Day 6002

The next day, A awakes in the body of Megan Powell, a girl who lives only an hour away from Rhiannon. After a quick email exchange, A and Rhiannon arrange to meet up in a bookstore at 5:00 p.m. It is fairly easy for A to get Megan excused from cheerleading practice for a fictional doctor’s appointment.

After these practical details are settled, A spends the day worrying about what to say to Rhiannon. Although A has never told anyone the truth before, it seems the only option now. In fact, A wants someone else to know she exists: “I am learning that a life isn’t real unless someone else knows its reality.” But she worries that the truth will be too weird or frightening for Rhiannon.

When A arrives at the bookstore, she finds Rhiannon already there. Taking a deep breath, she slips into the seat across the table. When Rhiannon protests, A claims she was sent by Nathan. After a quick plea for Rhiannon to listen to the whole story without getting angry or leaving, A plunges in and explains that she wakes up in a different body every day. Today’s body belongs to a cheerleader named Megan Powell, but recently A has also been a kid named Nathan who danced with Rhiannon at a party, a girl named Amy who spent a day at Rhiannon’s school, and a boy named Justin who took Rhiannon to the beach.

Naturally, Rhiannon does not believe A. She thinks this must be an elaborate joke, but A tells a series of stories about each of these people—details that someone would only know if he or she were there. At the end of this list, A adds:

And now…I want to tell you the truth before I switch again. Because I think you’re remarkable. Because I don’t want to keep meeting you as different people. I want to meet you as myself.

When Rhiannon continues to disbelieve the story, A begs her to admit that the two of them have a connection. Rashly, A insists that it could not have been Justin at the beach that day—that Justin is a different kind of person. Rhiannon does not agree. She does not storm out—which was A’s main fear—but she does not accept A’s story either.

Not knowing what else to do, A suggests meeting again tomorrow at the same time. Rhiannon points out that this could be an elaborate joke, but A insists she is sincere. Rhiannon looks A in the eye for a long time. “What’s your name?” she says.

It is the first time anyone has ever asked A’s name, and after she reveals it, she explains why she chose it:

I came up with it when I was a little kid. It was a way of keeping myself whole, even as I went from body to body, life to life. I needed something pure. So I went with the letter A.

Rhiannon still cannot accept something this crazy so quickly. But she does admit that Justin has little memory of the day at the beach. More importantly, she agrees to meet A again tomorrow.