Chapter 6: Redo

35 3 0
                                    

Chaos reigned over the atmosphere.

Typewriters steadily clacked away. Pages flew at men and women, who were dressed in peculiar clothing.

He caught sight of one of the pages.

BRANDON JAMESON WALSH, it read. NOVEMBER 20, 1974 — APRIL 14, 2002.

Brandon Jameson Walsh?

"You are Brandon Jameson Walsh, are you not?" asked a man about his age who stood in a doorway.

No, he wanted to say. You are mistaken. I am Brandon Jeremiah Sidney Walshford, born in August, the year of our Lord 1893.

But the words would not come.

"This way then, sir," said the man.

"What is this place?" asked Brandon, following the man through a long corridor of offices.

"These are the offices of your mind," said the man.

"The people at the typewriters?"

"They are conserving your memories, as your body prepares for burial."

"I am not dead, sir, I assure you," said Brandon. "You can see for yourself that I am very much alive."

"I am a spirit myself," said the man. "A spirit of one you once knew. You are able to speak with me and therefore, you are dead."

Brandon was distracted.

"Do I hear my sister?" he asked, looking around for Brenda. "Is she crying?"

"It is a memory." The man waved towards a stained glass window. "You may view it, if you so choose."

Brandon opened the window, and soon found himself standing beside a bed.

A box hung in a corner. Images slid across it as if they were at the pictures.

The strange machines beside Brenda told Brandon they were not at the pictures.

"Did you get a doctor?" asked Brenda as she yelped out in pain. "Is it kidney stones? Appendicitis?"

"The doctor said they'll be here soon." Brandon was startled as the words flowed from his own lips, in a voice he did not know. "They wouldn't tell me what is going on with you."

"But I gave you permission to find out," said Brenda. "Did you - did you tell them that?" She groaned, clutching onto the side of the bed.

"Tell me again what happened," said Brandon.

"I told you," said Brenda. "I tried to call Dylan. He has a new girlfriend."

"You said Dylan said he's only connected with Toni and Kelly."

"He did say that," said Brenda.

"Are you sure?" asked Brandon. "That doesn't sound like something he'd say. He wouldn't just erase us from his life like that."

"Call him yourself, if you're so sure," said Brenda.

Not only had Brandon Jeremiah Sidney Walshford stepped into the memories and body of Brandon Jameson Walsh, he had also acquired the man's thought process.

"After we speak with the doctor," said Brandon.

The doctor's news had stunned Brenda as much as it had Brandon.

"Labor?" asked Brenda. "I can't - I can't be in labor."

"We've given you something to stop the contractions," said the doctor, "but Miss Walsh, we will need to keep you and your children under observation overnight."

Floe de LirWhere stories live. Discover now