“Close your eyes,” Clay said in a soft voice.
When I did, I was in Tia’s living room. There were snacks everywhere, and Lucy was playing pin the tail on the donkey. I could see it all so clearly, and it was happening all so fast, my head filled with thoughts so quickly. Everything I was feeling was rushing through me all at once. I felt anxious, excited, and nervous. I had always been shy, and being around other kids wasn’t always ideal for me. Tia understood that, though. I stood in the corner of her living room, away from the rest of the party.
“Hey, Annaka, get over here!” I heard her voice as she grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the game.
“What’s going on?” I could hear Clay’s voice from the real world.
“I’m thinking how silly you would look playing pin the tail on the donkey,” I replied.
“Focus,” he said nervously.
Clay was all business with this task. I knew he was scared that I might get hurt, but everything was going fine. I could see everything so seamlessly.
As I stood in line for my turn at pin the tail on the donkey, time suddenly sped up. It felt like everything was on fast-forward. From Tia’s birthday cake, to the gifts, to the games, it all entered my mind at high speed, connecting dots that had become disconnected a long time ago.
“I think I got it,” I finally said.
Clay closed his grip, and when he did it felt like all the wind was sucked out of me. I fell to my knees but caught myself before I face-planted. It felt like waking up from a dream, when you’re temporarily disoriented by the sudden changes in time and space.
He ran over and immediately demanded, “Anna! Are you okay?!”
“I’m fine, it just…it felt kind of like I was dreaming.”
That was when the pounding headache started.
“Owww,” I said, clutching my head. “I didn’t expect the massive headache.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that might happen.” Clay crossed his arms and regarded me closely. “Too much activity in your head at once. Instead of your entire body experiencing it, it’s focused in one spot. I guess it’s replacing the body aches. Can you stand?”
I got to my feet. “It isn’t as bad as the body aches, but it still sucks.”
“So…,” Clay ventured.
“So what?”
“What did you give Tia for her birthday?”
Right. There was this part. I closed my eyes. What did I remember? I tried not to think too hard, to let the thoughts come to me organically.
“I got her…I got her a slingshot! And her dad took it away instantly.” I smiled at the memory. “I remember that clear as day now.”
Clay handed me the journal, and said, “See for yourself.”
I grabbed it and read aloud:
“February third. Today Grampy drove me over to Tia’s place for her birthday. There were a lot of other girls from school there, Laura, Lucy, Taylor. We all sat in the living room and tried pin the tail on the donkey. I thought it would have been nice to bring Clay, I couldn’t stop thinking about how silly he would look playing with all of us. I’m sure he would love it. I gave Tia a slingshot for her birthday but Jonathan took it away as soon as he seen it. He was no fun, but there was a lot of cake and ice cream. Tia wasn’t too sad about the slingshot but I really wanted her to have it. Maybe she could have it again when she gets older.”
Above the entry there was a sketch of the living room. It showed Tia blindfolded while the other girls and I looked on.
“Wow,” I said, scanning the page again. I looked back up at Clay. “It worked!”
If that had worked, then we could try the same thing with Nan. Of course, not all entries could apply to her, but what if we brought her to the memories she was in? Like braiding my hair? Or watching TV with me? Or an entry of Grampy’s, like when he found out Mom was pregnant with me? We were onto something, and we were going to get her back.
“Lets do another.”
“You should get some rest,” Clay said firmly. “This is still new to both of us. I don’t want to overdo it.”
“You always take things slow,” I said with a sigh.
“No. I always take things safe.”
I knew he was right. “Do you really think it’ll work?” I asked.
“It’s hard to say. Definitely risky to say the least.” Clay walked towards the lake and I followed.
“That…doesn’t say much.”
“No. But I want to be honest with you.”
“Have faith,” I replied.
“I thought you and your grandfather didn’t believe in that kind of thing.”
“I’m talking about faith in ourselves, fool,” I said as my phone buzzed. It was a text from Tia.
Tia: Earth to Anna. Where have you been? Can you answer me, please? You were only at school twice this week.
I put my phone back in my pocket.
“Was that Tia?”
I nodded.
“Aren’t you going to reply?”
“I will later.”
“She’s just checking on you, Anna. She’s a good friend.”
“I know, I know,” I said. “Can we just do one more? My head doesn’t hurt as much as it did. I just want to see if this works for sure.”
I was lying; my head felt like it was on fire.
“We’re done for the night. Get some sleep. Maybe we can pick this up in the morning. Key word is maybe. Depending on how you feel.”
“You’re the worst.” I smiled and looked away.
“You know that isn’t true.”
“I know.” When I looked back he was already gone. “That’s no better than ghosting, man.”
I woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon wafting from the kitchen, so I made my way down and found Mom and Nan sitting at the dining room table.
Mom didn’t say a word to me, but I grabbed a plate and decided to eat on the front porch. I wanted to keep
