“Lily,” I whispered. “Lily Bennett.”
Of course, that was her name. In that moment I knew I needed to protect Lily. I realized my error then, that I’d left poor Lily vulnerable. She was in danger. Without the knowledge of what’d happened to Spence and me, she was in very real danger. I tried to open my mouth to warn Dr. White, to beg him to talk to Lily and tell her what I knew, but the drifting feeling was too powerful and I couldn’t seem to speak.
Distantly, I heard Dr. White call my name again, but it was too late. I was already gone.
DR. WHITE HIT A KEY on his keyboard and my image was gone. He then pivoted his laptop back around and regarded me soberly.
“In nineteen eighty-six I took a job at Chamberlain High School as the school counselor,” he began. “It was the height of the Cold War, and many young people were struggling with the idea that a nuclear holocaust was imminent and schools were starting to see that fear manifest in destructive ways. I was brought on as something of an experiment, to be there for kids who were struggling with personal issues or who just wanted to talk, and Amber Greeley was one of my regulars.
“She was a bright and engaging young lady, and she developed an interest in psychology her junior year, so she came to me to ask about the profession and where the best schools were to pursue a career in that field. I knew her well enough to never believe she took her own life, or had a hand in Ben Spencer’s murder, and in our last meeting I did give her a recommendation letter for her summer job and wish her well at school the following fall. On occasion I also referred to her as Miss Jung. I can’t imagine how you’d know exactly what I said to Amber at the end of that last meeting, Lily. I can’t believe that anyone but she and I would.”
I was stunned mute. “You think I’m possessed by Amber Greeley?” I finally managed to ask.
Dr. White smiled kindly at me. “No, Lily. I believe you were Amber Greeley. I believe that you’ve reincarnated and are now Lily Bennett, but for whatever reason, the soul of Amber Greeley is having a hard time letting go of her past life, and has brought some of that forward to your reality.”
“You’re serious?” Mom said. She looked as scared and shaken as I was.
“I am,” he told us. “Take Lily’s dream. The dead boy in the field? The field on fire? Ben Spencer’s father was killed in a terrible car crash and burned to death. Amber arrived at the scene shortly after the crash. What she saw traumatized her, and that’s when she started coming to me once a week. Fire equated death to her psyche, and when, in Lily’s dream, she steps out into the field and sees that it’s on fire, she knows that what she’ll discover will be something traumatic.
“In addition, Ben Spencer was shot to death in a field behind the high school on May twenty-third, nineteen eighty-seven. Amber died four days later. Her death was ruled a suicide, and no one questioned the coroner’s report because she’d been so obviously distraught over losing Ben, and because only her prints were found on the knife. Somewhere in the ensuing days after Amber died, a rumor began to circulate that Amber had killed Ben because he’d wanted to break up with her. Not being able to handle her guilt, Amber took her own life by stabbing herself in the heart with a blade from her kitchen. The rumor stuck, and most people who remember that far back take it as a fact.
“The point, however, is that I believe the dream that Lily has been having from as far back as she can remember is actually a manifestation of Amber’s memory of that spring night when she discovered her murdered boyfriend in the field at the school.”
I looked down at my lap. My head was full of information I couldn’t quite take in. It was overwhelming and disconcerting. I felt like I’d just been told that my entire life was a lie.
Mom seemed to sense how it was affecting me, and she pulled my hand up to her heart protectively. “But how, Dr. White? How is that possible? I mean…reincarnation? Really?”
He nodded like he understood her skepticism. “I know it’s a lot to process, Dr. Bennett, but you witnessed your daughter’s hypnosis. All the details that she as Amber gave us, the things that Lily couldn’t possibly know or have access to learn. She didn’t get a single thing wrong. Not Amber’s address, not the names of her best friends, not the details of our final meeting. And I should mention that only the conscious mind is capable of producing a lie. The subconscious is the most honest part of ourselves—it’s where all the truth is hidden. It would be impossible for Lily to have created a ruse under hypnosis, and it’s not possible, in my opinion, that she faked that, either. She presented all of the telltale signs of being in a hypnotic state.”
Mom shifted in her chair, I stared at my lap and concentrated on taking deep breaths. “But how can this reincarnation stuff be real?” she said softly, as if she needed actual, scientific proof.