The Uncomfortable Truth

Oriana doesn't waste the chance to talk with Leilani as she casually passes by the classroom.

"Hey, Leilani! You doing alright?"

Leilani gives her that usual calm smile, that brightens her wise and somewhat sad looking crystal black eyes. "I'm alright, I guess. As long as Landon doesn't barge in to yell at me."

"Ah! Don't mind Landon. He's a psychopath, to say the least." Oriana tries to ease the conversation forward.

"Any plans after work today?"

"Sorry, Oriana. You're bad at this...you know, trying to casually fit something into a conversation." Leilani chuckles, "Don't worry, spit it out. What is it?"

"I'm so sorry, Leilani. Seriously, I am. Last thing I wanted was to upset you with the issue after what happened that day."

"It's okay." she looks at her hands momentarily before looking up at Oriana,"Wanna grab a drink maybe? After work? It'd be better for me as well to tell the things to someone who doesn't have the slightest clue."

Oriana stops herself to further ask any question although her mind is swarming with millions of them. She simply nods with a grin, "Sure.

Sounds just good to me."

"What sounds good? Hey, Leila.." Nevan steps in.

"Hey!" the girls say in unison. Oriana can feel a bit more than usual friendly vibe going on between the two in front of her.

"Hey!" Leilani drags out a breath as she shifts her attention to preparing materials for her students.

"Guess I'll see you later then?" Oriana doesn't find anything else to say. "Yes! That's a deal." Leilani grins.

"You sure you wanna talk about that with her? I know, before you start...she's an amazing person and..."

"Yeah, that's why you have a little crush on her." Leilani smirks with a wink.

"What... No! Well, okay a bit maybe and I'm sure it's over already but definitely not anything like Fabian."

"What about that cyborg?"

"You don't know? Ya, of course, it's not like he does anything explicitly to give out the clue to the public. He's got this huge crush on Oriana..."

"Woah! Never thought he was capable of feeling anything but...now that I'm thinking it, they'd look cute together." she shrugs with a smile.

"Anyway, back to the main question."

"Yes, Nevan! Thanks for your concern. Really, I appreciate it more than anything. But I really think I need to open up to someone apart from you and my therapist about it. Besides, Landon is already deep into that stupid group investigation scheme. So, sharing it with Oriana might be helpful for them to piece together the puzzles."

Nevan presses his lips into a thin line. "And Nevan?"

"Yes?"

"Please, don't show concern because you feel bad for me...I know you never liked me, so just being friends would do just enough." She offers her brightest smile to his off-guard face before ducking out of the room.

He shakes his head thinking, she got it all wrong.

"I swear to God I'd punch those snobby teeth of that satan's apprentice if that wasn't against the policy." Oriana huffs as she steps out of the work

alongside Leilani.

"Which one is that again?" Leilani laughs. "Rodrigo."

"Ugh! Yeah, we hear him screaming at the top of his lungs all the time.

What's his deal anyway?"

"As I said, Satan's apprentice."

Leilani laughs again, "You want a coffee?" "Not a fan of caffeine but sure."

"I'm a huge fan, even if I don't wanna be...my body stops working automatically without the daily supply."

"Gotcha. You're one of them."

"Yeah." Leilani tugs at her ponytail mindlessly.

"Ah, Oriana! How long have you been here? Never asked you that question."

"Yeah, it's been 8 months." "Great! Where were you before?"

Oriana stiffens a bit, "New Jersey."

"That's nice. So, you're originally from the States?" "Yes and no." Oriana smiles wryly.

"Um...okay, seems like after sharing my secret, you'd feel a bit more comfortable in sharing your personal details with me." Leilani grins playfully.

"Yeah, I was actually planning to share my past with you as well. It's not like, you know, to lure you into unraveling your truth or something. It's been there with me for so long and sometimes, it becomes haunting...and I literally lose it in the middle of the night.

Leilani purses her lips before giving Oriana a side hug, "Seems like all of us have crazy little stories that sometimes keep us awake at

night...sometimes force us into writing about another universe where the reality we live doesn't exist."

Oriana only nods at that.

After settling down at the cafe, Oriana decides to start the conversation when Leilani blurts out, "So, should we start?"

They both laugh at once, a bit awkwardly although feeling definitely more at ease than before.

"I think yeah. You sure you wanna talk about it?" "Never was surer...is it a real word?"

"Yeah, whatever you can successfully use to convey what you mean, has to be a real word." Oriana smirks.

Leilani lets out a small chortle before starting, "Okay, so you need to know that I have a condition...a mental condition."

A slow, cold shiver ever so quietly runs down Oriana's spine as she

remains silent and nonjudgmental. She doesn't want Leilani to have done anything to Raya. She likes this girl...she has a good heart. It's just so apparent but Oriana cannot help remembering the look on Leilani's face from the evening of the party. She looked like she could do anything to

satiate her anger.

"You're not thinking I had something to do with Raya, are you?" Leilani already sounds nervous.

"Ah come on now, no! Trust me, Leila. You can feel comfortable sharing whatever you want with me. No judgement would be intended from this side, I promise."

"Thanks, it means a lot. So, back to the mental condition. You heard about dissociative identity disorder?"

"Is it similar to Multiple personality disorder?"

"More or less, yeah. But I don't completely change, you see. It's like, for MPD patients, they have multiple identities or personalities that take over at different times. But for me, I tend to skip a certain time in my memory...like I cannot remember what I did during that time after the episode." she bites her lower lip and lets out a shaky exhale.

Oriana reaches over to touch a hand to Leilani's shoulder, "It's okay.

Take your time...it's fine."

Leilani's lips shake a bit as she tries to fight back the tears that already began to sting her eyes.

"Did you have any trauma as a kid? Where did that condition stem from?" Oriana keeps her voice as gentle and levelled as possible. It's an

incredibly sensitive issue and the last thing she wants is to come out rude around it.

"Yeah, I saw my father molesting and killing innocent girls, before my own eyes." Leilani's eyes have a distant look in them as her voice sounds hushed and scared.

Oriana stops the audible gasp that wanted to set free as the first reaction.

Her head does a slow spin as her eyes keep fixated on Leilani.