Photo Challenge #25 “The Other Woman”

Photo Credit: Tom Bagshaw

Every waking moment Coline spent, her thoughts would stray to HER! She struggled to keep from being drawn to the door across the hall and failed. She shook her head and started dressing for work. Her style reflected her personality – plain and discreet which easily melted in the crowd. As she brushed her straight hair, her thoughts flashed to how SHE would do her hair this morning. Tied back with a colorful scarf or half open with the riot of curls spilling down her back? Whatever she did, it would turn heads!

As she sipped her chocolate milk, she saw the discarded green tea SHE had left on the counter. “Nicole!” she sighed. For the millionth time, she wondered what she had been thinking when she had taken HER as a flat mate! She fought this incessant perceptual war that brewed self-doubts and jealousy inside her. Nicole was everything that she wasn’t. Smart, funny and witty – the cynosure of all eyes!  She had the perfect life, a sassy job and attractive friends. Her clothes fit her like a glove and her boyfriend looked like he had come straight from romance novels. Spitefully, she reached out and knocked over the health supplements Nicole had arranged on the counter and stalked out to catch the bus. No luxury cars for her, unlike her dear flat mate!

Nicole’s face fell when she saw the mess Coline had made yet again. With a grimace, she set the place in order. She read the resentment in Coline’s eyes every time she came back late from parties. No matter how hard she tried, Coline never understood how much she admired her. A steady job, a sensible boyfriend and a secure future! It looked so promising than the superficial gloss she led. She made up her mind, “I will talk to her. I can’t take this anymore!”

Cranky and nursing her favourite poison from the bar, Coline stumbled into the house. As she spied Nicole’s reflection in the mirror, her mind registered two things – she owned the dress and yet it looked better on Nicole! A red film descended on her and she lashed out, tearing the dress from her. As her vision cleared, she saw a bloody disfigured face staring accusingly at her. Horrified, she rushed to the hospital and frantically explained what had happened between Nicole and her. She tried to resist the sedative being administered but finally relented, the anguished whisper “Coline” dying on her lips.

A week later, the nurse walked in to check on her. The room was empty with the patient tag left behind. The patient file was torn and someone had systematically rearranged the name COLINE to form NICOLE and remarked – “The Ugly Coline is gone. Forever”

The slashed tag read: “Coline: Suspected DID”

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Notes:

DID: Dissociative Identity Disorder (also known as Multiple Personality Disorder)

As per Merriam Webster, Anagram (noun): a word or phrase made by transposing the letters of another word or phrase

My second venture into fiction writing. This was in response to an awesome Photo Challenge over at mindlovemisery’s prompts. I love feedback 🙂