'll be eating since the table is already set. The plates, mugs, and chairs didn't match either compared to how clean and organized the other dining room was.

     "So we eat in the poor dining room?" I ask as Lino finally lets go of my collar.

     It wasn't exactly a clean kitchen, but it wasn't dirty either. And the windows weren't blocked up too so it was bright, bright enough to let me see the girl who was frying something that I suspect is scrambled eggs if it was yellow.

     "Adeline, you're burning it!" Lino angrily scolds. He runs to the girl wearing a maid's uniform and turns the stove off. I watch as the girl politely steps aside, most of her fingers covered with band-aids, which made me realize that the shattering sound that I heard when I woke up earlier must have come from her.

     "Sweetheart, if you're planning to burn the house down, you'll need more than a frying pan and some eggs," I tell her before taking a seat at a table that's only fit for four people. Like, why do they even have a large dining room like that if we're not even going to use it?

     "This is Adeline," Lino introduces before dumping the burnt eggs in the bin so he can start cooking new and better ones. "She moved in last year. She's the head maid of this manor, and the temporary cook, but sadly she's bad at both things."

     "Head maid or the only maid?"

     I stare at the girl named Adeline and examine her from head to toe. Her eyes are black and her hair is a light brown color. Her face almost looked like a porcelain doll too. She's small, maybe 4 feet something, and to top it all off, her expression was completely blank. It's like if you scare her, she'd maintain a poker face and you'll end up getting scared instead.

     "Hey," I greet with a charming smile before giving her a wink.

     As expected, even that move didn't work on her, so I turn back to my usual bored and unbothered expression and tell her, "What the hell happened to you, Wednesday Addams? Did someone kill your parents?"

     Lino immediately clears his throat and glares at me, mentally telling me that I crossed the line. Of course, I knew that I was just joking, so I shrug my shoulders and decide not to apologize.

     "Go take a seat, Adeline," Lino says, and little Adie politely walks towards the table and takes a seat in front of me, her face still expressionless even if I continue to uncomfortably stare at her like I was some kind of perv.

     Adeline stares back at me with no hint of anything, so I look away from her in defeat. "Lino, something's wrong with her," I say while pointing my fork in her direction.

     Lino arrives with the scrambled eggs and places them in the middle of the table beside the toasts that thankfully didn't get burned too. "Something's wrong with you," Lino says instead, emphasizing the word you.

     I roll my eyes in annoyance, but I didn't say anything anymore. I then lift the mug placed in front of me and hand it over to Adeline. "Adie, be a doll and make me some coffee."

    Adeline was about to grab the mug and make coffee for me like how I asked, but then this annoying Lino suddenly snatches the mug and places it back on the table before taking his seat beside Adeline. "She doesn't serve you," he tells me.

     "She's a fucking maid, you said it yourself," I bicker back.

     "She is, but not for you. If you have forgotten Mr. Lancaster, you work here now too. That's why you're here. If you want coffee, you can find them in the cupboards. There's also hot water in the kettle, assuming you know what a kettle is," Lino says, making me gasp because I didn't expect to be served some attitude this early in the morning.

     "For your information Mr. Smiley-face, I had no say in all this. It's Winter's fault for wanting to get cured by this plague doctor. He just wants to get rid of me," I explain to him, but of course, Lino already knew about that.

     I don't really know the full details, but Winter believes he's getting cured by this plague doctor, and then he'll be able to come back home after that, not knowing that we're practically stuck here forever now. Though I'm fully aware that there's no cure—believe me, I've learned that the hard way—I just let Winter believe what he wants to believe. At least let the innocent child have hope.

     "So you want to get rid of him, considering he's just your other personality and you're the main host," Lino assumes, making me snort.

     "Winter is not my personality. Personalities are like a person's characteristics, and we are well aware that he's more than that. I'm not him, and I'm not fucking bipolar either. Winter is more of an alter; he's a completely different person. He's an alternate personality," I correct Lino. "And I told you, Winter's the one who wants to get treated by this doctor. I'm the one he's trying to get rid of."

     Lino and Adie instantly look at each other before looking back at me like I'm some type of idiot.

     "Is that even possible? You're the host perso...alter...you have the most control, and Winter is, what, twelve? Your body belongs to a twenty-four-year-old man. How is that going to work out?" Lino asks, making me grin at him.

     "Well, ask little Winter. He wants to get rid of me because he's weak. Unlike others with alters, Winter can't come out as freely as he wants. I give the signal if he's allowed to come out or not, but trust me, it's often. I'm just too tired of living so I let him do the work," I explain to them.

    Lino stares at me with a serious expression. He's probably thinking that I'm joking, so I just start laughing so they'd continue to think that I'm just this crazy psycho. The last thing I want is to let them pity me because of what I said on the spur of the moment. "Anyway, if this doctor of yours is as great as everyone says he is, he'll be able to make that happen, right?" I ask before standing up from my seat and finally making my own coffee since Lino won't let Adie make one for me.

     "Well, we can't really judge you for that. We're all here for a reason, and your reason is as valid as ours," Lino states, making me chuckle.

     Now holding the mug - that even has a crack - I start making my coffee. While my back was behind theirs, I tell them, "This doctor of yours must be very kind to house such damaged people. Will he be able to cure me though? Because other than my disorder, I have this sickness where my dick is always hard. It's kind of concerning."

     I wasn't looking at them, but I could already feel the anger oozing out of Lino. If I said more, he might have already thrown his plate in my direction while I'm still not looking at them.

     "Come on, lighten up, it's a joke," I casually say as I turn around with the hot coffee in my hand, Lino looking at me with such an angry expression, just like how I expected him to.

     "We don't joke about the master like that," Lino warns me, making me roll my eyes as I take a seat.

     "You must be so indebted to him," I say with a sarcastic tone before taking a sip of my coffee that almost burned my tongue. "So what's my job then? Am I going to be a sex slave for this so-called doctor? Because I'd very much prefer that," I jokingly say despite Lino's warning, but no one at the table laughed.

     Tough crowd.

     "It all depends on the young master. You'll be meeting him this afternoon so you best behave," Lino tells me.

     "Behave? Oh darling I don't do behave," I say, reaching my feet towards Lino, touching his leg, and slowly dragging it upward so I can touch his crotch. But as I was about to do so, Lino suddenly grabs hold of my feet and aggressively thugs my leg, almost making me fall off the seat.

     His grip on my ankle was so strong that I couldn't help but wince, but then the wince slowly escalates to a moan as I lick my lips while I lock my eyes on Lino, finally making him let go of me.

     "There is seriously something wrong with you," Lino tells me with a disgusted look on his face, making me laugh.

     As Adie and Lino finally start eating in peace, I look back at the two and ask for the ketchup so I can put some on my eggs.

     "It's at the counter," Lino tells me, already set on the fact that he's not going to do anything for me even though he was busy helping Adie put butter on her toast.

     "If you can put butter for her you can get me some ketchup," I complain as I stand from my seat again to get the ketchup while Lino and Adie continue to ignore me like I didn't exist.

     "By the way, who is this young master anyway? And why isn't he here? All I know about him is that people call him the plague doctor, but is it true that he's a real doctor, or is it just a title? Heard the guy's actually a myth though so I'm not sure," I ask as I start searching for the ketchup in the sea of spices and other condiments on this messy counter.

     As soon as I spot the ketchup, I grab it and walk back to the table, the two of them looking back at me like I was stupid, so I look at them with my right eyebrow raised as I ask, "What? Did I say something weird?"

     "You really don't know anything?" Lino asks, and as I take a seat, he answers for me, "It isn't just a title. The young master really is a doctor, but he doesn't cure patients..."

     "What do you mean?" I ask, confused since a doctor is supposed to be curing patients. If that's not what he's doing, then what's the point in calling him a doctor?

     Lino puts down his fork and leans closer to me, almost as if he was afraid that others would be listening and they'd hear what he's about to say. "He makes them sick..." He finally reveals, surprising me. Honestly, with how this manor looks, and how even the cab driver didn't want to go near it, I can make a quick guess that sketchy things happen here. But this? This was something that I didn't expect to hear at all. Why on earth would someone purposely make people sick?

     "People call this manor the Hell House, and do you know why?" Lino then asks.

     I slowly take a sip of my coffee and shake my head as an answer.

     Lino leans even closer and says, "We house the greatest criminals in this country. When they receive the death penalty, they send them here to the Hell House. That's why everyone in this town calls the master the Plague Doctor. If you ever see him, then it is certain that death will follow. And that...Bishop...is not a myth."

....

"And these are the rooms," Lino explains as we arrive at the third floor where I'm welcomed by a long hallway that has a dozen of doors, and an elevator at the end that I didn't even notice earlier. The hallway would look normal if the doors were like the rest of the rooms, but the doors were made of metal, similar to what you see in prisons or mental hospitals. Each door is also labeled by number, which is 0-7.

     "These are the rooms that I told you about earlier. Rooms zero to four are the five rooms that you are not allowed to enter. They're the private patient rooms," Lino explains while we walk further down the hall.

     "Rooms five to seven on the other hand are the rooms that we always have to keep an eye on. They're the Suicide Watch Rooms for the SWLs, or better known as the suicide watch list."

    "I should be in there then," I whisper to myself, and thankfully, Lino wasn't able to hear it.

     "A date has not been certain yet, but as soon as the manor opens, eight death row criminals will be staying here. How long they'll be staying here is unknown, but what is certain is that they'll all die," Lino then tells me as I approach room seven.

     Without Lino's permission, I head inside the room. The room is plain concrete, and it felt gloomy. It has a single bed, a table and a desk, and a window. The windows in each room weren't covered with plywood like the one in my room, except for room 0 which didn't have a window at all. The windows were also facing the back of the manor, so when I approached it, I was surprised to see that there was actually a view of the ocean there, just below the mountain that we were on.

     "We're close to the sea?" I ask in surprise.

     Lino walks behind me, and as I continue to stare at the view outside, I add, "Why do we have a suicide watch room if they're going to die anyway? What's the point?"

     "They'll die when the master says they'll die. If you have any more questions on how things work here, then you can ask the master about it later when he arrives."

     I stare at the sea one last time before finally turning around to look back at Lino. "Anything else you want to show me...Mr. M?"

     "No, that will be all. You may tour the rest of the manor. As of now, we're just waiting for the master to arrive, so do anything you want for the time being," Lino tells me. Without even waiting for my response, he turns and walks away, leaving me alone in this depressing room.

     "If this was a suicide watch room, why'd they make it look so depressing? I'd kill myself in here even if I didn't have suicidal tendencies," I honestly tell myself before finally walking out of the room and closing it shut.

     I continue to explore the manor like what Lino said. Most of the rooms that I went to were completely empty, while some were either locked or blocked by plywood. The other rooms, on the other hand, were bedrooms, a music room, a library, and even a kid's room that's complete with a crib that's surrounded by creepy dolls that children would definitely love.

     "I'm getting really tired," I say, yawning as I enter another room. I wasn't expecting much, but when I opened the door, I was surprised to see that it was actually an art studio.

     The scent of the paint and charcoal was familiar. The studio has at least four easels in the middle. Paintings were scattered everywhere, and even unfinished sculptures of faces and figures. Out of all the rooms that I've been in, this is the brightest, probably because it's on the edge of the manor, giving it more windows.

     "Wow," I say, looking around the paintings with awe while regretting the fact that I should have brought my cigarettes with me.

     As I continue to stare at the paintings, there was one particular painting that caught my eye, which was funny because I haven't even seen it yet since it was covered in a not-so-clean white sheet. I approach the covered painting, getting ready to remove the cloth when someone suddenly enters the room, instantly making me stop. I was expecting it to be either Lino, or maybe even this master that I have not seen yet, but to my surprise, it was actually Adeline.

     "Oh, Adie, it's just you," I say as I approach her with a friendly smile.

     Adeline looked terrified when she spots me, but since Lino wasn't here, I didn't try to act creepy around this sixteen-year-old girl like earlier. The only reason why I was doing that was because I wanted to mess with Mr. Smiley face.

     "Hi, do you own this room?" I ask.

     Adeline backs away, but she still nods her head as an answer.

     "So you painted all this?" I ask back, and like earlier, Adie doesn't say a single word and just nods her head again to answer my question.

     I awkwardly scratch the back of my head, trying to think of what I might be able to say so I could hear her voice, but then I had a perfect idea.

     I backed away from Adie and told her, "Wait here, I want you to meet someone."

     Adie looks at me with her eyes furrowed as I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I concentrate on the darkness surrounding me, but then at the end of the darkness was a very bright light. I run towards the light, reaching out to it as much as I can until I was out of breath. And as I open my eyes back, I gasp, and I'm suddenly welcomed by a very pretty girl that I have not met yet.

     "Oh, H-Hello," I shyly say, trying to compose myself as I look at where I am at the moment.

     The girl looks confused, but she then approaches me, staring at me from head to toe like she found me amusing.

     "I'm Winter Hollow." I greet her, trying my best not to look lost because I really had no clue where I was.

     The girl continues to stare at me. Then to my surprise, she leans close, almost making me stumble back. And just as I was about to move away from her, the girl suddenly smiles and shows me her hand. With a soft voice, she tells me, "I'm Adeline. Nice to meet you, Winter."

to be continued...