Breathless.
Stunned.
Flabbergasted.
Excited.
Scared.
Mesmerized.
Let's not forget.... hopeful.
Zoey couldn't let just one word flow through her mind. The same mind that was just thrown into a tailspin.
Her throat was filled with dry air as she took in the oxygen from the awkward atmosphere.
' Did, did she just-?'
She shifted in her position and gripped her pant leg.
' Could she be? The awkwardness, the intelligence. They remind me of her.
Annie? But-, how, I-. Sky, '
[Yes.]
' I thought that you said that, if, I was ever close to Annie I would know. Well, YOU would you know!'
[That's correct.]
' I've been around Angela all this time and you've never said a word!'
[Also correct.]
' Stop saying correct! Why-. '
If realization were a pan it would have knocked Zoey unconscious.
' You didn't tell me. Because,"
[Unfortunately, she's not Miss Annie.]
' *Sigh* Should have figured as much.'
She looked at Angela, ' But then, why is she talking about reincarnation? Who is she really?'
She wondered.
" Umm, yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. I-I guess I'm just sleep-deprived, just forget it okay! It's nothing. Really it's nothing."
Angela sputtered with sweat dripping down her pale yet blushing face.
Zoey was staring at her, she must have thought she was crazy.
' What? OH, no! She could be much more malicious and not even know it. Or she could know about my reincarnation. Either way, I have to find out.'
Zoey thought.
" No, no, no! I don't think you're crazy at all. Don't worry! I'm not judging, I promise!" Zoey quickly asserted.
" But, why did you take so long to answer?"
" Hey, I don't think it's crazy. But it was kinda shocking, plus you're pretty sober and not high. So I can tell you're being serious and it kinda threw me off. But still!
I'm ready to listen to anything you say!" Zoey explained.
Angela felt touched. She turned her face away once again to her twiddling fingers. The tips of her ears betraying her with their rosy hue.
" And, as for believing. Yeah, I believe."
Angela turned to her and her wide eyes almost made Zoey's heart burst.
" Really!?"
" Yeah."
" Why?"
" Why not? I mean, there have been a lot of cases that seem legit. "
' Including my own.' She said to herself as she lied straight through her pearly whites.
" Yeah, cases..." Angela looked away once again, this time while rubbing her arm and with a crooked and awkward smile.
Zoey stared at her before casting a beaming smile.
" Yeah. Say, why do believe in reincarnation?"
She burst right into the topic.
" Uhm, well, I-"
She made only a few stuttering noises and just shut her mouth in silence.
" Did you read an article?"
Silence.
" Watch a tv show?"
No reaction.
" Well, what is it? Don't tell me are YOU reincarnated? Just kidding! *hahaha*" She put emphasis on the you.
[Smooth, Miss Zoey..... (βΠ΄β ) Really smooth.]
' Oh, hush!' She hissed in her head.
Angela stiffened at the mention of being reincarnated.
" Hey, you okay? What is it? C'mon didn't I just say that you could talk to me? What is it?"
Zoey pestered Angela with questions spewed out like pure sugar.
Angela was unsure.
' What if-. No! No what if's!' She lectured herself.
She whipped around to Zoey once again and the more she started at Zoey, the more her confidence depleted.
" I-I don't really know how to explain it." She whimpered.
" You can try, " Zoey pushed.
Angela took a deep breath. " *Haa hoo* Ever since I can remember, I've had dreams.
Weird dreams. I could barely remember them when I woke up. But as I got older I was able to memorize some parts.
But ever since I met you. It was like a huge kick start. The dreams became more realistic and burned themselves into my brain.
I got headaches and even started to get these FLASHES of, of-. I don't know really.
They're just like my dreams but I'm not sleeping so they can't be right? In fact, I feel like I'm actually living them!
I thought about hallucinations, sleep deprivation, but it still happens. And mostly kick starts when I'm around you.
I'm freaking out Zoey! Why are these things in my head?! Why am I having these dreams!?"
" Okay, okay, calm down. Calm down. Just breathe, BREATHE."
Angela nodded and took another deep breath.
" Okay, let's just try and figure this out. Maybe it's some kind of mental thing. Something repressed or held back.
Now, what are these dreams about?"
Angela nodded again.
She licked her lips and turned her body all the way towards Zoey.
" Okay, so I'm usually in the same place.
It's this big white room, and the walls have kind of a weird surface. Like those labs, you see in movies.
I was in another body. I was somebody else.
I was covered in scars from what they did to me. These, uh, I guess scientists? Would drag be out and torture me.
But for some reason, I was so used to it, that it just didn't hurt anymore. I had given up by then and I was just waiting to die.
Then suddenly this little girl was placed with me.
She had these adorable big green eyes and black hair.
She was so little and she was so scared. She couldn't have been more than five.
At first, she would just distance herself from me. Sitting in the corner, crying her eyes out.
Then, we started to get closer and I would comfort her every time they did something to her.
Which was a lot.
But one day they started to torture me nonstop in front of her. She was screaming and I was just trying so hard to get to her and I couldn't.
Then everything went black and that's when I woke up.
I can never get the look of her face out my head.
And her name. Her beautiful name.
Perfect for a little gem like her.
Her name was Jade. And even though she's not real, I-.
I just can't help feeling the same way I felt with her when I'm around you.
I know crazy, right?"
" *Hic Uuu* "
Angela was startled to hear the sound of crying. She turned to Zoey and her eyes made themselves into saucers.
With tears flowing down her face and dripping onto her hands. The tv's faint blue like hue seemed to make Zoey's expression even more emotional.
" Vi~ Vi! " Zoey whimpered and tossed herself onto Angela.
" Zoey!?" Angela exclaimed.
" *Hic* Vi, I thought you *Hic* were dead. You, you were alive all this time. I went insane when you died.
The pain never really stopped. I love you! I missed you!
Please, tell me you remember. All the times you sang me to sleep, all the times you hugged me, you were my everything!
Please, it's not crazy! You just have to remember! Please, just try!"
Zoey was practically squeezing the life out of Angela by now. Who was incredibly unsettled.
But then a spark started in her brain. Soon every fiber of her being found herself transported back in time.
(Flashback)
A woman with dark brown hair laid up against a white wall. In fact, the entire room was white with padded floors and bumpy walls.
Her eyes were void of life, several scars could be seen on her body, that was only covered by a thin white dress.
Her backstory wasn't terrible. But it still made your heart throb.
After her fiancΓ© accumulated a massive amount of gambling debt. He gave her to the facility in return for fifty million.
Ever since then, she was broken in every way possible.
She had tried to start strong but in the end, she just submitted to all of it. She no longer felt the pain but she longed for the sweet kiss of death.
A sudden loud buzz came from the door.
It didn't surprise her anymore. But she was a bit confused.
They usually took her on a planned schedule. It was never at random.
The cycle went from, surgery, to poison, to injections, to scans, to prodding, to waterboarding, to exposed to deadly bugs.
Then it repeated. Over and over. She was given one day to rest after this cycle went by three times.
That was her schedule and she knew it almost down to the second.
" Ah!"
A shrill shriek came from the door and it was followed by a loud thud and the door closing back.
The woman finally found her interest and turned to the door.
There on the floor was a little girl in a white dress. With curly black hair and round emerald eyes.
She looked around, the panic starting to settle in. Her mouth was agape and was ready to shriek in terror.
She got up from her knees and quickly started to pound on the door as hard as she could.
" Let me out! Let me out! PLEASE! Sowwy, I'm sowwy!"
She started crying and her little hands had become red with blood.
The woman against the wall felt a headache creep into her skull.
" Stop. " She said with a hoarse voice. She hadn't spoken in quite some time.
The girl turned to the newfound voice and when she saw the source. She let out a blood-curdling scream.
It wasn't without no good reason. The woman was basically purple and red with no regular skin color to be detected.
Those scars of hers were utterly terrifying, not to mention the fact she was severely malnourished because she refused to eat.
Her hair had become the same as an old worn-out sweater and her dull dry skin looked like paste.
If you would have looked at her you would have thought she already died.
The little girl fell to the floor and backed into a corner. She pulled her knees to her chest in sheer terror and saline flowed down her face.
" They're not gonna listen so don't bother."
The woman muttered. The small girl bit her lip and turned around her face in her corner.
The woman felt a pang of guilt in her chest and it made an even bigger presence as little sniffles came from the small thing.
She wanted to go and comfort her but she decided against it. She would probably be here only for a day or two. So she didn't want to form any attachments.
So she just closed her eyes and eased herself into blissful sleep.
Over the next few weeks. They started to take the little girl for their experimentation.
The woman would feel the urge to comfort her as she either came back from her daily torture or left for it.
But she never did, thinking she would be gone one day.
Then after a particularly rough day. The woman saw that the little one had been thoroughly traumatized. She wasn't even saying anything.
She laid on her side with her knees once against attached to her chest.
The saltwater just ran down her blank face as her empty eyes stared into nothingness.
Finally, the woman couldn't take it anymore.
She stood up and staggered over to the small girl.
She walked to the wall the girl was next to. She pressed against and slid down to the floor still keeping a bit of distance from the girl.
" Hey. "
The woman called out softly.
The girl flinched and glanced at the shell of a woman.
" Hi."
The little girl responded quietly. She might have been scared but she thought it was rude to not answer back.
" What's your name?" The woman inquired.
" Jade Aristotle Bell. "
The woman chuckled at the innocence and the honesty of the small one.
" Hi Jade. You can call me Vi."