Darby heard a man call out that he would be there soon. At this Ethan pulled in a little more behind Darby, as if he was scared of the voice. She heard footsteps coming down a hallway and the jostle of the door as it was unlocked.

When the door opened a man was standing there, hair that seemed like he had fallen asleep on one side, and wearing a T-shirt based on some tabletop game and loose jeans. As he saw Darby, she could see he was about to ask her purpose at his door, however, he stopped as his eyes fell upon Ethan cowering behind her.

"Kristin?" he asked, clearly confused by the behaviour of the young alter.

As he said this Ethan made a small squeak and seemed to try to meld into the wall at the entryway.

"I'm sorry, uh are you Kristin's dad?" Darby asked imposing herself between the man and Ethan. She didn't sense that Ethan was afraid of the man, the quick look back confirmed that he seemed more embarrassed.

"I'm her uncle, Sam Wynter. Can you tell me what's wrong with my niece?" Sam responded, his voice clearly taking on the tone of the concerned guardian.

"I can try but perhaps standing here on the doorstep isn't the best place for that," Darby said trying to be as clear as possible.

"Of course, come in," Sam said as he backed up to give the two space to enter the house.

Ethan kept Darby between himself and the uncle of the body as he entered. Darby looked around and saw that to the side of the entry hall there was a lounge room, and guided Ethan over to the couch. She picked up the remote and turned the television on, flipping through the channels until she found some children's shows. Leaving him there as he seemed entranced by the television, Darby walked back to Sam, who had watched on with disbelief of what he was seeing.

"He should be entertained for a while and I can explain what is going on. At least what I think is happening," Darby said.

As stunned as he was Sam could only form a single response. "She uses She her pronouns."

Darby attempted to stifle a small giggle as it seemed Sam had gone back to a familiar response, clearly one he had used many times.

"I will explain it as best I can," she said, "is there somewhere we can go talk?"

Sam indicated further into the house as they entered the kitchen-dining area. He seemed to recover some of his wits as he offered Darby a seat.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask your name," he asked.

"It's Darby, Darby Hanson. I met your niece last week at a park nearby. Well, I'm not sure it was the person you know as your niece that I first met."

"I'm sorry I don't understand," Sam said, shaking his head.

"I believe that your niece has a mental health condition that causes her to have different identities living in her head," she began, "these identities can take control of the body and act as any real person. The one who is sitting over there watching children's television is named Ethan. He is a six-year-old boy who called me because he was hiding in a park scared."

She looked over at the young boy, sitting there in an older girl's body. "I don't know what scared him but something must have been very wrong."

Sam sat listening to Darby's explanation nodding along with each thing she said. Darby could see confusion, worry, and perhaps a small amount of understanding written across his face.

Sam sighed, stood, and without looking at Darby said to her quietly, "thank you for all you have done."

Sam slowly made his way over to the couch and crouched down a small distance away from Ethan, who looked over to Darby for reassurance. She gave him a small nod to say it was alright.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, Ethan," Sam said in a soft tone, "however, it is very nice to meet you."

Ethan looked like he was going to curl up into a defensive ball again, however, he cocked his head to the side as if listening to something.

Then with an incredibly small voice said, "you don' scare me, you just not suppose to know me."

Darby stood and headed towards the door. "I wish you all the best Sam," she said, "and Ethan, be good."

With that, she opened the door and left into the late afternoon sunlight. She really did wish them all the best.

----------------------------

Sam watched his niece, rather the identity who was in control of his niece, giggle at the TV as some cartoon played on the screen. He shook his head, this was going to take some getting used to, although, he thought this may explain some things. There had been many times where Kristin would seemingly shift in attitude, sometimes quite drastically, after some provocation. For example, the previous week when he had forgotten not to surprise her while she was listening to music. Had she not said not to call her Kris, something he often did. Could that have been yet another of these identities? If so, how many identities were there?

There seemed to be no end to the questions his mind would come up with however he pushed them from his mind as he took the macaroni and cheese off the heat.

"Dinner is ready Ethan, turn that off and come sit at the table," he called, serving the cheesy meal into a couple of bowls.

He had opted for a simple meal, given the mindset this identity had was that of a child. Rounding the side of the island he brought the two bowls over to the table as Ethan bounced up, seemingly very excited about the prospect of the meal. As they ate Sam asked Ethan some questions, how old he was and the kinds of things he liked. Every question resulted in a pause and a cocked head from Ethan. Some questions went unanswered as he would get very caught up with eating his food. However, for the questions he answered, Sam made a note of the responses on his phone. He had a feeling that this information would be needed in the future.

It seemed that Ethan really did think he was 6 years old, and he liked cartoons, playing games, and kicking a ball. He also seemed very shy, and when Sam was picking up the bowls at the end of dinner he shrunk back in his seat. Sam noticed that a few noodles had fallen on the placemat, and when Ethan saw Sam looking at the spots he placed his arms defensively around his head. Sam moved quickly away, placing the bowls in the sink and bringing back a cloth to wipe up the mess. Ethan curled further into himself as if trying to disappear inside himself, which made Sam wonder if something terrible had happened to him under a similar situation.

Quickly wiping up the mess, Sam backed up and with his most comforting tone said, "see there's no harm done, it's all cleaned up."

This seemed to calm Ethan somewhat, however, he still sat staring downcast at the placemat. Sam decided that a change of scene was needed.

"How about I run you a bath with some bubbles?" he said, with a big smile across his face.

At this Ethan looked up and gave a small nod, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. Sam went upstairs and started running the bath, pouring in some of the bubble liquid that Kristin had bought a couple of years ago. Soon the sound of splashing water and laughter could be heard from the bathroom as Ethan enjoyed his bath.

While Ethan was in the bath, Sam did some research on the condition Darby had described, most importantly he wanted to know how something like this happened. What he found was heartbreaking. It seemed the professionals said that DID formed because the child had undergone incredible, ongoing trauma, and these other identities came into being to protect the child from what was happening.

His thoughts turned first to his niece, his heart heavy at what she must have experienced for this to happen. Second, he thought of his sister, his mind confused. How had she allowed this to happen to her own child? He knew his sister had her own difficulties but surely she wouldn't allow this.

He straightened his back, he would not allow his niece to come to any further harm. He silently made a promise to her, to do everything he could to make this right.

"Okay, Ethan, time to get out of the bath and get ready for bed," he called.