Issue 1 Downtime

After a Socially Acceptable amount of time had passed, Roland knocked on the door to Haley's dorm, trying desperately not to be noticed.

Haley opened the door a crack and peered into the hall.

"Hi Prof. What's up?"

"Hey H...Ms. Crusek. Can I...am I interrupting?" he said, nervously.

"No, just doing math homework. C'mon in I guess?" she said opening the door. She was wearing an oversized tee and a pair of athletic shorts short enough that it certainly appeared she wasn't wearing any pants at first glance.

"Good, good," Roland said, coming in.

"So. This is your dorm room, huh?" he said, studiously examining the pictures on the walls.

"You've been here before...guess you ran away rather than coming in," she added.

The room itself was fairly neat for a teenager's residence. Pictures of friends from back home, pets, and landscapes from family vacations around he U.S. we're arranged in a collage above her desk. Next to her bed was a poster of a shirtless, very muscular, young cowboy--some country singer that Roland had never heard of.

Country, perhaps from said sexy artist played quietly on her laptop, whose screen was filled with nothing but Facebook chat messages, and her math homework sat, mostly ignored, on her desk. The room was dark except for her desk lamp.

"What's up?" she asked plopping down on her chair.

"Well, I mostly wanted to check on how you were doing...it was a little awkward in the infirmary, what with everyone there and all."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she sighed.

"Honestly, getting kidnapped by some freak is on the low end of my terrifying/weird scale now. I swapped bodies with you, know that magic is fuckin' real, and I've talked with both a terrifying snake and the Phoenix when I've stumbled into the Astral the past few weeks."

She replied to several messages on her laptop, several on her phone while explaining all this, before turning to really face Roland.

"Why so worried about little old me?"

"The Phoenix?" Roland said, obviously trying to delay whatever the hell it was he was here to talk about. "She's still lurking about?"

The ploy was an obvious one.

"Yep."

She got a sense he was stalling, and not just because she was a mind reader with limited self control, so she didn't do anything to help him.

"Why so worried about me though?"

"Well...I just didn't...I mean...

...

I didn't want you to get hurt again. I couldn't let that happen."

"Well thanks," she smiled.

"I'm fine though. Really."

...why's he so concerned about me?

"I just, you know.

...

It's hard. You're going to think I'm crazy."

"...what?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

"This is not the...not the first time I haven't been there when you needed help."

"When have I needed your help before? I just met you a few months ago, and only really got to know you when we swapped bodies."

"That's not...not entirely true, though I'm not surprised you don't remember. It was a long, long time ago. In Egypt."

"Professor, the only country I've ever visited is the UK to come here for school. And I went to Puerto Rico once. Never, ever been to Egypt."

"Yes, you have," Roland insisted. "About 2500 years ago, you were there. And so was I."

"...are you high? I'm 15."

"You are 15. But you're also much, much older. Everyone is.

It's the eyes that give it away. You have her eyes."

"...what are you talking about? Whose eyes?"

Haley looked uneasy, if not outright frightened.

Roland pushed through, regardless.

"My wife's. You are...as difficult as this might be to accept, you are the reincarnation of my wife."

"I think I'd know if I was married to you!" she exclaimed, a bit of panic in her voice.

"I don't think most people can remember their past lives! If I weren't there, I probably wouldn't know, either.

I wasn't going to mention anything, because I thought it would be awkward!"

"Super, SUPER awkward!"

"But then you vanished, and...and if you had died, and I had never let you know..." he trailed off.

"Let me know what? That my history teacher thinks I'm somehow his wife from 2000 years ago?"

"Let you know how much I...care for you, Haley. How much I've come to value what little time we spend together...

And why you're so important to me."

"...this is...just so..." Haley looked on the verge of tears.

"Haley, I'm sorry. But I respect you too much than to just...hide this."

"I just..." she sniffled. "I...what does this even..."

"This is to explain why I'm...not really hanging around you. It was awkward for me, and now it's awkward for you. You have a boyfriend, a whole thing; I'm an old man. You just...I had to tell you."

He paused, and then put a small black box on Haley's desk. "I thought you should have this...and maybe I should go, now."

"I...I...yeah...you...should," Haley said, choked up and barely stopping the tears from flowing and absolutely clueless at how to respond to anything right now.

Roland looked like he was about to say something else, but then closed his mouth and left.

Haley bawled for a good twenty minutes before she just couldn't anymore, and she sat in alone, in the dark (she shattered the bulb in her desk lamp mentally) for another ten or 15 minutes before she finally pulled herself together somewhat.

She cleared her throat, and woke up her laptop to provide some illumination, and looked at what Roland had left for her.

Inside the box was a golden bangle, with gold and silver amulets along the inside, each an animal figure or symbol of some description. It looked very old.

It was in good condition, and would fit, though it was clearly NOT Haley's style.

Remembering the last gift she had received from Roland, she thought long and hard before actually putting it on, but did eventually do so, staring at it intently and focusing her mind on any memories that might be imprinted on it.

It's safe to say this was nowhere near as bad, nor was it as strong.

There were the faint mental imprints of what looked like some kind of throne room and whatnot, with scantily clad men and palm fronds and the like.

It is unlikely Haley has ever seen the movie Cleopatra, or a production of Antony and Cleopatra, so it may not be immediately familiar as an Egyptian one, but she could surely put two and two together. Or COULD she?

Her dad was in fact, a bit of a classic film buff, so she was at least passingly familiar.

"....oh my god does he think I'm like Cleopatra reborn or some shit?" she said aloud to herself.

Tired, and her math no where near being any closer to being done, she kept the bracelet on and crawled into bed.

...and where the fuck is my roommate?