Timeless Snow ✓

Ch. 66 Trouble

Waking up the next morning was going to be an entirely new adventure. Kasey's eyes opened leisurely, her head felt heavy from the dream state she woke from. With a few blinks, her eyes focused as she surveyed her surroundings. Kasey was greeted with bland white walls enclosing her. The bed she sat upon matched everything else around her, blank of color and void of life. It was a moderate size room with two doors she could see. With a heavy breath, she pushed herself up on the lumpy unfamiliar bed. As she rose, she realized that it wasn't as unfamiliar as she assumed. She had been here once before, she had woken up like this for a second time. 

"Chocia's Psychiatric Hospital." Kasey remembered the words of the strange man named she had met the last time she found herself in that room. Trying to recall the memory, however, wasn't as easy. The details were fuzzy and not all there, she couldn't recall his name. He had told her she was 'sick', but he had also said she was alive. That couldn't be true. Kasey was suspicious she'd know if she was alive. She'd know if she was reincarnated, she'd remember it... right? 

This time, there was no brown-haired boy to pop in the room with mysterious answers. The quiet was deafening. Swinging her feet off the side of the bed she planted her bare skin on the tile floor. The cold stung against her skin, a feeling she hadn't had in ages. There weren't many reasons to enjoy the trivial sensations of life as a reaper, not after Samuel was gone. 

Three knocks at one of the white doors caused Kasey to jump, a spark running up her spine. There was a thick silence before she called out. "Yes?" In response to the mysterious request to enter. Kasey's eyes widened for a moment as she realized her voice had come out different. They were her words, but not her voice. Maybe she was coming down with something. On queue, the door opened and a blonde-haired woman in pink scrubs popped her head into the room. 

"It's time for your appointment with Dr. Brown." She announced. Her smile was kind and content. Her blue eyes sparkled in the fluorescent hospital lights. A bubbling pink blob that radiated with happiness that seemed uncharacteristic of her surroundings. Who was she? Who was Dr. Brown? Kasey stared at her in silence, her body unmoving. 

"Oh! Bless your heart, you just woke up didn't you?" Her lips pouted as she seemed sorrowful for bothering you. "I'll give you a few minutes to get ready, kay sweety?" Her smile returned as she looked at you as if all of this routine. She popped her head back out of the room and shut the room. 

Unaware of anything that was going on around her, Kasey understood that she needed to go with that woman in a few minutes or else there would likely be an issue. Standing up, Kasey walked toward the other free door in the room, questioning where it lead. It was either her exit or a bathroom, bathroom it was. Stepping inside, Kasey shut the door behind herself. She searched briefly for a lock on the knob only to find none, the closed-door would have to be enough privacy. 

Reaching up, Kasey pressed the pads of her fingers into her cheeks as she inched toward the bathroom sink. A mirror was bolted into the wall and made of polished metal over glass, something that couldn't be broken or taken. A deep inhale entered her lungs as she stepped before the reflective surface. Her fingers moved up, outlining her undereye before pushing and pulling at her skin softly with her fingers. It was her actions, her words. She was in control. However, the person in the mirror was strange in appearance. Kasey didn't recognize herself. Her fingers began to tremble as she reached for the faucet and turned on the warm water. Cupping her hands she filled her palms before splashing the water against her face. She slapped at her cheeks.

Abandoning the bathroom, Kasey headed for the other door hoping that it would lead to more answers. She needed an explanation. She stepped out into the endless white hall, she could hear the faint chatter of nurses at their nearby desks just out of view. Soon enough Kasey noticed the bright pink nurse waiting just beside the door for her. "Ready?" She beamed before Kasey could rebuttal the woman began to lead the way somewhere. Was this a dream? Nothing seemed familiar, she was in a hospital... but why? She felt fine, how was she sick?

Kasey followed the blonde nurse slowly, after a moment or two, they landed in front of a door. The nurse smiled, cocking her head to the side as she gestured for Kasey to enter. Reaching up, Kasey knocked a couple of times and lowered her hand by her side. The nurse nodded goodbye before wandering off to do her many other tasks for the day. Kasey watched her leave before being drawn to the welcoming voice coming from behind the door. 

"Come in." A woman called out. Hesitantly Kasey reached out and twisted the knob as she forced her way inside. She was greeted with an office space ordained with a comfortable couch and a single chair that sat across a wooden coffee table. "You didn't bring your quilt today?" The woman asked as she raised from her place behind her desk and offered a kind smile. 

"Excuse me?" Kasey said, not because she didn't hear what she had said, but because she didn't understand it. "Nevermind." The woman said as she rounded her desk and offered an open palm up toward the couch nearest the door. Kasey looked over at the offer before looking back at the woman. "Do I know you?" Kasey couldn't help but ask, unable to find any other way around the subject but straightforward. 

The woman's brows rose slightly before she offered up her own cryptic response. "Who am I to tell you what you know?" Shrugging her demeanor retained a relaxed state as she moved closer. "Do you know who I am?" The woman redirected the question back. 

Kasey stared at her blankly before slowly shaking her head from side to side. She may look different, she may sound different, but she didn't retain any memories that resided in the body she was possessing. The woman nodded softly in understanding as she raised her hand up to her chest, placing it over her heart as she introduced herself. "I'm Dr. Brown." Lowering her hand she gestured toward her. "And you are?" 

"...Kasey." She whispered hesitantly. 

"Ah." Dr. Brown said softly with an affirming not. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you." Stepping forward, Dr. Brown was careful to respect Kasey's personal space as she moved closer. "I've heard about you." Offering a comforting smile as she gestured toward the couch again, this time standing only a few feet away. Though she was close, Kasey didn't feel the sense of threat coming from her body language. Something about the way she carried herself made her want to put her guard down, not that she did. 

"You know who I am?" Kasey took a step back before catching sight of the doctor's gesture toward the couch. Pinching her lips together she accepted the invitation and lowered herself into the plush cousion. Looking down at her lap as she tightened her knees, she was reminded of the fact that her body wasn't hers... Her fingers were different, her hands were a different size. There were freckles on her skin she had never seen before. She could move her fingers, but it wasn't her skin. 

"Yes. Y/N has told me about you." She affirmed as she moved to the single chair just across the coffee table. Kasey's eyes raised and narrowed in on the woman. "Who?" Sneering her nose slightly, she displayed her confusion. "That's beside the point." Dr. Brown said abruptly as her hand slapped against her lap. "What brings you to me today, Kasey?" 

"A perky blonde...?" Kasey blurted out without thinking as her hand raised, thumb pointing toward the door. An overly literal response but at least it was honest. Lowering her hand to her lap Kasey began to ring her fingers together. "I don't know why I'm here." Kasey admitted as she began to look around the room, trying to recognize anything but every single thing was foreign to her. Silence blanketed the room before Kasey added. "I don't know who's body I'm in..." 

"Oh." Dr. Brown said softly. Raising a hand she tucked a curled strange of hair behind her ear to retain the sleek bun she put her hair in that day. Her expression straightened as did her posture. Her demeanor shifted to something more serious as her blue eyes looked over at her. "Well, maybe I can help. Let's go back..." Dr. Brown stared. She kept her voice calm and collected. She sounded personable enough for you to trust her despite her words sounding a little too clinical. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Kasey's body language quickly curled, retreating into herself as searched for her last memories. Before she knew it she uttered, "He's mad..." A shiver traveled up Kasey's spine as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I tricked him..." She hissed softly. "He's pissed." 

"You are still causing trouble for me." A dark, deep voice hissed from somewhere, an unfamiliar voice that instantly made your blood run cold. You felt frozen by the ice that filled your veins. "I've had enough."