Another's Memory

Two

     "Where have you been, Thomas, I sent you out to get the fishnet from the creek and you come back empty-handed?" She looked at me irritated, but I could not help but stare. A beautiful woman standing in the middle of the kitchen with soapy hands as she was doing the dishes. I looked up and down at her and was appalled by how something so lovely could die so terribly. But she was unaware of what would happen to her when the sun would go down.
     Her flowing blonde hair, her smooth skin, her wide eyes, and her quirky smile brought a small tear to my eye. I forced myself to stay focused. I stood in the doorway, in Thomas' body, all unkempt and damp. Even though I lived decades after this incident, the pain of aging and the toils of work on the body will always be a constant. My daughter waltzed into my peripheral and the soapy smell of her presence warmed my heart. Though I had a mission to accomplish, the urge Thomas had inside of him was to sit down and eat breakfast with his family one last time. I wiped my mouth clean after eating a warm bowl of grits, bacon, eggs, and hotcakes. Sh*t. I was wasting time. You need to not get sucked in James... displace yourself from his emotions.
"Tom..." his wife Sarah said in a sweet tone, "Since you're heading into town today, I would like to ask you to buy fabric for me to make curtain drapes for the windows. We live near the forest, and I don't like the idea that anybody, or anything, can see straight in. Okay?" She tapped my right arm as I got up from the handmade table.
"Ye- yeah, yes... of course," I responded, trying to stay level-headed. "Anything else?"
"Yes!" Thomas' little daughter, Louise, perked in, on the other side of the small dining room table. "Can I pretty, pretty please have a new comb? She said with her puppy eyes, "The one I have right now is missing some teeth and my arm hurts cause then it takes too long to comb." Louise's eyes seemed to waver as if she could tell I was an imposter, but then she turned around to face her mother who responded with the fact that this is her third comb she's broken on purpose so that she wouldn't have to comb her hair. Louise then placed a big frown on her face and ran towards the bedroom, crying the entire way.
"Anything for my darling," Thomas responded slightly humored by this pouting child. "I should be back this afternoon at the latest. Be safe." He turned towards the door of his father's, father's house and froze in his step.
"Waahhhhh!"
     My son is crying. My dearest baby boy who I've missed so dea- No! We need to press forward! This is not the time to linger. I trudged out the back door to where the horse was kept and prepared it to be mounted. I placed the riding saddle with the attached compartments and took off with the continuous sun behind me, waiting. Waiting in suspense... waiting for my failure.

I need to take control back from Thomas. His willpower is stronger than I thought. I could not even stop him from eating breakfast. If I cannot outmaneuver Thomas' mind, I will be forced to spectate this memory and not be able to change a single thing. If I am unable to override his memory to find answers, then the purpose of the mission has failed. I didn't think that Thomas' emotions would be this strong... worst-case scenario, if I get absorbed into his mind space I don't know if I can be fully extracted into my own body. I will be stuck here indefinitely with no way out. If I alter his memory too much, then his mind will become conflicted and reject me. That's not good if I did not get enough information. I cannot do this too many times with the same brain because then the brain ascertains the situation, making it harder for me to stay inconspicuous. The most I have ever done on one brain was six trips. It nearly killed me. The organization discovered the brain and sent me to solitary confinement for seven months. For destroying my wife's brain.

I shook my head and tried to stay focused as the small rural town came into view. Thomas tied his old horse to the post near the watering trough by the market. He patted the horse as it went down hungrily into the dark water. Thomas was able to find all the products he needed, (including the brush), but something was missing. Something felt off. While Thomas was busy buying the cheapest fabric possible to save money, I was  switching from my eyes to his, looking around for suspicious figures, feeling for a disturbance. Something. I need to do something. I need him to go outside right now because we can't waste any more time. Knowing this would conflict with Thomas' memory, James planted the idea that he forgot to check if the horse was tied down properly. Thomas asked the clerk to wait one second as he hurriedly stepped out into the hot noonday Sun that was eager to see how things would unfold. Instead of walking towards the horse, I steered himself towards the open, dusty street. As uneasiness crept in me, I knew something was wrong. Either the man himself was here, or his brain has started to suspect the intruder. I pushed the thought away of a failed mission and trudged forward. I saw the silhouette of a man dressed in black walking into a forsaken alleyway between the saloon and the brothel. Thomas hesitated walking towards there in fear that the townspeople would criticize a married, Christian man reluctantly speed walking towards these businesses. I jerked him forward in ignorance and threw him into the alley.
"What are you doing here James?" The man grunted as he got up and dusted himself as if only slightly bothered.
     He was a tall man with dark, brazen skin standing in front of me. Dressed in a black three piece suit with a smell of leather and anger. His villainous aura of entitlement and strength, was complimented with a jagged scar running from his right temple, slithering over his right eye, crawling across the bridge of his nose, sneaking under his left eyelid, and dying beneath his left ear. I was proud of myself for brandishing that ghastly scar on him.  He pulled out a silver pistol that only I knew what power it held.

     "This charade has got to end James... it's going to do nothing but degrade your mind." He spoke smoothly as he simply took a glowing blue bullet out of his pocket. His attire stuck out like a sore thumb but I guess that's why he wore it. It was a trap this whole time. He wanted me to look for him and see his dark trench coat that would never have existed in this time period. Thomas was frozen in place in fear, and I could feel myself being slowly peeled away from his consciousness. Wh-
"This game of cat and mouse we play is nothing more than annoying at this point." He looked at me through his remaining eye and chuckled as he began to load the shining pistol. That bullet would completely destroy the highway that allows me to connect to Thomas. Meaning that I could either be stuck in here forever if it contacts, or I could kill myself. Killing myself would forcefully kick me out of Thomas, but at least it gives me a chance to try again. You need to move James!
"How are you even sane at this point? Isn't this the seventh frontal lobe we have met in?" He slowly exhaled as he pointed the gun at me. The glow of the bullet radiated the innards of the shining pistol. There was at least a three-yard difference between us, but it is a bullet. Bullets move fast James. Move! Now!
"Too bad we can't stay to chat." He grinned and fired. The bullet screamed as it flew into the ground. I had thrown Thomas into the alley wall in hopes to survive instant death. The man rushed to grab another bullet as I looked for ways to kill myself once more. There was a broken beer bottle lying in the dirt a yard away from me. I dove for it as he raised his pistol to shoot again. I slit my neck so fast the rush of blood put me in shock and killed me before Thomas' conscious could even react.

"What happened? We weren't even halfway through the memory?" Will shouted, which was unnecessary because the walls echoed everything. "Did you find any information on the killers?"
"Killer." I panted as my tired body erected itself slowly. "It's him, Will... it's him."
"What?!" Will jolted back, bumping into the wall. "Already? We've never seen him this soon in an immersion."
"He set a trap for me and he knows something else."
"What?"
                   "He knows my name."