The New Addie

So, time to think about what all of this means for my life. What exactly is going on and who exactly am I? If that dream is to be believed, then I am both; Adelaide Walsh the eighteen year old paraplegic that seemingly died on her eighteenth birthday, as well as the six year old Addison Mercer. I was two people, but not at the same time. I used to be Adelaide Walsh, and now I am Addison.

I can clearly remember my life before this one. Ever since I woke up, I was able to remember what I had gone through. That last day of my life was the most vivid and stands out in perfect clarity. My birthday. That was the last day that I spent with my family. If I would have known that I was never going to see my family again, I would have told them goodbye. I would have told them that I loved them. Even Charlie, as bad as our relationship was, I still loved her.

I was crying. I was actually crying for them. I missed them, more than I ever thought that I would. And then, there was the memory of what I wished for that day. I wanted a different life. Well, I guess I got one. The problem was that it took me back to the beginning.

I was six years old again. I was a child again. I lost twelve years, or should I say that I need to relive them.

Wait a minute. I get to relive them. I got a do over. I get another chance to be a rambunctious little kid. I can climb trees, I can run, I can WALK! This was like a dream come true. I truly got to relive the years that I missed.

And, of course, I had all of my memories from both lives. I remember everything of my life that I have lived so far, here in the world of Athea, and I remember all my time back on Earth.

At least there were no major gaps in my brain. I mean, I had all the memories, for both lives. So no one would ever suspect a thing. I was Addison, the real Addison. But I was also Adelaide.

"OK, this is trippy." I joked with myself as I went to stand up. Now that I knew what was going on, I was no longer dizzy, and my head didn't hurt so much.

I was happy to see that I actually still had a room to myself. I would have hated to share a room with someone that I didn't know. Even though I did know them, that was odd too.

My room was small, not much bigger than a closet really. Across from the bed there was a dresser with a small mirror on top of it, there was a trunk at the foot of my bed, and then there was the small bed. That was all that was in my room. It was enough though.

With nerves coursing through me, I slid my feet over the side of the bed. This was already more than I had been able to move since I was four years old. The fact that I had been able to move both arms was new to me.

I pressed both of my hands to the bed next to me and pushed myself up just a little and before I was ready, I felt myself sliding forward. I nearly screamed but my feet hit the floor and I was standing.

I was standing.

I was really standing.

I can't believe that I am actually standing.

I decided to test out my legs a little bit. I could remember being Addison and running and playing every single day. However, I also remembered being Adelaide and being unable to do what the other kids could.

I wondered, as I walked slowly across the room toward the mirror, just who am I now? I am not Adelaide anymore because she is dead, am I just Addison? Addison isn't dead, she's who I have been for the last six years, but I didn't have the memories of my old life while I was just Addison. So, who should I be now?

Should I be Addie? The name that was being called out in the dream? The name that Uncle Vinny gave me back home? It's a name that fits both of my names.

As I came to a stop in front of the mirror, I nearly gasped. I see that my similarities didn't stop at the name when I was reborn. My heterochromia seemed to have followed me. In my past life I had two differently colored brown eyes. This time, however, my left eye was blue and my right eye was green. And, even though my hair was still brown, it was a beautiful shade of coppery brown.

"I wonder if I will be considered cute?" I asked myself as I thought about it. When I was living before, I wasn't exactly considered cute by most people. I was actually more likely called a freak or just plain ugly.

OK, I think it's time for me to reconcile my lives together. I need to figure out everything before I see them again. I don't need to 'think' about it later and have them start to look at me like I am some sort of weirdo. I went to sit on the bed again so that I could think with my eyes closed. I didn't need to fall when I just started to walk again.

Well, here it goes. I have my mom in this world. Her name is Helen. She is twenty-seven years old and has light brown hair and beautiful blue eyes, the one of mine perfectly matches her blue. Mom had a heart shaped face, one that most people found so desirable. She is most definitely very beautiful, and everyone truly does love her. She takes care of us with lots of love and support, but from pre-Addie's memories it's clear to see that she isn't that smart. My memories told me that she loves me. That was different from my earth mom. She loved me but was inattentive and busy.

Here, I actually have a dad that isn't dead. His name is Erickson. I don't have any memories of my dad before. They were lost in the accident. Everything that I knew about him was told to me by my mom and my uncle. My dad here was a merchant. He bought and sold goods in the city and was the richest man in town. He loved his family dearly and would do anything for them. He had dark blond hair and green eyes, my one green eye was a perfect match for his. Dad's face was a little longer and narrow, more like an oval.

I had a younger sister here as well. Her name was Catherine. She is four years younger than me and only two years old right now. I was glad to have another chance at having a sister that didn't grow up hating me. Catherine looked very much like our mother. She had light brown hair and a very pretty face, but she had dad's green eyes.

Here I had a brother. That was something that I never had before. Arthur was two years older than me, he was eight years old and always really nice to me, according to my pre-Addie memories. Arthur had brown hair that was darker, closer to mine, only without the reddish hues that gave it a coppery look. And his eyes were Mom's blue color. And from what I could tell, his face took after Mom's as well. I was the only one who had a face more like Dad's.

Well, at least I had a family here and I wasn't all alone.

As I thought about my life and how to mesh them together, I was looking at my hands. I was actually using the tips of my fingers to play with the edge of the sleeve to my dress.

"Huh?" I noticed something as I flipped the fabric around.

Pulling the sleeve on my left arm up I saw a marking on my wrist, an inch or two below where my hand connected. It was pure black and looked like some sort of symbol.

"Was I given a tattoo?" I asked myself. I searched pre-Addie's memories and tried to remember if she had even been given a tattoo but there was nothing. The mark had been there as far back as she could remember, but she didn't know how it got there. And to top it off, there were two marks in the memories.

Sure enough, when I pulled back the other sleeve there was a white counterpart. The symbol was different, but it looked like it came from the same group of symbols as the other one had.

"This is interesting."