Old Memories Part 6

By Ahura Werewolf

The morning light piercing through the dark curtains drained the shadows from the room. On her night stand the alarm clock went off, the flashing red lights showing it was 9:00 AM. Rachel pulls the covers tightly over her head and tries to ignore the wailing of the alarm. She stretches out her hand to turn off the alarm clock. Sitting up, She runs her hand through her hair and looks at herself in the mirror across the room. Her long silky black hair is twisted into many different directions, she shakes her head to even it out. She climbs out of bed and shivers when her feet touch the cold wooden floor. Walking to the window, she pulls back the curtain. The sunlight makes her face appear even more pale than it really is. The eerie glow of her skin makes her look like a marble statue come to life. She turns from the window and looks at the butternut colored dog that is laying at the foot of her bed.

The dog raises it’s head looking at Rachel with it’s soft blue eyes. She cocks her head to one side in curiosity and asks, “What’s wrong Rachel?”

“Nothing really, it is just cold in here.” She gestures to the window and the morning frost that clings to the wooden frame. Aleu then looks at her bare feet and says, “Put on a pair of socks. It isn’t summer anymore ya know?”

Rachel walks over to her dresser and pulls out a pair of woolen socks. She pulls them over her small feet then places them on the ground. Aleu looks at her saying, “So are we going to look for my parents today?” Rachel nods then looks away nervously. Aleu says, “Don’t worry they are really nice. I think you will like them.” Rachel shrugs her shoulders, “Last time we tried to talk to them my legs wouldn’t move. I was too nervous to go and talk to them. I mean it isn’t normal to go up to someone and tell them I am reincarnated from an animal and I think they are my animals parents.” Aleu looks at her then brushes against her legs to comfort her.

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine trust me.”

Rachel reaches down and pets Aleu on the head. Aleu licks her hand and wags her tail happily. Later that day Rachel was walking down the street to the local corner market. She walks in and says “hello” to the cashier at the front desk. Walking to the back of the store she reaches into the cooler and pulls out a bottle of Mountain Dew. She thinks to herself, “This aught to wake me up.” Aleu says, “I cannot see how you can drink that stuff. It keeps you up half the night and you cannot go to sleep.”

“Well it tastes good and it wakes me up.” Rachel smiles then looks around at the other people in the store. An elderly lady standing in the corner looks curiously at the assorted shelves of candy. She shakes her head and mutters something about kids these days. A man wearing a leather jacket goes to the cooler full of beer next to Rachel and she turns away trying to not see him grab a bottle. A women dressed in a rather beautiful dress makes her purchase and walks out of the store then turns the corner heading down the street. Rachel walks to the front desk and grabs a five dollar bill from her purse then hands it to the cashier who takes it and makes the appropriate amount of change to give back to her.

Walking out of the store after receiving the cash back from the cashier. She looks across the street and to her surprise sees the man from yesterday and next to him walks a dog that looks almost the same as Aleu. The people passing by him don’t seem to notice the dog or the man to whom it belongs to. She looks both ways then rushes across the street saying, “Excuse me sir?” The man turns around to look at her then down at Aleu at Rachel’s side.

Balto looks at Aleu saying, “Aleu, is that really you?” She nods and says, “It has been along time Papa.” Balto nuzzles Aleu happily. She smiles, Rachel looks at the man standing across from her.

“So, I take it you are reincarnated from that wolf dog?” Parker nods. He looks at her saying, “Yeah, I have only been aware of it for the past couple of days. It is still a bit strange to me but I guess I will get used to it. His name is Balto and what is her name?” He gestures to Aleu, to which Rachel says, “Her name is Aleu. I have been aware of since I was seven. At first I reacted just as you did thinking I was crazy. I tried to explain this to my friends but they didn’t believe me and made fun of me for it. But I knew Aleu was really apart of me. My parents had me see a counselor but even they couldn’t figure out if I was telling the truth or that Aleu was my imaginary friend.”

Parker holds out his hand saying, “My name is Parker Jones, and yours is Ms.?”

Rachel replies, “My name is Rachel Dubrey. I have heard of you aren’t you the lawyer who puts out the commercials on the TV.” Parker rubs his head embarrassed saying, “Yep. I am that lawyer on the TV.” Rachel smiles and then looks as Parker takes her by the arm saying, “Come on. I have some people I would like you to meet.” Rachel looks nervously at him then down at Aleu who silently says, “Don’t worry. It will be fine.” Rachel says, “Ok. I trust you.” Parker hails a taxi and he holds the door open for Rachel as she climbs into it. Then he gets in on the opposite side, he tells the taxi driver to take him to his apartment. Rachel’s heart pounds fiercely in her chest. Aleu nuzzles her to ease her nervousness.

As the taxi pulls up to Parker’s apartment, she sees a very beautiful women looking down from a window on the upper floors of the building, watching them pull up to the curb. Parker gets out and holds the door open for her. She watches as he pays the taxi driver, then he walks over to the door of the apartment. He opens the door and she enters the building looking down at Aleu. Aleu looks back up at her and walks ahead of her to assure her it is safe. The fresh scent of lavender and carpet cleaner tickles Rachel’s nose. She looks at the walls that are painted a butternut color. The warm afternoon sunlight makes the hallway feel very warm and inviting. Parker notices her hesitation thinking, “She isn’t very trusting of people. It is to bad what happened to her. Harassment in any form is not acceptable. Especially when it happens to someone as nice as Rachel.”

Parker walks up the stairs in front of Rachel saying, “Follow me.” She follows him up a couple of flights of stairs to a door with the number 37 on it. He takes out the keys to the door and unlocks it. Rachel walks across the threshold into the apartment. The entryway is rather spacious and to one side is a bin filled with umbrellas. Off to the left side is a doorway that leads to the kitchen. Next to the kitchen is the dining room with a table that has four chairs pulled up to it. In the back of the apartment a large Plasma TV hangs off of the wall. Around it is a wrap around couch and two armchairs. Down the hallway on her right side are three doors. Two to the bedrooms and one to the bathroom. The same women she saw looking down at them from the window is sitting at the table reading a book. In the living room is a teenage boy sound asleep in the armchair. The women looks up from her book and at Rachel. Parker says, “Jenny this is Rachel. Rachel this is Jenny and that over there asleep in the armchair is Ben.”

“Hello”

Jenna who was asleep on the floor wakes up and sees Aleu standing next to Rachel. She pads her way over to her and nuzzles her saying, “I missed you Aleu.” Aleu replies, “So have I mother.” Tears come to Jenna’s eyes and Balto says, “Now we have the family back together again.” Ben wakes up from his nap and looks at Parker saying, “Hey Jones, who is she?” Parker looks at him saying, “This is Rachel, she is reincarnated from Balto’s daughter.” Ben gives a thumbs up then goes back to sleep. Kodi who is asleep next to the armchair gets up to greet his sister.

Rachel looks at everyone and says, “Now what?” Parker replies, “Well I don’t really know to be honest.” He looks at Balto and says, “Now that you have found your family again. What is it that we must do?” Balto says, “Now we must go see Tiff again to find that out.” Parker says, “Ok, we can do that tomorrow but for now lets celebrate.” He walks over to the kitchen and grabs the phone saying, “How does pizza sound to everyone.” Jenny nods in agreement, Rachel says, “Get one Vegetarian one. I don’t like eating meat.” Parker says, “Ok” he dials the number to Little Italy and places his order for a delivery. Rachel takes a seat next to Jenny and says, “So, how long have you know were reincarnated?” Jenny replies “Probably as long as Parker has. Ben over there is still pretty new to this.”

“I have known I am reincarnated from Aleu here” replies Rachel. Jenny smiles then says, “To be honest I am still trying to figure out if this is a dream or something like that. I mean only a few days ago I had never even heard of reincarnation or would have believed it was possible but now I definitely believe in it.” Rachel nods in agreement.

When the pizza arrives Ben immediately wakes up and rushes to get the door saying, “I am starving.” He opens the door and Parker walks up from behind him with a ten dollar bill. He pays the pizza man and closes the door. Placing the two boxes on the table he takes a slice. Jenny and Rachel both have a slice