The sound of metal trailing, schling, schling, schling, always followed her steps. She was human before. Now she seemed like a zombie as she stood trembling in front of A+. There was so much she wished to tell the child that pointed a gun in her direction.
"Kill her, A+," Stein ordered.
Tears streamed down the woman's face. How she wished to remind the little girl that it wasn't her fault and that she still had a choice.
A+ shot once, Stein's training made off as the bullet hit the bullseye and went straight into the woman's heart. No tears streamed down child A+'s eyes though she had just killed her mother. This was her punishment for having left. Stein made her kill her.
Parents are the first wardens. They teach us what's right and fair but also immoral and destructive. One doesn't want to disappoint or be hated by them. One desires and needs their love and approval.
What happens if one gets rid of their first warden?
When their parents disappear from a natural cause life, what they taught their child helps them deal with grief.
What happens if the child becomes the cause of death, and they are told they are now free from their parents' tyrannic oppression?
Kuma San appeared for the first time the day A+ shot the strange woman with her cannonballs. Kuma has no fear or emotion. Notions of good and evil don't exist for Kuma. He executes without asking questions. Kuma helps A+. Thanks to Kuma San, A+ doesn't feel guilty. A beast and warden of extreme violence, Kuma San lives in every one of us.
Cogito ergo Sum, I think there for I am. Kuma doesn't think, but he is a word.
Violence.
The essence of it, raging and screaming, Kuma waits to thrive on anger.
"Doctor Noh."
"Professor," Doctor Noh answered as she juggled her apples. She liked green apples. When she ate green apples such as Granny Smith or Shizuka, her life seemed on a roll. Golden or yellow apples, such as Jonagold and Opal, were her procrastination choices. When he sat to eat a golden apple, life had no meaning, but she still held a form of equilibrium.
If Domininc Cobbs in Inception needed a spinning top to know what was reality for Doctor Noh, it was the apples that set the tone.
Among the apples, the doctor juggled spun a red empire apple. Doctor Baek watched and prayed. For if there was one apple, none wished for Doctor Noh to eat; it was the red one. Its signification wasn't associated with a state of mind but a word. Just like Kuma san, a red apple's signification was just red.
If one wished to give it a purpose, they would say it meant they would be blood and a gory end to whatever the doctor had in mind.
"How are you feeling?" Doctor Baek asked.
Doctor Noh continued to juggle.
"Doctor?"
Doctor Noh stopped juggling, and the apples fell. Only one remained in her hand. She smiled and tossed the apple aside to pick one which had fallen. What one would think was a mindless gesture was very calculated.
Noah Noh refused the apple she held like one does their destiny and bit into a golden delicious before saying, "I'm fine."
Doctor Baek smiled, "I'm glad to hear that do you remember-."
"No, I don't remember who fronted." [Fronting= one alter controls the behavior at a time, which is called fronting.]
"Then I guess you already know who was here."
"Cut to the chase. What is it you want to know?"
"What is the last thing you remember?"
Doctor Noh could almost see the gleam in the professor's eyes as he asked the question. For years the professor tried to understand why the splits occurred but also what triggered the switch for each of her alters. Of course, the ones who interested him the most were the dormant alters who stopped fronting.
"I remember running."
"Running from what?"
"Ghosts," Doctor Noh replied and continued to eat her apple.
Professor Baek knew he would not get another word out of her. The apple she ate was her standby. Doctor Noh had as much intention to answer his questions as she did the work that accumulated on her desk. Like many with her capacities, she specialized in a field that would allow her to find out what was wrong with her.
Dr. Noh didn't remember anything before her adoption. Her childhood memories were somewhere within the alters. She knew where to look for answers, but she questioned her desire. One didn't need to be a Nobel Science prize winner to understand she was Pandora's box holding the seven evils.
Her body ached, and she still had the marks of restraints on her wrist. Everyone who visited her seemed okay, and the staff was complete. She saw everyone except Seung Woo. Did whatever that came out of her hurt him?
The doctor didn't ask where he was. Unwanted news could be enough for a switch, and she didn't want that, not then. All the doctor desired was to eat her apple in peace for her peace's sake.
Professor Baek walked to the door, and without turning back, he said," he's okay. You didn't hurt him. I doubt anyone of them will ever hurt your favorite toy now that he's running on your wheel. The game has already begun. Pudi [please, I beg], finish what you started."
Doctor Noh bit into her apple, assured not by his words but by her reality. Every day that passed bought them closer to Stein. Professor Baek was unable to hide his excitement. Her strongest alters only came out when the murderer was close.
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FORXST-Battlefield
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