Forever 21

9 | Lessons Learned

"Good afternoon," she greeted sedately, "What brings you to The Oracle?"

I laughed uneasily. Was there a safe answer for that? I didn't want to tell her that her guess was as good as mine, that I barely knew where here was. Telling her that we were inside a random room of SRI that was possibly not so random, but actually a thousand miles away in New Orleans sounded just plain crazy.  She worked in a voodoo store; it probably wasn't the oddest thing she'd ever heard, but I wasn't going to test that theory.

"Kismet."

"Beg pardon?" Lips pressed together in the universal sign of displeasure, a little color drained from her face.

"I didn't mean to offend you, if I did. I just meant I had no clue why I was here, only that this is where I found myself when all was said and done. Like kismet. Fate."

Like magic, color returned to her face. "I know," she replied with a genuine smile, "I just like to see what tall tales people imagine up on such short notice. I'm Petra." She stuck a hand out to me in greeting.

"Cam," I returned as I placed my hand in hers. Her eyes got this faraway look and suddenly we weren't in the store anymore. We were in the forest. The same forest as the night I died. I know because I saw myself sitting by the fire, the stupid handsy hamburger weaving his way through the drunken English majors.

"Hey!" he yelled at me, "We're going into the woods for a little fun! Want to come with?"

God, I was so gullible. He hadn't even come with anyone. Why had I followed him again?

"Live a little," Petra whispered from a few feet away. Her voice was surreal, the wind carrying her voice like a message meant only for me. I watched myself stare at the woods before looking back at the hamburger. "Yeah sure."

I moved to stand near Petra so I could whisper, "That was you?"

She jumped to face me, the color in her cheeks high from the cold. "How are you here?" She replied, her tone a little harsh.

"I don't know. I thought you brought me here."

"Well I didn't mean to... I mean that's not how it works." Looking frustrated, she took her beanie off to run a hand through her hair. With her dark skin and fine, pin straight hair, she could easily pass as an ancient Egyptian princess. "That's not how this works," she breathed.

"How what works?"

"This!" She gestured toward the other me and the hamburger. "How are you here?"

"That's a good question," I realized aloud, "How are you here? In my past?"

"I'm not sure exactly how I got my power, but every time I touch someone for the first time, I experience the moments leading up to their death."

It was jolting to realize that we were actually in the past and not just my memory of it. Her world weary look made a lot more sense. I imagined what it would be like to see death every time I touched another living creature for the first time and couldn't stop myself from grimacing. That sounded terrible.

"What do people say when you disappear? I mean, you said this is different so I'm guessing this is usually a solo trip."

"Good question," she grinned, "I asked the same thing when I first got this power. Apparently all this occurs within seconds in our reality. Only my mind is gone, not my body. You see, we're not corporeal." As an example, she ran her hand through a nearby tree.

Cool, I thought to myself, Trippy, but cool.

"How do we go back?" I asked next, silently cataloging all the details I'd missed the night I'd died. All the details including, "Ivy!"