The $20,000 Offer

All at once, her body tingled and she was jolted awake. As she looked around, the more she looked, the more confused she became. She went from trying to figure out what the feeling was to who she even was. She couldn't remember her name, age, or even what she looked like. The female found herself getting up from where she was previously lying to taking in her surroundings.

They were in an empty room; the walls a pale blue and the bed spread a pale yellow. She had no memory of this place, no memory of anything. Within moments, she was looking into the mirror. She had long black hair with pieces of green throughout; blue eyes and freckles across her cheeks and nose. She was quite pale and her skin was litter with tattoos and scars. Even with looking at herself and her tattoos, she remembered nothing.

In a panic, she began to tear apart the room in the hopes of finding any clue to who she was and what happened. In the side table was an envelope sealed with "here you go" written on it. With furrowed brows, the dark-haired vixen opened it to reveal cash. 20,000 dollars held between her frail fingers and still, no understanding. She looked up to the ceiling with glossy eyes; "Who am I?" she asked in a frightened tone. With the money in her pocket, she made her way to the door and slowly creaked it open. The female began to toss around ideas of what to do; started to consider deciding who she was and beginning new.

The further she walked through the empty home, the more energy she felt. She didn't know where she was, but she couldn't deny the tingling sensation beneath her chest-plate that made letting go of everything seem wrong. As she continued to venture through the home, the more she began to question if she had loved ones and if leaving behind her old life was the wrong thing to do. By the time she reached the front door, she couldn't fight the burn within her bones telling her not to leave until she could remember who she was. She hesitantly opened the door to glance before seeing a small black notebook on the welcome mat. With no words on the front, she bent down to pick it up and opened to the front page.

Her eyes began to move across the page and her eyebrows furrowed; 20,000 to return to your old life, but you can't take it back. Confusion hit her, and soon after she began to debate the words. Is this possible? Is she still asleep? She had so many unanswered questions that led her to sitting on the ground with the book and meditating. She couldn't explain the voice she heard in that moment, but their words were clear as day. She slipped the money from her pocket and on top of the front page of the book before it lifted from her hands and the pages began flipping violently. All at once, her body tingled and she was jolted awake. As she looked around, her eyebrows furrowed as she blinked continually.

"Welcome back. I'm so glad you made the right decision.", came a soft masculine voice to her side. Within moments, it all came back to her. She had attempted suicide and had been in a psych hospital. They had agreed to try their new augmented reality procedure; to see if she would choose her old life despite the trauma her body still felt, or starting over. "Fastest comeback yet, you know, didn't even spend a day with a new life. Your soul is very strong and connected to you." Slowly, she turned her head to see the male in uniform, clearly a worker in the facility.

"Do you remember your name?" Cue a small pause before a small smile curled onto her lips. "Yuri Quentin.", a sigh of relief fell from her lips as she felt warmth from within.