1.8 | Lights

“Jin? Jin? Wake up! Jin!”

When I opened my eyes, I was lying in the snow, frozen to the bone. Snow? I thought with annoyance, then realized that a surprise snow in the spring was about the least of my problems right now. The voice that had called to me belonged to Naomi  - she stood over me with a concerned look on her face as she reached down and helped me stand up. I looked around and saw we stood outside my house, close to the last place I remembered being lucid.

I couldn’t remember anything after that.

“Jin, what happened? Are you okay? Did you get mugged?!” Naomi pounded me with questions and I shook my aching head.

“I don’t know …” I murmured, patting myself down. I definitely hadn’t been mugged – my wallet, cell phone, and keys were all where they were supposed to be. All I could say for sure was that I had no recollection and a killer headache. “I was standing out here reading my mail and then … nothing.”

“You mean this?” Naomi asked, holding out a piece of paper – Ginger’s letter. “You were clutching it when I found you. Who is Ginger?”

“No one.” I muttered, snatching the letter from her and shoving it into my pocket. I didn’t know why I responded that way. Ginger wasn’t no one, she was my wife. I still considered myself married. Why didn’t I just answer her that way? I shook my head and looked at her. “I’m sorry, I’m … I’m confused and my head is killing me…”

“Hmm…” Naomi looked at me with a questioning gaze. “I think I know what happened.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions,” She told me. “Not yet. Jin, can I have someone come and see you? Someone who can help you remember what happened?”

My head was swimming. “What, like a hypnotist?”

Naomi bit her lip. “Sort of.”

I thought it over for a brief minute, or tried to. My head was pounding. But I did want to know what happened to me. I looked at Naomi and nodded. “Sure. Yes. If it’s someone you trust …”

“I do.” She nodded as well. “I’ll call her and have her come see you later this week. Her name is Alice. Come on, let’s get you home.”

Normally, I wouldn’t have allowed a lady to help me home, but I didn’t feel well at all. Naomi helped me back to my door and I assured her that I was fine from there. She told me goodnight and to call her if I needed anything. Then I went inside and fell asleep on the couch.

I slept late the next day and by the time I woke up I was late for a costume party at Sammi’s house. I quickly showered and threw together the best costume I could – you could just call me Doctor Lai. Lame, I know, but I didn’t have any other options. I made sure I didn’t look too crappy and then headed across town to Sammi and Morgan’s house.

I must have failed in the appearance department because as soon as Sammi spotted me, she pulled me into a hug and asked if I was alright.

“What do you mean? I’m fine.” I told her, playing innocent.

She frowned. “Jin, you look like hell. Are you getting sick?”

I took a breath and then quietly explained what had happened. It was an embarrassing story, but Sammi nodded her head in understanding.

“What do you think happened?” She asked me worriedly and I shrugged my shoulders.

“I have no idea. But Naomi is going to help me remember. Apparently she has a hypnotist friend…”

“Wait,” Sammi interrupted me, frowning. “Naomi Nita? You’re hanging out with that nut?”

I huffed. “Naomi isn’t a nut. She’s a nice person, and she’s helping me.”

“Yeah, helping you get a bad rep.” Sammi shook her head. “Jin, you’re working in the political field now. You have to be careful who you hang around.”

“I don’t care about my reputation!” I snapped, feeling the anger rise inside of me. I adored Sammi – she was probably the closest thing I’d had to a best friend since my last life – but she was really starting to get to me with the way she kept talking about Naomi, who had shown me nothing but kindness since I first met her. “Maybe if you got the time to know Naomi has opposed to listening to pointless gossip, you would realize that she’s a good person and you would stop saying such hateful things.”

Sammi looked hurt, but I didn’t feel bad. I knew I was right. It wasn’t fair the way she and the rest of this town talked about Naomi. “I’m sorry Jin,” Sammi muttered. “I’m just trying to look out for you.”

I sighed. “I know. And I really appreciate you caring. It’s just … I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk about her that way, okay?”

Sammi nodded and smiled warily. “Alright. I’ll stop.”

I thanked her, and we went on to enjoy the rest of the party. Things felt different between me and Sammi, and while that made me sad, I also felt like Sammi had needed to understand that talking about Naomi the way she had been was wrong. I probably hadn’t changed her from a gossip into a saint, but at least she knew not to bring her gossip to me.

After a while, I didn’t feel like being there anymore. I decided to leave early and after saying goodbye to Sammi and Morgan, I headed home. The sun was just setting by the time I arrived and I had barely had time to change out of my costume when a knock at my door startled me.

“Are you Jin Lai?” The redhead asked me as she pushed her way into my house.

“By all means, come inside.” I muttered before I turned around and faced her. “Yes, I’m Jin. Who are you?”

“My name is Alice…I’m a friend of Naomi’s. She asked me to come see you.”

“Right, of course!” I said with relief. “You’re the hypnotist.”

“Hypnotist?” She laughed, and it sounded like a bell – almost ethereal. “No, silly. I’m a vampire.”

I froze. A vampire? As in “I vant to suck your blood” or “your skin is like diamonds” vampire? I frowned. Surely not. Probably just someone who avoided the sun like the plague and had custom fit snap on fangs. “Right. Sure you are.”

“You’re a non-believer, yet you’re friends with Naomi?” Alice shook her head. “Strange days are here again.”

I scoffed. “I never said I was a non-believer, I just …” I stopped myself. Why was I standing here arguing with this woman? While I couldn’t deny that I felt  a bit strange being around her, I still didn’t think she was a member of the undead. But then again, could I really question it? After all, I had been dead not too long ago. I met her gaze. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day.”

She nodded. “It’s understandable. Now, are you ready?”

“Ready for wha --?”

She wasted no time. I fell into her gaze and felt like my brain had melted into pudding. My mind bloomed like a flower and I was overcome with visions of intense colours and psychedelic emotions. Had I been drugged? But I realized this was just an effect of what was being done to me by Alice. These couldn’t have been my memories.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but when I felt like my mind had been put back together, I tried to regain my composure. Alice was staring at me in a weird way.

“What happened to you?” She asked me softly.

I huffed. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be helping me remember?”

“No, not the other night. I swear, if I didn’t know any better … it’s like you’ve died before. There’s something inside your head similar to what other vampires have after they’ve been reborn. It’s like a little light in your mind…”

I quickly tried to distract her – I didn’t need her figuring out that I had been brought back to life. There was no telling what she would do with the information. “What about the other night? I still don’t remember anything!”

Alice tsk-ed and crossed her arms over her chest. “What I’ve done is open up your mind – unblocked the barriers that have been put up by yourself to forget things you didn’t want to remember. You’ll start getting a flood of memories soon. I’m sorry it’s not immediate.”

I was sorry, too. But I guessed it didn’t really matter. I shrugged. “It’s fine. At least I’ll remember, right? Thank you for coming.”

“Don’t mention it! I’m off to tell Naomi I finished. I’ll tell her you said hi.” She flashed me a smile and then left.

I was left exhausted and wondering if my memories would come back to me in a dream.