Kissing her new husband on the forehead, Eve laid down next to him and went to sleep.
***
Paul was the first to wake up in the morning, when it was still dark. Turning the bedside lamp on, he got up,
took his underwear off, and basked in the temporary freedom of nudity before his new wife woke up. Oh sure,
they were married now, but some things just never change. Paul was still shy around girls, even long after he
grew up and got married, afraid they would laugh at him or something. Despite Eve's protestations that she
loved him for just the way he was(though she didn't deny the benefits of a proper diet, regular exercise, and
whatever supplements you may take, if any, if you should be so inclined either), Paul just couldn't get over
the fact that such a frankly hot girl like her would want to share her life with a schmuck like him. But that
was kismet. Besides Timmy, Paul had never met a person he was such kindred spirits with, a person that he
could share everything with. It was beyond being lovers and beyond being friends. It might have something in
common with the Australian idiom "mateship", if mateship's were co-ed that is. Honestly, Paul felt like the
luckiest guy in the world, and as he went about his morning routine, he periodically glanced over at his
sleeping bride Eve, as angelic a person as could be found.
When she woke up a few hours later, she stayed in bed but immediately made her presence known."
"Honey. I-. Oh my lord, this is going to sound crazy, but I think I was Tim Sherman in a past life."
"Timmy?" asked Paul, who was playing a video game. He turned it off, seeing the seriousness in Eve's eyes.
"Yeah, although I think my past self got really annoyed when you called him that. Just before we got married
yesterday, a sudden influx of information about Tim's old life enveloped my mind. It's still there, Paul. I
can tell you literally anything you want about Tim."
"Alright...um, so how did you come to the conclusion that you were Timmy before you were born? Seems kind of
weird to talk about reincarnation when the person you're saying you were is still alive" observed a slightly
amused Paul.
"Actually, I'm glad you asked, because now it gets even weirder."
"Weirder?"
"Yes. I believe that Tim's body is currently being inhabited by the soul of an elderly woman who's supposed to
dead right now named Evelyn Campbell. I think her soul is in Tim's body, and that my soul used to be Tim's"
Paul looked into Eve's eyes to see if she was joking or still drunk from the reception last night. She wasn't,
as far as he could tell.
"You're serious." It was rhetorical. He knew Eve was telling him what she honestly believed.
"Yes, I'm completely serious. Serious as a heart attack. I've never felt anything like tjat before! It was
just literally as the priest asked me to take my vow to be your lawfully wedded wife. All these memories just
came flooding through."
"And you thought this whole theory through just now?"
"No. I've been thinking about it all night, Paul. Running through my mind all of the possibilities. I had no
idea you were into black magic until now. Oh, my little Paul the D&D nerd, who just couldn't get enough and
had to try the real thing." Eve started giggling in that sweet, bubblegum voice of hers.
"All...right" murmured Paul. Internally, he was wondering how to go about this. He never told anyone about
this, even his own family, but Paul was a practicing sorcerer. Despite his background in the hard sciences,
Paul never gave up his curiosity about the fantastic, and of course, given his geekiness, he had tried to
discover the link between where natural phenomena ended and magic began, or even if there was a separation at
all. Eve had no idea about what Paul did in his spare time, and until now, she didn't need too. But she was as
skeptical as they came, so having her just out of the blue claim that she was reincarnated from anyone, let
alone a living person, not to mention her hypothesis that Tim had the "wrong" soul his inside his body, left
Paul room for pause. Thinking back to his teenage years when he was first involved in the occult, he couldn't
recall any of his spells going badly. Uncle Edmund had confirmed that Paul indeed would be a talented sorcerer
if he just kept up at it, which he did. And Edmund was very sad and disappointed when Timmy flat out expressed
his disinterest in the magical arts. Maybe Edmund did something to Timmy in the interim between then and now?
"Eve, I think we're going to have to visit my Uncle Edmund. He can help us confirm whether your story is true
or not."
"But what about Tim? It's very important that we let him...or her, once he realizes that he's Evelyn Campbell,
know about this."
"We can get to that later. We have to take it easy and slow, Eve. Not everyone is as logical and composed as
you are."
"Thanks sweety. But who's the irrational one- Evelyn or Tim?"
"If an Evelyn exists."
"I KNOW she does, Paul. I was her for a brief period."