“I don’t know how you have all those names, and I’m completely freaking out right now. And you are going to sit there and mock me? Because I think you’re the crazy one. How do you even know those names?” Her voice filled the space between their faces.
“But you aren’t denying you know all these names.”
“Of course I know them. I told you I have been around since 1841 and have switched with a lot of people.”
“But they each meant something to you, right Mary?” Sue leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, her chin against her fingers.
“No,” Callie started through gritted teeth, “but I had to learn about them, because I was them.” Callie stared at Sue; she hated how this beautiful, well-dressed woman held so much power over her. Sue had the upper hand, and they both knew it.
“My name is Pamela, not Mary,” she said with as much venom as she could spit out. Sue just responded with a half-smile, leaning back in her chair, ready to take on any abuse Callie would dish out.
“It’s Pamela, not Callie? Are you having a hard time keeping up with whose body you are in?”
Callie tried to harness the power inside of her. Hearing Theresa’s name reminded her of that night on the train when she could visualize the power extending from her body and wantedbadly to mimic it. It originated from jealousy, and she tried hard to be jealous of Sue, but all she felt was disgust and resentment.
Then she thought of Richard and how she had the same feelings toward him to summon her tether. Focusing hard, she tried again to pull the mystical hand from inside her.
It isn’t enough. I need her to want to be me.Why have you failed me? Why now? Oh, how I wish it could be the same as it was in the beginning!She rocked her head back and forth in the corner where the walls met.
“Why isn’t it working?” Callie whispered to herself.
“Half-Life.” Sue leaned forward, flipping all the way to the back of the folder.
“What is that?” Callie, intrigued by the sudden shift in conversation, relaxed her posture slightly. Sue motioned for her to come rejoin her at the table to continue the conversation.
Callie obliged, mainly because having her arms in the jacket was not comfortable while standing. She shuffled her feet across the tile and sat back in the metal chair.
“Half-life explains how much time passes before a radioactive isotope falls to half its original value,” Sue began, excited to finally have this conversation.
“Okay, and what does that have to do with me?” Callie wanted to smash Sue’s beautiful face through the window just to end the mocking.
“You really don’t remember, do you?” Callie’s hair stood up on her body. Something inside of her screamed out in terror, way down in her cells. She could feel it all now: the tension, the awareness. Sue hadn’t flinched when she had admitted her darkest secret, and for the first time since Sue entered the room, Callie sensed the very real chance that she was in danger.
“Remember what, eighth grade biology?” She tried to sound like she was calm and collected, but her voice strained and threatened to expose her. Sue’s expression, a mix of exhaustionand irritation, just gave a curt nod and an equally curt, “No. Nothing like that.”
Sue stood, now to be the one to walk behind Callie, her reflection very clear on the window in front of her. Callie was now thankful they were being watched and recorded.
Recorded.Callie remembered that Sue had turned off the camera. None of this was going on the record. No one was behind that glass window. She shifted again in her seat.
I’m all alone with this crazy person.
“Okay, fine. You’ve only been here a week. I was lying before. So, now I can tell you the truth.”
Sue’s hands rested heavily on Callie’s shoulders, causing Callie to jump slightly, as Sue leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“We’ve met before. Back in 1804.” Sue’s mouth was so close, the air escaping felt especially hot against Callie’s ear. Sue stood back up, allowing her words to fully sink in.
“Impossible. I was born in 1841.” Callie violently shook her head back and forth. None of this made any sense: the names, the dates.I was born Jane. It’s that simple.
“Yes,Janewas born in 1841, and youwereJane,” Sue replied curtly. “You really don’t remember?” Sue came back around to face Callie. “Nothing about me and our conversation?” Callie shook her head in response.
“Wow, okay.” Sue sat back in the chair opposite her. “Let me guess. You just thought you were born with thisspecialgift?” Sue overemphasized the wordspecialin air quotes.
Callie bore her stare into Sue’s; embarrassment flooded her body. “Of course, I thought I was born with it. That was all I ever knew.”
Sue dropped her arm on the table in astonishment. “Well, I owe Nick five bucks now,” she said, more to herself than to Callie.
Callie’s clenched jaw ached.
