Chapter 15
BAYVIEW SANITARIUM
Nicholas had been taken to Bayview Sanitarium to see a psychiatrist. Bo, E.J. and Stephanie were waiting outside of a room. Marlena walked from the room.
STEPHANIE: Dr. Evans, did you find out anything?
MARLENA: Indeed. I found out the whole story. The only question is, who I got the story from.
E.J.: Well, Nicholas, obviously.
MARLENA: Not quite. No, I did find out the whole story, but I found it out from the aunt.
BO: Marlena, Vivian is dead.
MARLENA: Yes...and, no.
STEPHANIE: Please explain.
MARLENA: Since a very young age, Nicholas was raised by his Aunt Vivian. She was a very dominating woman. She always wanted to do everything for Nicholas and would only allow him to do things she deemed him capable of. Nicholas is actually Vivian's great-nephew. When his father, Lawrence, died, Vivian took Nicholas in because she didn't like his mother. From a very young age, it was always just Nicholas and Vivian. But then, Vivian took a lover, and Nicholas was extremely jealous. He felt as though she had replaced him. So, in a jealous rage one night, Nicholas killed both Vivian and her lover, but made it look like a murder-suicide. Matricide is an unbearable crime, and it is most unbearable to the person who commits it. Nicholas couldn't handle the idea that he had killed his dear Aunt Vivian. It was too much for him. So, his mind blocked the event from ever happening. He convinced himself that Vivian was still alive. He buried a weighted coffin in the cemetery, and kept her body with him. He did what he could to preserve it. But, soon, the body wasn't enough.
BO: Why was he dressed like that?
MARLENA: I was just about to get to that. Shortly after murdering Vivian and her lover, Nicholas developed a multiple personality disorder. This other personality took on the form of his aunt. Now, because she was always dominating him in real life, she was, of course, the dominant personality.
E.J.: So, he's a transvestite?
MARLENA: No, not at all. A transvestite is a person who gets some kind of sexual pleasure out of dressing like the opposite sex. No, Nicholas dressed as Vivian because part of him was Vivian.
STEPHANIE: I don't understand.
MARLENA: When a person develops a multiple personality disorder, they actually become that personality. They are no longer just themselves. There are two, sometimes more, people inhabiting that same body. Now, as for your cousin and the detective you sent to find her, I'm very sorry, but they're dead. You see, Nicholas assumed that if he was that jealous of Vivian, then she must be just as jealous of him. So, whenever he felt a strong attraction to a woman, the Aunt Vivian personality would go crazy. That's why she killed your cousin. Detective Hernandez was coming too close to the truth, so she killed him, as well. The mind is a very strange thing. Because of the nature of multiple personality disorder, quite often, he would be both Nicholas and Vivian. He could carry on whole conversations. He would also frequently become just Vivian. But, he was never just Nicholas. It's rather sad, really. He loved his aunt so much that in the end he literally became her. And now, the dominant personality is in full control. I'm not sure that there's any Nicholas left at all.
Inside one of the rooms, Nicholas sat, just staring into space.
NICHOLAS (thinking, Vivian's voice): It's sad, you know, when a woman has to speak the words that condemn her own family, especially her favorite nephew. But I couldn't allow them to believe that I would commit murder. They'll put him away now, as I should have years ago. He was always bad, and in the end he intended to tell them I killed those girls and that man. As if I could do anything but just sit and stare, like one of his stuffed birds. They know I can't move a finger, and I won't. I'll just sit here and be quiet, just in case they do...suspect me. They're probably watching me. Well, let them. Let them see what kind of a person I am.
A fly starts buzzing around Nicholas. It lands on his hand. He looks down at it.
NICHOLAS (thinking, Vivian's voice): I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching. They'll see. They'll see and they'll know. And they'll say, "Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly."
Nicholas looks directly at the audience and grins a very manic, disturbingly evil grin.
THE END
