I wanted to get this off my chest and also forewarn any future readers that this book does not have DID/OSDD/birth alters plot. In order to not spoil the plot for everyone, I'll keep it vague. This is a long post so please please please try to stick with me to the end.

Now, since I've been mentioning it for a while... let me also get to explaining what they are. I always have the tendency to speak on Level 50. XD

DID is dissociative identity disorder, technically developed through trauma, specifically between ages 1-10, but someone could be born with it. Not enough research has been done on the same to say for sure why that happens, but it does.

OSDD is other similar dissociative disorders and birth alters are one of it's branches. However, this is when the trauma between ages 1-10 (or slightly more) had been severe but not to the extent that the alter that formed to save them completely formed as a different person.

So, a character A is believed to be either in an "altered" version or has "alters". Again, for those who've read till the last part, KNOW who A refers to, here. But for others, you'll have to read to find out.

If you think my deflection of the "DID plot" might just be my way of hiding so that the eventual reveal makes sense, the answer is... no. Absolutely not. That's grave injustice to the people who actually have those conditions and live with it.

You might wonder, the signs are there all along, why could it possibly not be there? Well, here's my take:

→ A does not remember the details of the night, not even vaguely.

IF they are the culprit ↦ This would be straight up insult to those who suffer from the condition... especially since the case is SO heinous.

Plus, say suppose an alter did do it, worst of worse case scenario, to speak: The host remembers vague details of the situation, about something happening but them not remembering. You might try and point out that A doesn't but they just say they're resting somewhere, it'd be a straight up plot hole if that was their excuse.

IF NOT the culprit ↦ Them remembering accurately on what happened would be a fallacy. Memories exist, but not accurate to the extent that they're able to say it to the point. Again, character A mentions gaps in the memories but not to the extent that they just shifted mid-way to realize they ended up somewhere.

Memory gaps, they can exist without the condition too, but with DID/OSDD, the effect just would be a little... more strong, because A saying to the point that this is what they did feels a little more... incomplete. Because, even if that was the made-up lie, they're going to slip if they had DID, it's not as fairly simple to keep a lie that long, considering it's 2 years since the inciting incident.

→ Childhood trauma

Ah, yes, the good ol' childhood trauma trope that every DID/OSDD character seems to have. But guess what? Every character who goes through trauma doesn't develop DID/OSDD, nor does every character who has DID/OSDD has some deep, dark and intense trauma... the two can be mutually exclusive and it's time someone looked at the stigma and said: WHAT IN THE WORLD?

Some people can be born with DID or OSDD and they're equally valid (though these groups receive stigma because they've not gone through "trauma" to form it).

But if A had it, you saw the childhood being jarring but even if there was a said "voice in the head" that made them question their existence... let me tell you, they'd not have... for the timeline their childhood is, I'm pretty sure they'd not have gotten the help they would need and they'd definitely not be here. Grim, I know. But I am stating it as is: What would you do if you woke up with hearing voices in your head, started doing things only to realize midway that you didn't mean to do it and constantly sabotaging against yourself? (this is a simplified imagery, actual condition can feel worse)

In any case if they were or weren't the one responsible behind the scene, this wouldn't have been possible to exist.

→ Evil Alters or Misunderstood Alters

Oh how I wish I could throw every person who assumes that a person with DID/OSDD has evil or misunderstood alters off to pluto, on a single way ticket for them to just NEVER COME BACK!!

I won't deny that they can't do evil things, but aren't us all humans? Aren't we all capable of doing evil things ourselves??

The alter is guilty if they do something BUT the whole system has to eventually step up and take accountability, doesn't make the system as a whole evil, but does make things... More complicated to handle, to say the least. It's like, if a family member commits a crime, you don't accuse the whole family of being evil, but you do have to deal with the fallout as a family. And in a system, that would be even more complicated because it's literally all in one head. So, it's accountability with extra emotional complexity. 

And the said character is around 10 (should be 8 if i am calculating correctly) in 1980's. We don't know of their life in the earliest childhood days but even then, people didn't even really know what DID or OSDD were back then. 

1980s India? More like: "I don't know what's wrong with you, go meditate in the Himalayas." 

Without the proper treatment, someone with DID/OSDD might not survive a situation as high-stress as the one A finds themselves in. 

I'll probably make a whole rallying cry book about DID/OSDD because I hate how misrepresented it is in media, books and among people. I'd need a full-blown teaching in it as well, but that's for another day.