A few days later…

  Consciousness came slowly for I-Us. We weren't sure where, what happened or what was going on anymore. Both sides jumbled together trying to move any of our limbs, anything, but we were stiff like a board. We could feel we were on some kind of bed at least, in a brightly lit room if the irritating hum of electric lights was anything to go by.

  There was a strange beeping noise happening somewhere nearby, Mary assumed it was some kind of monitor but that quickly wasn’t where our attention lied.

  What took our attention was the voices that were so close to us. We could hear a conversation play out right besides us, including our mother and some unfamiliar male voice.

  "You said she'd be alright, right? It's been days at this point and she still hasn’t woken up." Mary's mother, Marilla was audibly frantic and more than a little concerned for the well-being of her daughter.

  “Sigh, To reiterate to you again, miss. As far as our experts can tell, she will get better. The machines are showing us that she is gradually waking up from her deep sleep. Give or take a few more days, she should be up and running with only some physical therapy required.”

  Terse words spilled from his mouth, as he organized a set of papers on his clipboard loudly.

  He tapped away at his job clipboard, his apparent irritation pretty evident with only sound to go on for the duo. Mary could only guess her mother was too tunnel-visioned to realize how annoyed the doctor was getting at her questions.

  Karla meanwhile was trying to decide if this man was an asshole or just tired.

  Together we listened closely, unsure why we couldn't move yet, though it certainly added to our panic, as he continued to speak with a hint of condescension towards our mother.

  “I am aware that you suffered greatly, dear miss Marilla but getting so worked up won't help your dear Mary recover any faster. I’d suggest after you give your daughter some of your time, you head straight home so that we can do our jobs to help her.”

  His voice sounded like it was coated in sugar, yet it did nothing to hide his ridicule he directed to our mother. It felt like listening to those pretentious kids Mary used to hear on those crime dramas.

  “Thank you for the advice, doctor, but I want to be here with her when she wakes when I can. I'll leave when the visiting hours end.” Marilla insisted, sounding like she was doing her best to not cry, as Karla could hear her gripping a blanket or some kind of fabric in her hands while she sat in a nearby chair. Likely staring at us if her words were anything to go by.

  The doctor, annoyed at her, responds stiffly. “Understood then. Excuse me as I have to handle some other patients now, good luck with waiting for your daughter, Miss Marilla.”

  Remarking with thinly veiled scorn as he rotated on the balls of his feet while opening the door and striding into the hallway, his footsteps betraying not an ounce of hesitation of leaving the space.

  A few moments later, Mary can hear the door seemingly closed on its own from the rude departure of the doctor. Wondering if the doctor was just tired.

  While unbeknownst to Mary, Karla wasn't buying that the doctor was a good person. Though he tried to make himself not look too much like a prick by not slamming the door or keeping his voice even, his irritation was akin to a furnace, visible and churning.

  Karla might have given him the benefit of the doubt if she hadn't been able to hear just how much of an ass he was from his voice. She was certain that he was an ass. After all Medics were either kind souls, cynics burned by their experiences or a power hungry ass ready to rake cash from the dying. She felt there was no in between on the matter.

  But try as they might to finally have time to spend with mother now that the rude doctor was gone, they couldn’t. They couldn't stay conscious any longer, as they fell back into slumber as their body demanded rest.

  Falling back asleep as their memories drifted in their minds, swirling at the fray of each other, bouncing against each other like objects stuck in a river current.

  Memories of mage practice when Karla was younger, colliding with memories of having a father who took Mary to an amusement park, a place of happiness. Merely months before he was forced into a situation that took his life-

  Mary suddenly was falling, landing on the ground with a heavy crash. ”oomph!” Mary landed on a dirt floor, her school uniform immediately covered in dust.

  “Owww…where am I?’ Mary looked around, confused by the sensation all-around her, mist swirling at the boundaries of her version as she rubbed her rear, picking herself up off the ground, swiveling her gaze around, panic flooding her body as she finds herself in a new place, previously her hospital bed to now a dilapidated amusement park. One that seemed…familair.

  Her eyes quickly rested on a nearby set of tables, with a woman sitting at them, idly tapping her finger on the table. She recalls sitting in front of her on a random chair, a damaged sort that was set beside a table that was having its lacquer peel away from the edges.

  “Yo?” That was how Karla used to look. Wait a minute. Why was she able to see their past self like this, does that mean?-

  “That I’m just me again?” Mary Remarked with a great deal of confusion, checking herself all over, noticing that she looked like their body, rather than how Karla looked in her-our past life.

  Grabbing a few locks of her hair, Mary found muddy brown hair on her head, looking down at her body to see herself wearing her school outfit, now covered liberally in dust.

  After a moment, Mary parses the surroundings, confirming her initial observation, a strange realm that wouldn't be out of place in a horror game, that looked like a ruined park that reminded her of a park she went with her father, one of her few pure happy memories.

  Her reaction didn't go unnoticed, Karla snorting while seeing Mary’s face scrunch up like she sucked on a lemon, going on to say. “When my memories and self resurfaced, I definitely wasn't expecting I would be sitting in a ruined locale while I waited for you to get here. Which also was a departure from my expectations, you know?”

  Remarking further with a hint of amusement, “I originally was expecting our minds to merge as one, like I’ve read from a few of your novels that cover the subject. Though I guess it would be more apt to call them our novels since we share a body.” Rambling on while she drinks a random smoothie she found while waiting for Mary to arrive.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Wait, so… we are separate personalities then?” Tentatively asking, as Mary tried to wrap her mind around this entire thing, taking a seat at random across from Karla at the tables.

  “As far as I can tell. I haven't ruled out this might be temporary but as far as I can tell while I waited, it seems to be a permanent thing.” Drinking more of her smoothie as she swished its contents with boredom.

  “Uh… so uh, what is this place?” Mary asked, still glancing around at the amusement park, aware that they are technically sleeping but also…not? She wasn't fully sure how to parse what was going on around them.

  “Pretty sure this is our shared mindspace, but for why it's a…”Puzzled expression soaking her face before she responded.”Amusement park, your guess is as good as mine.” Karla drinks more of the smoothie, her robes as a war mage made her look like an edgy cosplayer to Mary.

  Mild silence began filling the space as Mary just stared at Karla, her past life memories given…shape? A personality? She didn't know, but what she did know was she was here now to stay. Which…was honestly pretty fine, she just wish she knew what to say to her new headfriend.

  The air quickly became awkward, as Mary spoke after a few moments hoping to clear the air. “So um…what do you want to talk about?” Uncomfortably on the old seat she had taken at random, just a solid block of wood in the shape of a chair.

  Karla leans back in her chair and lightly spin the shake in her hand, silence permeating a bit longer before she finally responds.

  “We should first acknowledge that discussing most topics while we're in a hospital bed is pretty macabre, as is, I don't want to immediately assume we're stuck here for a while.

  So I suggest for now. we only have one discussion for now, and go into more topics only when we learn how things check out.”

  “Okay, I'm understanding so far.” Mary admitted, while she did her best to ignore the background around them. “So what topic do you want to talk about?”

  “I want to discuss our ability that we gained during the burglary. It was one thing when there was an emergency, but it's different now.” Karla sat up, her chair creaking as she stared at Mary eye to eye.

  “Are we going to pretend we never had this power or are we going to use it from now on to protect ourselves?”

  Mary silently rolled the question in her head, thinking for a minute before finally answering casually. “Why shouldn't we keep using it? It may have been an accident but far as our blended memories suggested, it's not drawing on our life force. So I don't see a reason to not use it still.”

  Karla nodded, as she continued her speal from there.

  “Then we'll need to test it later to see what is going on with the power, but I'd suggest we wait until we get to an abandoned parking lot or a secluded forest before we use it again.”

  “Why should we wait till we're in a forest? Like I know how mom and the doctor would react but we could activate after they're gone then.”

  Mary suggested casually, resting her arms on the table, making an admirable effort ignoring the space around her.

  “Here's the thing, we know effectively nothing about this power, I was trying to use the old world's magic and the result was this. I wasn't a summoner in the old world and I definitely don't consort with daemons, so whatever power we got is completely outside my wheelhouse, it's an unknown element.”

  “We really don't want to discover that sadism it showed then was something it does to anything it comes across or if that was a one off thing. And though I only just got here, I want to make one thing clear.

  I will not endanger our mother with our antics, and I'll ensure that stays the case.” Karla remarked, leaning in her chair with a serious expression.

  After a moment of thought, Mary didn't have anything to disagree with that reasoning. She might think of something later to quip, but as of this moment she had nothing.

  Mary and Karla spend the rest of the night going over what details they remembered about the power and what they each took from watching it act. As the night kept on turning…

  ~ ~ ~

  A few days later…

  Mary stared up at the ceiling in confusion, blinking for a moment, puzzling out what was wrong with this situation…

  “Oh.” She immediately sat up, connecting the dots of what felt odd. Experimentally moving her arms with tentative care as she repeatedly blinked, processing her regained freedom.

  Finding herself in the sterile room that she recognizes as a hospital room.

  But as Mary is ready to speak with their mother, she realizes her mother wasn't present anywhere in the room. Looking around for a moment, she spots the button to alert the nurse…across the room.

  Her body aches as she sits up in the bed, her eyes stinging from working properly again, and from all the white bedding and white floors in the room.

  Mary tries to get out of bed, to get to the button to get answers on what was happening now.

  But she was barely able to stand from the days she spent in bed. She immediately flops onto the floor with a thump when her foot gets caught on the sheet, taking all her remaining energy to grip onto the edge of the bed and make it a softer landing than a rough fall.

  The noise getting the attention of staff nearby, for within a few minutes of her fall, a doctor opened the door and stared down at her with an annoyed expression.

  The doctor stood right outside the door and said with a tone used to being obeyed, “I am glad that you seem to have woken up, but I am going to have to get you back in the bed, unless you can get yourself back up.” He says, as he simply stands there, making no effort to help even as he waves off other doctors outside her view, in the hallway.

  Though what took Karla's focus as she groggily woke up alongside Mary earlier was the distinct noise of the doctor's voice. It was his voice, an exact match of that asshole they heard a while ago.

  While Karla's mood worsened, Mary took her time piloting their body back onto the bed, getting comfortably under the covers with an indistinct murmur.

  The doctor sighs at the lack of obedience from a patient as he remembers something. “Oh ya, I will be informing your mother that you finally have woken up, so you can rest easy knowing that you'll see her face soon.”

  “Though we aren't releasing you yet, you are not healthy enough, we will have to do a few more tests then we can see about letting you out of the hospital.”

  “So try to get some more rest, the tests will go wonderfully long as you behave but if you aren't careful, your mother may have to handle more work if you don't listen like a good kid and be obedient.” Seemingly kindly chiding her he walked with a relaxed gait to her documents left on a nearby shelf.

  Checking her medical sheet before leaving again, he speaks with that same fake sweet voice, the kind that Karla expects he uses for people he looked down on.

  “Until we run your tests, I hope you can quiet down and get plenty of sleep, you'll need to get plenty of rest for the things ahead for you and your family.” Chiming with that fake pitying smile as he opens the door ready to leave. But before closing the door, he turns around and says one final line for the day.

  “Oh and make an effort to try not to get too rambunctious anymore either, you wouldn't want to worry your mother, do you? she'll have much to think about once we release you.” Smirking at us, with his face carrying a cheery expression.

  It didn’t take a mind reader for the duo to know he was trying to be an ass to them. Intentionally implying that they would be a burden on their family if they weren't careful.

  Once he finished his statement, he let the door close behind him, his steps getting farther away by the moment, leaving the duo soon in thought.

  Karla unintentionally takes over the control of the body. As she silently frowns, her face twitching as Karla did her best to not yell random obscenities at the man, even knowing he was long gone by this point.

  But while Karla tried to get the body comfortable, someone else was still deciding their thoughts.

  Mary had come to her own conclusion. She didn't know the doctor's life, didn't know his problems, but what she does know one thing for certain. That the man had god awful bedside manners and Mary hoped he'd step on a nail.