Josie's Journey

We Can't Leave, You Dumb

Josie was sitting down, waiting for the rest of the patients who had DID/OSDD to come to the group. She was nervous and didn't know what to do or say. She kinda felt empty, not wanting to move but she felt so sad.

"Welcome to the group, Josie. In here we learn had to cope with having the disorder and handling your systems." Jessica said.

She watched and listened as everyone said their name and what type they had. Turns out there were two other people who had the same type she had. She felt a little less anxious when the coordinator handed everyone a piece of paper and a pen to write down the types of coping skills she knew that helped.

"So with this group, there are many ways to cope with DID/OSDD. Writing, journaling, painting, sketching, drawing, sports, etc. There's so many to choose from. You just have to find the one you prefer." The coordinator said. "It is hard to deal with it, but it's possible to learn the right way to handle each of the alters."

Josie didn't understand most of what Jessica was saying and she didn't know why she kept dozing off or zoning but she thought about it for the next few hours until her appointment. "Hi there Josie." She said to her.

She waved and sat down in the chair. "Hi.." she said quietly as she yawned. "I'm really tired." She said as she looked at the doctor.

"That's normal. It takes time to adjust to the medications. I have written you a referral for a therapist in your area who specializes in disorders. She helps a lot of my patients out there." He said as he clicked his pen and began writing.

She sat there silently until she heard 'psttt... we have to leave.' The voice said.

She sighed, 'we can't leave, you dumb.' She sounded like a child. She had switched to Alice who was counting the times the clock ticked. '1, 2, 3, 4, 5,...' she kept going.

"Josie?" She heard, then an arm and touched her shoulder and she jumped. "Don't touch me!" She screamed. The doctor gulped and looked at Josie. "You're going to be fine. Just breathe."

They did what he told them to do and nodded, closing her mouth and breathing deeply, suddenly calming her down. "There you go." The psych said.

Josie blinked and looked at the doctor with a hesitant sigh. She left the room and walked down the hall towards the bedrooms. She began to clean her side of the room, organizing her things and folding her extra blankets. It wasn't too difficult until she fell and hit her arm on the hard floor. She was dissociating. Her body went limp and she passed out from her blood pressure being too low and her heart rate being higher than usual. She tried to grab onto something.

A loud band was heard from her room so Jackie ran and tried to pick josie up. She could do it so she rolled her onto her side, noticing she was having a seizure. She watched and counted the minutes. It lasted for two minutes, then the nurses tried to wake josie up.