The first thing Joey felt wasn't pain, but a scream trapped inside her throat. It wasn't her own.
A harsh, fluorescent glare assaulted her eyes as she blinked them open. The ceiling was sterile white, the air thick with the scent of antiseptic and something metallic, like burnt ozone. Where was she? A hazy, disjointed image flickered in her mind – flashing blue lights—a sudden, sickening impact. But beyond that, nothing. Just this overwhelming sense of...more.
"Joey? Oh, thank God!"
A warm hand enveloped hers, and a familiar, tear-streaked face swam into focus. Her mother, Selene, her usually neat hair disheveled, her eyes red-rimmed. Beside her, her younger brother, Jay, a lanky teenager trying to look brave, his lower lip trembling.
Their presence was a comfort, yet a profound sense of wrongness still prickled at Joey's skin.
She tried to push herself up, the crisp hospital sheets rustling. Her muscles responded with an unexpected, almost athletic grace. This wasn't right. Joey Valerie was a designer, not an athlete. Her body felt subtly different, humming with a restless energy she'd never possessed.
"Mom? Jay? What... what happened?"
Selene squeezed her hand. "You were hit, by a car, honey. The doctors said it was a miracle you... you pulled through." Her voice cracked, a sob catching in her throat.
Jay just squeezed her arm, tears finally slipping down his cheeks.
Joey nodded numbly, the fragmented image of flashing lights returning, yet she remembered nothing. But why did she feel so intensely different? When her gaze finally found the small mirror on the opposite wall, a gasp caught in her throat.
It was her face staring back. Her familiar dark hair, her pointed nose, and soft heart-shaped face. But her eyes. Her eyes were different. They held a sharp, unfamiliar glint of confidence, a burning intensity that made her catch her breath. She touched the glass. A strange, almost electric tingle pulsed beneath her fingertips.
"This isn't me," she whispered, her voice surprisingly steady, even though the reflection was undeniably her own. She felt different, too.
Thoughts, sharp and decisive, flashed through her mind—critiques of the room's shoddy ventilation, an urge to redraw the ugly wallpaper pattern, a sudden, almost violent desire to demand answers from someone. The quiet, unassuming Joey she knew would be cowering, confused. But this Joey wanted to smash the mirror. A nurse came in, and Selene, along with Jay, moved to speak with her.
A faint chill snaked its way across the room, carrying a whisper of decay. The fluorescent lights flickered once, briefly plunging the room into deeper shadow before snapping back to full power.
Joey stiffened, her gaze darting to the corner. A figure solidified from the deepening gloom. It wasn't a sheet-wearing caricature, but a tall, impossibly gaunt man. His skin seemed to absorb the light, and his eyes were vast, swirling pools of shadow—like heavy, dark circles that swallowed all illumination, betraying an ancient weariness. He wore a simple, dark cloak that seemed to drift rather than hang.
It was a Grim Reaper.
Joey's breath hitched. Fear, cold and absolute, wrapped around her, yet beneath it, a strange, fierce defiance sparked to life. The Reaper didn't speak with a voice but with an overwhelming surge of sensation. An image slammed into Joey's mind: a dizzying aerial view of the Lumina Tower of a company, soaring above the city, then a sudden, sickening plunge through glass and steel.
Then, just as quickly, the fleeting, distorted vision of a man's back—sharp, calculating, utterly malevolent. A back that stirred a profound sense of betrayal and gut-wrenching disappointment in Joey's core. Yet unknown. It was quiet blurry. The man's back she saw, resonated with a deep, personal ache, a sense of having been loved and then utterly abandoned.
The Reaper's hand, long-fingered and stark against its dark sleeve, didn't beckon. Instead, it tapped the air as if pushing a button, and Joey felt an undeniable nudge. A clear, unspoken message: You have been given time. Figure it out. It then dissipated like smoke, leaving nothing but the lingering chill and the phantom terror in its wake.
Joey sank back onto the bed, trembling. Time? Figure what out?
Selene and Jay, oblivious to the spectral visitor, were already talking to the nurse about discharge.
"The doctors are amazed by her recovery," Selene beamed, tears still in her eyes. "A true miracle," the nurse said with a smile.
"But don't you think she needs more days for extra checkups? Just to make sure my daughter is in perfect health before she's discharged? We've been here for more than a week, and we can wait another. As long as she's fine!" Selene said worriedly.
The nurse let out a soft smile, glancing over towards Joey's bed. "She's perfectly healthy. Strangely so, I'd say. But completely okay. Keeping her here won't make any difference at all," she responded with utmost sincerity. Selene and Jay turned their heads to look at Joey.
* * * * * *
The city air was crisp, almost bracing, as she stepped out of the hospital a few hours later. Soon, after a couple of hours' ride, they descended from a bus into a rural area with a different atmosphere from that of the city. The familiar paths of their compound felt both comforting and profoundly alien. Her family's building came into view, but what truly snagged her attention was the one right next door. A sleek, modern facade she didn't recognize. The building had been renovated.
"Oh, that's the new neighbor," Jay supplied, following her gaze. "He just moved in a few days back. Never seen him out, though. Wonder why someone would leave the city for the Veridian end."
As if on cue, a man emerged from the building. He was tall, with a quiet intensity, his dark hair falling across his brow as he adjusted a potted plant on his porch. It was Stiles Elton.
Joey's heart lurched. As their eyes met across the short distance, the air shimmered, a phantom echo of the Grim Reaper's presence.
A distorted image of the collapsing construction site flashed in Joey's mind again, but this time, Stiles's face was superimposed over the chaos, his hands reaching, scrambling. A chilling certainty settled deep in her bones: he was there.
He had to be.
Every fiber of her being screamed at her to run, to hide. Yet, another side was drawn to his quiet intensity and attractive aura, when someone else's instinct inside of her screamed, "Danger!" This confusing, undeniable magnetism warred within her.
She turned the key to their apartment, the sound clicking unnaturally loud in the silence. Inside, she moved to the hallway mirror, staring at her own reflection. The quiet, shy Joey Valerie was gone. In her place, a woman with eyes of fierce, burning resolve stared back. She didn't know who she was, or why she could see the dead, or why that person's back filled her with such complicated agony of love and betrayal. But she knew one thing with chilling certainty: something terrible had happened, and she was somehow, irrevocably, tied to it. And she must find out why.
A few minutes passed, and someone was knocking frantically at the door. Jay opened up to a light-brown, fair-skinned petite lady with brown eyes and beautiful features who came running towards Joey's room, shouting:
"Joey! Joey!! Joeyyyy!!!"
Jay and Selene were smiling happily, and before she could reach the second floor to Joey's room, Joey was already standing by the door, only for her to be enveloped in the other lady's arms. A calm settlement and recognition bloomed in her mind. It's a face she knows, someone she loved dearly. Well, that "Joey-self" knows. Even though there were feelings of wrongness, she wanted to believe she's still Joey. No matter how she tried to decipher what had gone wrong in her, as she obviously believed there was a change somewhere within her, yet, her memories as Joey still remained.
"Omooooo! You survived, my guy!" she said in a Nigerian Pidgin intonation that sounded a bit forced, which she pitched in sometimes when she's overjoyed, sassy, naughty, or joking, hinting at her Nigerian side, even though she'd only been home once, for a year when they were still in high school.
These memories, still vivid in her mind about many things. So what exactly was this wrongness she'd been feeling? Like her body wasn't hers, her personality, urges, and some resonances all hinted at something different. These memories she'd been seeing, seemed like hers yet can't be hers. Because, her memories as Joey still lived. So, why is she having them? Her thoughts ran, though she was beaming with a lively smile at her friend, who now kept rubbing her arms, face, and body like she was searching for something.
"You're okay now, yeah? You don't feel numb or dizzy or anything? No cracks to the head?...Wait, do you remember me?!" she questioned, her words running like an open tap, when Jay, who was standing at the end of the staircase, cut in.
"You need to filter your questions, 'my guy.' One at a time," he taunted her, laughing.
Joey looked at her with utter joy, "It's good to see you again, Regina," she replied. "Of course I remember my crazy Nigerian friend," she said, laughing, a stark contrast to the former Joey they knew. They all looked surprised. "Thought I wouldn't see you again, my gee!" She added.
What is this outspoken behavior I'm displaying? I do not talk like this. Too introverted and socially awkward to even crack these jokes with my best friend before. So, what was this subtle change? What's wrong with me? she questioned within herself, with no answers.
Regina gave a sheepish laugh, still surprised.
"Didn't know you knew how to joke like this, ha ha ha!" She turned her head to look at Jay and Selene downstairs, questioning with her eyes.
Soon enough, both Regina, Jay, and Joey were up on the rooftop, having a fun conversation and laughing. Even though they found it strange and new, they loved the outspoken and fun version in front of them, rather than the Joey that hardly showed her laugh or talked to anyone.
"I love this, babes. I mean, this you," Regina said, looking at Joey, who was quite confused.
"Don't get me wrong. I love Joey, but the former Joey, hardly shows her laugh to anyone. I mean, people say no matter how introverted a person might be, they can't be that bad to family and friends, but yours wasn't the case ever. The you before now wasn't as fun. Your definition of fun was always about reading books on architectural ideas that you wouldn't even pitch at your workplace. You do talk to us, yeah. Laugh, but never so freely. It is really good to have you back, Joey. But it's more good to have you laugh hysterically and freely without restrictions like this. And you've been cracking jokes, even in Pidgin. I'd never believe it if I was told," she said as they all smiled softly with affection in their eyes.
Joey switched it up, brightening up the mood, "Who wouldn't learn when you just wouldn't stop pitching in those into every words. I can remember when you went to Nigeria, back in our final year of high school for vacation, which later ended up in a year-long strike, and you came back, enforcing us on all you've learnt. Well, thank goodness, you sharpened your cooking skills and now you're a restaurant owner," they laughed, before she continued, "You were so eager to teach those words to anyone, including those guys that thought you'd lost your mind as you came back with different words that didn't sound like English but were English!" They laughed hysterically again.
"And she enforced learning on me as well. Now, I know more Nigerian words than Nigerians themselves. A year's visit to her origin stuck forever in her head. No, our heads!" Jay said, and they burst out in laughter again.
"Tell me you didn't like it!" Regina rolled her eyes playfully.
Her portrayed new personality so far was a war inside Joey, but she couldn't restrict herself.
My memories are still intact, even more sharpened now, but this isn't me. These memories feel like mine but still isn't mine. I don't talk like this. I'm reserved. Well, I would have loved to, but I just couldn't. Now, I'm doing this with no restrictions? There's something definitely wrong with me, but I love this. This feels great. But, who am I now? Or who is this woman with this personality?
All these were a whirlwind war within her, but calm and peaceful. She had struggled many times to be this outspoken, even praticed in front of the hallway mirror, to no avail. So, It kind of feels like a dream come true. To laugh and be outspoken, free.
Perhaps I hit my head while I was hit?
She thought again, trying to find common ground within herself.
The conversations went on for another thirty minutes when Regina threw in a question, "So, have you guys seen this mysterious new neighbor yet?" Stretching her head towards the next building.
"Yeah... Jay told me he moved in a few days back. We saw him tonight," Joey responded, feeling a sense of familiarity towards him, but something prickled at her skin. Her mind was clouded with his image that slammed into her mind at the construction site she'd seen.
"Is he handsome?!" Regina's eyes glinted with utmost curiosity and lust. Before Joey could reply, Jay snapped at her.
"And why do you want to know that? Why? Want to date him if he is?!"
Startling both Joey and Regina, his voice laced with a hint of jealousy, clouded with a bit of anger known alone to him.
"Yeah!" Regina nodded with a blushed face, her beautiful face singing romance under the moonlight, oblivious to Jay's trouble.
"What are you? A cheapskate? Trying to date any man you set your eyes on?!" His voice now raising, as he blurted out without thinking.
Regina strode to his side and smacked the back of his head. He winced, yet his eyes were laced with anger and jealousy.
"How dare you talk to your elder that way? I can date whoever I chooses. How is that your business?!" She smacked her lips. Joey laughed.
"You're only three years older, you know. Talking like there's much age gap between us, old lady!" He snapped back. "If you want to know, though, he's so ugly. Well, you'll make a great couple. Ugly ducklings!" He huffed and stormed inside.
Regina and Joey were stunned, oblivious to his reasons. Regina smacked her teeth in disbelief while Joey laughed again.
Then another guy came to the rooftop. As soon as Joey saw him, something within her was channeled, and her heart started racing. Her crush, Nathan. Her cheeks flushed, and she started coiling like a kid. Regina let out a soft, knowing smile.
"I truly love this personality, mehn! It hides nothing." She whispered to herself, before moving towards the door, "Hey, Nathan. You good?!" She questioned past him.
"Yeah. Yeah, Reggie. Good. See you!" he said, while Regina exited the roof. He moved closer to Joey. "Hey, welcome back to the land of the living, Joey!" He joked, his eyes glinting with happiness. "I was so happy when your mom told me you were discharged."
"Owe it all to you. I heard you found me!" She said, looking him in the eyes, her cheeks flushed.
What, what are you doing? Don't look him in the eyes. Don't blush. Don't be too obvious, you pie. You'll send him away! A voice from a corner within her resonated, screaming, but there was no stopping the woman on the outside. She swiftly moved her hair behind the back of her ear, seductively. Nathan watched, acted like he didn't notice, but was quite surprised with her subtle gestures.
There's something different about her. She never looked me in the eyes before. Never so outspoken either. He thought, but went on with his words.
"So, how do you feel? Great?" he asked with a smile. Something inside her mind sparked, like she was in the sky with the stars. His smile is always captivating, she thought. Yet, a resonance of non-attraction was hidden somewhere within her. Like another being who had no emotions nor recognized the person in front of her. But the projected emotion was of Joey's-self regardless, heedless to the other.
"But, how did you find me, though? I heard I was close to my company HQ. Strangely enough, I have no memories of why and what prompted me there. The last thing I remembered was heading home that night, but had to head back to the office because I forgot my purse. Fetching that, I just left!" Joey said, her face squinted like she was struggling to remember something.
"You don't remember?!" Nathan said, surprised.
"Remember what?"
"You called me that night. In fact, we were still on call when your accident happened. Thanks to that, I was able to know and find you!" Nathan explained.
"What? I, I don't recall any of this," she said in utter confusion.
"Joey, you called me that night. You said there was going to be a sabotage and it would cost lives. Someone is going to tamper with the structural integrity, targeting her. You were on your way there to warn her!" Nathan explained, trying to make her recall.
While all these conversations were going on, Stiles was hiding behind the doorway to his rooftop, which was joined together with only a body pillar demarcation. He stood behind the doorway, listening. HQ? What HQ could it be? Perhaps Everest?" He thought.
"Warn?!" She said in utter confusion. "Warn who?"
"Lyra Vale! You said someone was paid to sabotage the construction site and end her life. You said you heard someone saying over a call, 'Make no mistake. She must die, tonight!' You left the office immediately, heading towards Everest Group HQ, and called me as well. You really don't remember?! Meaning you don't remember who!" Nathan sighed, as he was willing to get more clues to reinvestigate the case, which was closed as a site malfunction. Yet he noticed something was different about Joey's personality. The way she talked, moved, posed, and her confidence was stark contrast to the Joey he knew. But with the gestures, memories, and her even recognizing him, he dismissed it.
At the mention of Lyra's name, Stiles's eyes widened as he turned his head over his shoulder, fists clenched tightly that his knuckles turned white under the moonlight.
"Yes, I do not recall at all. Who Lyra Vale is or why I've tried to stop anything. Nothing. It was like some memories and the whole memory of that night was wiped out. All I remembered was clocking out for the day and nothing else! And now, I'm having memories that felt like mine but can't be mine. It all just doesn't make sense." Joey said in befuddlement, but she felt a sudden urge to cry. A sudden burst of emotions within her, and her eyes were laced with tears. She felt a sense of deep betrayal that clutched at her heart. Then subconsciously, a word escaped her mouth.
"My love and trust was betrayed after all," she confessed, with tears.
Where Stiles stood, he felt something more in her words, and a pull towards it. It resonated to him as though Lyra was present, as those were how Lyra used her words. His mind flashed through the times she'd say similar things to him, "Don't you dare betray my love. You betrayed my love, you thwart! You're a love betrayal, Stiles!" Many series played through his mind: her smile while she joked with those words and when she truly felt hurt. All flashed through his mind, and his heart ached. His eyes were red with restrained tears. Unable to control himself, he made a turn!
Nathan also watched with confusion after she uttered that statement. Now, Joey's eyes were bloodshot from undescribed anger that surged through her, as tears welled down her beautiful face.