Another Life

Chapter 6 - Reality

Stretching and lazily turning over in the oversized bed with egyptian cotton bed sheets, I rubbed my cheek against the luxurious pillow and yawned. I savoured the moment before really waking up, before I had to deal with reality. I pulled myself onto my side and reached for the phone on my bedside table.

"Oh, s**t," I breathed. There were seven miscalls. Three from Frank, two from Cathy and two from Kerri, my boss. Pulling on a cardigan, I scrambled out of bed and ran down the stairs into the kitchen, phone in hand.

"Danny! I need your help." I scanned the room. Talon was sat at the counter, coffee in hand. He nodded to me with a shy half smile.

"Morning, Skye."

"Er, hey Talon. Is Danny here?"

"No. He just went to get some prop for later. An exercise we have to do or something. Are you OK?"

"I don't know, Talon. I am really confused. And I've had miss calls from my family and my boss and I don't know what on earth I should tell them? I must have some sort of cover, cos the memories I have take place over weeks and months. So I must have told them something before. I mean what did I tell people when you held me for months? Well, actually I couldn't have told anyone anything, could I? So who did? Or how on earth did I come back from that and just slot into my old life? Gods, do they think I'm bipolar or something? Or just insane? Am I?" I broke off, staring miserably up at Talon.

"Hey, Princess," Talon raised the back of his hand to my face and gently stroked my cheek. "I think you need to chill. Everything's OK, and you just need to stop overthinking it."

"But I'm not in my twenties anymore, Talon. I have a husband, a daughter, a job, rent to pay...I can't just disappear from my life for weeks or months and expect to go back unscathed. They'll hate me, I'll get fired. And Frank and Cath won't cope without me. We'll lose our house, or at least we'll get so far behind on rent that my life won't be worth living cos I'll have to take every second of overtime I can get just to get us back on track."

Talon looked like he wished he could sink through the floor, like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world than here. He patted my back awkwardly and murmured something about everything being OK. It was under his breath though, so really not very reassuring. He pulled me into a hug and kept me there until I'd stopped shaking. I was still upset, but trying to cope with this new relationship with Talon. He was really trying to make me feel better. Granted, he was doing a terrible job, but he was definitely trying. My mind flashed back to yesterday and the emotional confrontation we'd had before the star incident.

I remembered the later days, after the torture; when my Lord God had caused Talon to fall in with us. The others had hated him as my torturer, the physical and emotional wounds still evident. He had taken me to the edge of tolerance and even beyond. I would have done whatever he told me to after his months of conditioning, just to avoid being punished. I would have slit my own throat if he'd told me to. I wondered if he knew, then realised of course he did.

"Talon, I'm so confused by all this. Are we really friends now? Are you friends with Will and Danny? I don't remember everything and I just don't see how you could be. Or how they could be."

Talon carried on stroking my back and sighed, "This isn't the time, Skye. You need to deal with reality. Call your boss and tell her you're on jury duty - it's a big case and might drag on. Call your family and let the know you won't be back for a while. Then you can relax about that life and concentrate on this one."

I looked up at Talon and nodded, convinced he had my best interests at heart. Scared, but resigned, I went to my room and made the calls to Kerri, Frank and Cathy.

Afterwards, I curled into a ball on the bed and cried, wishing I hadn't just lied to all the most important people in my life. At least I was free to do what I thought was best now. I just wanted to hide and sleep, but I heard Danny arrive back and I knew there was more to the day. Lurking quietly in my room, I listened to what was happening downstairs.

"She's put everything in motion, it's all good. But she doesn't really remember me. Not me from the last couple of years. I think she believes I'm responsible for the whole k********g thing. I suppose it makes sense that she'd only remember me."

Talon sounded really disturbed and I wondered what our relationship was like now really. I didn't want to face reality after everything I'd had to do today, so I sunk into my memories.