Split Personalities

Write a story in which two eccentric or unusual characters meet for the first time

By Saniya Kamal

A buckle, I found him as fascinating as a buckle. He said his name was ‘A Mud’, or at least that’s what
I could understand between all the stuttering. The fat woman had told me his name was Ahmed so he
was lucky I didn’t call him anything else. He was just as I imagined he would be, as if I could ever be
wrong. Weak, boring and pathetic, that was Ahmed, and I could not understand why I had to spend my
precious time with such an inferior being.

Ever since I’ve come to this prison, I’ve heard her rambling about him. Ahmed’s shy, Ahmed’s scared,
Ahmed’s a wonderful writer. What good is that to me, or anyone else, or even himself? He’ll have to
face the world someday, and he’ll have to put on a brave mask if he wants to survive.

“Eat or be eaten.” That’s what I told him, it was very kind of me to give such valuable advice, if he’s half
as smart as the woman claims he is, he’ll listen to me. I’m still not sure why I said that to him though.
What can I say? I took pity on the quivering lips, worrying eyes and sweaty hands. But again, it’s very
likely that he will be trampled in the harsh world, where only people like me can fit in. Come to think of
trampling, he was telling me about accidentally crushing a cat’s tail once. As much as I love the sadistic
nature of the entire scene, what makes me sick is that he ran away like a child when the cat meowed.

So in all, it was a beautiful summers day wasted indoors because the crazy woman insisted I had to have
a ‘talk’ with him.

************************************

Me, Myself and I, he knew only those words and I was in awe of him at once. All that he said had so
much weight in it; importance echoed in each word and confidence exalted it to a level of its own.

Sadia had told me about Taha from the day I had set foot in this facility but I could have never conceived
him to be such a fantastic character. When Sadia had revealed that I would meet him, I was thrilled. Not
only did I have an opportunity to meet the renowned Taha, I would also be excused of spending a day
outside!

Taha was in a world of his own, oblivious to the feelings of insignificant people around him, including
me. ‘Self obsessed’ she would call him repeatedly, but now I disagreed. After meeting him I realized that
he was a lion, the indisputable king of his land and we were his obedient servants. I was lucky enough to
have gained his attention because he spared me some jewels. But even the word ‘jewels’ seems cheap
because the advice he gave me was priceless. He told me to fight for myself, to stand up for myself, to
stop being doubtful about myself.

Having realized that he was a man of intelligent thought, I managed to gather the courage to recount
a particularly frightening incident when I encountered a ferocious cat. It had screamed and screeched
viciously at me in an attempt to intimidate me and make me hand over the packet of cookies I was
eating. I had fallen victim to its demonic scheme and had ran for my life, the item of its desire slipping
from my hands amidst all the action. Taha told me the cat was probably infuriated because I had
stepped on its tail. I pondered over it and concluded that he was absolutely correct. I felt sheepish in
front of him, how could I not? I confided in him about my fears of being rejected, of not measuring
up to others’ expectations. He laughed, I understood right away that such fears were trivial and that I
should not be terrified of the world.

***************************

Two hours earlier

In a corner, well hidden from his sight, Dr. Sadia Ali listened to the unusual monologue of her patient, in
front of a mirror. Before he sat up and left, he had one last thing to say to himself,

“So what is it that she says we have?”

“A s-split p-personality, I t-think.”