Read Online Commandment by Daryl Chestney - Free Book Online Page A

the head can cause one to forget events?”
    Galen nibbled on the quill’s tip.
    “Trauma can certainly cause concussions and brief loss of consciousness. There would of course be a lack of recall in such a state.”
    “Not unconsciousness,” Lakif said, correcting him. “I mean actual amnesia that persists in the awakened state.”
    “Retrograde or anterograde?” the doctor asked.
    “Pardon? I don’t know what you mean.”
    “Is the issue a difficulty remembering the past or remembering new information?”
    “The former.” Lakif fumed over the unnecessarily complex jargon of doctors. “Can a wound cause this type of amnesia?”
    “Of course. Certain blocks of time may be erased.”
    “I mean, forget
everything
—especially personal details,” Lakif interrupted the psychoanalyst. “Could such a person have absolutely no recall of his past life up to a given moment?”
    “It’s possible,” the doctor mused.
    “
Possible
?” Lakif longed for a one-handed doctor, for only such an individual could give her a straight answer and not the proverbial “on the one hand.”
    “It could be a result of trauma causing organic brain injury, but a pervasive amnesia could be rooted in psychological issues as well.”
    “Psychological? How so?” Lakif was enthused with the theme.
    “There are certain dissociative states characterized by amnesia.”
    “Dissociative?” Lakif could hardly pronounce the word and not without a spray of spit.
    “Dissociation is a form of disconnection from oneself, where one literally loses one’s sense of identity. Perhaps you are familiar with hypnosis.”
    “I’ve heard of it. I thought it was bunk.”
    “Hypnosis is a form of induced dissociation. Another common example is daydreaming. Well, you should appreciate this more than most, for Acaanans are an encyclopedia of such disorders. In fact, my mentor studied the phenomenon with several volunteer Acaanan subjects…” He trailed off before Lakif’s blank look. The psychiatrist seemed to recognize that he was getting derailed. “In any event, trauma, or more appropriately a
psychologically
traumatic experience, can propel one into such a state.”
    “The individual in question isn’t in a trance?”
    “In effect, yes. But such a trance could not be appreciated by others. He would behave normally. In fact, in one such disorder, the dissociated individual adopts a new identity with no recall of his past. Sometimes this involves uprooting and traveling great distances, which seems to aid in the divorce process. Thus, the disorder is dubbed fugue, which means
flight.”
    “I see.” Lakif nodded. “That’s very interesting, even to a laywoman.”
    “Of course, such instances are exceedingly rare. Much more commonly, the patient is malingering.”
    “Malingering?” Another ungainly word confounded Lakif.
    “That’s medical talk for
faking it
.” The doctor’s fingers danced in the air, as if he was speaking with them. “These people often have a very real reason to disappear.”
    “Such as?”
    “Escape for instance.”
    “From?”
    “A debtor, a spouse, a criminal record, a malfeasance—take your pick. The list is extensive.”
    “How can you distinguish between the phonies and the ones with the true dissociation syndrome?”
    “It can be challenging, to be sure. There is no cookie-cutter recipe.”
    Lakif’s gaze drifted past the psychologist and toward the quadrivium. The speaker was orating fiercely, but his speech was lost amid the intervening intellectual babble. She began to tune the current topic out. As the Half-man was no longer in her life, the question of diagnosing his personal issues no longer held much appeal.
    “The Laureates are certainly a no nonsense lot.” Lakif pointed out the sequestered forum.
    “That circle has achieved the acme of learning. You are interested in hearing them?”
    Lakif nodded eagerly.
    “Go and catch an earful. But a word of caution: don’t interrupt