1.3

Finally, I was all alone. Unable to maintain my calm, I collapsed to the floor, gripping my hair painfully with my hands.

Was I really alive? This pain hurt, it really hurt.

Bitter laughter escaped my lips as I felt my eyes sting with tears I desperately tried to hold back.

"Don't cry Host," a strange voice played out in my mind, one that I never heard with my ears.

An auditory hallucination? Great. As if I didn't need yet another symptom on top of the psychotic breakdown.

"Not a hallucination, I am what humans of your era like to call a System, I'm here to help you, Host, so please stop crying," it coaxed me.

Looking up around the lit-up room, I tried my best to expose any entities nearby, finding none.

"I'm not dead, I'm as alive as you are," the voice explained patiently.

Jumping up, I began to pace around the sofa, rubbing at my aching chest, wishing it would calm down and stop this pain.

Warmth erupted from my chest, warmth which was vaguely familiar to whatever drug Charlie had dosed me with.

"He did not dose you with a drug," the voice weakly interjected, seeming nervously on edge, "from your memories, I can tell he was one of what you are now."

"What? Crazy?" I chuckled, tripping over my bare feet to land on the sofa, where I then proceeded to curl into a ball, burying my head into the knees I hugged.

"You've endured a horrific trauma, Host, it's understandable you're a little unsteady right now," it soothed, continuing the warmth that erupted from the inside out. "He gifted me to you, to turn you into one of him."

"One of what?" I snapped, looking up to glare at the empty spot before me on the sofa, trying to envision just what on Earth I was talking to.

"You're now an immortal."

Laughing, I shook my head, then slammed my fist on the back of the sofa in anger.

"Like some fucking vampire? Have I been tossed into a film or novel or something?"

"When you, passed, you lost your original body, Host, this is a new one. It is not like those vampires you're thinking of. It's your soul, your soul is now immortal."

"What exactly does that mean?" I groaned in frustration, still questioning whether to even believe the voice I could hear in my mind was even real.

Maybe my soul somehow really inhabited a new body, a schizophrenic body.

"The previous Dianna was mentally stable, her brain chemistry is currently adapting to your new soul. Things will make more sense as time goes on. Luckily we found a body similar to your own, so the process should go smoothly despite us being so weak."

"You're talking in English, yet…" Just like the ghost, none of it made sense. In fact, it only made the ache in my head amplify.

"So, Charlie, k-killed me, to give me you," I concluded after thinking too hard for a while.

"Technically," it eventually replied, still sounding cautious.

Realizing that the voice in my head was sounding no different than the version of myself whilst tending to patients, the role reversal was too ironic for me to handle.

Bursting into tears of laughter I lay flat on my stomach, pounding my clenched fists onto the sofa seat in anger.

"Why?" my voice broke as I felt ready to plead with the voice to fix everything, "I don't want this, I want to go back."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Host," the warmth flooded me again until I turned as limp and lifeless as jelly. "There is no going back. I don't know why he did what he did, but I exist now and we've bonded, so… this is our life now."

"I'm tired," I mumbled, feeling unable to keep my eyes open.

"So sleep, sleep, everything will feel better when you wake up," it coaxed like a lullaby

After some time, feeling groggy, I pushed myself up, trying to make sense of whatever reality I had woken in.

In the dream, I vaguely recalled a kind woman, a woman I chased after calling "mammy."

I never had a mother, only a kind nun at the orphanage who used to slip me chocolate and sweets. She was dead now, like everybody else, myself included. All dead. Everything dead.

"You're awake now?" Eric sat at the small round table beside the thick, velvet curtains blocking the living area window.

Letting my bare feet rest on the soft, carpeted floor, I tried to center myself to calm down.

"Food?" My stomach rumbled in protest.

"Breakfast is cold now," he placed down the tiny screen he had been looking at, then the door opened, and the silent man from before entered the room.

He remained as silent as before, so much so that I swore I couldn't even hear his footsteps, only the wheels of the food cart he pushed. I tried to see if I could recognize him at all. I could not.

As quickly as he entered, he spun around on his heels and left.

"Come on then, eat," Eric instructed, before turning to start serving the dishes on the cart.

Lured by the scent of food, I sat opposite him and looked at the bowl of soup he placed before me.

Hopefully, this body was not allergic to anything before me.

"This Dianna has no allergies, Host," the voice startled me into dropping my spoon.

"Are you alright?" Eric asked, halting eating his own soup.

"Y-yes," I nodded, then kept my head hung low as I slowly ingested the rich tomato soup. Comfortably, I felt it linger and warm my stomach. A sharp contrast compared to the chill that had consumed my body since I woke.

When the bowl was empty, he took it to place back on the cart, "are you still hungry?"

I nodded, feeling the ache in my stomach was like a bottomless pit.

"I wasn't sure what you like to eat, so…" He hesitated, then placed a plate of steak, mash, and greens before me, "Hope this is okay?"

Again, I nodded, picking up the fork and knife to tuck in silently.

The juicy steak was peppered, the mash creamy with a tangy hint of mustard, and the asparagus was buttered and tender. Not once, in my almost thirty years of life, had I eaten food that tingled my tastebuds so well.

Sipping the water afterward, I leaned towards the heavy, burgundy velvet curtains, aiming to move them aside to look out.

"I wouldn't," he muttered, setting his knife and fork down on his empty plate, "the glass is supposed to be bulletproof, but…"

Recalling that somebody had literally assassinated this body just hours before, I begrudgingly let go of the curtains. There would be time to adjust to this new reality later.

"The, erm… wound on your head, is it okay now?" I glanced at the area hidden by slightly tamer, but still wild hair.

In the light, it most certainly seemed like a shade of midnight blue, unlike the normal cold, inky black I was used to. Not to mention there were other abnormalities to the familiar face, such as ear piercings on his exposed left ear.

"Yes, yourself, you, you bled right?" He pointed at his own chest, "There was a lot of blood here, but you seem so well, I…"

He frowned, seeming annoyed at himself, not me.

"I think my sister played a prank on me, at a coincidentally awkward time for you," I blushed, avoiding eye contact.

Lying to this face was extremely hard and subconsciously brought back a lot of memories of being caught out in my lies as a child.

"Your sister? The one from before?" He placed his left elbow on the table, resting the uninjured side of his head in his large hand.

"Yes, for some reason, my sister played a prank on me last night," I continued the lie I had spent the entire meal trying to conjure up. "She usually does things like this, but I guess, it's caused quite the inconvenience for you, I apologize."

He scoffed, "A prank? That was real blood."

"As you saw, she is a police officer, a few bags of blood wouldn't be too hard for her to get a hold of no?"

"So why did she act like that before?" He asked, looking genuinely amused instead of annoyed at my 'confession'.

"It's not like she would admit her guilt, especially in front of a colleague…"

He chuckled. Though it sounded pleasant to my ears, the goosebumps on my arm alarmed me about his real emotions. Anger, hatred. Hopefully, those emotions were not aimed at me.

"Again, I'm sorry for all of this, I'll make things clear to her later," I bit my lip, trying to figure out exactly how to do that. I had to adjust to an entirely new life that I couldn't even recall.

"In time the memories will open up to you," System reassured me, easing the panic gathering in my chest.

"No need," he let out an eerily beautiful smile on his wide, thin lips. His silver eyes narrowed on me, freezing me to the spot, "I've picked up such a lovely, young wife, as a result of her prank, maybe I should send her a thank-you gift."

Gulping, I set the glass of water on the table.

If only I knew where home was, I'd be out of this room faster than the Flash to hide there, away from this Eric's predatory gaze.

"I hope you don't mind, but I had yesterday as the date for the marriage certificate," he was not in the slightest bit concerned whether I minded or not.

This was Eric, but it was also not my Eric. Not the big brother who kept me sane and alive for almost half of my life. Not the man who had stolen my heart and soul, then abandoned me and the future we were supposed to have together.

"Not that I know how people get married, but don't," I hesitated, seeing the threatening glint in his eyes as I spoke, "Don't I need to be there for it to be a legal certificate?"

"You're not wrong, but well… it's still legal as far as the law's concerned, wife," he picked up his glass and drained it completely before sharply placing it back onto the wooden table.

"I also took the liberty to update your medical records for the miscarriage too," he leaned against the back of the wooden chair, folding his arms over his chest, "I'll call your father later and explain on your behalf."

I had a father?

"My father? Do you know him?" I eagerly leaned forward against the table, doing my best not to get too agitated by his words. Something told me, he was looking forward to that agitation.

"Of course, I do, who in London doesn't know Commissioner Morgan?" He laughed softly, then reached for the small screen in his pocket.

As it lit up, he scowled and placed it back in the pocket of his slacks. He must have showered and changed since I first saw him, now wearing a black shirt and slacks, making his already pale skin seem paler.

As a result, he looked more dead than the ghost who had spoken to me when I woke up.

"He's most certainly alive Host," System reassured me.

All previous logic and sense had already been long thrown out the window after I accepted the voice in my head as reality. Right now, to me, anything was possible.

Hearing System's words, I felt somewhat reassured. The living was always easier to deal with than the dead, certainly more predictable at least.

"What, what should I do now?" I asked him, my left foot seeming to take a life of its own as it tapped against the floor.

"There are some snacks and drinks on the bottom shelf, stay in here until I return later," he instructed casually, before pushing the chair back to stand.

My spine went as straight as a rod when he approached me.

I was used to being instructed by him, heck most of my life was spent following his orders. The Eric then was nine years older than me and took the role of 'big brother' seriously. I had entered the orphanage as a newborn baby and was cared for by the nun who also looked after him. It was she who tasked him to be my big brother.

Leaning down, one hand on the table, he kissed the top of my clammy forehead softly, "Be a good girl and stay inside this room no matter what, alright?"

I could only nod, shrinking my neck subconsciously.

His hand lifted and stroked the top of my head in a familiar way that sucked the breath from my lungs. Then he left me alone in the room, feeling the wall I was trying to erect around my mind, body, and soul completely breaking down.