1.

You know sometimes in real life; it can be a good thing to pretend to be someone else. Maybe in regard with being in conversation with someone you have never met before and are quite likely never to meet again. It could be something cathartic, to be someone you are not and falsely state your own identity. Sure, who would know the difference and what harm could come from such a thing?

Yeah, there would be no harm in offering up a name to a stranger, a name that is not actually yours. You could tell them that your occupation is something with which is in fact not your actual occupation, it could be something far removed from what it is you do on a daily basis, perhaps trade something ordinary for something ... exciting.

Just like that, and all of a sudden, unemployed John from Dublin can become Enrique the Spanish bull fighter from Barcelona. Granted that may be a little extreme and John would have to lose his Dublin accent and be able to speak Spanish fluently to have any hope of pulling that one off while also having an actual tan and not an Irish rain-washed rust.

I am sure that the likes of this has happened many a time. All around the world, many a guy, and gal for that matter, would pretend to be someone he or she is not while trying to impress a lady or guy he or she has only just met, in the hopes that it would lead to something more than just having a drink or three.

Perhaps something like this could also become a routine that you might become known for; becoming your 'alter ego' time after time such as John may be known for regularly slipping into the role of becoming Enrique but how would John react if somehow Enrique seemed to become his own and completely separate entity?

What if Enrique became something real? What if John was to begin receiving emails from Enrique without knowingly having sent them? Or even begin to receive calls to his phone from people who are seriously looking for Enrique when John has no memory of handing his own number out as belonging to Enrique?

How would you feel knowing that your actual alter ego is really out there somewhere and running amuck? Imagine for a minute that such a thing is happening to you, and you know that what is going on has nothing directly to do with you. Would it scare you to think that a personality you not only created but also regularly acted out, is really out there living and breathing a life of its own? How would you cope with what was happening? And what could you do about it?

***

Growing up, Noel was quiet and shy, how he wished that this had not been his reality, but reality it was. He wanted to be anything but quiet and shy so much so, he went so far as to create an alter ego in his own mind, and he named this alter ego George. George became everything that Noel wasn't as well as everything with which Noel wanted to be.

George was confident, cocky and sure of himself. Any time Noel found himself in a situation that he was not comfortable with, he would find some way of getting through it and usually attributed that ability to George. It would be as if a switch flipped, and one became the other. Things even got to the stage that when Noel would arrive home and someone at home would shout out 'who is that?' Noel would reply 'George'.

Over time, this role became all the easier to slip into. It would feel natural to where the switch became automatic and not manual. George would have his own mannerisms and phrases or sayings that if these were to be observed by someone who knew both Noel and his alter-ego, then they would also know that they were dealing with George. It had always been just something of fun, it had meant to be fun, a way to break out of a shell and become more confident.

It was even getting to a point where if Noel was asked a question with which he was not happy to respond to, or felt uncomfortable with, George would almost instantly take over with a gesture motion of pointing to a spot, didn't have to be anywhere in particular, and say 'over there'. Question deflected.

Those who knew Noel all indeed thought of this as being a bit of harmless fun, and if anything, it was something that actually helped Noel to become all the more outgoing and it even brought him popularity too. It would be years later however, long after the creation of George, before things would begin to get out of hand.

Twenty-seven-year-old Noel entered his local bank. He regularly needed to go there and strangely enough he always seemed to get the same teller every time he approached the counter.

'How can I help you today mister Reid?'

Noel was surprised that on this occasion, the teller remembered his name, so noticing her name badge he responded, 'just lodging money today Suzie'. There was a time he would need George for something as simple as to speak a lady's name, not at his point though.

'No problem' she said with a smile.

At work, there was someone with whom Noel had an eye on for quite some time now. Noel being Noel, there was no way he could ever approach her. Besides, she was way out of his league. So, you can imagine his surprise as she threw a little wave his way saying 'hi Noel' as she passed him by one afternoon.

Noel almost dropped what he was carrying when this happened, but he did manage to respond with a 'hi' of his own. He caught up with her while she was awaiting the lift to bring her to the floor she worked on.

'Hey Lynn', Noel's heart was beating so hard that he thought it was going to burst right out of his chest, 'I just thought ... that ... well, if you would like that is ... to grab a coffee with me in the canteen before work tomorrow morning.'

'Sure' she responded.

'Really?'

The elevator doors opened, Lynn walked in, turned around and smiled before the doors closed.

'Yes ...' Noel shouted while jumping around like a crazed lunatic and not caring about who may be around to see his joy.

The morning following having asked Miss Lynn out for coffee, Noel awoke with one hell of a sore head. Must have been due to whatever way he had been lying in bed he thought, so he thought. Even though he had himself an early night the night before, Noel felt as if he had hardly been to bed at all. He also realized that if he was to meet Lynn for coffee then he should have left home already.

Stumbling out of bed he made his way over to the window to open the curtains. The morning sunshine almost knocked him over and added to the pain he felt in his head. Oh, the eyes, a sharp pain shot through then and immediately to the brain. This was more than beginning to feel the effects a hangover more than anything else though Noel had not been drinking the night before, this ... he was sure of, at least kind of sure.

Noel arrived at the work canteen just about with time to spare, he at least hoped he had time to spare, and adding to this, he most certainly looked a mess. He had hardly time to look around when Lynn approached him walking with a sassy kind of motion. Noel smiled a smile which barely had time to settle on his face for Lynn threw what was left of her coffee, she had already acquired, directly at Noel before storming out of the room.

Surprised and bewildered, Noel gathered himself and made his way to his office, and before he could get there, he was informed that the boss was awaiting his arrival and boss was not in good form at all.

Knocking on the boss's office door, Noel was greeted with a shout of 'get your ass in here and close the door behind you'.

The boss continued along the lines to which he had already laid out, a rant much to Noels surprise.

'Look at you son, you're a mess.'

'Eh ... I can ... explain...'

'Eh, eh nothing, after last night I should fire you right no on the spot.'

'Last night, sir?'

'Yes, boy last night ... your actions were worthy of me firing you right here and now on the spot, but being the kind of guy I am, I am giving you your two weeks' notice of termination. Now get to work before I change my mind.'

A completely dazed Noel was shuffled out of his boss's office and had the door slammed in his face before he could query what had just happened.

The two weeks came and went quite quickly and so did many more weeks. Being out of work for quite some time now, Noel was running out of money, what little savings he had were now gone and quite frankly he wasn't sure as to where most of that money had got too either. The strangeness that had entered his life had continued and things were about to get a whole lot worse. For Noel was to awake one morning in a room he did not recognize.

It had appeared that Noel had spent the night in a hotel room. He could hardly afford to pay for his next meal so doing something like spending a night in a hotel was completely out of the question, but it was clear from walking around the room that he was indeed in a hotel room, The Morrison Hotel to be precise having come across a brochure on the table not far from the bed.

He took the brochure, began looking through it and questioned himself as to how and why he managed to get where he is while having absolutely no memory of it.

Noel moved backwards from this table with the brochure still in his hand and he sat on the bed while also sitting on remote controls accidentally knocking the television on. A news report was focusing on a bank robbery from the previous day. The bank just so happened to be Noel's local bank, the one he uses each and every week. The report announced that a teller had been kidnapped and that police were looking to question a man. With that, a sketch fitting Noel's description appeared on screen, and this led him to fall off the bed.

Moving around in disbelief, Noel got himself ready and made his way to his car which so happened to be in the hotel car park. He had hoped it would be there and indeed it was, so he drove away not knowing where he was going to go or what he was going to do. A few minutes into his journey, he remembered that it had been reported that a bank teller had been kidnapped. Wait, what's that noise?

Noel moved his car over to the side of a quiet street and slowly made his way to the boot. Opening the boot set him off into a panic for there was a body inside. He initially presumed that the person was dead, but her eyes opened, and she began to squirm, besides the noise he had heard ... it must have been her. As he tried to calm this lady down telling her he wasn't going to hurt her he, all of a sudden, recognized just who she is. It was Suzie, the very same bank teller Noel would always go to whenever he used the bank.

Having been unbound, ungagged, and taken out of the boot, Suzie was about to make a run for it when Noel began to appear to begin to have some sort of break down. He plonked down on the ground and moved his knees up to his torso wrapping his arms around them while beginning to cry tears and murmur to himself.

'You are going to be alright Mr. Reid? Aren't you?'

'Oh, I don't know Suzie, I don't know anything anymore.'

'Why did you do it? Rob the bank I mean?'

'I did not rob the bank; at least I don't remember robbing it.'

It was only at this moment that he realized it.

'It must have been George. That would explain it, it explains everything.'

Suzie sat with Noel and after a lengthy chat, she convinced him to turn himself in and he did. He would soon be diagnosed with having a split personality disorder and go on to spend the following five years in a highly secured facility where he was treated for his ... condition. However, the money stolen in the bank robbery was never recovered. With not remembering the robbery, the lack of knowledge as to where the money could be, would be something quite ... real.

Once every couple of months or so, Suzie would visit Noel in that secured facility and on her last visit before Noel was to be released, she told him that she knew where George hid the money, he had stolen ...