Your Promise

"Why are we here?" Once-ler asked his mother led him to a door in a hospital. She said nothing at first.

"Your principle said you were acting strange and suggested we take you to see a psychiatric," His mother said. The door swung gently open, and a woman came out.

"Oh! You must be my next appointment," She said when she came out. Once-ler's mother pointed down to her son who she was holding at his shoulders. The woman got down on one knee to Once-ler's height. She wore a red long sleeve shirt and a pencil led skirt. A name tag on her shirt said Dr.Macky. "Hello there. You must be Once-ler," she sweetly said. Once-ler nodded. The seven year old had no idea what was going on. He didn't think he was acting strange recently. Dr.Macky stood up. "We'll be done in one hour. Before you leave to take him home, I'll talk to you about what I noticed," she told Once-ler's mom.

"Fine with me," His mother said, letting go of Once-ler and walking to the next room that was the waiting room.

"Would you please come with me, Once-ler?" Dr.Macky asked. She made space for Once-ler to walk past her into a room. It was big, with bland colors against the walls, floor, and small amount of furnishings. The woman with black hair pined up shut the door and sat down at a white stool next to a long chair that, to Once-ler, looked more like a bed. "Could you sit here, please?" Dr.Macky gently asked, patting the bed-chair. Once-ler lied down into it like he was told.

"Do you know why I'm here, with you?" Once-ler asked.

"Here? As in, my office?" Dr.Macky asked. Once-ler nodded slowly, as to say 'what else?'. He knew not to say that though. "Your mother and your principle are...Worried about you," she answered carefully.

"How come? I haven't done anything...Have I?" Once-ler asked.

"From what I've been told, they've noticed some things about your behavior. They noticed it change from time to time," Dr.Macky explained. "Do you know anything about this?"

"No," Once-ler answered. Then he quietly added, "They might have me confused for someone else though...". That got the doctor's attention. She picked up a clip board and a pencil.

"What do you mean, 'someone else'?" Dr.Macky asked.

"Well...I-I shouldn't tell you. You'll think I'm weird," Once-ler softly said.

"Once-ler, I won't think you're weird. Please, tell me," Dr.Macky softly begged.

"Well...I have another me," Once-ler said. The doctor looked at the little boy, in a blue t-shirt, eyes the same color, wearing grey shorts, with black hair. "He acts different than me, but he looks like me. Except, his eyes are green. He talks to me."

"When does he talk to you? And where?" Dr.Macky said, writing on the paper on her clipboard.

"In my head. He talks to me a lot. When he's mad at me, he yells at me. When he doesn't like what I'm doing, he takes over me," Once-ler explained. The doctor's pencil ran quickly, trying to catch every word that Once-ler said.

"How does he take over you?" Dr.Macky asked.

"I'm not sure. He just...He just does...! And...And then all I can do is watch until he lets me take control again," Once-ler explained. "And he just said how he doesn't like us calling him 'him'. He'd like us to use his real name."

"What's his name?" Dr.Macky asked, setting the pencil down, giving her hand a rest. She moved it side to side and gently rubbed it.

"Greed-ler," Once-ler said. Dr.Macky stopped rubbing her wrist.

"W-What? W-What was his name?" Dr.Macky asked, her eyes growing wide.

"Greed-ler. His name is Greed-ler," Once-ler repeated.

"Greed-ler?" Dr.Macky asked. Once-ler nodded his head. "Like your name, but instead of 'Once' it's 'Greed'?" Once-ler nodded again. "You...You said he takes over your body, right?" Once-ler nodded again, but slowly. "Can I talk to Greed-ler?" Once-ler didn't nod. He just looked at the doctor, this person he never met, asking him all these questions.

"No," Once-ler mumbled, hugging his knees to his chest.

"Hm?" Dr.Macky asked.

"No. You can't. He doesn't want you to. Please miss, don't make him do things he doesn't want to. He gets mad at me if I make him," Once-ler said, louder, starting to shake a little.

"Please, Greed-ler, if you can hear me, let me talk to you. I'd like to help Once-ler, and I need you to help," Dr. Macky said, unsurely looking at Once-ler in the eyes. Once-ler sighed.

"He said 'fine'. But...Be prepared, miss. You don't know what you've gotten yourself into. Greed-ler is nothing like me," Once-ler said. He then sighed and let go of his knees. His eyes and mouth were shut, and Once-ler sort of leaned forward. After about a minute, Dr.Macky became worried.

"O-Once-ler? Are-Are alright?" Dr.Macky asked, getting up off of her stool. Once-ler's head popped up, his eyes flashed open. Dr.Macky jumped with surprise and gasped.

T-The boy...He's taller...And his eyes are green...This...Is something out of the ordinary. Something I've never seen before, Dr.Macky thought as she sat back down in her stool.

"So, you have me here. What do you want," Greed-ler said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Are-Are you Greed-ler?" Dr.Macky asked.

"Is that not clear," Greed-ler said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, um, Greed-ler, I think your getting Once-ler in trouble at school often and people are beginning to think that Once-ler has some...Behavioral issues," Dr.Macky began.

"Yeah, yeah, I know all about that. Yes, it's me. Once-ler doesn't have the guts to do it," Greed-ler said, lying back in the bed-chair, placing his arms behind his head, relaxing.

"Well...Could you stop? It's getting him in a whole lot of trouble because they all think it's Once-ler's fault," Dr.Macky explained.

"I want to keep it that way. I get to do what I want, and nobody will believe him, because they'll all think he's crazy. And nobody will believe you either if you try and tell anyone. Nobody can tell me what to do. Because nobody will believe one another," Greed-ler explained.

"But don't you understand that this isn't good for Once-ler?" Dr.Macky asked.

"Oh, please, what his family and classmates do to him is far worse than me," Greed-ler said.

"Have you always been inside Once-ler?" Dr.Macky asked, trying to get herself, Once-ler, and Greed-ler back on track. She picked up her pencil once more.

"Good question. Let me answer it with another question-Has a person always have emotions?" Greed-ler asked. The doctor looked up straight into his green eyes. He gave a sort of a trickster smile. She looked at his teeth. His teeth became incredibly sharp. So...He has sort of a transformation into Greed-ler. But...Why would he ask a question like that? Dr.Macky wondered.

"Well...I assume so. In my opinion, no matter what we always respond to everything with our emotions, even when we don't know what they are or we're too young to understand them," Dr.Macky honestly answered.

"Then there's your answer," Greed-ler said. The doctor looked at him, confusedly.

"Huh? I don't quite understand," Dr.Macky asked, slowly and softly.

"The first part of my name, is 'Greed'. I'm naturally greedy. I'm also everything Once-ler isn't. His exact opposite," Greed-ler explained. Greed-ler then looked at the clock. He stood up. "Looks like our hour is over," he said. His eyes then turned blue, his teeth back to normal, and he became slightly shorter. The boy looked up at the doctor.

"I'm sorry if he offended you," Once-ler said. "Please, don't tell anyone about us. I'm begging you." The doctor looked deeply into the boy's blue eyes. She got down on one knee and placed her hands on Once-ler's shoulders.

"I...I won't tell them everything. But I have to say something," Dr.Macky began.

"Please, miss! Don't tell my family! Don't tell the principle! Someone will tell the kids at school and I'll be more bullied than I already am," Once-ler exclaimed. Tears began to fill the brim of his eyes.

"Sh, sh, sh," Dr.Macky began. "I'm only going to tell you, okay. You have a minor issue. I don't think it's mental. But it's something I've never seen before. The term that's closest to it, is a split personality," Dr.Macky softly explained.

"But then...What are you going to tell my mom?" Once-ler asked.

"I'm going to say that nothing's wrong. You just...Have a minor temper. I promise, I won't tell them about Greed-ler, okay?" Dr.Macky said. Once-ler nodded. Dr.Macky stood up and opened the door. Once-ler walked out, and Once-ler's mother walked in. Once-ler sat in the waiting room, for about five minutes. After his mother came to get him and they left. The entire way home, Once-ler wondered if Dr.Macky had kept her promise. His mother wouldn't say anything.

Should we have trusted her? Once-ler asked Greed-ler.

I don't know. Adults are weird. You can't tell what they'll do sometimes, Greed-ler answered.

I think she'll keep her promise. She will... Once-ler thought to himself. Right?