Chapter 14
SALEM WOMEN'S CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Sami had been put in jail for three consecutive life sentences for the murder of E.J. DiMera. She had, by this point, spent five years in jail. In those five years, not much had happened to her. She rarely had an visitors. Mainly Lucas and, on occasion, Will, Allie, and, on even rarer occasions, Sydney. However, today was a very special day. This was the day that Marlena came to visit.
MARLENA: Sami, we need to talk.
SAMI: Oh, so now you wanna talk? For nearly five years, you've barely said a single word to me. So, why now?
MARLENA: It's about your youngest daughter, Sydney.
SAMI: What about her?
MARLENA: She has...a problem.
SAMI: Well, she grew up with E.J. as a father. What kid wouldn't have a problem?
MARLENA: I'm serious.
SAMI: So am I. Okay, what kind of problem?
MARLENA: She has a very serious disorder. DID.
SAMI: Did? What did she have?
MARLENA: No, not did. DID. Dissociative Identity Disorder. It's also commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder.
SAMI: What?
MARLENA: I said: “No, not did. DID: Dissociative Identity Disorder. It's also commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder”.
SAMI: Yeah, I know what you said. But, what? How? How did this happen?
MARLENA: It has something to do with stress and trauma. We each handle stress and trauma in a different way. However, when there is a significant amount of trauma in a person's life, sometimes they can't handle it. So, their mind will create a separate personality, one that either can handle the trauma, or will make the main person, the host, forget about it altogether.
SAMI: And you're saying that Sydney, my daughter, has this disease?
MARLENA: It's not a disease, it's a disorder. But, yes, she does. I've already encountered one of her “others”, that's the name we give to a personality which is not the original. In this case, the other is a boy named Stryker. And, from the looks of it, he is the protector.
SAMI: The what?
MARLENA: In cases of DID, there is at least one personality that acts as the protector of all the others. More often than not, the protector takes the form of a man, whether or not the original person is a man or woman.
SAMI: Are you trying to say that my daughter is crazy? Are you saying that she thinks she's a man in a woman's body?
MARLENA: No. I'm saying that she is a woman with Multiple Personality Disorder who just happens to have a personality that is a man.
SAMI: This doesn't make any sense. I mean, how did this even happen?
MARLENA: Well, think about all that Sydney's been through. Being kidnapped as a child. Watching her parents argue constantly over whose child she is. Being abused by her father and grandfather. Being raped. Watching her mother kill her father. I'm almost surprised I didn't see the signs earlier.
SAMI: Well, maybe if you had been there more for us, if you had paid more attention to us, you would have been able to see it!
MARLENA: Maybe if we'd all paid a bit more attention, we could have seen it.
SAMI: Are you blaming this on me?!
Poor thing....