To Be A Leader

Chapter 51: The Man In The Mirror

"We're both headed in the same direction, man, but I bet I'll get there first."

Suddenly she reaches and grabs my hand, pulling herself up for a split second to whisper in my ear.

"Race ya."

And then she lets go.

"No!" I scream, desperately trying to grab onto her, but it's too late.

"Oh, God," Sam whispers shakily. "She let go...

"Five, that building's coming down now! You've got to get out of there! Run!"

The building collapses.

And I'm engulfed in darkness.

When I emerge, it's still dark, but it's the present. At least, I think it's the present. I'm in a room. There's something in my hand-cold, electric. It feels heavy and warm against my skin.

Large hands grab me, the fingers connecting to them digging into my shoulders, shaking me. I can see a face-two faces, but I don't recognize them, or the voices that belong to them. I just keep staring blankly ahead as darkness starts to burn around the edges of my vision.

The voices get louder, the fingers digging in enough to cause bruises. It hurts, or it does until my skin goes numb. The feeling of touch slowly fades away. The fingers still dig harder, trying to get my pain receptors to tell my brain to move away from the discomfort, but I don't.

I feel them, but I don't feel them.

Darkness engulfs me again.

"Wow, this is intense, Five."

"What's wrong with her? Why isn't she responding?" Someone yells into my ear. That voice doesn't belong to the two faces I saw before. I think his name is... Samuel? I feel something, a sadness when I hear that panicked tone. Why?

It's like I know him, but I can't remember him. I think he means something to me. By the way he's screaming, I must mean something to him.

"Callista! Please, snap out of it!" He screams, and I blink. I think I blink.

Callista. Is that my name? Even if it isn't, I want to go to him. I don't know why, but I do. I try to find him in the darkness, try to reach that speck of light that his voice is coming from.

"Callista, can you hear us?" Maxine-yes, that woman is definitely named Maxine-

No, no, it's not.

"This is Dr. Meyers, only Medicare at Abel Township..."

Dr. Meyers. Her name is Dr. Meyers.

No-

"Maxine Alexandra Meyers M.D., you are an idiot..."

No, Dr. Maxine Meyers. Same person. Yes.

Where are they? Why do they sound so far away?

Where am I?

Who am I?

Why is everything so hard to remember?

I try to reach out, try to grasp on it-them, their voices. But as I reach out, every bit of it, the material part I thought I could reach-flies away until it's nothing.

"We found a tape I made talking about something that happened to me. The other me. The real me. The me that used to have a body," Moonchild says. I know her. I remember her.

She did things to me, made me do things I didn't want to. She made me hurt people.

So, why do I not hate her? Why do I not fear her?