Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 25

The sound of a liquid pouring pulled me out of a mental fog. Slowly, one by one, my senses refocused on my surroundings. Staring straight ahead, it wasn't until the tea pot stopped tipping its hot contents into the cup in front of me that I became aware of where I was again. My gaze begrudgingly followed the trail from hand to arm to shoulder to that face with the dead eyes.

"You're late," Heather chastised me. She lifted her own tea cup and sipped, staining her lips red once more.

"You're that eager for me to join you, are you?" I scoffed.

"This is your subconscious, remember?" Brodie teased.

I turned to him and frowned, "Why the hell are you still you?"

"What are you talking about? Why wouldn't I be me?" he raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"It wasn't you, was it? Just as Eli said, you faked your death!" as I spoke the words the pain of his betrayal strangled my heart. "You're not Brodie. Someone else, maybe. But not Brodie."

The being with Brodie's face tilted his head in confusion, "I thought you didn't believe him."

"It's true though, isn't it?" I winced. "I feel like such an idiot for mourning you all this time. You can stop wearing his face!"

"But... I am me?" thick, heavy smoke from his own smoldering body lift and covered his face.

"No, I don't know who you are, but you're not Brodie. Someone else maybe. A stranger roped in to be his stand in... in death," I thought out loud in my dream.

"Perhaps your mind doesn't know how to reconcile his identity, so it uses Brodie as a stand-in," Gabe pondered. "A pseudo-Brodie."

"Oh, come on, subconscious! That doesn't even remotely sound like Gabe!" I rolled my eyes.

"¿A poco? You don't speak a word of Spanish!" he mused. "You think you imagine something as good as the real deal? Ha!"

I rubbed my forehead in frustration. "Can we just fast forward to the part where I w-"

--

I woke up to a seering pain as the sun reflected off of the overwaxed car next to us.

"Ahh!" I brought my hand up frantically to shield my eyes.

"Sorry, not much I can do," Eli sighed.

I blinked and squinted while I tried to figure out where the hell we were. It took ages for my eyes to adjust with all of the reflections that seemed to be pointed directly at me. All I could see was what looked to be a highway and unmoving cars all around us.

"Where are we?" I mumbled.

"Not far from Columbus."

"Columbus? Ohio?"

"No, Wisconsin. You've been asleep a very long time," he joked.

I spotted two empty energy drink cans next to me in the cup holders. I grabbed one and threw it at Eli.

"What are you crazy!? Don't attack the driver!" he exclaimed.

I ignored him, "You were supposed to swap with me!"

"Yeah, we can swap soon," he assured me.

"You know what? Get out of the fucking car. We're swapping now," I unbuckled my seatbelt.

"Wait, wait, hold up! We can't just swap in the middle of three lane highway!" he argued.

"We haven't even moved since I woke up," I rolled my eyes. "Actually, no, you stay there. I'll be right back."