"Are you alright Jane?" Dr. Alister's voice seem to float through Jane's excited and terrified brain.

"You didn't bring me back?" came her faint whisper.

"No, Jane dear, no one has ever come back that way! It is almost as if you were thrown through," he swallowed hard and paused dramatically, "a...never mind dear."

He slowly rose from his seat setting aside his yellow legal pad. His movements were unhurried and seemed aged somehow. He reached the water cooler and pulled one of those odd little paper cones from the dispenser and filled it with water.

"Here Jane, have a small drink. You should go back so that we can gain closure on this particular chapter of your life. I think we are almost there."

Laying back on the cool leather she felt herself sink deeper then before. He bagan the introduction to the exercise.

"Jane, close your eyes. Sink into yourself. Go back in time. Now I want you to go back a little farther..." came Dr. Alister's voice, smooth as it always was when he talked to you into your past. 

Jane's heart began to beat faster, fear seemed to seep in through her skin. Her wrists felt tight and cold. Her body began to warm as if hands were touching her legs and feet. Warmer and warmer.

This time the visions didn't come. She didn't feel as if she was in two places at once. She didn't feel like she was eight. No, she was 46 and in New York. She was afraid. More afraid then she had remembered being with the bright lights. Something was wrong. Something had to be wrong. She tried to sit up, but she couldn't move. It felt as if she was bound to the leather chair by her wrists and ankles. She tried to open her eyes, but to no avail. She tried to move her head forward. But that didn't work either.

Her heart pumped faster and faster.

"Jane, calm down. Everything is all right." Dr. Alister's voice penetrated her fear. The chocolate sound to his voice had the calming effect that he was seeking.

"Jane, you must forget." This time the voice sounded far off, airy, and deep at the same time.

"Jane, you must forget." a soft childlike voice repeated.

"Jane, you must forget." yelled a woman whose voice was gravely, but distictly female.

Jane's eyes popped open as if she had finally been able to pry the lids apart. She stared into the large dark eyes, they eyes of her nightmares. She squeezed her own eyes shut tighter then before and tried to shake her head clear of the fog that seemed to be rolling in.  

"Jane, you must forget! It is time to forget! You must forget!"

"Jane..." 

With a startled jerk she sprang straight up on the leather chair, her eyes now fully open and her forehead beaded with sweat. Her heart was still racing, but, after a few breaths, she felt entirely here again. Whole. One person.

She remembered everything.