Stitched Together

Katelyn Curt tried to be a normal nineteen year old girl. She was currently going to The City College of New York while working part time at a local Starbucks to pay for her cheap apartment. Katelyn fooled the people around her into believing she was normal; like her professors, her co-workers, and even her best friend Amy Stuart. There was one thing Katelyn just simply wasn’t and that was normal.

Katelyn Curt wasn’t who she pretended to be. She didn’t grow up in Washington, her parents didn’t die in a car accident to years ago, and her name wasn’t even Katelyn Curt. Katelyn is or rather was Allison Anderson. At the age of seventeen she brutally murdered her parents in their home. She has suffered from multiple personality disorder since she was a teenager. The night of her parents’ murder the voice was in control and Allison was too weak to fight against it. When Allison once again gained control she panicked. The police were going to be looking for her. With the voice’s help she was able to put her computer skills to the test and Allison Anderson no longer existed in any computer database. Now there was simply just Katelyn Curt.

‘Why must you serve coffee to these people like you’re a robot?’ The voice questioned her.

Katelyn was pulling her Saturday morning shift at Starbucks and the voice hated the job as well as the people she served the coffee to. She bit down on her tongue to keep herself from answering. Instead she chose to ignore the question and served the man on his cellphone his coffee.

“Thank you! Please come again!” Katelyn told him with a smile as she handed him his beverage. He took it from her without even glancing her way and never stopped talking to the person on the phone.

‘Or go get hit by a bus… that would be more appealing,’ giggled the voice.

‘Shut up please! We only have-‘ Katelyn looked at her wristwatch, ‘one more hour to go.’ She thought.

‘We could be doing something so much more… fun.’ The voice suggested.

‘The last time you had your so called ‘fun’ you killed my parents.’ Katelyn reminded the voice.
‘Exactly, wasn’t that fun? You can’t say they didn’t deserve what I did to them. That you’re not glad that they’re gone for good.”

‘No, it wasn’t fun. They were my parents and you killed them!” She screamed in her head. The voice only giggled in response.

Her last hour passed by slowly but finally she was free to go home. After grabbing her purse from her work locker and taking off her Starbucks apron Katelyn was ready to make her walk home.

“Hey, Katelyn did you just get off work?” A bubbly voice asked form behind her.

Katelyn knew that voice anywhere. That voice belonged to her bubbly and always cheerful best friend Amy. She could feel the annoyance raging inside her head as Amy came into sight. The voice despised Amy.

‘Why do you associate with her?’ The voice questioned.

‘She’s my friend,’ she simply answered.

‘No, I’m your friend. You’re just using her to be normal.’ The voice told her.

‘No, you’re a murder not a friend!’ She shouted at it from inside her head.

“Um, Katelyn are you okay?” Amy asked her as she stared at Katelyn worriedly.
Amy’s voice snapped her back to the world around her.

“What? Oh, yeah I’m okay. I just zoned out there for a minute. It’s been a long day, ya know?” Katelyn reassured her.

“Understandable. I actually came to ask you a huge favor.” Amy told her.

‘Tell her no. She’s not really your friend. She’s just using you.’ The voice whispered. She chose not to reply.

“What do you need?” She asked.

“Could you help me study for our Psychology final? It’s Friday and I seriously think I’m going to fail. I thought maybe you could help me. You have the highest grades in the whole class.” Amy gave her a pleading puppy dog look.

‘Of course you’re good at dissecting crazy people’s brains. It takes one to know one.’ The voice giggled at her.

‘Shut up,’ Katelyn told it.

Out loud she replied to Amy, “Sure, I’ll help you.”

“Really, great, where did you want to study at? We could do it at your place.” Amy suggested as they walked down the street side by side.

“No! I mean, no my apartments a big mess right now. Why don’t we just study at your place?” Katelyn suggested quickly.

“Oh okay. I guess that works too.” Amy told her happily.

Katelyn’s apartment wasn’t exactly messy but in its current condition there was no way she was letting anyone in to see it. Her apartment was her sanctuary. Her place to hide from the world and in the beginning she tried to hide from the voice. The first week she moved in she put rubber mats and foam over all her walls and covered her windows to try to block out the voice. She sometimes still wanted to believe the voice was just her imagination. She thought by blocking out all noise from outside her apartment that it would also block out the voice inside her head. Needless to say it didn’t work.

Her sound proof apartment did have its benefits. At night when the voice was most talkative she would often argue and shout at it until early in the morning. She felt safe knowing no one could hear her inside of her home.

It was four days later when Katelyn’s life fell apart. The night before had been terrible. Katelyn and the voice had argued the entire night and the early morning away. The voice was becoming restless. It was tired of trying to live a normal life and being ignored. Katelyn tired everything to ignore the voice but instead ended up destroying her own apartment. Everything that could be thrown had been and broken glass littered the floor. Finally at nine in the morning Katelyn passed out from exhaustion and skipped her classes by saying she was sick.

Katelyn bolted up right on her old sofa seven hours later by someone knocking on her door. She tried to ignore the noise but whoever was on the other side was persistent.

“Katelyn, open up! It’s me Amy.” Amy told her from outside the doorway. Katelyn groaned as she fell back into her pillow. Amy continued to knock.

‘I bet you’re wishing now you never befriended her.’ The voice told her as she rose from the sofa. She carefully made her way to the door avoiding any broken glass.

Katelyn pulled the door open just wide enough for her head to stick through. Through tired eyes she looked at Amy confused. She had no idea why she was at her apartment.

“You didn’t go to any of your classes today so I brought you a list of your assignments from your professors.” Amy answered the unspoken question.

“Oh, well that was nice of you.” Katelyn told her still dazed from sleep.

“I thought I would come over and keep you company. I bought some stuff to make us dinner. We can eat then watch a movie or something.” Amy told her with a large smile.

‘You could probably be dying and she would still be smiling… she’s such an idiot.’ The voice spoke up.

“Um, no thank you Amy. I’m not really hungry right now and I’m not feeling up to company. Maybe some other time, okay?” Katelyn told her quickly before trying to close the door. Amy stopped her by wedging her foot in the crack of the door and pushing with her hand on the door.

“Are you okay Katelyn? I’m just trying to be nice. Now let me in and I’ll fix you some homemade chicken noodle soup.”

‘Just shut the door with her foot in it. That will teach her.’ The voice suggested. Katelyn was distracted on telling the voice to shut up that she lost the battle on the door and Amy pushed her way inside.

“Look Amy this really isn’t a good time.” Katelyn insisted while trying not to panic.

Her apartment was dark since she had no lights on and all her windows were covered. The only light was the small amount that leaked in from the hallway outside her apartment doorway.

“Seriously Katelyn it’s never a good time with you. You never invite me over to your place. You always want to go to mine. Look I’m just trying to be nice and fix you dinner okay. I’m not going to judge you.” Amy told her stepping further into the apartment. Katelyn cringed when she heard a crunch as Amy’s shoe met with what use to be a glass vase.

“What the heck?” Amy muttered before finding the light switch. Amy’s eyes widened as she took in the chaotic mess that was Katelyn’s apartment. “Oh my God Katelyn were you robbed? This place is a disaster!” Amy said as she took in the mess.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t judge.” Katelyn reminded her. Amy turned her gaze back to her.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think your apartment was this bad. Katelyn what happened? Are you okay?” Amy asked worried.

“You wouldn’t understand.” Katelyn muttered.

“I could try to understand. What happened here?” Amy questioned. She carefully made her way further into the apartment.

Katelyn felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack. She watched in horror as Amy look around her and took in the padded walls and covered up windows. She shifted nervously as she watched Amy take everything in.

‘I told you that you didn’t need to have any friends.’ The voice teased her.

‘You’re the reason I can’t be normal.’ Katelyn told it angrily.

‘Oh please, being normal is over rated.’ The voice replied with a giggle.

“Just shut up!” Katelyn said annoyed. Her eyes widened when she saw Amy jump and look at her confused. She didn’t mean to say it out loud.

“I didn’t say anything.” Amy said walking cautiously over to Katelyn. “Katelyn are you okay, really? Maybe we should take you to a doctor. You’re not acting like yourself.” Amy suggested. Katelyn stared at Amy’s hand that rested on her shoulder for comfort. The apartment was eerily quite as the two girls stood in the center of the trashed living room.

“Do you want to hear a story?” Katelyn questioned suddenly as she gazed curiously at Amy.

“Um, okay sure.” Amy stuttered confused at the sudden change of topic.

“Once upon a time in the high class part of Gotham City lived a weak little girl named Allison Anderson. Everyone thought she had the best little life ever. She was beautiful, well mannered, and frighteningly intelligent. Everyone thought she was so perfect except for her parents. Nothing she did was ever good enough for them.

No matter how hard little Allison tried she could never gain approval of her parents. Behind closed door these respected citizens were monsters. The father tried to beat his daughter into perfection while the mother stood back and watched. But one night Allison had finally had enough and she let a real monster out to play.” Katelyn told her. Her blue eyes glazed over as she stared at the very confused Amy.

“Why are you telling me this? Did you know this girl?” Amy questioned. Katelyn turned away from her giggling and walked into her bedroom. A minute later she came out smiling and handed Amy a copy of the Gotham Gazette.

The article on the front page read in bold capital letters-

HUSBAND AND WIFE FOUND MURDERED IN THEIR HOME!

Katelyn watched as Amy read the article below.

Anthony and Linda Anderson were found murdered in their home on November 19th. After Mr. Anderson never showed up for work one of his colleges went to check on him at home. After receiving no response from anyone inside the police were called. Mr. Anderson was found dead upstairs in his daughter’s bedroom with a stab wound to the neck and his wife was found in their bedroom with a stab wound in her stomach. Their daughter Allison Anderson was not found at the crime scene when the police arrived and police encourage anyone who might know her whereabouts to call Gotham’s Police Department.

Amy’s face looked up in horror as she finished reading.

“That girl killed her own parents!” Amy said disgusted.

“Didn’t you listen to my story? The parents deserved it! They didn’t care about her. Her father would beat her and push her down the stairs. They were monsters!” Katelyn told her but sadly for Amy she didn’t realize that she was no longer speaking to Katelyn. Amy was now dealing with the voice.

“That doesn’t mean they deserved to die. She could have reported them.” Amy insisted. Katelyn giggled before taking the newspaper back from Amy and throwing it over her shoulder carelessly. Amy watched her with wide eyes.

“Report them, to whom? The police. Anthony Anderson was a highly respected attorney. Do you honestly think that they’re going to believe a silly little teenage girl over him?” Katelyn questioned but Amy thought better then to reply. It was a smart move on her part.

“Katelyn,” Amy whispered. She knew there was something wrong with her friend. She just didn’t know what it was. “Did you know this girl Allison?” She asked her cautiously.

“Did I know her?” She laughed. “Oh I knew her very well. Your little friend Katelyn use to be her.” She whispered in to Amy’s ear. She stepped back to look at the shock expression Amy wore. She grinned in satisfaction. It felt so good to finally be able to scare Amy. She wanted to get rid of her for so long now.

“You’re Allison.” Amy said confused.

“Oh no, I’m not Allison. You see for someone who’s studying Psychology you’re really dumb. Your little friend suffers from multiple personality disorder and I just so happen to be her better half.” She told her with a large smile. Amy stepped back in fear as everything sunk into her brain.

“Katelyn this isn’t funny. Stop joking around!” Amy told her trying to sound brave.

“I’m not joking Amy. And Katelyn’s not here right now.” She told her.

“You need help Katelyn. You need to talk to someone about this. You need to turn yourself in to the police.”

“No, why on earth would I do that?” Katelyn asked her.

“You killed your parents! You’re crazy!” Amy shouted at her. Before Amy could even register what was happening Katelyn had her pushed against one of the walls of her living room with her hand rapped around her throat. Amy choked as she tried to get oxygen down her throat.

“You just had to be so nosy all the time. Katelyn tried to keep you safe and away from me. She liked you but she knew I didn’t. She knew that if I ever got the chance that I would take it. You just had to push yourself into her personal life. No just wasn’t a good enough answer for you. Now I get to play with you.” She whispered dangerously in her ear. Suddenly she let go of Amy and watched as she crumbled onto the floor breathing in as much oxygen at a time that she could.

‘She looks so pathetic.’ The voice thought as she observed Amy.

‘Please, don’t hurt her. She didn’t do anything wrong.’ Katelyn’s voice spoke up in her mind.

‘Awe, poor little Katelyn you just don’t understand. I’m doing you a favor. She’s a snitch and now she knows too much. Do you want to go to a crazy house?” The voice questioned her with a giggle. Katelyn’s voice didn’t answer back. She turned her gaze back to Amy who stared back at her with large frightened eyes. Tears were gushing down her face.

“Is little Amy scared? Because you should be.” It was followed by laughter. Amy never got to say another word. The last thing she heard was the crazy giggling of what she thought was her best friend.

It was two days later that Katelyn’s landlord, Ms. Lark, went up to the apartment. Rent was due and she hadn’t seen Katelyn going back and forth to school and work. She always was on time with her rent so when it was past due she became worried. After knocking on the door and receiving no answer and also trying to call with no answer she pulled out her master key and opened the door. Flipping on the light switch to shed light on the abnormally dark room, Ms. Lark wished she never did. The apartment was a complete mess. Paper, glass, and broken furniture was everywhere. In one corner of the room laid a body almost unrecognizable.

Running from the room that reeked of death Ms. Lark called the police in. The body was discovered to be Amy Stuart, Katelyn’s best friend. Cause of death was loss of blood due to multiple stab wounds all over her body. Katelyn Curt was their only suspect and lead in the case but she was long gone before the police ever arrived. Katelyn Curt was no longer existed.