Taming Jane

Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty – Two

Jane tossed and turned as she slept that night. The smiling woman, the one from the portrait would not leave her dreams ... or perhaps they were nightmares. She was there in the field just talking. She was talking but Jane couldn’t understand her. She would talk and suddenly say ‘You remember, Jane’ or ‘You know this, Jane’. Jane couldn’t understand how she was seeing that woman. She was clearly a figment of Jane’s imagination though Jane could not fathom why she was imagining the dead wife of the man who was allowing her to stay.

It suddenly occurred to her that perhaps she was imagining her as she had a guilty conscience. Had she ruined herself and Daniel’s dead wife was now haunting her? But if that was the case then wouldn’t the woman be torturing her instead of smiling and prompting her to remember things?

She didn’t feel as if the woman was haunting her, it felt as though they knew each other before when she had her memories. She knew her. How could she know her? It didn’t make sense.

Her eyes flew open as she awoke with a fright. She could feel her heart beating out of her chest and her body was slick with sweat. “Calm down, Jane,” she told herself. She threw back the covers of her bed and walked over to the basin. She poured water from the pitcher and splashed her face to cool herself down. “It is all in your head, you are not seeing ghosts.”

Outside she could hear a ferocious storm. Rain was hitting her window loudly and she was sure that there would be damage in the morning. Growing up on a farm storms did a lot of damage to trees and surrounding structures.

“How could you forget, Jane?” said a voice from the corner of the room.

Jane yelped with fright as she spun around. There, sitting in the corner was the ghost from her dreams. She was wearing the exact same white dress and had the exact same smile on her face.

“You’re not really there, I’m still dreaming,” Jane said in a frightened tone. She pinched her forearm trying to get herself to wake up.

“You’re not asleep, Jane, and I’m not a ghost,” she smiled. “We’ve met before, as I’m sure you know.”

Jane knew she was right. She felt as though they’d met before, like they’d talked before, but how? “I don’t remember you,” she said warily.

She smiled at her kindly. “I know, but like I told you before, I am a part of you, I am a memory, and I only tell you what you know,” she said simply.

Jane made her way back to the bed and sat down for fear of passing out. “I don’t understand,” she said slowly. “How are you here?”

“You’re remembering me,” she replied.

“Remembering?” Jane repeated. “Please, am I going crazy?”

She smiled wider. “You know you’re not crazy, Jane. You’re just remembering.”