Of Two Minds: (Single Minded Series: Book 5), page 22
OF TWO MINDS
The Single Minded Series Book 5
CHARLES ELLIOT
Contents
VIP Readers
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
The Series Continues
Review this book
About the Author
© Copyright 2022 - All rights reserved.
The content contained within this book may not be reproduced, duplicated or transmitted without direct written permission from the author or the publisher.
Under no circumstances will any blame or legal responsibility be held against the publisher, or author, for any damages, reparation, or monetary loss due to the information contained within this book, either directly or indirectly.
Legal Notice:
This book is copyright protected. It is only for personal use. You cannot amend, distribute, sell, use, quote or paraphrase any part, or the content within this book, without the consent of the author or publisher.
Disclaimer Notice:
Please note the information contained within this document is for educational and entertainment purposes only. All effort has been executed to present accurate, up to date, reliable, complete information. No warranties of any kind are declared or implied. Readers acknowledge that the author is not engaged in the rendering of legal, financial, medical or professional advice. The content within this book has been derived from various sources. Please consult a licensed professional before attempting any techniques outlined in this book.
By reading this document, the reader agrees that under no circumstances is the author responsible for any losses, direct or indirect, that are incurred as a result of the use of the information contained within this document, including, but not limited to, errors, omissions, or inaccuracies.
STAY UPDATED WITH ME
Thank you so much for purchasing or downloading my book! I am grateful to all my amazing readers.
To stay updated on all my latest books, newsletters, and freebies, why not join my VIP group?
Click here to join me!
You will be asked for your email.
CLICK ON MY PICTURE ABOVE FOR NEWSLETTER & FREE BOOK
Chapter One
It’s with a trembling hand that Bambi reaches out to touch the mirror, in the vain hope that the feel of the cool surface may actually free her from what certainly must be an illusion. She hesitates more than once in the action, her mind gripping hold of a number of unreasonable fears as to what her mirror image may do. She almost expects the image of Jasmine to turn on her heel and dash deeper into that portal. Or to even reach out suddenly, grab her arm, and then pull her in with her.
Lately, there seems to be no limit to the lengths her imagination is permitted to go. Strange things have been happening for a while.
Of course, none of this happens when her hand finally reaches the target. The image shows no sign of distorting. Neither does it show any inclination to act upon its own will. Her eyes do not deceive her. Jasmine stands in front of her—moving when Bambi does, her mouth shaping the words Bambi uses.
“How is this possible?”
Bambi finds that she is beyond shock. Consequently, it also places her in a state of being beyond any semblance of fear. It is merely utter disbelief that wrecks her grip on reality—the way it has been in the habit of doing for the past few days.
Impulsively, she blinks rapidly, thinking the purposeful action may dispel what she is seeing. But Jasmine’s visage still looks on at her in confusion. Which only gives Bambi insight as to what her own expression communicates. She decides to test it out again, this time moving out of the mirror’s view, even going so far as to peek behind the back of the mirror in the suspicion that she may uncover a trick. But there is none to be found.
She swallows hard, steadies her breathing, and then moves back to stand in front of Jasmine’s reflection.
Nothing has changed.
Looking down at her attire, Bambi sees the same outfit she had picked out that morning. It matches nothing that Jasmine is wearing in her reflection. It seems to disprove one theory she had subconsciously entertained until that point, that maybe her mind had been lodged into Jasmine’s body. Which doesn’t make sense, since moments before, she had seen her own face in the bathroom mirror, and she also heard Jasmine speak a minute ago. Yet, the very fact that such a suspicion arose is soon exposed for its irony, when the next strange thing occurs and she finds that she cannot move at all.
Bambi’s eyes are arrested in the mirror by some unknown force. Try as she might to shift her gaze, she no longer has control of her own body. Something is keeping her in place, forcing her to look. It’s then that her mouth starts moving, with a movement she feels, but words she doesn’t recognize as having been formed in her own mind.
“It’s like slipping on a glove…”
It is her own voice, but also not. The voice has an edge to it, and in uttering those words, she can immediately attach the sound to the resolute expression she sees forming in the reflection. She feels like her body is being taken for a ride.
I don’t like the sound of that, Bambi thinks to herself in dread.
At least, she believed the thought to be a private one…
“Really? I thought you were over being afraid of me?” comes her voice again.
But the words are not her own. Bambi tries to form a response, but her mouth does not shape the words that spill out from her anxious heart. Slowly, however, a clarity of what is happening starts dawning on her mind. And when the realization strikes, she only feels foolish that she hasn’t noticed it before.
I was never… afraid of you… Bambi thinks, allowing her thoughts to be the voice she doesn’t seem to physically have.
Jasmine hears them.
“Yeah, right. I can feel my… ahem, your… palms sweating.” And I know it’s not my anxiety causing it.
Bambi’s eyes are spellbound by the reflection of her double. Not that she has much of a choice than to look at the image. She has no control over moving her own eyes elsewhere. But to see the reflection speaking when she isn’t the one moving her mouth must be the most bizarre thing she has ever experienced. She wonders if there are levels of acceptance with regard to “the weird.” She doesn’t have much trouble accepting a psychic connection once she determines what it is. But this…
“Uhm, I’m still here you know? It’s kind of awkward to try and have a conversation with you when you’re having your own little mental aside with yourself.
Y—you can hear my thoughts?
“Not everything. But enough to get the gist of it,” Jasmine answers. “So yeah, I get it. This is pretty new. For both of us.”
Despite Jasmine’s attempt at consolation, and the reasoning Bambi’s own mind is growing capable of, she cannot completely subdue the emotions that roil inside of her. The fact that she can’t exact a movement from her own body freaks her out. She isn’t comfortable with this exchange of control. Though her mind is her own, her willpower means nothing if it cannot implement an effect in her surroundings.
“Bambi. Panic isn’t going to get us anywhere.”
Try feeling what it’s like being pushed out from behind the steering wheel of your own body.
Jasmine sighs. “I’m sorry for taking over like this. I didn’t realize I could even do it until I accidentally succeeded. After that, I tried to push through with more intention. And well, here we are.”
Bambi listens and then decides to try something. Focusing her mind, she pushes back, and lurches forward as she seizes back control of her body. She catches herself on the upper frame of the mirror, and looks at her reflection. This time, she looks into her own face. There is a brief spurt of relief, but then she gives a start. “Oh no, did I push her away?” Frantically, she searches the recesses of her mind, but she isn’t yet in the practice of doing any of this confidently.
I’m still here, the voice comes from inside her mind, sounding as if she had been snubbed. But was that really necessary?
“I’m sorry,” Bambi apologies sheepishly, feeling no small degree of amusement. “It was impulsive. I just wanted to try it for myself.”
In that instant, her consciousness is pulled back forcefully, even if less dramatically than before, and she is displaced to being the observer. It causes Bambi to see Jasmine’s reflection again. Her double has returned the favor.
“Hey!” Bambi exclaims, and then startles herself simultaneously when her mouth moves and her finger is raised at the reflection in indignation. It seems that she still has control over her own body, albeit only to an extent. The difference is that the dull ache that plagued her so many times before is back. It is as though her mind is suddenly too full. She feels a strange sensation of another consciousness surfacing alongside her own.
“Looks like we can’t both take the steering wheel at the same time. This is the most I could do. You were resisting,” Jasmine states.
“I was?” Bambi responds in surprise.
“Well, you can move your body, can’t you?”
“Yeah. But why can I see you?” Bambi asks, perplexed.
“Because I’ve surfaced enough for you to be able to. But it’s causing me a headache,” Jasmine answers.
“It’s causing you a headache? It’s my head!” Bambi replies.
“No need to get possessive,” Jasmine chides,
playfully.
However, strange as all this is, neither of them currently finds themselves in a laughable predicament. Bambi wants to know why they are in this situation, more than she wants to know what exactly is happening between them. She realizes that she isn’t the only one to whom all of this is new.
Jasmine, once more seeming to follow her line of thought unaware, speaks her mind on the issue. “I’m obviously no expert in any of this. But it looks like my consciousness has somehow found its way into your body.”
“Like… in the sense that I’m a host to both of us?” Bambi tries to clarify.
“I think so.”
Bambi’s mind is reeling. The entire prospect of being a host to another mind feels daunting to her. Despite the care she had moderately developed toward Jasmine, she can’t help but feel invaded to an extent.
If Jasmine has caught on to any of these reservations, she hasn’t mentioned anything about them. However, possibly feeling the undeniable force of Bambi’s emotional turmoil, she reacts.
“Bambi. I need you to calm down. The intensity of what you’re feeling is busy driving me away. We won’t be able to figure this out if you push me back.”
The truth is, Bambi is trying. She simply isn’t managing well. Fearing, however, that Jasmine may disappear again—remembering how upset she was when she had been so close to recovering her, only to feel like she had failed—she instead relinquishes her control. Her mind falls back, while allowing Jasmine’s to surge forward.
She still sees through her own eyes, and strangely… Jasmine is no longer reflected in the mirror. Only herself. But from the demeanor and expression, she can tell that Jasmine has taken over. This calms her down.
“Yeah, we definitely need to get a hold over this. Otherwise, we may be in trouble. Why did you hand back the reins?”
I just found you. I’m not losing you again. Bambi catches herself while thinking it, but it is the most truthful answer she can conjure up at the moment, even if the tone of the thought is a little intimate.
“Uhm. Okay,” Jasmine responds, not unkindly. “I—”
Sorry I didn’t mean—
“No. I… ahem. I appreciate you worrying. I shouldn’t have just left like that.”
Of course, Jasmine’s reference to Bambi’s earlier worry about her disappearance is spot on. But reflecting on her own words, Bambi cannot help but think it actually runs deeper. This isn’t the first instance in which Jasmine seems to have been withheld from her. They have been apart for years.
“Okay. Enough freaking out. Let’s put our heads together… Well, what I mean to say is! Pah! You know what I mean don’t you.”
Bambi projects her affirmation through feeling instead of thought. This time, she knows she is the one whose thoughts are an echo into her own mind as opposed to Jasmine’s. About what you said earlier—that you had died. I don’t understand. Why would—? She hesitates, the thought a little too painful to pursue.
“It’s the only explanation I could think of. Why else would my consciousness be there?”
Disturbing as the thought is, Bambi has to admit that Jasmine has a good point. It leaves her without the knowledge of how to feel about all this. Should she be feeling grief at the possibility that it may be true? It’s hard, considering that Jasmine seems to be right here. She doesn’t know how to even begin accepting it.
“And why would I have control over your body? I mean, it has to be this psychic connection we share.” If anyone else was there, it would have seemed to someone that Bambi had an identity crisis and was talking to herself in the mirror. For a moment then, Jasmine appears to come to a realization. Her expression shifts, and from the few themes riding on her train of thought, Bambi can discern enough to understand that Jasmine somehow feels she has woken from a bad dream. Dark and blurry scenes fly before her, and Bambi fears the worst.
It feels as though you’re pushing away something unpleasant.
“W-what?” Jasmine responds, feeling exposed.
Bambi is quiet for a while before she continues. I think you may need to accept that anything we think or feel in here—my head—is not really going to be easily kept a secret from the other. We cannot exactly read what the other is thinking. But we have an idea. I can feel you trying to suppress the truth. Like… literally! In my bones!
Jasmine is quiet at this. While her mind is in the forefront, and vulnerable to scrutiny, she decides to take her chances.
Jasmine. What happened?
It is then that Jasmine starts relating her account, accompanied by bursts of images that seem to assail their single mind. It conveys an occurrence that is brief in words, but vivid enough in intensity. When she finishes, Bambi is left reeling. Jasmine’s final words leave perhaps the worst impression on Bambi’s mind.
“I don’t just think I’m dead though. I think I was killed.”
Bambi feels the force of the words hit her, and even though Jasmine is in control of her body, a tear that very much belongs to Bambi is rolling down her cheek.
Jasmine’s perplexed expression tells Bambi that she herself may have not been ready for emotion to accompany the story.
“I don’t think I want to continue the conversation,” she says, while wiping away Bambi’s tear. “At least, not tonight. Perhaps it’s better if we both go to bed.”
Bambi feels a slight apprehension about the idea, which Jasmine naturally also feels.
“We may need the rest, Bambi. Don’t worry. It isn’t as though I’m going anywhere,” she jibes, giving a smile.
How… would it even work? I mean, do you go to sleep? And then me? Or—”
“I don’t have the slightest idea. But I guess we’re about to find out, aren’t we?”
Chapter Two
We have to consider the possibility that we’re more than just random lookalikes, Jasmine had said, starting their conversation the next morning.
Bambi had woken up, finding herself fully in control of her own body, and almost forgetting that she wasn’t alone inside her own head. That is, until Jasmine started groaning grumpily from a recess in her mind, commenting on being so jarringly awakened.
Bambi considers Jasmine’s statement as she wades into the kitchen, preparing some breakfast. The prospect that Jasmine lays in front of her evokes an intense reflection that Bambi still isn’t ready for. The same possibility—their physical similarity not being the result of pure chance—had of course crossed her own mind a number of times. She realizes how fervently she had suppressed the idea. Its ramifications on her life, her entire identity for that matter, seems to be questioned by it.
Now, however, even though some of her thoughts are private, she doesn’t have the complete liberty to deny a glaring truth. She is aware of Jasmine’s presence as a dull tingling inside her head. As she replays those words in her mind, it’s a mystery to her if Jasmine is aware of the shape of her thoughts. She continues talking on the same tangent.
We have to consider that this… connection we have… is because we’re related.
And there it is. That idea of a relation. Even that specific suspicion had not escaped Bambi in her own musings. If anything, she secretly wants to deny that possibility most of all. It would mean that her life isn’t exactly built on the truth she has held for the last twenty-six years. It means that was merely a version of a truth to give her the best life possible.
None of these are common morning reflections that a girl often endures while stirring her oats and brewing her coffee. And perhaps the attempt at normalcy seems a bit laughable to her double, from whom she can feel the scrutiny rising as Bambi tries to distract herself.
Bambi, Jasmine starts with a firm inclination to her voice, You need to speak to your parents.
Bambi allows the wooden spoon she had been stirring with to fall against the rim of the pot, suddenly overcome by her nerves. She leans against the counter for support, taking a deep breath to steady herself. “I know,” she agrees softly. “It’s just… not an easy conversation.” She dreads it, in fact. “Let me just… have this one moment for a while. Okay?”
