Earth Shattering.

This story may not be your normal run of the mill love story but it happens in many people's lives. Check end of post for more information.

Exactly a year ago, it was valentine's Day and I was sitting alone with my boyfriend lying on the floor at the foot of my bed while my blood dripped from the walls of the room. My name is Adrian. You guessed right. And today, I'm sitting in a cafe with my boyfriend turned husband, Eric and our friends wondering where it all went wrong. Today was my wedding day but I'm not really happy. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband but I wish things were better.

3 weeks before the first Valentine in question, I met Eric. It wasn't love at first sight. Frankly, I wasn't even looking for love. I'm not necessarily the mushy kind of girl or rather, I didn't use to be. I'm not quite sure when all that changed. He was handsome, just the right height and had enough love and romance in him to soften me up. It took a while though.... Maybe a month. He asked me out on February 13th and I said yes. He was like the sweetest guy ever. I'm not saying he was soft because we definitely had our issues but he got me in a way no one else could.

We were in love. I was half in love at the time though because I had some serious trust issues and I wasn't quite ready to let them go. Most times I hurt him without meaning to but he still loved me anyway. I started to soften towards him and ease out of the walls around my heart after dating him for about 8 months plus. It was a struggle but he helped me work through it. My past wasn't quite the happy one. Foster home to foster home, betrayals of trust, no family, no friends, etc. I was truly a wreck then but Eric stuck by me and refused to let go. I basically grew to depend on him for all my emotional expressions.

In December, he asked me to marry him and I said yes. We decided to plan for a March wedding and we began in earnest. He was so supportive of me even through my bridezilla moments. He took all the brunt of it and never complained because that's just the kind of sweet man he is. January came and towards the later days, Eric began to change. It wasn't something he was doing per se but there was just something up and I could feel it. He began to have mood swings and just wasn't really around anymore. I asked him if anything was the problem and he said no. I had to know if he was getting cold feet. He assured me that he loved me and that wasn't the case. Well I just took his word for it and continued with my plans. February came and started creeping by till it got to the 11th when Eric told me in no uncertain terms that the wedding was to be on Valentine's Day. I was confused. I thought we had planned March. He spewed some lame excuse about different things I couldn't remember and said I should please trust him. Nothing I could say could convince him other wise. I finally agreed.

The 14th finally came and it was time to be married. I'm very sure that this was the first wedding in history that the bride arrived before the groom. Maybe not the first, but it seemed like it. I waited for 2 hours and just as I was about to call off the wedding, he finally showed up. I was so angry but he knows how to press my calm buttons so I ended up forgiving him and the ceremony went on without mishap. Everything about the wedding seemed to not be going my way. I had to use a gown that I didn't choose. We both had no family at the wedding. Just the congregation and a few friends. There wasn't even a proper wedding reception because there hadn't been time to plan for one and Eric was insistent on having only 2 friends with us. Of course I didn't have a reception gown and I had to do my own make up. I only persevered because of the love I had for him and I was sure that we would sort things out. After all, the wedding is just a day right? We had a whole life for the Marriage thing. So this is where I am right now. Thinking of how to make things right.

We finished our dinner with our friends and finally left for a week in Spain. Magically, Eric was back to being his normal, tender, caring self. We had a wonderful time and he reminded me of why I loved him in the first place. We rekindled our love in so many ways. We walked, we talked, we enjoyed our company, we went on adventures, we had fun. For me, I was determined to keep these memories alive for ever. Each special moment, I documented it in my new wedding scrap book I bought. Finally it had to end and we left for our home.

I began my life as a married woman, happily married to the love of my life. Mrs Adrian Stanford. I was determined to put all things past behind me and enjoy this beautiful man I had gotten. Days passed by where I tried to learn most of the Eric-quirks. And where I missed it, he would talk to me about it and tell me how we could do things better. I was living the life. After 3 months of taking each day at a time, I discovered I was pregnant. I was sure I couldn't be more happier in my life. Eric was going to pass out when I told him the news. I knew in my heart of hearts that it was going to be a girl. Even though we had argued in the past over who would come out first, little Eric or little Ellen. I called him at work and told him to hurry home that I was going to be cooking his favorite.

That glorious day, tragedy decided to strike. Eric didn't come home. He wasn't taking his calls, he wasn't replying my messages.... He totally shut down. I was half mad with worry. I really needed to know where he was. The next day, I called Terry, his one and only friend. I asked him if he had seen Eric and he replied in the negative. I was a mess by then. I didn't know who else to call. I went to his workplace and I was told he left yesterday at his usual time. I entered my car and drove straight to the police station. I was sincerely trying to hold myself together and I calmly told the police that my husband was missing and had been missing since last night.

They took a statement and filed a case of missing person and advices me to go home that they would find him. I politely asked if I could join them and they said that they could handle it. I asked them what they expected me to do while they did theirs, and they said I should go home and have some rest, that maybe he might return home. I finally agreed and left there hoping and praying that for once, the police would do their actual job. I called Terry and told him the progress so far and I asked him to help me check all the places Eric could be. He set off to do that.

After a week of agonizing searching and no results, I decided to find out about Eric's grandparents. He had told me that he had no parents and he grew up with his grandparents. He wasn't really close with them neither did he like them. I had never seen them or pictures of them but I needed to exhaust all options. I packed some stuff I would need and proceeded to undertake the 8 hour drive to his hometown. I got there by 5pm with just enough time to find a clean bed and breakfast and settle in for the night. I called Terry and told him where I was just in case Eric came back. I was sure he was alive somewhere and would come back to me.

The next day I was up early. I asked the owner of the bed and breakfast if she knew the Stanford family and she said she did. She asked suspiciously who I was and I told her, I was Adrian Stanford a far off relative and I had never been to town nor did I have their contact. She smiled at me and gave me directions to the house and I drove there. It was a big, beautiful house with a garden out front and a picket fence with a gate. I wondered to myself why Eric didn't like his grandparents. It was a sensitive topic for him. I walked up to the door and knocked after a moment of contemplation. After a minute, I heard someone walk to the door. I steeled myself to meet Mr or Mrs Stanford senior. The door opened and Eric was standing on the other side. I stared at him in shock for a millisecond and fainted immediately.

When I came to, I was lying on somebody's couch and feeling disoriented. Someone said something along the lines of she's awake and I opened my eyes fully. There was Eric looking down at me with a disgruntled look on his face. I smiled and called him.... Eric. At that moment, I was given water to drink by a woman who looked like Eric but was too young to be his grandma. I called him again and he looked at me confused. I started shedding tears of relief and babbling about how I had been looking for him for the past one week and how much I loved him and missed him. I stood up and hugged him and he just stood there and didn't return the hug. Then, I knew something was wrong. I looked up at him and asked him what's wrong?

He set me away from him on the couch and told me that he's sorry I may have hit my head during the fall but his name isn't Eric and he has never seen me before in his life. I was shocked. I felt like another fainting spell was coming up. I was utterly confused. I then asked him what he was talking about because I couldn't understand. Meanwhile, the elderly woman came and sat next to me and held my hand. She told me to calm down so we could get to the bottom of this. She asked for my name and I told her that I'm Adrian Stanford and that Eric is my husband.

She looked at me pityingly and introduce herself as Mrs Stanford. I asked if she was Eric's grandmother and she looked confused. She introduced my Eric as Adam Stanford and she said she was his mother. I then asked if Eric had a twin brother and she said no. She assured me that it's complicated and that I wouldn't understand the situation. She asked me to leave things alone and go back to where I came from because I wouldn't find answers with them. I told her firmly that I wasn't leaving till I got answers and who was Adam? Why did he look so much like Eric? Where were Eric's grandparents?

Eric/Adam just stood there looking at me like I had sprouted horns. He told me after a while that there was no Eric here and I needed to leave. His fiancee was coming and he didn't want any problems. The voice was Eric's. The face was Eric's. But it wasn't just rhyming. I had never seen him act this aggressive before in all the years I had known him. My Eric was always gentle and loving and understanding and supportive. Never aggressive. I told Mrs Stanford that unless she's planning to physically kick me out, I wasn't leaving till I had the story. That was when Mr Stanford Snr entered the room......

TBC.....

This story is based around a real life psychological disorder called dissociative identity disorder. Need more information, click below.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder

Thank you for reading. Sorry it had to be this long but I couldn't write it any other way. The next part of the story will drop as soon as I can write it. Do keep in touch.

Honorable mentions
@josie2214 for making this contest possible. Happy Valentine's Day to you. 😊
https://steemit.com/contest/@josie2214/contest-the-most-epic-love-story-ever-50-sbd-in-prizes