“So here we are, the Field of My Memories,” Hailey said, unhappy to be back.

Kait pointed out the obvious, “Hmm, I just see cracked earth.”

“Well, if you’re transported with me, you’ll see,” Hailey explained.

“Your memories? Are you sure you want me to see that stuff?”

“I don’t mind...probably.” Hailey actually did mind, but both stubbornness to admit that and a feeling that it’d be best to share them with Kait made her not say it.

Hailey stepped forward.

Kait and Hailey stood in a gas station. In front of them, in an aisle filled with candy, was a younger Hailey, gazing at the sweets enviously.

“So, for some reason,” The real Hailey explained, “There’s a bunch of ’sprits’ acting out my memories.”

“Strange gig, for them. No doubt I was the one to pay them.” Kait said. “Still attacked me, though...” she said under her breath.

The fake Hailey’s eyes rested on a Wishie-Washie bar, salivating over it.

“Can I just snag...” The real Hailey inched closer to the bar before her hand was nonchalantly slapped away by her younger self. “Urk!”

Kait chuckled.

Clera happened to walk by, so Hailey snagged a bar and presented it to her. “Can you buy me this?” She asked.

Clera opened her mouth for a moment, then closed it and shook her head, “No, Hailey. Maybe if you ate more vegetables yesterday, but you threw it all away. Now put that back.

“But-But....”

Clera walked away.

The younger Hailey growled as she stared at the Wishie-Washie longingly. Her eyes opened a little like she’d gotten an idea. After looking every Wishie way, she stashed it in her pocket and ran after her mother.

As the scene crumbled away, the spirit ran back and took the whole box of bars before it collapsed.

The cracks in the ground raised a few feet above where Hailey had stepped.

Hailey shrugged, “I still feel a tad guilty about...that...” Hailey looked down, relating that feeling to something meaningful.

“You stole it? The whole box?”

“No, not the whole box, you dumdum!”

“Quell, Quell, Quell.” A voice said behind Kait.

Kait placed her hand on her broom and swiveled to meet the newcomer apprehensively.

“Ja nom Kaetha of witchcreaf.” a spirit held the whole box of Wishie-Washies in its arm.

Kait blinked a few times in frozen surprise, then relaxed. “Well, if it ain’t Kaethy! Didn’t expect to see you today.”

The younger version of Hailey bowed respectfully, “Neither did I.”

Hailey, who was perplexed, let her reservations be known, “I didn’t expect you two to know each other...something made me think you’d fight. Actually...gimmie one of those!” Hailey snatched a Wishie-Washie from the box.

The spirit lost its composure and ran to Hailey, trying to snatch it back. After Hailey avoided its first swipe and raised the Wishie-Washie above her head, the younger version of herself began jumping up in an attempt to take it back.

Kait laughed, “Heh. You could call it my old caretaker.”

The spirit finally gave up and tried to regain its stern composure. “You give yourself too little credit, Kait. You’re my greatest pupil,” it said, pretending nothing happened.

“Why are you nice to Kait and not me?!”

“Because.”

“Because?!”

“Yes, because. Now mind your own business!”

“Hey, Kaethy, don’t be so rude to her!”

“Silence, mortal! You have no right commanding me!” the spirit yelled at Kait.

“A legit 180!?” Hailey exclaimed.

Kait scruffled the spirit’s hair, despite its annoyance, “You never change.”

“Falsehood!.”

“Do either of you want to explain at least the basics of your relationship?”

Kait shrugged, “She helped me out when I was in the Consciousness.”

“So it is a she?!”

“No, that was just a slip-up. They normally look closer to...”

“A typical pixie,” Kaetha said.

“That.” Kait agreed.

“Well, you all are already annoying me, so I’m going to press on.” Hailey took a step forward.

“But I wanted to catch up wi-”

The world crumbled away.

“It looks like they are beginning to make progress.” Alchemia(formerly known as mk2) said.

“Then I think it’s best I get busy.” Jaine opened his duffel bag and took out white chalk. “Time to write on the walls.”

“I think that’s rather pathetic and childish.”

Jaine didn’t stop, of course, and began scribbling a circle onto the bedmost wall. “I think it’s pretty pathetic you would stoop to such insults and rather childish.”

“A bit of a stretch, I think.”

“As long as I tried to retort.” He said, slightly preoccupied.

“I don’t believe I understand,” Alchemia said curiously.

“It’s always better to try than give up, thinking you’re inadequate. That’s one of my mottos.”

“Hmm, I think.”

“Did an emote need to be proceeded by an ‘I think’ as well?!” He began making hexagons within the circle.

“Perhaps...”

“Let’s see if I regret helping you...”

“What are you doing? Aside from graffiti.”

The rune Jaine had made was simply a circle with six hexagons inside. He pulled a pink stick of chalk from his bag and inscribed an intricate rune into one of them. He explained as he went along, inscribing different colored runes into each hexagon. “When people die, their soul is recycled in The Consciousness. It cleans their slate,” he flicked a finger against his chalk, drawing attention to the symbolism, “essentially killing them for real. Then, it uses their soul for either reincarnation or...anything else. In your case, you died quite recently, and so you were sent to the Consciousness. Then, it cleaned your slate. However, instead of being reincarnated, you were reimagined as a part of Hailey’s personality. That’s why things like you are referred to as reimagined souls.” He realized he’d written the wrong rune in the wrong color and quickly fixed the issue. “Whoops. Anyway, that’s how it works.”

“So...am I a real person?”

“Difficult to say. You’re an incredibly rare anomaly, though.”

Alchemia stared at her hands with wonder, “I am?”

“I bet you’d be a treasured test subject for the educational scene.”

“I don’t think you send friends to become test subjects...” Alchemia warned Jaine out of self-preservation.

“Hey, nobody said I couldn’t choose not to be your friend.”

“A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-”

Jain placed his hands on her shoulders, “WOAH, don’t break on me! That was a joke. I’m not sending you to brazil without your permission!”

“Oh.”

“So you don’t need to punctuate emotes with ‘I think’! Erm...anyway, I don’t know enough to say whether you’re a real person capable of change, but if my hypothesis is right...” He shrugged. “you’ve already managed to.” His chalk conveniently chipped as he finished the last rune, falling onto the bed in a mess he needed to clean later.

The door opened, revealing a cross Taylor.

“Urgg, it’s you.”

“Nice to see you too,” Taylor replied sarcastically.

“Noone likes me today, do they?” Jaine sighed out.

“I-I-I-I-I do,” Alchemia said

“Thanks.”

Taylor raised an eyebrow, “I’m a little befuddled.”

“Befuddled?”

“Why are you here?”

“Because I was asked to be.”

“By Kait?”

“You mean the witch? No.”

“My mom?”

“Also no.”

“Hailey’s friends?”

“Triple no.”

“So that only leaves...”

“Me-” Alchemia almost said before being interrupted by Taylor.

“Some random person worried about Hailey!?”

There was an awkward pause.

Jaine shook his head, “No, I’m not here for Hailey. I’ve been asked to save m’girl Alchemia over here.” He pointed to her.

“Who?”

“Me, I’m fairly sure,” Alchemia said.

Taylor looked between the two on the couch, “So...you’re now ‘Alchemia’, I guess?”

“She is,” Jaine stated, “I need to continue my ritual and all, so please get out.”

“I don’t like how you called her ‘m’girl’ though!”

“That was an expression of friendship, so shoo!”

“Fine, whatever.” Taylor walked away begrudgingly.

“With that guy out of the way...”

“Hey, please don’t talk to him that way.”

“A-uhh, fine, since we are friends, I’ll be nicer. Is that better?”

“I believe.”

Jaine finished the runes. “Now, place one hand on those runes, and as for your other hand...” he took a latex glove from the bag, “Put this on.”

“I think I’m allergic.”

He raised his eyebrows and pulled another, non-latex, glove from the bag. “What about this?”

Alchemia took and wore the glove.

He then produced a tiny, wide jar with a small layer of strange liquid at the bottom. “You need to put that hand in some mercury.”

“Do you want to poison Hailey?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping this thing wrapped up numerous times over so no vapors are released.

“Why mercury...”

“It stores souls.” Jaine swapped his sunglasses with his black safety goggle glasses.

(WARNING: Don’t try this at home, kids!)

There was something strange about watching her memories with Kait. She didn’t say much unless spoken to, simply providing what needed to be said. When Hailey asked why Kait was unusually quiet, she responded with:

“Everything in this realm is centered on your personal growth. I’m only here because fellowship is important to that growth.”

So Hailey eventually lost her reservations about sharing them with Kait. When she stepped up for the tenth time...

Hailey and Kait stood behind her school. It was a fairly small place, one of three in their somewhat unpopulated town. A Hailey, about two years younger than the real one, stood there with her hands in her pockets. The sun had almost set behind the mountainous skyline apparent from the view of the school.

Fake Hailey looked at her phone, checking the time impatiently, then slid it back into her pocket.

Linne, adorned in a black outfit and her usual set of jewelry, jogged to Fake Hailey from one side. She nervously spoke to her, “Don’t do something rash please...”

Fake Hailey rolled her eyes dismissively. “Sure.”

Hailey placed a hand on her forehead, “This seems familiar, but...”

Kait remained silent as another figure walked from the other side of the building and faced the two.

“So you’re here, Abbie.” Fake Hailey said ominously.

Abbie always held herself with superiority, challenging other people to boost her ego. Hailey remembered now that was why they’d gotten along and why she didn’t like her at first.

Abbie shrugged, and spoke with a competitive edge, “I guess I am.”

“You really shouldn’t call my friends black flowers.”

Abbie shrugged, “She totally is though.”

Hailey grimaced, knowing she’d be laughed at when Kait realized what the memory was about.

Linne looked between the two in fear as they stared daggers at each other. She opened her mouth but didn’t speak.

“So? What do you have to say for yourself?!”

Abbie remained quiet in thought.

“Nothing?!”

Linne finally spoke, “Hailey...why don’t we just-”

“I’m not letting her get away with slandering you like that! The last time I saw you flirt with a boy was in a million years, so I’m more than sure she called just called you that to get in with some friends of hers!”

Abbie chuckled but then looked down and to the side. She didn’t look... regretful, but she was at least thoughtfull. She suddenly shook her head, and let it out, “Ok fine, I’m sorry.”

Fake Hailey grew furious and instantly threw a punch at Abbie.

It connected into her chest, throwing the surprised girl to the ground. “Oh, so you think you can just slander my friend, say ‘I’m sorry’, then walk out without a bruise!?

Abbie tried to raise her head, “No! I shouldn’tve have even tried to get into their group-”

Fake Hailey pinned Abbie to the ground with a stomp, and towered over her, “You’ve got some bad excuses, lady!”

“Really, I’m sorry and I regret it all!” Abbie yelled, raising up her hands defensively.

Linne ran to Abbie and threw Fake Hailey aside, then helped Abbie get to her feet. “H-Hailey! Don’t hurt my friend like that!” she reprimanded Hailey with unusual sternness.

“Uhh, s-sure?” Fake Hailey said in confusion, passively looking between the two.

Linne reprimanded her, “Jeez, Hailey! Your bro gets in one small fight, and you think its perfectly fine to do this!”

“W-wait, just a moment ago you said she called you a black flower, and now you’re apparently friends?!”

“Well...you aren’t wrong, but...” Linne averted her eyes in embarrassment.

Abbie continued for Linne, speaking passively, “We’ve been friends for two years now.”

Fake Hailey looked between the two girls, “Wait, so you’re saying-”

“You dragged me into this mess without asking a thing!”

“Oh...” fake Hailey said, realizing she’d humiliated herself.

Kait snickered behind Hailey as the world began to waver.

“Forgot about that one...” Hailey said.

“You forgot you first met your best friend when you punched her? CH! Soldier love, ey!?”

Hailey shook her head in disapproval of Kait, “Cut it out!”

“Heh, and you said Linne jumps to conclusions.” Kait began laughing.

“I get the feeling you’ll never let this one down.”

The two reappeared in front of a black mist.

“Whatever. This leads to that part of me’s room place realm thing.” Hailey said.

“Whenever you’re ready, then,” Kait replied.

“Yeah, but just before we do...when we walked here earlier, I just realized I could’ve taken a car.”

“Never would have mattered, time just works strangely in the Consciousness. Even if we blasted off quicker than light, we’d take the same amount of time.”

“I guess there aren’t any shortcuts through my mind.”

“There never will be.”

Hailey stepped through.