Looks like mom had everything sorted. She'd even prepared a few of her dresses for me to try on, "because the dress code is 'formal attire' "!

I tried to argue with her. "Mom! I'm sick! I can't go!"

"Alice, your fever's gone, and the dance is in four days. You have time to 'recover'."

"But mom! I can't go into public with these scars, let alone a dance with 'formal' people!"

"Oh, don't worry. You can cover them if you want to!"

"I am not worrying! I'm not going to some dance!"

"Alice, we are going to that dance. I already settled everything. Come on, it will be fun!" No. It absolutely won't. The last time I wore a dress was ten years ago. I am not going to start again now. She gave me a white one and a red one to choose from. While she was making lunch, I was 'choosing dresses' a.k.a. trying to destroy them without leaving evidence that it was me.

"Red looks prettier than white, you know?" I heard a little voice behind me. It was Sophie, or actually, Cathy. I wasn't in the mood to talk to her.

"What makes you say that?"

She shrugged. "I think that white's boring. Sophie's big brother thinks the same thing. That's why he decorated the boring white walls in the dark house!" she spoke enthusiastically. Blood. Wonderful decorations for a child's place to grow up. I still hadn't quite forgotten that Cathy was here instead of my father. She was probably thinking the same thing. "Miss Alice? When did your daddy.......d-die?" I cringed at the memory. "

A-about...." I remembered. Twelve years ago. But....wait.....hey.....How didn't I notice? It probably couldn't have been her!

"C-Cathy........when did you get............attached to Alice?" She started thinking.

"Around a year ago?"

"My dad died over a decade ago!" I was relieved, but it added a thing to the list I hated about David.

"Do you know which dress you'll wear?" she asked me. I thought long and hard. I decided I'd wear the red dress since the white one is pretty short and open-backed.

"Hey, Cathy, I deci--" I stopped realizing she wasn't there anymore.

"ALICE! YOU'VE GOT A VISITOR!" I raced outside to be greeted by Patrick. He had a really serious look in his eye.

"Alice. I need to talk to you." I just quietly followed him outside. Guess who decided to go to the park again? Yayyyy!!!!!! "Did you hear about the little boy who got killed?" He asked me later.

"Yes, it was on the news. I didn't know my scars had a name."

"I somehow think that David's pissed they're not called after him yet." I laughed. He probably is.

"I can't believe that he'd kill a child, though. 'He didn't want to play with them'? That's bullshit. A child won't play with a guy who has a knife in his hand, and a girl with split personalities. It really is weird, isn't it?" He played along a bit.

"Kind of....why didn't little old Michael just have a tea par--wait, split personalities? Who has split personalities?" Oh, yeah. He doesn't know about Cathy.

"Basically......there'sagirlcalledCathywhowasthedaughterofthechiefoftheasylumandwellshe'sinSophie'sbodybecausethatchiefsummonedherandhetradedanothersoulforCathy'sbecauseshewasdeadandwellyeahIthinkyoucancountthatassplitpersonalities............Is that enough?"

He gave me this weird look and slowly shook his head. "Can......can you maybe repeat that in human speed? You know, just so I can understand something?" I repeated it slowly, until he understood more or less. "How can you do that? I mean, it's unnatural to bring the dead back, isn't it?"

"Killing a person doesn't seem like much if you're desperate to see your family again......" I muttered.

"How do you know? Have you ever actually lost someone?" I stopped.

"Have you ever taken a moment to wonder why my father wasn't there when I was kidnapped?"

"Now that you mention it.................."

"He's dead. Until recently, I believed that my father's soul was traded in for Cathy."

"How did you find out the truth?" Should I...? .......no......but do I have a better explanation? They wrote it on their blog? No. They texted me? Definitely no.

"I've been getting some strange house visits lately. Yeah, let's put it that way." We were standing there, letting the conversation sink in. Then we shrugged it off and just continued walking.