“Toni does not want me to.”
“Does Toni always tell you what to do?”
“Toni is my friend.” It’s none of your business.
“I want to be your friend, Alette. Tell me about yourself. Where were you born?”
“I was born in Rome.”
“Did you like Rome?”
Gilbert Keller watched the expression on Ashley’s face change, and she began to weep.
Why? Dr. Keller leaned forward and said soothingly, “It’s all right. You’re going to awaken now, Ashley…”
She opened her eyes.
“I talked to Toni and Alette. They’re friends. I want you all to be friends.”
While Ashley was at lunch, a male nurse walked into her room and saw a painting of a landscape on the floor. He studied it a moment, then took it to Dr. Keller’s office.
There was a meeting in Dr. Lewison’s office.
“How’s it going, Gilbert?”
Dr. Keller said thoughtfully, “I’ve talked to the two alters. The dominant one is Toni. She has an English background and won’t talk about it. The other one, Alette, was born in Rome, and she doesn’t want to talk about it, either. So that’s where I’m going to concentrate. That’s where the traumas occurred. Toni is the more aggressive one. Alette is sensitive and withdrawn. She’s interested in painting, but she’s afraid to pursue it. I have to find out why.”
“So you think Toni dominates Ashley?”
“Yes. Toni takes over. Ashley wasn’t aware that she exists, or for that matter, that Alette existed. But Toni and Alette know each other. It’s interesting. Toni has a lovely singing voice, and Alette is a talented painter.” He held up the painting that the male nurse had brought him. “I think their talents may be the key to getting through to them.”
Ashley received a letter from her father once a week. After she read them, she would sit in her room quietly, not wanting to talk to anyone.
“They’re her only link to home,” Dr. Keller said to Otto Lewison. “I think it increases her desire to get out of here and start leading a normal life. Every little bit helps.…”
Ashley was becoming used to her surroundings. The patients seemed to walk about, although there were attendants at every door and in the corridors. The gates to the grounds were always locked. There was a recreation room where they could gather and watch television, a gymnasium where inmates could work out and a common dining room. There were many kinds of people there: Japanese, Chinese, French, Americans… Every effort had been made to make the hospital as ordinary-looking as possible, but when Ashley went to her room, the doors were always locked behind her.
“This isn’t a hospital,” Toni complained to Alette. “It’s a bloody prison.”
“But Dr. Keller thinks he can cure Ashley. Then we can get out of here.”
“Don’t be stupid, Alette. Don’t you see? The only way he can cure Ashley is to get rid of us, make us disappear. In other words, to cure her, we have to die. Well, I’m not going to let that happen.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find a way for us to escape.”
Chapter Twenty-four
THE following morning a male nurse was escorting Ashley back to her room. He said, “You seem different today.”
“Do I, Bill?”
“Yeah. Almost like another person.”
Toni said softly, “That’s because of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You make me feel different.” She touched his arm and looked into his eyes. “You make me feel wonderful.”
“Come on.”
“I mean it. You’re very sexy. Do you know that?”
“No.”
“Well, you are. Are you married, Bill?”
“I was, once.”
“Your wife was mad to ever let you go. How long have you worked here, Bill?”
“Five years.”
“That’s a long time. Do you ever feel you want to get out of here?”
“Sometimes, sure.”
Toni lowered her voice. “You know there’s nothing really wrong with me. I admit I had a little problem when I came in, but I’m cured now. I’d like to get out of here, too. I’ll bet you could help me. The two of us could leave here together. We’d have a wonderful time.”