Shards

chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Back up in my room, I waited for someone to fetch me for Thane's evaluation. Suddenly, there was a knock on my door.

“Come in?” My response was more of a question.

“Hello.” A nurse peered timidly around the door, obviously too frightened to take a step inside. “There's a phone call for you at the desk.”

“Who is it?” I jumped hurriedly to my feet, grabbing my crutches, and trying to ignore how the woman flinched backwards.

“Your friend Rachel,” she practically whispered, leaving without a second look.

She looked like she was about to piss herself. Was I really that scary? Whatever. She'd left the door open a crack for me, and I limped over to the desk. A yellow corded phone lay off of its cradle, and I headed towards it. At my questioning look, one of the male nurses nodded. Picking up the receiver, I settled the weight onto my good foot, letting my crutches lean against the desk.

“Hello?” I asked, questioningly.

“Hey.” It was definitely Rachel's voice. “I got your number from the police officer, I hope you don't mind.”

“No.” I couldn't help smiling. It felt so normal, talking like this, like I was just a normal teenager. “Why would I mind?”

“I just wanted to talk to you about a few things.” Her voice was suddenly serious. “Things I felt weird talking about in from of the psychiatrists. I didn't want to make them think you were crazy.”

“Yes...” I tried to contain my excitement. There was no use getting my hopes up for nothing.

“Well...” She seemed to have trouble finding the right words. “Sometimes you'd change.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, it was never big things, but I knew you so well I noticed. I never really said anything though, not until after that whole Naithen thing, when you asked me if I'd noticed.”

“What do you mean I'd change?” I repeated my question. The excitement was building. Maybe Rachel knew more than I'd originally expected.

She took a deep breath that I could hear even through the phone. “Like your hair colour, and eye colour, and height, and stuff. Like sometimes it would seem like you got a little bit shorter, or your eyes would get more brown than green. Your personality too. How you reacted to stuff, and how easy it was to make you mad.”

“You mean it seemed like I was different people?” I paused. “How long have I... I mean the right now me, been around?”

Rachel laughed. “I'm sorry. That just sounds so ridiculous. Of course you’re the same person. It sounds so crazy. But.” She trailed off. “But let's pretend it wasn't... If it wasn't, I'd say that you were only around for a few weeks.”

This was all so overwhelming. Instinctively, I looked over my shoulder. None of the nurses were paying me any attention. No one seemed to care that I was uncovering a conspiracy.

“Wha-what made me different than all the other Nelly's?” The question sounded so ridiculous, I had to refrain from laughing at the end.

“Well... you're a lot taller. Also, your eyes are plain old brown, not green at all. Oh, and your hair is a lot more red, not as ginger as it was.”

“Oh, okay.” Suddenly, something occurred to me. “Wait, what did you just say?”

“...That you were taller?”

“No, you said I was a redhead!”

Everything made sense now. How could I have been so stupid? I'd seen my hair in the flashbacks. I'd seen that it was red. It just hadn't registered. Not only was my hair dyed, for some reason, but my parents had lied about it!