Raif and Me: Part 6

It's Monday again! So that means it is time to continue the adventures of Raif and Tabitha. If you want to catch up, here are the links to the other parts written by Wendy Knight, Leah Sanders, and myself.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

 

~*~*~*~

Raif wanted to be far away when she woke up. He needed to not be in the room with her. It was difficult enough to watch her sleep, so peaceful.

          His.

          Not his.

Not. His.

She belonged to part of this body they shoved him in—if that made any sense. It didn’t to him. All he knew was he woke up and he wasn’t himself. He wasn’t anything—and he was everything.

Memories that weren’t his came into his mind from time to time: walking on the beach, kissing on a ferris wheel, laughing at a movie, making out in the backseat of his car.

He loved her.

She loved him.

And then he died.

Or… something like that.

He didn’t know her. Not really. And truthfully, back then, she didn’t know herself either. The first time she turned into the Phoenix—it scared them both.

Then the Collective came and recruited her.

He (the other him) told her not to do it, but she wouldn’t listen. She was scared. She wanted to save the world.

She picked the wrong side.

He woke up in Linoge Headquarters. They treated him well. Gave him assignments and a gun. Gave him a purpose which was more than one could ask for in the afterlife.

And then they sent him out to learn how to pretend to be human. He stunk at it. That’s where the routine came from. People, most people, thrive on routine. He thrived on chaos—on helping the cause.

The Collective sent Tabitha to stop him because they thought she would bring out the humanity, the true humanity, in him. They didn’t think he would hurt her. They thought their past would keep him from finishing his job.

They thought wrong.