“Do you like the mother at all?” David always wondered this, but had never had the opportunity to ask Dianne as he so rarely saw her.
Dianne was momentarily distracted by the fact that someone had actually bothered to ask about her thought or opinions. Finally she answered “Do you know, nobody has ever asked me that before? But in answer, no, I don’t and I think that is what makes my job all the harder. I can see the games she plays and the drama she likes to cause. But it is my job to keep things running as smooth as possible with her. The others get aggro with me because they think I like to have contact with her, but that isn’t true. I do it because it’s my role in life, nothing more.”
“And how are things within for you? I know you spend a great deal of your time with the teens. How are they?”
“They’re struggling at the moment. For some reason they are all being haunted by memories which is one of the main reasons I don’t want them seeing the mother right now. It has been hard to intervene in time to stop Josephine making plans to see her.”
“Josephine used to be the one to…” David struggled to find the words, and his brow furrowed for a moment while he thought. “…bow to the mothers will and demands all the time, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. Jo couldn’t cope with all the demands the mother placed on her, so Josephine would be the one to step in when the whole ‘I’m sorry, I’m such a bad daughter, you are such a wonderful mother, I’m sorry I let you down’ was needed.” She seems to genuinely feel for the mother and feels things were only so bad because we weren’t a good daughter to her.”
“Mmm. That is in such opposition to the majority of the Collective, isn’t it?”
“Sure is! I don’t know where she gets that from, but she is pretty adamant that the mother did her absolute best, and it was us who let her down, not the other way around.”
The conversation naturally lulled. David changed topics going back to what they previously touched on, asking “So, you said you were going to talk to Trudi, but it didn’t happen?”
Dianne nodded “There have been a lot of things going on at the moment, not just with the teens. I didn’t want to bother her yet.”
“What has been happening?”
“There was a meeting within and they talked about some issues.”
“You weren’t there?”
“No, I was out here, babysitting (the physical body). Oh, I nearly forgot!” Dianne rummaged around in the Collective’s bag, producing a neatly folded piece of paper. “I have a letter for you.” She handed it over to David, who thanked her and took it.
“From Trudi?” he asked, without opening the letter. Trudi nearly always communicated with David via a written letter.
“Yes. You can read it now, I don’t mind. Honest.”
“Well, I want to keep talking to you, if you don’t mind,” David said, not looking at the letter.
“You know me, I won’t be here long anyway. I do what has to happen and then I go back in. It’s ok, it’s the way it is, and I don’t mind.”
“Do you know what is in the letter?” David asked.
Di shook her head, “I have no idea, I am just the carrier pigeon. But please read it, it is obviously important.”
David nodded and, after thanking Di for her time, he unfolded the letter.
Trudi
Herr Doktor,
A great deal has happened within, and I felt it prudent to write you so you were kept abreast of the situation.
As you are aware, Jo managed to make her way through the defence mechanisms twice to make serious attempts on the body. Both Demise and I are oblivious of how she managed this, as usually we are well aware when she is making plans and we can deal with it immediately before it escalates. We do suspect it is due to the increase in the noise level. The crying within has started once more, which can still be heard out front by some members.
We also have members who seem to be reliving trauma at the moment, which tends to bleed through the walls and into each other. It makes focusing on and monitoring out front very difficult.
As a consequence of her actions, Jo was reprimanded and punished and was subsequently placed into confinement for the foreseeable future.
I realise you do not approve of the way such matters are handled Herr Doktor, and you do not feel violence has a place within the Collective. However I hope you can at least understand the matter had to be dealt with swiftly. You know the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. Our top priority is the protection of the Collective and put quite simply, Jo was threatening the Collective as a whole.
But alas, the story does not end there. When Jo was placed into confinement, she unfortunately fractured once more.
This was a simple fracture, the only result being two entities in confinement, rather than one. We do not know whether this new entity will remain, or whether Jo will reabsorb it once she heals. Time will tell, as it invariably does.
We informed Sam, Jordan, Toni and Linda of this in a meeting and the others that need to know are being told as we speak.
We will keep you informed as more information and/or details come to pass.
Trudi
Sam
David was stunned. He quickly re-read over the letter, and then carefully folded it before looking up. He immediately recognised that Dianne was gone and Sam was in her place.
Disregarding all pleasantries, he indicated the letter, and said, “You know about this letter, Sam?”
“Yeh, I know.”
“And what do you make of it?”
“What do you reckon? It’s pretty fucked up.”
“It’s unfortunate, that’s for sure.” David said. “For starters, there haven’t been new members of the Collective created for quite a long time. At least that I am aware of.”
“For fucks sake, we don’t know if this new one is going to part of the Collective. Jo is not one of us, so we don’t know if this new one will be or not.”
“Ok, ok” David held up his hands in an apologetic gesture. Whilst it was something they often argued about now was not the time as he could sense Sam was especially agitated.
“What’s the feeling within the Collective?”
“We all agree it’s pretty fucked up. I mean shit, she tried to knock herself off, and then does this and splits off? What the fuck is wrong with her? Why is she so fucked up?”
If you really wanted the answer, I would tell you, David thought a little sadly. Instead he simply said “So, I’m guessing you are angry about it.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Sam spat out.
** ** **
After the session, David pondered all that had happened. Whilst he was glad they were starting to trust him more and finally feeling like they could be honest with him, he did wish more members were not being created. They worked hard to get the Collective more cohesive, and that meant less members. They were at a manageable number now, with 8 adults, including Jo. Does this 9thadult mean the Collective is going to be increasing once more? Too many members all fighting for time out here made things much more chaotic and stressful. Practically speaking, it also made it harder to keep track of time. Every time a member came out, there had been a gap in time for them, which was commonly called ‘lost time’. The members