Two Face

I first met Daniel three years ago. He had walked into my clinic without an appointment. And when he was refused an audience, he barged into my room.

“Please…” he said; his voice a weird mix of horror and resolve. Something about the voice shook my core. I couldn't ignore the plea in Daniel’s voice. As the security guard closed the door behind, Daniel simply crashed on to the couch.

“You got to help me doc. You got to get rid of him” Daniel’s terror stricken voice pleaded.

“Calm down…what’s your name?”

“Daniel…shut up” he suddenly screamed as he stood up hysterically.

“Excuse me?” I implored

“Its him…Damien”

“I’m sorry…is it Daniel or Damien?”

“The voice…that’s Damien”

“What voice?” I could see where all this was heading to.

As if on cue, Daniel’s eyes rolled up, revealing the eerie white. And he collapsed. I lay him on the couch and sat by his feet. He woke up an hour later.

“How are you?” I asked him as he slowly sat up. Daniel nodded tiredly.

“You can talk now?” Daniel nodded again.

Its then he told me his story. Daniel was being haunted by a voice only he heard. And although I had heard such stories a million times before, something about Daniel made me want to believe him. But a psychiatrist’s success depends upon his ability to rationalize creepy occurrences. I had to find out the reason behind Daniel’s nightmare. The voice belonged to someone called Damien, and it began 4 years ago. Unlike the other similar cases I had dealt with, Daniel’s was the most unusual. Unlike the others, the 23 year old Daniel did not have a troubled childhood, he wasn't abused as a child nor did he have a history of a psychotic attack. He in fact was smarter than most of the patients I had met. He repeated the same story under hypnosis.

Damien was more than a voice for Daniel. It was a parasitic entity, living within him, living off him. It started as an itch. Something irritating the back of his head. He scratched, the irritation grew. He saw a dermatologist who saw nothing peculiar. Then the itching grew. Almost as if something was clawing him from inside. And then one night, as Daniel slept, he felt something breathe on his neck; heavy, moist. Daniel ignored it, perhaps the remnants of a nightmare. But it happened again the following night. He woke up with a start. And there it was again. This wasn't a nightmare he had been dreaming. This was a nightmare he was living. A week later, Daniel heard the voice. A cold whisper. Daniel never slept again.

Damien began to take control of everything Daniel did. Daniel couldn't eat, he couldn't drink, he couldn't meet friends, he couldn't live! Damien egged Daniel on to do strange things. He wanted Daniel to harm people. One morning Daniel woke up with blood on himself. He immediately checked his body. It wasn't him. At noon, he discovered the dismembered body of his pet dog Luke in the garage. Daniel realized that it was only a matter of time before his worst fears came true. Somehow he managed to drag himself to my clinic that day.  

Our sessions did little to improve his condition. But they did not go beyond the second month. Last week, Daniel killed himself by jumping in front of a train. His death changed everything. My patient was dead. It was my failure. And then, yesterday, a letter arrived. It was from Daniel. What I read next shocked me beyond imagination.

“Alan, by the time you read this, I would be dead. I am sorry Alan. It was the only way. Damien made me do it. He said that he would leave me forever if I did it. He said that he had found the perfect body. You cannot even begin to imagine the horror I have gone through.

Forgive me, if you can.

Daniel”

As I tried to make sense out of the letter, a searing pain surged through the back of my head. It was as if my head would explode. I thought I would pass out. And then I felt something warm on my neck. As I turned around, a cold whisper called out to me…

“Hello Alan…”!