Arriving home Alicia slammed the door and leant back on it closing her eyes not wanting to look. It was Friday evening and she had the whole weekend ahead of her yet she felt anxious and afraid. After taking a deep breath she rummaged frantically through a handbag to find what she dreaded. Both bra and panties she remembered putting on that morning were there. On finding them she became aware of not wearing underwear though until that moment she had been completely oblivious of the fact.
This morning she had left for the office wearing this set but some time during the day it found its way into her bag, so what had happened? Every day that week she arrived home to find a pair of panties crumpled into a corner of this bag with no recollection of how they got there. She had a vague memory of going to the restroom on Monday where she removed her panties but nothing more of that episode and not a glimmer of how it had happened each day after that.
Cooking dinner was a good therapeutic task and it gave her a chance to think through these worrying events. Chopping onions gave a good excuse to shed some tears while feeling sorry for her-self. She wished she were back home where this worrying situation could be shared with friends she trusted and one of them might even help with a sensible suggestion of what the hell was going on. It was disturbing recalling an aunt's weird behaviour and their discovery she had Alzheimer's. During a family visit the old woman started removing her tights and cutting them up. She was perfectly sane in all other things and rationalised this bizarre behaviour by saying she was using them as stuffing for soft toys she had been sewing for a charity.
"No! That can't be it. I'm too young. I'm only twenty-four." Alicia spoke out loud trying to reassure herself. Looking around the compact kitchen it was all so normal, nothing out of place, nor had she let her appearance go. It would have been equally useless to say she was too pretty to contract an illness yet somehow it helped. Sure she was young and beautiful but that wouldn't prevent some weird brain malfunction.
"I wish I knew more about illness, about my own body." She said, while shuddering at the memory of school biology lessons where she had been totally turned off the subject after dissecting a frog. She hadn't done well in school and was glad to leave. Unable to find a job meant the inevitable move to the city where life had progressed as expected. A small car, a small apartment, a small salary with little prospects.
Her body was often bisected by young men, and not so young, while some enjoyed the large breasts others admiring her long legs. Alicia didn't encourage them she simply accepted the attention with immunity, becoming very able at ignoring it. She sometimes wished she had blond hair for that is how she often felt, more a dumb blond than a clever brunette. It was the large pert breasts that men looked at not her.
With a casserole in the oven she sat down with a pen and paper, concentrating hard to list all that she knew about what was happening. The first day had been shrugged off putting it down to being over-tired. After all it had been a struggle moving home and starting a new job. Even on Tuesday she hadn't felt anything unusual until arriving home to be mystified on finding yet again a pair of panties in the handbag, the ones she should have been wearing.
By Wednesday evening it was worrying. During the whole of Thursday she made a regular check on what she was wearing or possibly not wearing. Frequent visits to the restroom without the handbag were of no help as she still arrived home to find the panties in it and nothing under her dress. Today she didn't even remember going to the restroom to check. It was all so very worrying. Worse still the bra was in there too. How long had she been working in the office not wearing the underwear. She tried to think of those visiting her desk with reports to amend. Had anyone shown an unusual interest, had anyone noticed?
She wrote down -- 'completely unaware of taking them off or being in the office without underwear until seeing them in the handbag'. She drew a line then wrote 'Friday - bra also missing'.
There was an incident last weekend perhaps that too was connected. At the beach she had worn a new bikini only to find it had become see-through when wet. She had casually walked into the changing room only to see it in a floor to ceiling mirror; she looked naked, with everything on show. Almost dying with shock she ran to the locker desperate to grab a towel. At the time she had laughed it off, partly from embarrassment, as there hadn't been anyone around that early Sunday morning it seemed a harmless enough mistake.
It had still been hot Sunday afternoon when she went out for a stroll through the park until a sudden down pour spoilt the day. It brought some relief from the heat but she was stuck sheltering without a coat under a tree. Running back to the apartment she stripped off the clinging dress and found she hadn't been wearing anything underneath. At the time she hadn't thought anything of it, as it had been so hot. The thin cotton dress would have been plastered to her skin showing off a lithe body.
An alarm bell rang in her mind beating in rhythm with a pulse throbbing on her forehead. Was this dreadful condition escalating? Would each day bring the spectre of ever more items of clothing disappearing unexpectedly? It seemed she was unaware of missing items of clothing until seeing them in her bag or being confronted by the revelation in a mirror. Would she end up walking around the office, nude, completely unaware of her nakedness?
She didn't dare go into the office again until this whole thing was sorted out. In hope that it might be psychological, from stress, she made an appointment with a therapist. Saturday morning she awoke exhausted after a restless night. On the way to a consultant she happened to stop to look at a display of dresses and was astonished to see the reflection of herself in the plate glass window. Through the light cotton dress it was plain for all to see she wore nothing underneath. Carefully she looked round the mall using the reflection to see if anyone had noticed and was mortified to see it had and men were ogling her. With a small bag held before her body she strode back to the car all the time fiercely holding back hot tears. In a panic she drove home sitting outside the apartment building gathering courage to leave the safe confines of the car.
When a stranger phoned she still wasn't thinking straight and assumed it was someone from the therapists office phoning because she had missed the appointment. The fear had become so strong she dare not leave the apartment so in desperation she thankfully accepted the offer of help. At least she would have someone to talk to. In this new city there were no friends to turn to and her parents had died last year leaving her to fend for herself. Perhaps she was having a nervous break down. Why this particular bizarre behaviour? What did it all mean?
Bracing herself she left the apartment determined not to think but her mind went in circles re-hashing the problem over and over again. She drove to a mutually agreed meeting place continuously staring at herself in the mirror. Waiting at the lights she wondered about the phone call but they changed to green and thoughts returned to concentrating on keeping calm. Wrapped up in as many layers of clothing as possible the drive across town was made difficult in the heat. It was with a hopeful expectation that he would have a cure to what was happening that ad given her the courage to leave the apartment. In a crowded carpark she sat glancing in the mirror nervously checking that she was still wearing clothes. He pulled up five spaces away and as agreed she went to his car to talk.
He listened as she recited breathlessly from the memorised list until he interrupted, telling her, "There are several options. One, you sort it out yourself. Going back home might help. Two, wait until I get back from leave and we make arrangements for a series of sessions. Three, I arrange to book you into a clinic. Four, and this is why I asked to meet like this, you come with me now. I'm on leave and can treat you privately with full attention to what for me is a fascinating case." He counted off the options on one hand then spread them out waiting for a decision.
This was all too sudden. "I can't face this alone and I can't wait." She reasoned. "I don't think the company insurance would cover a private clinic. What would you charge? I don't have much money."
"It's an interesting, I'm sorry. I can see it's frightening for you. Can you cook? Well you can look after the house while I write up my notes on existing clients. Understand this before you make a decision. You will place yourself in my hands and obey everything I say. Come with me right now or go back to your car and I'll see you in four weeks time."