Page 16 of The Doll and The Domination

She’s quiet for a moment, biting her bottom lip in thought. An intense urge to pull that lip with my teeth sends a burst of fire through my gut.

“Will I eventually meet all of the alters?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

I shrug. “There are some that were split to stay in the inner world.”

“For what reason?”

“To hold certain memories. Both good and bad. To act as a caretaker for those that can’t cope or care for themselves.”

“Like children?” She sits up straighter. A note of concern thickening her voice.

“We call them littles.”

She turns to look at me, face pinched with sadness. “There are child alters in the inner world?”

I nod.

“What are their names?”

“Arthur and Little Kane.” I don’t see them often, but Kane does.

Her hand shakes as she covers her mouth in surprise. “There’s an alter for Kane’s brother and his younger self?”

“Mm-hmm. I call them introjects. An alter based on an outside person.” I adjust my legs to stretch out, trying to relax. “Little Kane is kind of frozen in time at the age of six. Unable to accept that anything has changed past the moment he lost Sophia and Arthur. He has it rough. Kind of stuck in this endless flashback of his trauma.”

Skylenna gasps. “He’s stuck in his own personal hell?”

I give her a soft smile. “He’s taken care of, though, and so is Arthur. By a caretaker alter.”

“What’s their name?”

“Sophia.”

“Wow, an alter for his mom.” Her eyes turn round and glossy. I try to rein it in, not wanting to upset my girl tonight.

“Kane sees them every once in a while. It’s good for him.”

“And they never come to the front? Never join the outside world?”

I shake my head. “Once. But it was upsetting for Little Kane to see himself in an adult body. He was deeply disturbed and retreated further into the inner world. But every now and then, Sophia will come close to the front, offering advice and emotional support in moments of heartache.” I pull Skylenna’s hand to my lips and kiss softly. “The way a mother would.”

“Do you have any other—introjects?” She melts as my lips peck her hand a few more times.

“Absinthe.” The name unfurls an unsettling rage in the pit of my stomach. I was so angry with myself for not killing Absinthe before she could ever get her hands on Skylenna.

Fuck, even now, the urge to do unspeakable acts to torture that old woman rings in my ears and makes my fingers twitch.

“Why would you want that crazy bitch to be an alter?” Skylenna questions in horror.

“We don’t get to choose how alters are split or who they become. They manifest into their own person. And at the time, she was abusing us. She’s what we call a persecutor. An alter that was split to hurt our system.”

“I’m sorry,” Skylenna fusses, shaking her head. “I didn’t mean to make stupid assumptions of how everything works.”

“The fact that you’re taking the time to learn about us is very kind, Skylenna. Most people would be too scared to ask or think it was a hoax.”

---