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When Sloane was seven, she had hit her head at the bottom of a swimming pool. Unafraid and ambitious, she had launched herself from the highest diving board she had ever climbed. She remembered smiling at her sister as she climbed the ladder. She remembered the confidence and the pride she felt to go first, to watch her sister become smaller and smaller as she climbed up. And when she reached the top, she had stood firm at the edge of the board, leapt forward, and felt herself fall, hitting the water with a great sense of euphoria and a grand splash.Then everything faded.And then, she woke up heavy and slowly. Her limbs felt heavy, too large even. The colors around her seemed off as she darted her eyes around, trying to make sense of herself and what had happened. She felt wet, but the wetness seemed to seep into her skin, making her breathing shallow and rapid. Coming through was strange because it wasn’t like her eyes flashing open and suddenly leaving the water behind.She hadn’t woken up all at once. No, she woke in stages, sense by sense, one thought at a time. Once she registered the wetness and the muted colors, the ringing in her ears came next—a low hum that changed frequency, going up and down to tease her awake. But she knew she was out; it was just the ringing. Her ears kept on ringing.The ringing continued for weeks, long after Mom had stapled her head and long after the staples came out. It mocked her and rattled her to her core because it didn’t just remind her of her injury, of a mistake she shouldn’t have made, it reminded her of her flaws. So, her ears rang and rang and rang.As Sloane continued to feel lost in the water, that feeling was the most vivid and loud thing in her mind, like it was her entire life, her moment of existence starting and ending on that diving board, which was nonsense, a deep logical part of her mind supplied that, but she couldn’t argue that it was all she felt.Stirring, Sloane slapped her ear, finally registering the memory as just that, a memory, but also realizing that the ringing had returned. She raised a hand to her head and groaned, surprised to find a hand already there. A hand that wasn’t hers. The hand was petting her hair; it felt small. A woman’s hand.She tried to open her eyes but ended up feeling dizzy, like the motion was just too much at once. She had been dreaming, right? There were thoughts of the pool and the drowning, but it felt like the water wasn’t the only murkiness; she felt like there was a dream before that, a tunnel. A hotel? She felt like she was going to throw up. Her head was just spinning so much. Oh fuck, she was going to be sick. Trying to pull herself up, a bowl was quickly put under her chin and her hair was pulled from her face, as she retched whatever was in her stomach. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate.All she knew was her mouth tasted acidic and vile. Wiping her mouth on her hand, she groaned. God, she had never felt this bad in her life. She was suddenly rolled onto her back, which she was glad of now that she didn’t feel like she was going to be sick again.“Welcome back to the world of the living, princess,” came a voice. Sloane squinted; the light was filtering in from behind the person, and she wasn’t able to focus enough yet. All she saw was bright yellow and a blurry figure.Sloane had to stare for a moment, her vision still funny. Short hair, dark glasses. “Fei,” she finally said.“God,” Fei said. “You really are in a bad way. I haven’t seen you this bad in years.”Sloane finally concluded that she was on the couch, her head in Fei’s lap, the TV humming in the background. It felt strange. Yes, her head hurt, but the room also felt disorienting, like she had been here before but also like she hadn’t. Sort of like the sets of reality shows, it’s like she knew where everything belonged; she felt familiarity but there was a distance. Though everything about this morning felt distant, it was hard to describe but her head felt like her sleep had lasted years and this was her first time opening her eyes.This wasn’t right.Fei moved her hand from Sloane’s hair down to her forehead, her many rings pressing into Sloane’s forehead didn’t take away from the relief it brought, cool and wonderful. “God, Sloane,” Fei breathed out slowly, her hand moving around Sloane’s face. “You’re really burning up!”That probably explained why she felt so terrible. If she was running a fever, it would make sense for her to be confused and disoriented. Fei moved back on the couch, her hands finding Sloane’s shoulders and helping her sit up, slow and steady, and relaxing Sloane’s head into a pillow Fei had stacked. Fei was clearly doing her best to make this as slow and comfortable as possible, but Sloane was truly struggling, feeling like this was the first time sitting up in her life.Fei picked up a blister pack from the coffee table in front of her, popping out two capsules and handing them to Sloane with a glass of water. “Drink it all,” she said in a way a parent would speak to a badly behaved child. Sloane did as she was told, the cool water going down her throat. How had it felt so dry? When was the last time she drank?“How did I get here?” Sloane asked as she continued sipping from the drink.“Beats me,” Fei said plainly but not annoyed. “You showed up here last night fifty shades of drunk. Any idea why?”Sloane continued massaging her temples. Did she know why? What had she done last night, where had she been? Who had she been with? Thinking about it only made her headache more.“I’m going to be sick again.” She mumbled, and suddenly the bowl was in front of her again. Only nothing came up; she just heaved. Fuck, her head had never hurt this bad. How drunk was she? She felt all energy had been vaporized from her body. Sloane couldn’t remember, but she never considered herself that much of a drinker. She didn’t drink like this, push herself to oblivion.Oblivion?Suddenly Sloane was heaving again, and this time Fei got up. “I’m going to get a rag for your forehead. Will you be okay here for a minute? Please don’t vomit on the couch.” She pointed a finger at Sloane warningly. That made Sloane smile.“I can make no such promises,” Sloane said, burying her head back into the cushion.With Fei gone, Sloane pushed her attention to the TV and what Fei had been watching. Some fantasy film, the audio descriptions were nice, and Sloane got to close her eyes again and just focus on the soft voice of the actor lulling her out of her murky mess. It would be easier to focus if the phone in the show would stop ringing. Cranking one eye open, however, she discovered it was not the TV and was coming from a phone on the coffee table.She wasn’t a hundred percent sure this was her phone. She didn’t feel like she knew it, but it had a purple floral case; there was no way this was Fei’s phone. She opened the case, and an unknown caller was the one placing the call. She didn’t recognize the number; it was a landline rather than a mobile, though. Did Sloane have an appointment she didn’t know about today? God, did she have work? Where did she even work? She quickly slid the answer bar, pushing down her confused thoughts and doing her best attempt to not sound like she was going to vomit her guts up again. “Hello?”“Hello ma’am,” a man’s voice came from the other side of the phone. It had a lilt of southern drawl, and she couldn’t place it. “Is this Sloane Hargreeves?”“It is. Who is this?” Fuck, maybe she did have work today. Why could she not remember where she worked? Had she hit her head last night?Fei suddenly came back into the room, a small bowl with a rag in tow. She gave Sloane a questioning thumbs up.Sloane tried to reply to Fei, but the man on the phone pulled her attention before she got a chance. “My name is Dave Katz.” The name didn’t ring any bells. Maybe this man had something to do with her lack of memories of last night. He continued, “Do you happen to know a Klaus Hargreeves?”And then everything stopped for Sloane. The name it was like it had opened a door and the water that was doing such a good job keeping her head muddled and fuzzy just flowed out of her. Memories hitting her like waves, dreams seeping into her bones and truths she didn’t know were really suddenly flowing. Her wedding, the hotel, the memories that were clouding the precipice of her mind, disguising themselves as dreams. She nearly dropped her phone. Klaus, yes Klaus, long brown hair, and a velvet suit, officiating her wedding. She got married. Marrying Luther. Luther Luther, her husband. She married Luther, he was her husband. Fuck. What was she doing here, what was Fei doing here. Jesus Christ Fei. Fei had been gone, but she was here now, she was with her. Sloane felt years in seconds and her nails began pressing into hand. And she didn’t know how, but Fei must have noticed her distress because she came over and placed the wet rag on Sloane’s forehead bringing her a second of relief before she suddenly remembered she was still supposed to be on the phone and clutched it closer to ear. “I…” Fuck, when had she started crying, not only now did she feel she was going to vomit again, but she also felt she had no control of her face. “You know Klaus.” she finally settled on. “Do you know Luther too?” And suddenly Fei’s hand tensed, Fei surely was feeling this too, this was weird and strange and levels of fucked up. Did Fei know she’d died, had Fei ever truly died or was it a sick dream. A dream within a dream perhaps. The man on phone returns, “Klaus’s brother?” he said sounding thrilled at getting to say Klaus’s name. “Yes!” Sloane was still confused because she both knew she knew Luther but also like he was far away, but Fei had felt it too and despite her headache she reached up and grabbed Fei’s hand tighter, she needed to feel something that was real. Fei’s warm hand reassured her. She let out a breath. Dave continued. “I never met him. But Klaus told me about him.” “Oh…” That was disappointing, she was hoping he knew where Luther might be right now, surely, they had been together and he must know how she ended up with a headache and vomiting in Fei’s apartment, unable to make sense of reality. “So, you won’t know what happened to him.” “No, ma’am, I’m afraid not.” He sounded sorrowful, like he truly wanted to help her she appreciated that and then there was a thought, he mustn’t know where Klaus is either if he is calling around looking for him. Something bad happened she knew that she felt it and if she closed her eyes, she could still feel the draining, worse than the water had felt in the swimming pool, sucking her life from her. God, seriously did she really experience that, the room and Dad. Taking a deep breath, she visualised it, she remembered going there and being without Luther, she remembered him coming back. She remembered holding him, feeling him, and then losing him again. God, she remembered losing herself again, before she was in the swimming pool, before everything went black and distorted and before she woke up in Fei’s lap. She chocked out a pained laugh, she was crying again, and Fei moved a hand to her cheek swiping the tears away. “I don’t even know where to start with all this… I don’t know what’s happening.” That was certainly one way of putting it, how do you explain to a stranger on the phone that you woke up in a room unsure of your own reality and how you occupied.“Luther and I, we barely had any time together before everything went to shit and now… Now I’m here and he’s god knows where. Is this what happens after the end of the world? On the other side of a Kugelblitz?” The word slipped off her tongue so familiar, 10 minutes ago she knew nothing about herself, only that she was dizzy and now her whole world and life was pushing to the front of her mind. His voice came back, kind and reassuring. She felt for this man, she truly did. “I don’t know, If we’re dead, that might explain a few things. But I don’t think we are, and something tells me neither do you.” She could agree to that, everything was too real, the hum of the TV, the feel of Fei’s hand, the cool refreshing water, and the lights around her. This couldn’t be death unless death was an apartment, occupied by her and Fei. “Dave, was it? “ she finally managed to choke out, hoping he couldn’t hear the tears in her voice and how small she felt. “ Can you meet me somewhere? I think we really need to talk.” When the call ended, Sloane fell apart, her loose tragic tears turning into complete and utter wailing. Pulling her knees to her chest, she needed answers, fuck she needed questions but now what she needed most was to cry and try somehow make something of what was going on.