Last Time She Died

by Niki Kamerzell

  Alexia dragged herself out of bed and unsuccessfully tried to think about anything but the dream man. She got out and dressed, opting for the blue work shirt because the mossy green one reminded her of the woman. Looking at the freckles spread across her shoulders, she thought about the tan, freckle-free arms she’d had in the dream.

  She absently played with her wavy auburn hair. The warrior woman’s was so dark, she thought. Alexia’s was more brown than red, especially when wet, but it wasn’t nearly as dark as the woman’s had been.

  Descending the stairs in a haze, Alexia stood in her kitchen for a moment before pouring a bowl of cereal and sitting at her computer. She wanted to look up information on the tribe but had no idea where to start. She’d been speaking an ancient Iranian language, she was sure. But she didn’t know how. She just knew.

  Her search for cultures that spoke the language narrowed nothing down. She tried to find the names. The woman’s body she was in was Arga and the man was Lik. There was nothing useful.

  She couldn’t shake the feeling that the two were real, not a dream. There was something about the man. She was sure she knew him. While thinking, she’d mindlessly tapped her keyboard and she’d typed something. Sakae. She wasn’t even sure it was a word, but something inside her convinced her to hit enter.

  Skimming the results, she found that ‘Sakae’ was what people of Scythian tribes called themselves. She’d been part of the tribe. In her dream, she was Scyth and in love. And the two of them were warriors.

  Alexia was sure no one had said Sakae in the dream. She’d never heard of the tribe. She’d never been a history buff. Still, she’d typed it. Reading it left no doubt.

  She closed her browser, staring at her blank screen for a moment before heading to work.

  With the windows down during her short drive, she could hear the air rush around her and smell the damp earth. The dream slipped from her mind as the daily tasks of living replaced it.

  Alexia had been working at the small diner, Tom’s, since she’d been in high school. Always comforting and familiar, the place hadn’t changed much since it was built in the fifties.

  She pulled into a spot seconds before Stacy parked next to her.

  “Hey, Harper!” Stacy shook out her hair as she pulled off her designer sunglasses. She called most people by their last name, Alexia was no exception.

  Stacy’s golden eyeshadow sparkled against her flawless dark skin as she slammed the car door. It matched the golden leaves of the changing aspen trees all around her. She pulled her hair away from her face so it wouldn’t stick to her lip gloss.

  Alexia grabbed her apron from her backseat and stood by her trunk while Stacy used her reflection in the car window to check her perfectly styled cornrows.

  As Stacy locked her doors and moved to join Alexia, another car parked in line with their cars. Out stepped a tall man. His blue eyes sparkled in the light and his dark brown hair curled around his face.

  She thought she saw a slight blush under his tan, heart-shaped face. He pushed his curly dark brown hair away from his eyes. Alexia realized she was staring, open-mouthed at him.

  She felt her face redden and looked away.

  She tried to say ‘hi’, and felt her mouth move, but no sound came out.

  She thought she heard him whisper ‘you’re here’ as he smiled and moved toward her.

  “Harper?” Stacy called. Her voice sounded like it was reaching Alexia’s ears through a tunnel.

  The man wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead and Alexia froze. The sky brightened and Alexia closed her eyes to shield them.

  Alexia opened her eyes. The man still held her, though his clothing had changed into a tunic like garment that ended just below his knees. They were no longer in the parking lot.

  Alexia backed out of his arms and something pulsed in her head. Another mind, just like the dream the night before. Again, that mind took over the body they shared.

  “You’re here.” Relief washed through his voice. “After your father, I thought I’d never see you again.”

  Alexia’s body embraced the man in a tight hug and she kissed his neck. “I’ll leave at first light with you, Leif. I’ll always love my family but I belong with you.”

  She could feel the words coming from her mouth but she had no control over them.

  “Harper? You coming or what?”

  The world flashed, and Alexia stood in Tom’s parking lot again.

  While trying to center herself and find an answer for her question, she turned to Stacy. As if just noticing Alexia wasn’t at the door with her, Stacy held the door with her foot. She looked from Alexia to the tall man by the car.

  “Oh, hi,” she said in her sugary sweet ‘talking to a customer’ voice. “The entrance is around front.” Stacy flashed her perfect teeth and signaled with her eyes for Alexia to join her before she had to make any more small talk.

  Alexia was still reeling from the disorienting scene the parking lot had shifted to, but no one else seemed flustered. Without a word she shuffled toward Stacy who eyed her curiously.

  “Actually,” the tall man said looking a little confused, “I work here. It’s my first shift.”

  Alexia wondered if she’d imagined the confused look as he smiled at her.

  “Really?” Stacy lifted an eyebrow.

  “I’m the new cook, Leland.” He held out his hand as he approached them. Alexia stuck her hand out without thinking.

  “Did you hug me?” Alexia asked with Leland’s hand still in hers.

  “What?” Stacy and he said in unison.

  Alexia looked back and forth from Leland to Stacy.

  After a moment, Stacy shook her head and grabbed Alexia’s wrist. “We have to go Harper. We’re going to be late.”

  She felt herself nodding as Stacy dragged her onto the almost empty dining room floor.

  Hours into the slow evening, Alexia watched as the last group of people left a table in her section. Her tables were all empty. Methodically rolling clean silverware into napkins, she tossed the sets into an overflowing bin until she ran out of forks.

  “Well, silverware is done,” she said, turning towards Stacy, who was wiping out the large, stainless-steel coffee urns.

  Stacy tossed the rag she held into the sink a few feet away.

  “Coffee pots too.” Letting out a long sigh, Stacy rolled her head back and groaned at the ceiling.

  Alexia leaned over the counter picking up a tightly wrapped silverware set and rolling it under her palm. The fork tines clicked as they grazed the counter. She watched the door waiting for people. Or her shift to end. Or anything.

  “Earth to Harper!” Stacy waved her hand in front of Alexia’s face.

  Alexia straightened. “What?” Her throat was dry.

  “You’ve been standing there with that silverware forever. What’s up?”

  Alexia shook herself and eyed the rolled napkin in her hand.

  Stacy’s bravado dropped from her face. “For real, you okay?”

  “I—”

  Stacy grabbed the silverware from her palm. “You’re doing it again. What’s up?”

  “Doing what?”

  “Seriously?” Stacy screwed up her face. It dropped when she saw no humor. “I went to the bathroom while you were playing with this.” She tossed the silverware in the bin with the rest. “I even took the long way back to talk to Jeremy.”

  Alexia forced a smile. She could feel the lie. “Just to talk.”

  Stacy shrugged and lifted an eyebrow. “Whatever. There’s no one here. Who’s going to stop me?”

  Alexia just let out a quick snort of a laugh.

  “And you, Miss Zombie or some shit, were still sitting here rolling that thing on the counter and staring at the wall. And I started talking to you and you ignored me.”

  “I didn’t hear you.”

  Stacy took a step back. “I know you’re not trying to tell me you can drown out my voice for a solid ten minutes. I even unt
ied your apron. You didn’t flinch.”

  Looking down, Alexia confirmed her apron was no longer around her waist. Stacy pointed with a perfectly manicured finger to the black cloth draped over a stool. Retying the strings around her hips, Alexia tried to remember what had consumed her thoughts.

  “What were you thinking about?” Stacy echoed her thoughts.

  Alexia blinked. “I don’t remember,” she said after a beat.

  “You’ve been zoning out a lot. You okay?”

  Alexia nodded and shrugged at the same time. Even she didn’t know what the gesture meant.

  Stacy moved closer. “I know the doctors cleared you. I’m glad you’re okay, really, but I am worried. Months after my mom’s stroke, she started to do the same thing.”

  Alexia felt herself bristle. “Stacy, I didn’t have a stroke. And just because I spaced out and don’t remember what I was thinking about, doesn’t mean anything.”

  Flipping her dark ponytail, Stacy smiled with her perfect teeth. “I know. And I’m not saying it’s the same. Maybe I’m reading into something that isn’t there.”

  The doorbell above the front entrance rang and both girls straightened, deciding who would greet the party of two. It was too slow for a host.

  “Dammit,” Stacy grumbled just loud enough that only Alexia could hear it. “My turn.”

  Alexia was good at her job, but when the diner was slow, she dreaded new tables. It was a paradox she shared with Stacy.

  She suppressed a groan when it was her turn to seat her next table.

  After greeting her table, Alexia moved to the salad bar. Stacy was right behind her.

  “Well, it looks like the rush is here.”

  The doorbell rang two more times.

  Alexia nodded. In the time it took her to make two salads, three groups lined up at the door. Here we go, she told herself. Dropping the salads, she sat all three one after the other. She bounced to her new tables before approaching the computer in the corner to enter her orders. She tapped in her server number.

  NO EMPLOYEE RECOGNIZED, the computer flashed.

  She tried again. Same response.

  She swore under her breath.

  “Harper, you almost done or what? I need to ring this shit in.”

  Alexia punched in her number again.

  NO EMPLOYEE RECOGNIZED

  “For shit’s sake!” Stacy reached over and punched in four digits.

  The screen unlocked. Alexia Harper’s name flashed in the bottom right corner.

  “How do you know my number?”

  “I know everything. Hurry the hell up.”

  Alexia laughed as she punched in the orders one after the other.

  She entered the kitchen for a bowl of soup.

  “Lex! Why are you triple ringing us?” Jeremy clanked his tongs together to emphasize his point. The kitchen hated when servers rang up more than one table at once. Alexia listened to the printer print and cut three more times. Three more tickets all at once. “Stacy!” Jeremy called out.

  “We got triple sat. Blame the customers.” Alexia lifted her tray and wandered back onto the floor.

  “I do!” Jeremy called from behind her.

  The rush was short-lived and within an hour, all the customers were leaving. Stacy was cut from the floor and sent home. Alexia had three hours left on her own.

  “Alexia?” A voice called from the kitchen.

  Leland stood at the swinging doors that separated the patrons from the cooks.

  “How’s your first day so far?” Alexia asked.

  Leland glanced up at the clock and then back to her. “It was good. A bit different than I expected when I got here. Jeremy wants to make sure the doors are locked, and we’re good to close.”

  Alexia looked at the clock. Her three hours had flown by and the eleven o’clock closing time had passed twelve minutes before Leland had come out.

  “Oh, yeah. Doing it now.” She grabbed the door keys from the host stand and locked the front doors.

  “Cool.” He smiled, flashing perfect teeth.

  “Better get to it,” Alexia said after a moment. She turned away, hoping he didn’t notice the flutter in her voice.

  “Right.” He sounded confused and for a moment, she wondered if she’d zoned out again and lost track of a conversation like she had with Stacy.

  She looked back over her shoulder, but he was already heading through the swinging doors to the kitchen, scratching the back of his head as he went.

  Climbing onto a shiny red booth, she pulled the chain on the open sign, turning it off.

  Shit, she thought, I haven’t done any of my sidework.

  She couldn’t leave until she’d wiped down every table, filled the salt and pepper shakers, emptied the coffee urns, filled the sugar containers, and mopped the floor. She grabbed the large containers of salt, pepper, and sugar and headed to her section, angry with herself for not having it done already. Everything was full. She’d never been through a shift where no one used any condiments from the tables.

  She hunted for a rag to wipe down her section. The bucket of sanitizer under the computer was missing. She found it emptied in the sink with the rags in a pile in the back. She examined a couple of her tables. They had the telltale streaks of recently being wiped down. The coffee pots were empty and scrubbed out. The mugs and cups were stacked neatly in their places.

  Confused, Alexia tried to remember doing any of the work. She poked the pile of still damp rags. Maybe it was like driving the same way home every day where it’s so familiar that the whole thing is a blur.

  All she had left was mopping. Her least favorite part of closing. The mop sat just inside the swinging doors, full of filthy water.

  “Are you guys done with the mop?” she yelled towards line.

  Jeremy popped his head up.

  “Almost there. Will you do me a favor and get us new water?”

  “Who used it?” she asked.

  Jeremy stopped wiping the counter. “You.”

  “You dragged it back here and said you were done and just had to finish the coffee pots,” Leland added. “Right before I asked about the doors.”

  Alexia nodded. “Right. I’ll get you new water.”

  Jeremy went back to scrubbing the counters. She filled up the mop bucket and double checked her section before clocking out. She called goodbye to the guys and escaped to her car. The lot was empty except for her hatchback. Leland and Jeremy were still inside the diner. She looked around and confirmed there were no other cars.

  She was sure Leland had driven himself to work and considered going back in to see if either needed a ride home, but the back door had locked behind her and no one answered her knock.

  She shrugged and left.

  At home, she curled up in her blankets. She knew she’d have the same dream, but the warm comforter was soft and smelled like fabric softener. She lied to herself and let the bed lull her into a state of denial. Maybe the dream would stay away.

  The lie coaxed her to sleep. Her nightmare waited there.

  Chapter Four

  Cali stretched from her curled-up position, causing Dustin to grumble in his sleep and roll over.

  She crawled out of bed, careful not to wake him. Tesla followed her to the bathroom and tilted his head as she brushed her teeth. His toenails clicked as he followed her to the kitchen.

  Yawning, she opened the curtains to let in the morning light. The studio had no appointments and she and Dustin had planned an afternoon hike.

  She dumped food in Tesla’s bowl, and he wiggled up at her a moment before diving into his kibble. Brewing coffee coaxed Dustin into joining her.

  “How’s your head?” He kissed her forehead, careful not to touch the back of her skull.

  Cali ran her fingers over the scabbed-over wound. “It’s fine. Doesn’t hurt unless I press it.”

  “Good to hike?”

  Hiking was a habit she’d picked up from Lexi. The first time she’d dragged Cali out, she
expected to hate it, but Lexi had been right. The air, the views, the exercise, the escape from people and cell service; it had quickly become Cali’s favorite way to pass time.

  “Of course.”

  Packing up lunch, raincoats, and a small first aid kit Cali and Dustin climbed into his car. Tesla stayed at home with a new rawhide. He didn’t share Cali’s love of hiking.

  “Be good,” she called to her terrier as he popped his head up in the window to watch them leave.

  They reached the trailhead and the usually popular trail was mostly empty. The hike was steep and Cali could feel her legs burning as she climbed towards the clouds. It was still too early for flowers at this elevation. They usually bloomed mid-July, so they were a couple weeks early.

  Even with Dustin right in front of her, Cali thought about her best friend.

  She remembered their last hike. They’d picnicked by a lake and talked about boys.

  It was the same trail she currently walked on. As the lake peeked into view, Cali realized she was crying. She wiped away the tears before Dustin noticed.

  Dustin dropped his pack and spread out a red blanket.

  “It’s so warm up here today.”

  He was right. There wasn’t a hint of chill in the breeze.

  “Hmm,” she responded with a smile.

  For over an hour they sat by the water listening to the breeze, eating their sandwiches, and talking about nothing. Dustin pulled out his SLR camera and snapped a picture of the water. Then he turned the camera on her.

  “Dustin!” she laughed.

  He shrugged. “I’m better at portraits than landscapes.” He looked through the lens. “The light is perfect.”

  Cali grimaced as the shutter sounded. Dustin rolled his eyes. When he tried again, Cali stuck out her tongue. Then pretended to eat a rock.

  After a series of failed portraits, Dustin set up the camera with a self-timer. A series of three photos captured them standing next to each other, then laughing, then kissing.

  The wind picked up. Cali wrinkled her nose. “Do you smell that?”