The Case of Mary Jane Skyler
Prologue
It had been four weeks since Mara Jade Skywalker found herself inside the comatose body of a woman on Earth. Mara had learned that she had been placed there after her death in her own galaxy by powers unknown. The reasoning behind this placement seemed to be so that Mara could help Mary out of her coma and get on with her life. Mara's reward thereafter was to return to her own galaxy in some capacity. If it meant she could speak to her husband, Luke, and her son, Ben, as a Force spirit then she would accept it.
A few weeks ago, Mara had been visited by the anthropomorphic being known as Death, but to her she was Didi. She had explained all of this to Mara, but the details of the encounter were fading away from her memory over the past weeks. What Didi did not fully explain was how Mara was to awake Mary from her coma. Didi left her the hint that Mara should investigate further into what exactly happened at the stable where Mary's coma began an Earth year ago.
There were only a few outsiders in Mobile, Alabama who did know that Mara was the true possessor of Mary's body at the moment. There was Benjamin, Mary's son, who sometimes liked to be called Spike. Emma Skyler, Mary's mother, had also known. Deke Werner was Mary's boss at the nightclub she worked at. He had figured she was not Mary from their first meeting. There was also Annie, Mary's best friend and fellow Dead Head, who knew. And Mary's dim-witted ex-husband, Luke Wallace, was the very first to know she was not Mary. Add to that list a group of thugs from a gang that Deke had dealt with knew of Mara Jade's wrath. Mara wanted to keep the list of people who knew her true name to be minimal in numbers.
The one person to whom Mara desperately needed to speak with was comatose. Just had it been since Mara awoke in Mary's body, there had been silence from Mary herself. Mara even remembered in the beginning that she thought she was Mary. It wasn't until a drug-induced hallucinogenic session with the so-called Doctor Steve Markham when Mara remembered everything about her life in her galaxy. It was also at that time when Mary actually did awake for a few chilling moments.
Don't touch me!
Mary had been silent since then.
Until four weeks later while Mara headed for work on a rainy late afternoon, she would discover that music and song were strong inhibitors of awareness.