I forced my eyes open and blinked a few times to regain my ability to see. The environment had an ambience to it that was difficult to explain. Soothing yet alarming at the same time. It offered you peace but left you feeling dizzy. I felt strange, disoriented. I shivered at the thought of where I possibly could be but I knew I wouldn't find my answers lying on the floor. Nevertheless, my present surrounding made me feel stuck. I could see my body but somehow it felt like it wasn't me. It felt like a part of me was missing and nothing I could do would ever bring it back. It felt like I was a leaf flowing through the wind. At that point,I didn't know if it was as the result of the breeze blowing the autumn leaves smoothly around the void environment I had found myself in but I felt wonderful.
I turned slightly to my left and my beautiful mother was staring at me with a smile on her face. I immediately knew that I was home and safe. I walked towards her and she engulfed me in a hug. I wanted to stay in her arms forever but she broke free from the hug, took my hand and started moving to a place I didn't know. Mom kept leading me to an unknown place and I followed her
When we finally reached our destination, I looked around and I was left in awe. The place was glorious. The melody blaring from the background made me feel like I was in Heaven. The realization that I might actually be made me terrified, I turned to my mother, with fear in my voice, I asked her "Mom,are we in Heaven?"
She looked at me for a second and then she bursted out in laughter. I suddenly realized how much I missed the sweetest that always sipped from her lips whenever she laughed. It reminded me of a time when everything was alright. A time when my father would lift me up and hug my mom while holding me and the sound of her laughter mixed with mine will be heard all around the house. A tear came to my eye and I quickly blinked it away.
She walked up to me, held my face in her hands and smiled as she spoke softly. "No,my darling. We are not in Heaven. Unfortunately,it wasn't your time to go there yet. But your time on this planet is over." The smile on my face quickly vanished and I took a step back, looked into her eyes and waited patiently for an explanation. When I noticed that one wasn't forthcoming, I forcefully asked.
"What do you mean "my time on this planet is over"? I do not understand." She drew me back into her arms and continued to smile as she said.
"Sweetheart,sit down. Let me tell you a story."
I wondered if my mother had gone blind because we were standing in the middle of a white room with no seats in sight. She must have noticed my confusion and distress because she raised her hand and pointed behind me and to my total surprise, the room that was once empty suddenly had a very comfortable looking sofa mounted right there.
I turned to her and with a puzzled look on my face,I stuttered "When...how?"
My mother smiled and pulled me towards the direction of the sofa. "Just sit darling."
She said it in such a calm way that I was propelled to sit. And the feeling I got from it was very satisfying. The sofa did not only look comfortable, but it also was. I sat down and waited for about 2 minutes and she still didn't say anything. She just looked at me with tears in her eyes and I could understand what she was going through. It was also difficult for me to be apart from her. I wish she didn't die. I wish we were still a happy family. But sometimes,we don't always get what we wished for.
I reached out my hands to her. She moved her teary eyes towards my hand stretched arm and she shook her head. When she did that a little tear came down,so she took her fingers and cleaned the tears away. She then looked at me and all emotions that were playing across her face before was gone. She looked unaffected and totally different from the person who was just about to cry. I looked at my hand that she still didn't take it and withdrew it immediately. I tried as much as I could to composed myself.
Maybe I missed my mother more than she missed me. It was the only explanation I could give as to why she will not agree to take my hands. I thought for a moment that maybe she remembered how I failed to keep the promise I made to her and she was pissed at me for that. Or maybe she blame me for her death as well. I couldn't bear the thought of her blaming me for killing her,so I dropped my head down and tried to fight the tears that were coming as I said.
"Mom,I am so sorry for what I did to you. I honestly forgot to tell you about what dad said. He came into my room that morning and told me that he may forget to tell you so I should be the one to tell you to make the lasagna. But I forgot. I didn't do it on purpose mom I swear. Please don't blame me for your death just like your husband does." I couldn't control the tears that flowed down my face like a rain. Mom came close to me and she held me tight.
"Oh my darling. I don't blame you for my death. Why would you ever think that?"
"Well,you didn't take my hand and I thought that maybe that was why. Or is it because I failed to keep the promise I made to you? I'm sorry about that too. You know I get my temper from him."
"I don't blame you for anything. Look darling we have to talk about something very important. Forget about your father and what he did to you. It is not important. What is important is what lies ahead. Now,get up and sit." She left me and headed to her chair. I was hurt that she disregarded what dad did to me like that but I had no other choice than to sit and hear what she had to say.
"So,I am sitting on the magical chair now. What is so important that I had to die before you could tell it to me?" She didn't say anything for a few minutes and then when she finally spoke, I couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth
"Okay,so you are going to be sent back in time." The silence in the room was eerily cold. If a pin was dropped at that moment, the sound would have been heard. I tried as much as possible to make sense of what she was saying but nothing good came out of it.
"What?! Mom, to the best of my knowledge time machines do not exist. So what are you going on about?"
"Well we are dealing with powers the human brain cannot comprehend here. Listen baby,we don't have much time. You will have to be brave. You will be sent to a different time zone. There is a task you need to complete and you must complete it because the lives of so many people depends on it." Was she out of her mind? This is what was so important for her to talk to me about that she had to not listen to me rant about my father?!
"Mom,what are you even saying? I don't understand and frankly,you are scaring me." She gave me no space to ask questions, no time to ponder on it. She gave me nothing at all.
"Amelia,you are a fighter. And it's okay to be scared but it is not okay to back down. Now stand up,we need to go." I officially became scared and like always, I knew I had to stand up for myself.
"Go where? Mom,I am not going anywhere with you." I sighed and tried to explain the situation that we were in to her because I was sure that she did not understand it. "Mom,I just died and now I'm with you and you don't even care to ask me how I am?! Do you not understand how painful the last few weeks have been for me?! Dad almost raped me,for crying out loud! And now you are telling me how I am going to be sent to another time zone?! And you expect me to be fine with that?!!" How did my mother turn into this heartless person? She was never like this before. She always cared about my feelings but now it's like she could not care less if I was hurting or not. What happened to her? When she died,did her emotions die with her?
"Okay, Amelia calm down." She tried to come close to me and hold me but I scrambled away from her touch and continued to pour out my feelings.
"Don't tell me to calm down! All thanks to you and the bastard you married, my life is a fucking mess! How am I supposed to save other people if I can't even save myself?"
She walked briskly to me and held my shoulders. "But you did save yourself. He didn't rape you." Did she just use that as a silver lining? I could not believe this woman. I was very much sure that this was not my mother at this point.
"Yeah,but I died in the process of escaping. Mom I can't do this. Please don't make me." A part of me knew that screaming will not get me out of the problem, so I restored to begging.
"Yes you can baby. You are intelligent and very brave. And I believe that you can do this." But that didn't work either.
She then took my hand and dragged me with her,while turning a deaf ear to my pleads. I was vividly remained of how my father refused to hear my pled while he was beating me. She took me to a door and left me there.
"I am so sorry. But you have to do it. I will always be with you. And I love you so much, always remember that."
She then opened and door and shoved me through it. I could feel myself falling and this time,dying did hurt. Because it was my own mother that killed me.
I kept falling. With every distance covered, I could hear my heart breaking, could feel the tears on my face. The realization that neither my father nor my mother wanted me left a sting in my heart. I desperately wanted to scream, but when I opened my mouth, no words would come out. As I fell, I felt my feelings leaving me till all I was left with was an emptiness that threatened to drown me.
But then, the feeling of emptiness is something I have become familiar with. I felt like a leaf swirling around in the air.
The next thing I felt was also a familiar feeling. Pain. I could feel it flowing through my entire body. I tried moving but I couldn't. It was like I was stuck and I couldn't even breathe.
Three thoughts were running through my mind.
How could she do this to me?
She didn't even tell me why this was happening. What was I to do there?
What the fuck is going on?!!
Next thing I knew, I felt a thud and I lost consciousness. I awoke in a body that didn't feel like mine. I couldn't explain how I knew but I just knew that it wasn't my body I woke up in. I opened my eyes to see a look of shock on a woman that was dressed as a nurse.
She stared at me for a few minutes. "Oh my God, she is alive." She left running and screaming "Doctor,she is alive!"
I looked at the door the nurse used to leave and it finally hit me. The body I was reincarnated was dead few minutes ago. That was the only thing that made sense. Still, I had to be sure. I removed the IV that was plugged into my veins and I rushed to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and I saw the face of a totally different girl that I have never seen before. I was slowly losing my mind. I moved my hand to my face and when I touched it,it felt so real. I could not believe it. She actually sent me back in time into the body of another person. But why? Why would this be done to me? Why did I have to go through this trauma? A part of me told me that I must be dreaming so I pinched myself to be sure that I was not. After having inflicted that pain on myself,I opened my eyes to notice that I was still in the same body and nothing had changed. So I did the next best thing,I screamed.
I must have been very loud because a man came running into the bathroom. He opened the door and asked. "Are you okay?"
I was not okay. I was freaking out. I was losing my mind. I needed to talk to my mom. I had to tell her to stop this prank that she was pulling on me cause it was no longer funny. But I could not do any of that. So I did what I believed was best at that time and that was to not make him suspect that the girl who owned this body is not the same girl occupying it now,I answered "I guess am okay." He led me back to the bed and when I had laid back down,he took my vitals and he looked totally flustered. "This is impossible."
Just then,a man and a woman came running in and they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw that my eyes was open.
They stopped dead in their tracks and could only stare at me. When they finally spoke, I could hear the surprise in their voice. "Becky,is that you?"
"So her name is Becky" I thought to myself.
I didn't have the chance to answer because the doctor told them to leave the room and allow him run some tests.
The woman moved closer to me and the doctor stopped her.
"Ma, please you need to give her some breathing space. I need to examine if she is totally okay to be around people" the doctor said.
"Why are you making it sound like my daughter is mental? She is right there looking at me. She is fine, just let me hold her." She tried moving towards me again but she was once again stopped by the doctor. The doctor finally turned to the man and kindly asked him to take the woman outside.
They left reluctantly and the doctor starting running some physical tests on me.
First he opened my eyes and pointed a torch at me. Then he took my vitals again. Then he went towards my feet and rubbed a pen on my toe and it curled inside.
I just sat there watching as he moved around and continued taking tests.
When he felt like it was okay,he finally sighed and said "Well,this is obviously a miracle young lady because medically,I cannot explain how you are still alive."
"Doctor,if I may ask? What happened?"
He looked at me like I had gone nuts
"You don't remember?" I could see my plan of trying to act normal failing but I honestly couldn't remember anything.
"No,not really."
"What exactly do you remember?" Answering that question would definitely blow my cover so I just stood still and looked at him
"Becky,what's your full name?"
Of course I didn't answer that question because I didn't know this girl's full name. I didn't even know anything about this body I was inhabiting.
"Oh I see. I will call on some nurse to take care of you for now." He took one last look at me left.
Outside I could here him telling "my parents".
"She is fine. Her vitals are very normal and she is 100% alive but I have some bad news" and then there was a pause.
"She has lost her memory."
Well better for them to think that I lost my memory than for them to think that I'm bat shit crazy when I tell them about the reincarnation. I looked at the faces of Becky's parents and I was felt sad that they didn't even know that they had really lost their daughter. Now because of my mother,I had to pretend to be someone that up till 5 minutes ago,I never knew existed.
Could my life get any worse?
A completely normal young girl would have been totally angry and perturbed with the present situation I had found myself in, but I guess normality becomes just a phrase when you've died twice. I was a little bit fascinated with the fact that I was in another time and age. I was excited to learn about their culture. Nevertheless, a part of me was begging for an explanation. Screaming for answers from someone I wasn't sure could hear me. Just hoping that I would get what I earnestly desired but when that wasn't forthcoming, I decided to at least stay alive.I looked at the food that was placed in front of me and the sight of it was disgusting. I was sure the food would taste as bad as it looked but considering the fact that the hospital I was placed in didn't look like a "semi-prison", I wanted to give them the benefit of doubt. I glanced at the nurse who brought the food and she smiled gently at me. Her action urged me to carry the spoon and start eating. I was hugely disappointed at t
The shock I experienced was not seen on my face. It felt like a bucket of cold water was poured on my bare back. My brain was going on an overdrive and yet my body felt numb. I finally understood that you can be alive and still be dead. My life was taken away from me and a sham of a new one was handed to me. They erased me from the surface of the earth and left me with absolutely no one to pour out my emotions to. That was the worse part of this dilemma, I had absolutely no one to talk to. I had to find some trustworthy people that I can talk to or maybe they did give me a companion and all I needed to do was find her. I immediately put my mind towards finding this person.I didn't really have enough time to collect ponder on where they must have kept this person or to even hear myself think or process my feelings because Becky's parents were always walking into my room to see if I am still breathing. I couldn't blame them though. I remembered when my mother died, I wished earnestly f
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon with the warm summer breeze blowing in and out of the hospital room, I found out that Becky's best friend,Amanda,was my great grandmother. I wasn't angry, I was just shocked. My parents never told me anything about my grandparents. I wasn't even allowed to go visiting during the holidays. We always spent all the holidays together in our rickety old house. I enjoyed spending time with my parents back then because they were lovely and kind to each other and also to me but a part of me still yearn to know who my grandparents were. I knew they weren't dead because I could hear the phone calls mom made with them once in a while. It hurts that whenever I would bring up the topic of meeting them, my parents would get a angry and toss it aside like it means nothing to them. I wondered what God was upto. Was this supposed to be an exciting turn of events for me? At that point, I desperately wanted to get into His mind and know what He was thinkingEven when I co
The unconscious state that we drift into when we sleep is something I have loathed all my life. The complete feeling of helplessness were you cannot control what happens to you,has always been scary to me. You could be killed while you sleep and you wouldn't even know. I was petrified of feeling that helpless. It always amazed me when I see people taking a nap. To me it felt like they didn't care about themselves, they didn't care about their safety. Anything could happen while you sleep and you wouldn't know.I never slept in the afternoon. Because I'll be damned if I allowed myself to sleep more than once in a day, therefore allowing myself to slip into that unconscious state called "dreaming". And the crazy part was that I could always tell when I was dreaming. Bonnie found it werid and maybe she was right. I have never heard of someone who could consciously tell when they were dreaming. She once suggested that I go see a therapist. According to her, 'I was mental'. But I didn't se
The demented house I lived in before Dad killed me was the same house I was looking at. But at the same time, it wasn't the same house. The house felt different. Maybe it was because of the family that lived in it. They loved each other and the house must have eluded the same love that they gave. I did not feel completely restless or pissed at being there. I actually felt at peace, it felt like home and I just wanted to turn around and ask Rebecca's mom how she did it. How did she make a place feel as home to a complete stranger? My mother was great and warm at heart but she never knew how to make the house that I lived in feel as home. The house had an elegance to it. A fashionable look and a welcoming air surrounded it. It was almost like it was calling out to me. The fear I felt in the car about surviving in there totally went with the wind and all I wanted was to experience what it will feel like being inside the house. I had goosebumps.Before we got into the house, I took some
Anger,rage,frustration, anxiety,worry. A thousand words could be used to describe what I was going through but none could pinpoint to how I was really feeling. I was angry at the situation I have been placed in. A lot of "what if's" went running through my mind, the only thing it did was heightened my unsettling emotions and I hated it. At that moment all I wanted was to sleep and never wake up, it upset me the more that I couldn't get what I desperately needed.I hate this family. I hate this doctor. I hate my parents. I hate the fact that I am here. I hate that no one ever listens to me. I hate that I have to go for therapy.Why do they think I need therapy again? Yes, it's because the stupid doctor believes that I have a psychological problem. I mean I know I have one but the singular fact that he proposed the theory of solving it through therapy, made my skin crawl. And my problems are as a result of my mother. How is it possible that someone you love and care for so much would ca
Summer mornings have always been the best when I was with Mom. I remember one morning she had baked cookies and we had our cousins over. Mom believed that I wasn't as close to them as possible and maybe she was correct. In my defense,it wasn't totally my fault. After all, my cousin Raymond was a big jerk. All he ever seemed to talk about was the numerous girls he had been with. And don't even get me started on Uncle Stan, he was a raving alcoholic and he was not even afraid to show it. His wife always thought she did a good job at hiding the fact that she hated her husband's gut, but it was clear as the day is bright to everyone that she did. But regardless of all that, I still loved it when they came over because I got to have enough time to work with my mother in the kitchen preparing all sorts of meal.It was different in the Jail's house. The wasn't any classical music blaring from the background. No drunk male figures at the front lawn barbequing meat. It was just plain. This was
Blue has never been my color but looking at the walls in Ms. Nicole's office,I had to admit that it looked pretty good. I guess she used the blue color because it's has a calming effect on people. Normally when you think of the color blue, you think of natural things like the sky, the ocean and all these things have a calmness towards them. It was a smart decision, I already felt myself calming down and relaxing as I sat in her office. The wallpapers also contributed to this and it also made me think that maybe she was a big lover of nature. There were pictures of polar bears in their natural habitat. Flowers blooming in the morning sun. A little girl holding a flower up to her kneeling mother. All in all,the office was really designed to help sooth any patient that would come in and the classical and country music playing in the background really set the mode for a trip down one's life.I was particularly excited about being in the office and all the thoughts and plans I had made
Amanda's POVI went with Rebecca to her room and that was where I saw my mother. She was talking to Becky's parents. When I walked in they turned to me and Mrs. Jail was the first to speak. "I thought you went to get your mom. She has been here for a very long time and we did not see you. What happened?""Well I went to the parking lot to call her just like I said I would but on getting there,I did not see her. So I started heading back to the room hoping that she was already here and that was when I ran into this friend of mine. We talked for a while and I sort of lost track of time. I am really sorry.""Oh that's okay. Becky isn't back yet so we are just waiting for her." My mom told me. I was in a rush to get back home so that I could sneak out to go see Samantha. I knew that would be difficult if we did not get back home on time. Mom always checked up on me before she went to sleep and she did not have a particular time so it was hard to keep tabs on her when it came to that. "Mo
Amelia's POVThe sunset has always been a marvelous sight to behold. I sat outside the four walls of my hospital room and looked at the view that threatened to take my breath away. It brought back memories of when I would lie on the grass and listen to my mom talk about her youthful age to me. I miss those little conversations we used to have. Thinking about her brought a tear to my eye and I almost did not notice the pale woman walking towards me. She fell to the ground where I was sitting,looked up at me and started a conversation. "So where are you from?"From her voice,it was clear that she was critically ill. It sounded forced and tiring.I did not want to appear rude so I answered. "California.""Wow,I hear it's really sunny up there. I even heard that sometimes you guys just brust into flames." She tried to laugh at her joke but she ended up coughing instead. It won't look good on me if this woman was to faint while talking to me,so I offered to take her back to her room."Oka
Amelia's POVI left Amanda and started creeping towards the blood samples section. When I got there,I saw that the were a lot of blood samples there. I picked one of the bottle up,turned it around and that's when I saw the ID number and name written on a tag and attached to the bottle. I knew at that point that finding mine would be easy. I looked over and saw that the man was still too occupied with his work to care.I was so nervous that I may be caught to the extent that my hands were shaking and I was breathing through my mouth.I tried to silently go about my business of finding my blood sample and I didn't fail completely at it.I must have picked over a hundred bottles before I finally saw my blood sample. At first before I came here,I just wanted to hang around and maybe steal the test results that will come out of it but after seeing Amanda here,I had a totally new plan. I did not believe for one second that she just came here to see if her friend really had a urine test done.
Amanda's POVAfter the information I got from my research at the library,I knew that something was definitely up with Rebecca. I just had to find out if what I was thinking was really true. And if it was,then Rebecca has got some explaining to do. The best way I had to find out if she really was another person was to first get that blood sample to undergo a DNA test. I knew a girl that could take of running the DNA test,I just needed to get the blood sample.I first needed to get out of this room. But with Rebecca staring at me like that,I knew I had my work cut out for me. She just kept looking at me. Maybe she suspected that I knew something but the is no way she could know exactly what it was. I just had to keep my suspicions to myself first. I didn't have to tell anyone about it. That way,no one will tell her anything."So Amanda,where is your mother?" Mrs. Jail asked."Oh she will be here any second now. She just wanted to find a good parking space" I answered."Well,I think I ne
Amelia's POVI woke up to the blinding lights coming from the unprotected florescent blub in my room. I stopped the rays from entering my eyes by raising my hand to block it. I got a headache when I did that. Moving became difficult,it was as if paralysis has from no where taken full grip of my entire body. I tried calling on the nurses but I had also lost my voice for some reasons. I felt really strange,just then I saw a bunch of people coming into the room,they looked like zombies and they all had a weapon with them. Some had axe,some knifes,some cutlasses,some shovel. They all came at me with something that would definitely kill me if they wanted it to. I tried once again to get up or even shout for help but it still did not work. They were still coming at me with angry faces and a dangerous weapon. In the middle of these zombies,I saw my past self(that is Amelia) and my mother. They ran towards me and for a second I thought they were going to help me out. But my past self opened
While Dad was carrying me to the car,all I felt was numbness. I could not even begin to fathom what the next few days would be like. When will it start? How will it happen? Who will survive and who will not? These and many more questions were running through my mind. But the most important one that I had always tried to deviate from is "will I even help them get through this?" I was so angry at my mother for doing this to me and somehow I felt that if I actually helped this family through this crisis,that I may be supporting the decision she took and I was not in support of such absurd decision in anyway. I tried to keep calm and not think about the pain she put me through for so long. But now that I know that this is an inevitable situation that I have found myself in because of her,I could not help but freak out. As I continued to think about it,the feeling of numbness soon paved way for the drowning feeling of anger to wash over me. I was so angry at everyone and everything. Why d
I could not feel anything apart from the gush of wind that graze through my skin as I ran. My mind was playing out a lot of scenarios,most of them were very frightening. I had to stop Amanda from getting that necklace,I just had to. I thought of how I could reach her faster and I remembered the slight technology that this generation had: a cell phone.I was almost out of breath when I drew myself to a halt. The earth was spinning rapidly round me so I took a few seconds to get my stability back. When I had calm down a bit,I reached into my pocket and luckily for me,the phone was there. I sent a call through to her resident line and no one picked it up. I then called her personal number and still,no one picked. "Fuck!" I cursed,almost throwing the phone away. I thought to myself,"well that's two minutes wasted." And I started running again. I didn't stop running till I got to the bus stop. But for some reasons,the bus was going slower than I had expected and that was the moment mom de
After dad had left, I put my head down onto my pillow. Due to the fact that I had not been sleeping well for the past few weeks,I slept off immediately. I must have slipped into a dream world because I can remember vividly that my room does not have crystals lights that blinds me every time I open my eyes. I held my hands up to protect the rays from directly penetrating into my eyes. The ground I was lying on was soft and when I ran my hands through it,it turned out to be white fur. The entire environment was white,even the attire I had on was white. I finally stood up,I looked around and I saw absolutely nothing. I forced my numb legs to start moving,I had walked for some minutes and I still did not see anything. In a place that was totally white,I wondered how the sun managed to be so hot.I was sweating and really thirsty. I looked back and forth and I still didn't see anything. I decided to sit still and try to get myself to wake up. It didn't work though and when I opened my eye
I kept thinking of the girl I saw as I moved into my room. She had a look on her face,a look that I'm way too familiar with. She was sad, broken and frustrated. And I have been there before,I just wondered why she would not allow me talk to her. Maybe just be her friend. Still, who was I to judge? I lied to Sandra and I considered her my friend yet I expected this strange girl to open up to me as if we were sisters. I didn't blame the girl one bit for wanting to protect her privacy, I couldn't do anything but pray that it was not her own father that is molesting her. The feeling of helplessness washed over me. I knew that I would slip into a bottomless pit if I didn't get my mind off it. So I jumped on my bed to take a little nap. Just then dad came walking in. "Hey sweetheart, you asleep yet?" "No, was just about to. Why, what's up?" I sat up and replied. "Oh it's nothing,just wanted us to have that talk." "Come on, I just want to rest and what happened to your friend Frank?" "F