Twin Souls

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Hey, you okay?”

I groaned, the sunlight was hurting my eyes. Damn. What happened? Did I pass out? That seemed unlikely. I hadn’t passed out in a long time.

“Can you hear me?” A woman’s voice was talking. Was she talking to me? I hoped not. People should really mind their own business. Devon was a doctor and perfectly capable of taking care of me.

The world spun as I pushed myself up from the ground. I brushed my hands around me in confusion. Grass. A lot of it. And it was rather soft. That was pleasant.

“Ayra?” the same voice kept saying things.

Couldn’t she just leave me alone? Yes, her voice was nice and soft, but I really didn’t want to deal with strangers.

My eyelids strained as I forced them open. Wow, it was bright.

“You’re awake.”

Warm hands touched my face and I flinched. At least, I wanted to. But my body seemed to lean into it. Huh?

“Ummm…”

“Ayra, are you okay?”

I looked around me. Was there someone else not okay? I didn’t fall on someone, did I? Oh no, I did it. I sat on a child. I was crushing a little girl named Ayra with my fat butt.

“s**t,” I cursed, looking around me panicked. Just my luck that I fainted in a public space. At least at home, there were no kids to fall on.

Although…

Huh.... Where was everybody? I was alone on a grassy field with this lady. No kids around though. Well, at least that was a good thing. Fainted in public, check. Didn’t sit on children, check. Talking to yourself, double check. Yes, today was going great.

“Are you hurt?”

The same female voice grabbed my attention again. Reluctantly, I decided to deal with her. Then I could get away and find Devon. Maybe this would convince him to leave the zoo early.

Two dark eyes stared at me, concern swirling in them. She was still cupping my face and stroking my cheek. What was with this lady? Never heard of personal space? Ummm, hello? Why was she so close?

“Say something?”

“Umm… Hello?”

The blonde chuckled nervously. “Thank god, you’re okay. I was so worried.”

“Why?” I asked, frowning my brows.

“You suddenly passed out, and fell to the ground before I could catch you.”

“Why would you catch me?” I questioned, pushing her hands away from my face. Where was Devon? Why did he leave me alone with this crazy lady? And why was she so touchy feely?

“Oh Ayra, I’ll always catch you,” she muttered, hurt flashing through her eyes. My stomach clenched of the thought that I hurt her. Which made no sense. I didn’t know her. Why should I care? She was the one touching me. And who was this Ayra she kept mentioning?

I looked around, hoping to spot this ‘Ayra’. Was it a dog? Or maybe a chair? I wouldn’t put it past this lady. As beautiful as she was, she was clearly mental.

Wait…

Did I just think she was beautiful? That was unusual… But she was. Her dark eyes, her frail porcelain skin, the blonde locks framing her face. She looked familiar. Actually… She smelled familiar as well. But I couldn’t pinpoint from where. Had I met her before?

“Ayra?”

There she went again, Ayra, Ayra, Ayra. It was starting to annoy me a little.

“Who is Ayra?” I snapped, irritated. Whoever this Ayra was, Blondie was looking for her.

“You are?”

A sharp chuckle fell from my lips. “Me? No, I’m not.”

Blondie placed a cool hand on my forehead. “Did you hit your head?”

I pushed her hand away. “I did not.”

“Love, you’re making no sense.”

How was I the one making no sense. “Uumm, excuse me. But who are you? Where are we? Where’s Devon?”

Another flash of hurt shot through Blondie’s eyes and I felt guilt rise from my stomach. Not that I knew why. I didn’t know this lady, so why did I care about her feelings?

“It’s me…” she whispered, her voice breaking. I had the sudden urge to hug her, but refrained from it. Hugging people usually led to them crying and I really didn’t feel like holding a sobbing stranger. But she didn’t seem to think we were strangers.

Was I the one confused?

“I’m sorry, maybe I did hit my head. I can’t really remember what’s going on. Where are we?”

Blondie cleared her throat and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. The gesture was surprisingly tender for someone I didn’t know. Maybe I did know her.

“We’re out picnicking. We just visited this beautiful old castle, the one I always wanted to see.”

“Aha…” I trailed off, racking my brain. So I knew her and I met up with her? But I thought I was on a date with Devon. Did I lose a chunk of my memory? Was I the one going mental?

“I’m sorry, and you are?”

“Sian.”

“Sian?” I repeated, her name rolling surprisingly easy from my tongue.

“Yes?”

“And we know each other… How?”

“Ayra! We’ve been dating for four years?!”

“We have?” Huh, that made no sense. I wasn’t dating this Sian girl I was pretty sure I was in a long-term relationship with Devon. Well, ‘engaged’ more like it. I should really start using the proper terms. But why did she keep calling me Ayra? Was I so confused that I couldn’t even remember my own name?

“I’m sorry… Sian… It all seems to be a bit fuzzy.”

“What’s the last thing you can remember?”

I tilted my head, studying my surroundings. I was definitely not at the zoo anymore. And there were no other people around, either. Just me and Blon—, umm, Sian.

“I’m not sure,” I carefully answered, afraid that giving the wrong answer would just string a whole bunch of question from her. She seemed to have that kind of vibe around her.

“Okay, let me catch you up. My name is Sian, you are Ayra. We’ve been together for over four years and you took me on a picnic date.”

“I did?”

The blonde shot me a questioning look.

“Of course, I did,” I corrected myself. Blondie was looking stern at me and I didn’t like it.

“You sure you’re okay?” she asked hesitantly.

I pushed myself up from the ground and dusted off my clothes. Huh. What was I wearing? Why was I in a dress? I didn’t like dresses, hadn’t owned one in years. And yet, here I was. My knobbly knees sticking out from underneath this sleek skirt. Ugh. What the f**k was going on here?

My name was suddenly “Ayra”? I was apparently dating Blondie over here? No zoos, but secluded picnic dates? I could deal with all those. But a dress? A dress?

No. Freaking. Way.

From all the surprises, this was definitely the worst of all. Whoever decided it was a good idea to put me in this dress, would soon feel my wrath. I’d waterdragon the s**t out of them. Which meant shoot them with a watergun. I couldn’t actually do anything dragon-like… But still....

“Ayra?”

Who was Blondie talking to now?

Oh right, Ayra. That was me. Supposedly.

“Yes?”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s starting to come back, I think. Let’s just get back to this...date.”

Picnics did beat busy days at a zoo. Wherever Devon was, he probably wouldn’t mind me playing along. For all I knew, Blondie kidn*pped and drugged me. Better play along with the crazy and wait for Devon to find me. He’d find me. We were connected, even if things didn’t always fit perfectly between us. He was my one.

“You feel good enough to eat?”

“Of course, I’m starving,” I smiled, hoping there was some nice food in the old-fashioned picnic basket. How cliché. And kind of romantic. Maybe I should convince Devon to take me on a picnic instead of going to the zoo or visiting a museum.

“Ooooh, strawberries!” I exclaimed happily, surprised to find a whole container of them.

Blondie shot me another strange look. “You made the food.”

Oops. Did I?

I glanced at the nicely quartered pieces of berry and frowned. I definitely did not do that. I was a horrible, horrible cook. If I’d done this, it would’ve come out looking like strawberry mush.

Someone really was playing tricks on me. Mind games. But at least they were giving me strawberries. I should probably taste one of them. But what if they were poisoned?

“Here,” I smiled, holding out a strawberry to Blondie. If there was something wrong with them, she’d show me.

But to my surprise, she bend forward and nipped the fruit from my fingers. Her tongue flicked briefly against my skin and a shiver ran down my spine. But not a shiver of disgust, like I expected. No, it almost felt… Pleasant?

What was I thinking?

Hoping to hide my surprise, I quickly fished another strawberry from the box and threw it in my mouth.

“Ouch!”

My hand flew to my mouth and I moaned in pain. s**t. Did I just bite my tongue? f**k, that wasn’t very fun.

Carefully, I touched my tongue and ran my finger over my teeth. No wonder I bit myself. My canine teeth felt super pointy. Were they always this sharp?

“Ayra, what’s wrong?”

“I fwit fwyswelf,” I slurred, still pressing the soft flesh of my index finger against my pointy tooth. How had I never noticed that before?

And damn, this stung.

I pulled my finger out of my mouth, wondering if I was bleeding.

I was.

My stomach churned funnily from the sight of blood. It always did that. Blood had a funny effect on me. But it had got better over the years. At least, I thought it had.

My head spun circles and a low humming filled my ears.

On second thought, maybe it didn’t get better.

Well, I already fainted once today. What was another time, right?