“Is it okay if I leave you alone with her?”
“Well, is she violent?”
“I’ve been with her for years, and she’s never been a danger to anyone.”
“Okay, then I can handle being alone with her.”
“If you need me, I’ll be right behind the glass.” Edward Ian said as he opened the door.
“Can I have Natalia’s case file before you leave?”
Edward hesitates, “No, I want you to figure out what’s going on just by speaking to them. You can see the case file after.”
“Them?”
“You’ll see.” Edward responded, handing Mark Lee a yellow note pad and pen.
“Take whatever notes you need. We will talk again in an hour.”
Edward opened the door and in walked an 18 year old with long, curly brown hair. She had on a plain purple shirt with ripped jeans, freckles covering her pale face.
“Is it okay if I call you Sergeant Lee?” asked Natalia. 
“Um, yeah, that is fine.”
“Great. So where should I start?”
“From the beginning.” Mark said, glancing at the clock on the wall.
6:00pm
“After school was dismissed yesterday I walked to the park. I always take that route because it’s the easiest, and fastest. It was like any other day, ending in me saying goodbye to my friends, grabbing my gym clothes from my locker, and then making my way home.” explained Natalia, as she crossed her legs, moving her hair off her shoulder. It looked like she had been biting her nails.
“What did you see once you got to the park?” asked Mark, as he uncapped the black ballpoint pen.
“Well, I had my headphones in when I was walking to the park, but I took them off when I got there. So if the murder had happened before I got onto the park, I didn’t hear it. I walked past the playground filled with kids, and past the soccer fields. The dead body was by the old wooden picnic tables. When I got there I saw the body laying underneath the table closest to the woods. It was definitely a male body, but I couldn’t tell the age of him because he was covered in blood.”
“Was there anyone near the body when you got there, Natalia?”
“Iris, you mean.”
“What?” questioned Mark.
“My name is Iris.”
“Oh, Oh! I’m sorry, I’ve been up very late these past couple of nights. Clearly I need a cup of coffee!” Mark replied, a bit hesitant and unsure of his response. He jots down a few notes and puts a big question mark right next to them.
6:13pm
“Anyways, I was drinking at the park with a lot of my friends, man, how do you expect me to remember who was there before I got there?”
Mark doesn’t say anything, he’s just listening to get more information.
“I don’t know, I guess no one was near the body when I got there, that would just be stupid. Who would be dumb enough to stand next to the body they just murdered? If that’s not the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, then I don’t know what is.” Iris kicks her feet up on the table and leans back into her rolling chair. This catches Marks attention, and his eyes go wide.
“What did it look like when you approached the body?”
“Okay what the hell, dude. All you’ve done so far is ask me question, upon, question, upon question. Who the hell do you think you are? I didn’t ask to talk to you, and I most certainly don’t want to. So can we hurry this thing up? I got better things to do than talk to you.”
“Alrighty then Iris. I’m just trying to get more answers about the murder, and you are one of the only witnesses. I need you to help me by answering my questions to the best of your ability, Iris. Please. ” Mark replied, trying his best not to push Iris’ buttons. His fists were clenched, but he continued along with the questions he had to ask.
“Okay, whatever,” commented Iris, without a care in the world. She cleared her throat and began answering the question Mark had asked.
“When I approached the body there was a lot of blood. It looked like a crazy swimming pool, it was disgusting.” Iris was laughing when she spoke this sentence, even though she was clearly upset about the situation she had witnessed.
“There was no weapon by the body, so the murderer must have taken it with them when they ran off, at least that’s what I would’ve done. I stood staring at it for a few minutes, and then left. I didn’t really know what to do, and I don’t really care since its not my place. ” Iris seemed to be fed up with Mark, and didn’t want to be talking to him anymore.
“Okay Iris, I get it. You’re not in trouble, I’m just here to talk to you.” Mark responded quietly, and definitely friendlier than Iris had talked to him.
“Well I should get a phone call or something if you are going to be keeping me here for hours. This is so stupid, why are you even questioning me about this case?”
“Um, uh, okay yeah. You’re only here for an hour so you shouldn’t need a phone call.” Mark said, writing down some more notes on the notepad, once again putting a question mark on the side.
“Whatever. I was drinking at the park, saw a boy laying on the ground, covered in blood and clearly dead. I looked at it for a few minutes and then left, and now we’re here talking about it. That’s all there is to it. Seriously.”
“Alright. Do you have any idea on who the murderer might be? I know you didn’t see anyone, but do you know?”
“Um, I don’t know.” answered Alice. Her voice was soft, as if she was too nervous to speak in front of Mark. She looked down at her feet, and fidgeted with her thumbs in her lap.
“What did you do after-” the door opened, and in walked Edward Ian.
“Hello Mark, and who do we have here?” said Edward.
“I’m just talking to Iris right now and getting more information on the murder!”
“It’s Alice.”
“Oh, oh, uh, sorry Alice. My mistake.” Mark uncapped his pen and wrote another note down, with a question mark next to it of course. It seemed as though everything he wrote down in his notepad was something he was unsure of.
“Well Alice, hello! I’m surprised you showed up, this doesn’t seem like something you’d come out for. It’s good to see you again.” Edward spoke, glancing at Mark and lifting up an eyebrow. Mark was very confused, and didn’t know what else to say.
Mark finished his question, “What did you do after you left the area of the murder? Meaning, when you got back home?”
Edward interrupted again, “Before you answer, Alice, I just want to remind you both of the time. The hour is up in 30 minutes. I’ll see you then.” Edward left, and it was just Mark and Alice once again, whether they like it or not. Edward checks the clock again.
6:35pm
“I just went home and sat on the couch, how am I supposed to react to something like that? I waited around in my house, hoping that my mom would come home so that I could snuggle in her arms and hope that it didn’t actually happen.” Alice said, getting quieter and quieter as she went on. She looked down as she answered every question, hiding from her own words.
“Did you tell your mom when she got home?”
“I didn’t tell anyone.” Alice swallowed loudly. “About the murder.”
“Well did your mom eventually ask you if something was wrong?”
“I don’t remember.” Alice answered, scratching her leg as if she had bug bites everywhere.
“Alright, so you definitely didn’t tell anyone about the murder?”
“Of course I did are you joking? It was a murder! I saw a dead body, what do you think I’m going to do? Just relive that moment in my head everyday until someone eventually finds out? No, I told the first person I saw on my way home. I told them I didn’t know who did it, but that I saw a dead body under a picnic table at the park.”
“Oh, I thought you just said that you didn’t tell anyone about the murder?” Mark flipped to a new page on the notepad.
“No, I never said that.”
“Okay Alice, I’m pretty sure you did but that’s okay. As long as you are being truthful now, then we can move forward.”
“Um, can you get my name right.”
“Oh, um, yeah sorry. Iris?”
“Are you kidding me? It’s Natalia.” she said, getting a bit annoyed that he couldn’t even call her by the right name.
“Sorry, I’ve been messing up your names a lot today. My apologies again.” Mark looked at the clock again and his eyes showed that he could not wait for this to be over. Every minute felt like an hour.
6:42pm
“Okay Natalia, do you have any clue who the dead body was? Did he look familiar?”
Natalia plugged her ears and squinted her eyes, speaking, “What? Sorry, could you repeat that? I couldn’t hear what you said over the ambulance that just drove by. Gosh I forgot how loud those were!”
Mark looked at Natalia as if he had misheard what she said. “What ambulance Natalia? There was no ambulance.”
“Oh, I meant police. I heard the sirens.”
“There weren’t police sirens either. It’s been silent. The only noise I’ve heard is you and me talking.” Mark writes in another page on the notepad, once again.
“Well I definitely heard an ambulance siren in my ear. You better double check your hearing after this.” Natalia was getting defensive, but rather than adding fuel to the fire, Mark decided it would be better just to move on and repeat the question.
“Do you know who the dead body was? Did you recognize his face at all?
“Uh, he looked familiar.” Alice whispered, picking her nails and then scratching her scalp.
“Could you describe him for me?”
“No, I mean, I’m sorry, I actually didn’t recognize who he was. It was hard to tell with all the blood. A person looks a lot different dead then they do alive, but I did notice that he had brown hair, kind of like mine, and freckles. He didn’t remind me of anyone just by looking at him. His skin was as pale as a ghost, he just looked dead.”
“Did anyone around you come over once they saw you looking at the body? Did anyone besides you notice it?”
“No one came over. I was pretty close to the woods, and pretty far away from any person. Everyone was over by the soccer fields, not way back past the swing sets. Parents are there with their kids for them to play, not to go look at a dead body that some 13 year old found.”
“Wait Natalia aren’t you 18?”
6:53pm
“Okay I promise there are only a few more questions. We have 7 minute left.”
“Well please hurry it up. This is so freaking annoying. I’m tired of sitting in this room having you bombard me with questions.” Iris rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, leaning back in the old black rolling chair. Mark is definitely glad there are only 7 minutes left, but it will probably be the longest 7 minutes of his life.
Mark flipped to a new page and wrote ‘IRIS’ in big capital letters at the top. “Well Iris, did anyone catch you drinking when you were there, at the park?”
“Nope, no one. I was alone, I didn’t look suspicious. It just looked like I was walking home from the school. I wouldn’t have cared if I had gotten caught though. I could punch someone if I wanted to.” Iris laughed at her own reply.
“Well Iris you could’ve gotten in a lot of trouble for those things. If you weren’t here as a witness to a serious murder I would write you down for underage drinking.”
“Dude chill out! I’m 18 it doesn’t matter at this age. I’ll be 21 in a few years its whatever.” Iris clearly doesn’t care about a single thing.
“I don’t even know how I’m supposed to trust anything you’re saying if you were drinking at the park when you saw the dead body.”
“Dude-”
“Don’t call me dude.” Mark interrupted firmly. He was upset.
“Alrighty Sir.” Iris says, mocking him. “I wasn’t blackout drunk, c’mon. I was just drinking at the park with some friends, no big deal. It wasn’t like I was at a party or anything. I could see clearly, and I was thinking straight. Everything I’m telling you is what actually happened, whether you chose to believe me or not.”
6:58pm
“I’m just going to review some things with you if that is okay.” said Mark after looking at the clock. 2 minutes left. She nods her head in approval, and Mark asks another question.
“So you definitely did not see the murderer?”
“Um, correct.” Alice answered, never making eye contact with Mark.
“And you definitely didn’t see the murder happen either?”
“Correct.”
“And just to make sure I have all my facts correct, you do not know who the dead boy is, and no one around you noticed the dead body at the same time that you were there. Is that all correct?”
“That is all correct. But please, this happened years ago, why are you still asking me these questions as if it happened yesterday?”
“What are you saying? You-” Mark paused and cleared his throat, “sorry, Natalia and Iris, both said that this happened yesterday…”
7:00pm
Edward Ian walks through the door and announces, “Times up!” Alice leaves, and Edward and Mark have time to discuss.
“So, what do you think?” asks Edward.
“Dr. Ian, she is insane.”
“Of course, I already knew that. Let me see what you have in your notes.” Edward Ian says, grabbing Mark’s notepad and flipping through the pages.

“Ah, I see you noticed the three different personalities.”
“I sure did. Natalia, Iris, and Alice. Iris made every minute hell, she was very rude and clearly didn’t want to talk to me. Natalia had the most information on the murder, and Alice was just very quiet and didn’t want to say much.”
“Well,” says Edward Ian, “did you notice anything about the letters of the names?”
“The A , I, and N?”
“Correct.”
Mark rearranges the three letters in his head, trying to figure out what Dr. Ian was talking about.
“Well they could spell out Nia, or Ian. WAIT!” as Mark yelled out, Dr. Ian looked up, ready for an answer. “IS THAT YOUR DAUGHTER?”
“Wow, impressive Mark, that is correct. She is in fact my daughter, and she’s been in this mental hospital ever since the murder happened 5 years ago.”
“What are you talking about? The murder happened yesterday.” questions Mark, unsure of everything he thought were facts.
“That is what Natalia and Iris led you to believe. The murder happened when my daughter was 13, she is 18 now. She hasn’t been the same Alice I once knew when she was a kid.”
“Is Alice who she really is?” Mark looks to write down on his notepad, forgetting that the hour was up and he’s talking to Dr. Ian now.
“Somewhat correct, Alice is her before her mind changed. Before the murder happened. Alice is aware of the trauma she faced, and she also has an accurate representation of how she is actually feeling, and what actually happened that day.”
“Are Natalia and Iris just personalities that shut her out to hide her from the traumatic truth?”
“Very good, Mark, I can tell you’ll be a good doctor here at the hospital.”
“And she’s been traumatized by seeing the dead body?
Dr. Ian lets out a laugh, “You didn’t figure that part out? She is the murderer Mark! That’s why she’s here, by plea of insanity! That’s why she’s been in my mental hospital ever since. Did she go that whole time telling you that she just saw a dead body after the murder had already happened?”
Mark rubbed his forehead, clearly alarmed by these new truths. “Yes, which makes sense because her and all the personalities thought I was a police officer. They wouldn’t want to tell the truth to a police officer. But how did she commit the murder?”
“It was easy for her, she got a knife from my kitchen, and went to the park.”
Mark sighs, “So they were telling the truth about the dead body being at the park?”
“Yes, but her and the personalities were lying to you if they said that she was at the park to get home from school.”
“That’s exactly what she told me.” replied Mark, shaking his head.
“I had told her before she left for school that Christopher, my son, was going to be at the park to play with his friends after school.”
“Are you saying that she murdered her own brother??!” Mark was filled with so many emotions, his face was flushed. Dr. Ian smirked at him, surprised that he didn’t realize these things. Mark flips to a page in his notes, “I guess that makes sense. I have written down that the dead body has brown hair and freckles, just like her. Alice also said that he looked familiar, before Natalia interrupted her to hide her from reality.”

“Correct. Good observations, Mark.” Dr. Ian reaches into her medical file, pulling out a newspaper article. The front reads, “13 YEAR OLD GIRL MURDERS YOUNGER BROTHER”. The date is in fact from 5 years ago. What Dr. Ian said was true, and her and the personalities were lying to me the entire time.”
“I truly have no words.”
Dr. Ian handed Mark his notepad. “Now, I will give you a few more minutes to come up with a diagnosis for my daughter.”
“Dr. Ian, I already know.”
“Well, well, well. What have you diagnosed my daughter with?”
“After listening to her and the personalities for an hour now, I believe she has schizophrenia.”
“Ah, that is correct. You’ve got the job. Be at the hospital by 6am tomorrow.” Mark gets up, shakes Dr. Ian’s hand, and walks out the door.