On The Outside Looking In {DISCONTINUED}

5

"Do you remember what that was like?" she asked softly.

"Only a little." She gestured for me to continue. "I remember feelings, not what I saw. I knew that, wherever I was, I was quite happy. It felt right. I remember that it felt like something was tugging me the whole time. Then, when I woke up, that tugging feeling was gone and so was that happiness." I looked up. She was watching me closely. I laughed nervously, feeling a blush rising. "I thought people would think I'm even crazier if I started going on about that." Becoming serious again, I continued. "I feel like my dreams hold the key to telling me what happened, both in the coma and when I died. I want to know what happened, both before and during, but I have no idea how to. I can only go by what I'm told."

"And that bothers you," she finished. "I'm all for you remembering what happened before, but during? Even the doctors said that could be a bad thing."

"Come on, Tiye. You said you would do anything to help me remember what I wanted to. I want to remember this and –" I groaned in pain, falling back as my head began pounding. I was no longer in the café.

I was standing in front of a stone palace at night, the outside lit up by torches. I turned at the sound of metal being hit and found two men fighting, a woman curled on the ground behind one of them, sobbing. I knew her. Her name was Selene. I took a step closer, watching the ongoing fight between the two men. One was defending her from the other. I moved until I was close enough to touch her. Selene was covered in bruises. She seemed oblivious to what was happening in front of her. I placed my hand on her shoulder and was suddenly seeing through her eyes and feeling what she was feeling. The clanging of metal stopped, and someone knelt down in front of me. They lifted my chin. It was then man who had been defending her – defending me. He gave me a kind smile. "You're safe now," he whispered.

And then I was back in front of Tiye. She was staring at me. I hadn't realised I had been crying. She came around to sit beside me and pulled me into a hug. I didn't try to stop her. "What was that?" she asked.

"I think I remembered something," I whispered. She pulled back enough to look at my face. "It wasn't from this life. I think – I think it was from a different one."

She didn't start laughing even though I knew the idea was ridiculous. "You told me, once, that when you die you remember your past lives." I blinked, not quite understanding. "You died. Maybe while you were in that place you regained your memory then, because it was too much to handle, your memory was wiped when you came back."

I nodded. It made sense. To have that many memories in one's head could possibly be deadly. I stood. "I think I'm ready to go back now." She didn't argue, instead paying and making sure I got out without falling.

********

I looked up the drive to where I was staying and shook my head. "This there no where else we can go?" I asked Tiye.

"There's a park just down the road," she started.

I nodded. "That's fine."

We slowly made our way down the road, past her house, and onto the path leading to one of the parks through the short grass. According to Tiye, there were three parks in the town: the main one that we were going to, the one next to the old town centre, and the one behind the primary school that was usually empty. I would have preferred to go to that one, but it was on the other side of town and neither of us wanted to walk that far. As we walked, I told her exactly what I had seen, deciding it would be easier to do away from the new town centre. Less people and noise. We stopped at one of the wooden tables, deciding to stay put for a bit while we tried to figure out exactly what was happening.