Tandem

Raechel Harchey

"This here is a preparation drug. Are you ready?" The seeper slid a needle under the skin on the top of Raechel's hand. She could feel the cold metal enter her vein.

"What does it do exactly?" Raechel turned her head in the opposite direction to the seeper and winced as she felt the sting.

"It's just an anaesthetic administered in a very diluted solution so that it takes a little more time to work. It relaxes your brain and decreases your levels of anxiety before you actually fall asleep. The reason why it takes longer than a conventional anaesthetic is so that it gives enough time for your brain to wind down properly before the procedure. You must remember that this transfer will not be successful if you're in any way resistant to it. If you want results, then you have to be as calm and controlled as possible. When we first started practising transfers, we had to rely on the patient relaxing themselves before we could put them to sleep but as you can imagine that was too much to ask of people. We didn't have too high a success rate as you can probably guess."

"Do you know roughly how long I'll be waiting for?" Raechel asked. She hoped it would work quickly. She wanted as little time alone with her thoughts as possible.

"An hour at most."

"That long?" An hour would feel like a century.

"I know that right now you can't really see beyond the procedure, but I promise you, this is the best thing that will ever happen to you. Your life begins again today. All the pain from the past just disappears. You'll be a whole other person, without the burden of the loss of your family."

"It sounds like you know the feeling."

"I've seen a lot of successful transfers and therefore, a lot of relieved, happy patients. They come in here completely broken by things that have happened to them and we take that all away. Believe me, people would be lost without this place. We save lives."

"That's why I came here. I didn't want to admit it at first but I need help. Without my family I feel as though I have nothing left and I don't want to feel that way anymore."

"As I say, that changes today. You'll still remember everything about them, and you'll still know that they are gone but you won't remember anything about the crash. That's what haunts you the most right?"

Raechel nodded. The smell of burning tires, the sound of shattering glass and the darkness as her head hit the side of the car. It was all still there. Maybe this would be the last time she would ever think about that memory. When she woke up, she'd have no recollection of it at all. The moment that had cast a shadow over her life ever since it had happened would be gone.

"Do you have any last-minute questions before I leave you to fall asleep?"

"Do you know how long the whole procedure will take?"

"It usually takes around eight hours, providing there are no complications which I am sure there won't be. We will have to locate the part of your brain where that specific memory is stored and replace it with the donated one."

Raechel nodded. "That seems like such a long time."

"It does right now but it'll fly by. The next time you see me it'll be all done and you'll be one step closer to a whole new life. Please try not to fight any tiredness, just let yourself go with it. There's really nothing to worry about, you're in the best hands."

She had a warm smile on her face as she wheeled the trolley out of the door. Raechel tried hard not to focus on the clinking of the metal instruments on the trolley, reminding her of what she was about to endure.

"You'll be ok," Raechel whispered to herself as she closed her eyes. The continuous beeping of the heart monitor acted as a lullaby in the silent room.

As she slipped deeper into unconsciousness she suddenly became aware of the objects in the room around her. The walls seemed to scream at her from every angle whilst the blue linoleum tiles whispered from underneath her bed. Her head was filled with all sorts of voices and sounds, none of which she could fully make out. Lights flickered above her, despite her eyes being firmly closed.

"She will help you get over this Raechel, so be happy with her." A distant voice mumbled. This voice stood out from the others. It was clearer and more defined. Whoever voice this was must have been stood very close to her.

The voice faded into silence and then suddenly there was nothing. She couldn't see anything but darkness, an impenetrable screen of black. And then as quick as the darkness had come, light replaced it. It was then that Raechel could make out the sound of running water.

A tap maybe?

No, there was too much water.

A brook? A stream?

Yes.

There was something else too. It sounded like tree branches creaking as a breeze caressed their leaves. Raechel couldn't feel the breeze, but she knew the sound it made as it moved through the tree trunks. It took her back to the many times she'd explored the forest surrounding her house with her brother, a place she knew like the back of her hand. They had spent hours climbing trees and looking for little creatures in the water, only returning home when it was time for dinner.

Was that where she was?

She couldn't see anything but bright, white light.

And then a sound she could not have prepared herself for; a scream. It was a scream so deafening, it exhausted Raechel simply hearing it. It was the unmistakable scream of someone who was truly petrified. The noise echoed in her ears and reverberated around her skull. And then came the sickening, revolting, stomach-churning sound of bone fracturing. A torrent of agony surged through her body. Terror and horror fizzed like static through her, starting in her head and travelling all the way to her feet.

After what felt like an eternity, the screaming subsided and the pain disappeared, leaving her body feeling numb and cold. The blinding light suddenly started to give way to a face. It took a moment for it to come into focus but when it did, Raechel could see that it was a male face staring down at her.

Was this real or was this a dream? She didn't know. One thing she did know was that this face was looking at her with pure hatred. His jaw was clenched tightly and a vein pulsated on his forehead. A bead of sweat ran down his face and fell onto her cheek as she lay helplessly below him. She could do nothing but stare blankly back as a hand clenching a rock came down hard upon her face.

And then there was darkness again.