Friends with the Flies-Part 2 of 3

A gifted young artist struggles with the consequences of her art. Two souls wrestle for control of one body, and forces of destiny desperately seek to set things back on course

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Part 1

Friends with the Flies

Part 2

I laid there, eyes squeezed shut and commanding myself, Remember! Remember! Remember! Nothing but a faint buzz like the feedback when you’ve plugged into an amplifier and gotten that low hum. How did I get here? Who am I? I searched my memory for lingering notes about reincarnation, stating that one could be reborn into a fully formed adult body, but another thought tripped me up. I died. I am dead. Fragments pierced the fog. The wasp. The pen. The faces on the flies. A double-tap drumbeat in my chest and the words landed again. Marigold and green.

Under the sheet, a hand, silky as lotion, slid across my thigh, sending electricity to my ears, then it continued over my abdomen, to my forearm, and climbed to my shoulder. The unmistakable…