Live Love Rewind: The Three Lives of Leah Preston (6 page)

A sense of warm well-being washed over her. She felt so good, laying there. It was peaceful.

Am I sleeping? Is this a dream?

A voice tickled inside of her brain.
Who are you, Leah Preston?

The voice sounded friendly. 

I’m me.
She heard herself giggle.
Silly question.

Are you good?

Good-ish. Better than Jenna Beasley, anyway.

Are you kind?

Most times.

Are you happy?

Sometimes. Sometimes not.

Always, when I’m drinking strawberry margaritas and watching
Angel
reruns. Hardly ever when I look through old photos.

When not, why not?

The phraseology made her want to giggle once more. Instead, a sense of sadness grew inside her, draining the ebullient feeling that had embraced her.

I spend too much time, reflecting over the choices I’ve made in my life. The mistakes I’ve made
, she told the voice
. It isn’t anything awful, I didn’t club baby seals or anything, but I just keep doing the wrong thing.

My career, for instance, if you can even call whatever-this-is, a true career. Then there’s my love life. If you can even call it a love life.

When I met Tanner, I thought I’d finally found ‘the one’. The wrong one, as it turned out. I sacrificed my dreams to help him chase a career he didn’t want – and the experience left both of us miserable.

Things didn’t work out. Oh, they most definitely didn’t work out.

Life is all about choices, don’t you see? If I’d taken different steps, met different men, made other decisions. I could have been…I could have been…

A lightness filled her spirit, making her feel happy:
I coulda’ been a contender.

Why don’t you start over?

Wouldn’t that be lovely? Given a second chance, maybe I’d make the right decisions.

Maybe I’d make the wrong decisions all over again.

But wouldn’t it be fun to find out?

If you could have anything,
the voice teased playfully,
what would you ask for?

World peace.

A million billion dollars. A clean and renewable energy source. Good will towards men. And women.

I want to find my one true love. That’s what I really want:  yes, yes, yes. My own personal miracle.

But, since all of that might take some time, I’d love to get laid.

Is this what you want?

You want the truth, it’s been climbing the charts lately.
Feeling separated from reality, she shifted her body.
Hey, am I in a flying saucer?

Do you want to be?

Nestled by feelings of comfort and security, she sighed contentedly. After that, she remembered nothing more.

# # #

“Are you all right?” Clarissa asked.

Leah opened her eyes. She was lying in the center of the circle of rocks, its flat stones cold beneath her body.

Clarissa stood over her. Colonel Dahlgren peered down at her, too, with Jon watching from behind him. 

“You’re naked,” Clarissa said, as if Leah had just committed a social faux pas. Offering her some privacy, Jon returned to the Hummer.

Sleepily, Leah said, “What happened to my clothes?” 

Feeling at peace but somehow pleasantly aroused, she didn’t see any need to cover herself. From the way Colonel Dahlgren was staring, he was enjoying the view.

“How long have I been gone?”

“What was it, Ronald, five minutes?” Clarissa asked the officer. “Six at most? I told you she’d be okay.”

“You’re on thin ice, Clarissa,” Dahlgren said in crisp, clipped words. “Your actions were not only inappropriate, they were dangerous. What if Leah had been injured? Or had disappeared and never returned?”

“That wasn’t going to happen.”

“You didn’t know that.”

Realizing she wouldn’t win this argument, Clarissa closed her pink, perfect lips. She allowed a small frown to briefly wrinkle the corners of her mouth.

Climbing to her feet, Leah arched her body and stretched her arms over her head. Dahlgren watched her closely.

Jon reappeared, draping a blanket over her. “Let’s get you inside.”

The Colonel stayed with her when they returned to the Hummer. She asked, “Where are we going?”

“The main research center. Our team will debrief you.”

Sitting in the front seat and facing the windshield, Clarissa said, “We have a thousand questions to ask you.”

Reaching inside her blanket, Leah stroked her hand down her naked stomach. It felt nicely warm and comforting. When her hand dipped lower, she realized,
God, I’m horny
.

Dahlgren stared straight ahead but Leah had a sense that he’d followed her hand’s path. “Will you be staying with me, Colonel? Or you, Jon?”

“It will be just me and my scientists,” Clarissa told her. “You belong to my team now.”

But you’re no fun
, Leah thought.

Releasing her seat belt, she sat sideways. Her blanket opened with the movement. “I hope you’ll reconsider, Ronald. I’d really like it if you were with me.”

She saw the outline of his dick as it swelled in response to her nudity. Reaching over, she stroked his leg. When her fingers brushed his cock, he jumped.

Gruffly, he said, “I’ll be there.”

Chapter Nine

The research center was inside a tan, multi-story building. Hidden behind the dome’s tri-level living complex, the scientists’ equipment was nearly futuristic while their workplace was disappointingly ordinary.

I’ll bet Clarissa designed the work space
, Leah thought.
She probably insisted every employee be issued his or her own nine-by-nine fully adjustable cubicle with an L-shaped computer desk and a silver hook for a single, well-starched, white lab coat. Each lab coat probably comes with a mandatory pocket protector, too.

I only hope her crew isn’t as boring as she is.

She soon found out. Taken to the decontamination bay, Leah was cleansed ultrasonically and then bathed in chemicals before being rinsed in a pounding spray of water. Gowned, she had vials of blood drawn and several scans taken before a group of researchers started their physical evaluation. Male and female alike, the team members treated her as just another subject to be evaluated. If anyone was curious about her experience, they’d been briefed not to ask any questions.

After running on a treadmill, a dozen wires monitoring her heart rate and blood pressure, Leah was escorted from the glass walls of the laboratory and into a private office. Still in her gown, she sat as tiny electrodes were placed in a line across her forehead. Clarissa entered, touching a corner of her desk and bringing its surface to life. Staring at a monitor inside the table top, she demanded a verbal recounting of Leah’s experience with the Visitors.

“Ask me anything,” Leah said. Despite her recent experience – or because of it – she felt centered and content.

“Oh, I will.” Sliding her finger over the touch pad imbedded in her desk, Clarissa ran down a very long list of questions.

Since she didn’t have an assistant and couldn’t be bothered to take notes, Leah assumed their conversation was being recorded by unseen voice monitors. She answered each question slowly and thoughtfully. With each of her words, streaks of color danced inside the desk’s monitor.

When they were done, her yellow-haired boss shook her head impatiently. “There must be more.”

“There isn’t.”

“That can’t be everything! No one would have left this plane, gone into an alternate dimension, and kept their eyes closed. No one, not even someone like you. Your curiosity had to be overwhelming!”

“Sorry,” Leah said sincerely.
Why didn’t I look? What might I have seen?

Somewhere inside herself, she knew the answer. There was nothing to be seen. The Visitors’ dimension didn’t exist on a physical plain.

“You’re not sorry,” Clarissa responded. “You’re playing some kind of game here. I won’t stand for it.”

“I’ve told you what happened.”

She struck the edge of her desk, causing its face to turn solid once more. “We’re not done. I’ll expect a full written report before the day is over.”

“Pleased to help,” Leah said. “Should I include the part where I told you I wanted to quit?”

“You weren’t serious.” Straight-faced, her supervisor acted as if her lie would change the past.

“I was completely serious. You know I was.”

“You’re an unreliable witness. I was there with you, remember? You volunteered.”

“If I volunteered, why did you tear the necklace off of me?”

Clarissa’s eyes narrowed, showing a hint of her violet eye shadow.  “Perhaps Dr. Aparicio can make some sense of you.”

The small, quiet Dr. Aparicio was the facility’s chief psychiatrist. Dressed in a blue suit, light blue shirt, and dark blue tie, he entered as Clarissa left. Greeting Leah softly, he sat in the chair directly beside her own.

Reaching inside his suit jacket, he removed a sheet of paper. “If you don’t mind.”

“More questions?”

“Inquiry is the foundation of my profession.”

Leah found it reassuringly old school to see his questions written on a piece of lined, white paper. “I’ve told Clarissa everything I remember.”

“I’m quite certain you believe you did. Still, the mind is a curious thing. A fresh approach may awaken fresh memories.” 

At her nod, Dr. Aparicio drew his finger down his list, using different words to ask the some of the same questions she’d heard earlier.
What did you see?

“My eyes were closed.”

What did you hear?

“A voice, inside my head. No ambient sounds at all.”

What did you smell?

“Nothing at all.”

What did you learn about the Visitors?

“They didn’t share anything. They asked me questions about myself.”

Where you on a spaceship?

“I might have been.”

Where you in a building? In a room?

“I could have been.”

Were you standing? Sitting? Awake or sleeping?

“At first, I thought I might be dreaming. But I wasn’t.”

What did they do to you?

“Asked questions. All they did was talk to me. Kind of like you.”

Why didn’t they keep you for a longer period of time?

“I think they did. It felt like I was there for hours, maybe days. It was wonderful.”

What made it a wonderful experience?

“It just was. I guess you had to be there.”

Did they offer you anything?

Leah paused. This was a new question, the only one Clarissa hadn’t asked. “They wanted to know what would make me happy.”

Aparicio raised an eyebrow. “What did you tell them?”

I’d love to get laid
was a bit too personal to share with this stranger. “World peace,” she said. “Good will toward all. Also, if they didn’t mind, a million billion dollars.”

The psychiatrist laughed, covering his mouth to muffle the sound. Folding his paper into a square, he tucked it inside of his jacket. “I think you’re telling the truth. Or what you believe to be the truth.”

“I am.”

“Interesting, interesting.” He leaned closer to her. “Can I tell you something? Something personal?”

The tiny man’s face was bright as he made his offer. Leah was unsure how she should answer.

“This isn’t some doctor’s trick, I assure you,” he said. “When people keep secrets, it eats at them. You don’t have to tell everyone but you must tell someone. I want to share mine with you.”

“Why me?”

“Your profile indicates that you’re trustworthy. Besides, there’s no one else here who will understand it as you might.”

Leah played with the tie that secured her hospital gown. “Considering our circumstances, I don’t know if this is the time to share confidences.”

“I ate a piece of the candy,” Dr. Aparicio said. Sitting back in the chair, he beamed at her.

Leah checked his desk, looking for a candy dish. “Are you on a diet?”

“I had some of the licorice,” Aparicio explained. “The candy we sent the Visitors. Most of it has remained untouched since going from here to wherever and returning. There are pallets of the stuff in lock-up. No one even bothers to watch over it, any longer.”

“You decided it was a good idea to eat some?”

“A single stick,” he said. “Our best and brightest have spent hundreds of thousands of man hours, possibly millions of dollars, trying to glean any scrap of information they could from the candy. No one thought to taste it.”