Five years ago...

"Giirrrl, don't make me do it."

"Just give me a second!"

"I'm gonna do it."

"Neil, just hold on. I'm not ready."

"Three..."

"Neil."

"Two..."

"Neil, I swear to God."

"One!"

"Nei - OW!"

Eva yelped as Neil karate-chopped her wrists, forcing her to drop the Sigmund Employee Handbook she had been poring over for the last fifteen minutes. She retaliated with a floppy arm flail - the best she could manage from the driver's seat of their cramped company car. Impervious, Neil took the chance to grab the handbook and stow it in his inner coat pocket.

"Enough studying. We're late," he said, stepping out of the car from the passenger's side.

"Since when did you care about punctuality all of a sudden?" said Eva, stepping out of the car.

"I don't. I care about Rob getting on my case about punctuality. You weren't there for the almighty sermon he gave me this morning."

Neil opened the trunk of the car, and with a huff, hauled out the massive metal briefcase with their equipment. "Did you know they took attendance for those stupid training seminars we had to attend? What're we, high schoolers?"

"Well, I helped you cheat on your exams again, so...Yeah, we're pretty much still in high school," said Eva, following Neil up the gravelly driveway of a small house.

"Oh, come off it. The only reason you passed was because you crammed at the last minute."

"The only reason we passed. And see? Doesn't that prove that cramming is useful?" said Eva, with a smirk.

"It might be useful for written tests. But this is the real deal. Rob's not here to babysit us anymore with our patients. If anything goes wrong -"

"Don't you worry," chirped Eva, pulling out and unfolding a sheet of paper from her pocket. "I spent all night mapping out all possible scenarios, and coming up with contingency plans for each of them."

Neil gaped at her incredulously. Eva returned it with a confident grin.

"Don't forget. We are professionals now. And this is what professionals do. They are prepared to handle anything," said Eva, ringing the doorbell.

A short, stocky lady dressed in nurse's scrubs opened the door.

"Hi, we're from Sigmund Corps," said Eva, in her friendliest voice. "I'm Dr. Eva Rosalene. This is Dr. Neil Watts. We're here to see Lolita Riveira?"

Maybe it was nerves, but it took Eva and Neil ten minutes longer to set up the equipment than when Rob oversaw them. They bickered in hushed voices about where to set up the machine. Neil had left behind a couple cables in the car and had to run back and grab them. The nurse watched them with curiosity, but made no comment. Still, Eva carried on with her work with as much dignity as she could muster, despite her heart puttering with embarrassment and nerves.

She cast a glance at Lolita Riveira, their client. Lolita was a ninety-year-old lady, deep in a coma, with the nurse standing at her bedside. The nurse, a kindly lady whose name was Myrna, had informed Eva and Neil with her limited English of Lolita's final wish - to re-experience her life with a loving family of her own. Neil rolled his eyes at yet another sappy wish, earning him a glare from Eva. She knew he would wait until they were "safely" in the client's memories before he started mocking them.

Eva gently placed the special helmet - which connects the client's mind to the machine - on Lolita's head, and switched it on. The machine hummed as it responded to Lolita's mental input. Eva turned to give Neil the thumbs up. He reciprocated and put on his helmet.

Eva logged Neil into the software. She double- and triple-checked Neil's connections to make sure they were secure.

"Ready to launch, Neil. I'll be right behind you."

"See ya downtown in crazy town," he said, reaching up to flip the switch on his helmet with a self-satisfied smirk. His helmet began to hum; he was now in Lolita's memories.

Before Eva could put on her helmet, there came a crunch of gravel outside the house. Someone had just parked in the driveway. Eva turned to see a middle-aged woman dressed in office attire march up the driveway.

"Ah, pardon me," said the nurse, Myrna, promptly leaving the bedroom to speak to the newcomer.

Eva could hear a hushed, but heated argument in a language she couldn't understand take place just outside the bedroom door.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and the middle-aged woman came charging in like a bull.

"Who are you people? What are you doing with my mother?"

Eva was so taken-aback, she forgot her professionalism.

"I, er...We're from Sigmund Corp. Um. I'm Eva. He's Neil. And uh, yeah...Hi."

"Sigmund WHAT?" The daughter looked ready to kill something.

"Sigmund Corp. We'll be working with your mother's memories to-"

"Oh no. Oh no no no no no. Myrna, I TOLD you not to go through with this!" The daughter resumed yelling at the poor nurse in their language.

Myrna ignored the tirade and addressed Eva. "This is Bonnie. Lolita's daughter. She means no disrespect."

"Get out of my house. All of you," Bonnie growled.

Myrna put her arm in front of Bonnie, as if to block her words. "No, please continue, Dr. Rosalene. Lolita asked for you to-"

"Myrna, you work for me. Not my mother. Your orders were solely to look after the medical needs of my mother. Not to meddle in our personal lives."

Eva looked between Bonnie, Myrna, and Neil, who had already entered Lolita's memories and was now semi-conscious. Eva fiddled with her helmet, unsure what to do.

"You have five minutes to get out of my house or I'm calling the police," said Bonnie.

"Look," said Eva, "Maybe we should consider rescheduling while you two figure this out."

"No, please. There is no other time," pleaded Myrna. "Lolita can't hold on for much longer. This needs to be done today."

"Let me call my boss," said Eva, already dialing his extension. She moved out of the bedroom into the hallway - partly so she could hear Rob, but mostly so she could take a breather and think straight.

"Hi. This is Robert Lin-"

"Rob! Thank God, I was just -" Eva began.

"- I am currently out of the office right now. But please leave your name and number, and I will - "

Eva hung up. He must be out on an assignment right now. Who else could she call? Should she consult Neil?

That's right! She could contact Neil while he's still in Lolita's memories! However, they had never used the machine's "walkie-talkie" system before since they had always entered a client's memories together; it was a strict Sigmund Corp policy for newbies to stick together for their own safety.

Eva returned to Lolita's bedroom to see Bonnie and Myrna arguing again. They turned to look at Eva.

"Well?!" snapped Bonnie.

"I need to speak with my colleague. Please excuse me," said Eva.

"Are you leaving?" demanded Bonnie.

"Please excuse me," repeated Eva, steadily.

"I'm calling the police. I warned you." Bonnie pulled out her phone and dialed.

Eva took a deep breath and logged into the machine. She initialized the "walkie-talkie" program. The screen flashed the words "Connected to Neil Watts."

Eva looked around the machine for a microphone. It was located at the top of the machine. She switched it on. Before Eva could speak -

"Hi, two people have broken into my house," said Bonnie into her cell phone.

"Neil?" said Eva, apprehensively.

"...Eva? What're you doing? What's taking you so long?" Neil's voice came in loud and clear through the speaker, even though no sound came from the Neil sitting next to her.

Eva tried to keep her voice from quivering. "There's not a lot of time. You have to listen to me. There's been...a situation out here."

"What? What's happening?"

Eva opened her mouth to answer and hesitated. She glanced at Lolita and the heart monitor she was hooked up to. Her vital signs were weakening. Poor Myrna was running back and forth between adjusting Lolita's IV drip and trying to dissuade Bonnie from calling the police.

"Eva?" said Neil.

Eva's heart was pounding.

"How long will it take the police to get here?" said Bonnie, shooting a vindictive look at Eva. "Five minutes? Great, I can stay on the line."

"Eva?!" said Neil.

Eva looked from Bonnie's glare, to Myrna desperately trying to buy them time, to Lolita still hanging in there, to Neil sitting semi-conscious in his chair. Eva took a breath, closed her eyes, and made the choice that doomed their mission.

"Neil, I'm sorry to do this to you, but you have ten minutes to fulfill Lolita's wish."

"What?"

"I don't have time to explain, but we're in trouble. I have to stay out here to buy you as much time as we can get. Our only other option is to abort the mission."

"Then let's abort the mission!"

"No! I...I can't do that. We can't do that."

"Eva, this isn't safe. I'm getting out of here."

"No, wait! Lolita's declining. If we disconnect now, we might not be able to re-establish connection."

"But - "

"But! But, Myrna's stabilizing her right now. She should be fine for a little while longer, but not much more than that. Neil, please. There's not much time."

"There's literally NO time! I can't fulfill her wish in ten minutes! Are you insane?!"

"Neil, please. Just...get as far as you can. I'll join you as soon as I can calm things down out here. I need to buy us more than ten minutes, otherwise it's a mission failure, and I...I..."

There was a pause. Eva could almost see Neil trying to process the metric ton of stupid she was spouting.

Her voice started to break. "Neil, I do have your back, and I will get you the time you need. I promise you. But I can only do that from out here. You have to trust me."

Another pause.

"...Ten minutes?" Neil growled through his teeth.

"I'll get you more than that if I can manage it," said Eva.

"I'll see you in ten minutes then."

Eva almost laughed with relief, "Neil, thank-"

Bonnie suddenly grabbed Eva by her collar.

"Get him out of there," said Bonnie, in a low, deadly voice.

Eva slowly dislodged herself from Bonnie. "Ma'am, we're contractually obligated to complete this mission. Your mother-"

"Get him out now!"

"He'll rejoin us when his job is done."

Livid, Bonnie marched over to the power outlet where the machine was plugged in. She reached out to the power cord.

Eva grabbed Bonnie's shoulder. "No, don't!"

Bonnie whipped around and - WHAP! - backhanded Eva in the face. Eva fell. Myrna screamed.

Cheek stinging, Eva scrambled to her feet and threw herself at Bonnie, knocking her into the table with Myrna's medical supplies, causing everything to clatter to the floor.

As the two grappled amongst the medicine bottles and various sharp objects, Eva registered three thoughts.

One: She did not know how to fight.

Two: Some insane part of her was certain that Lolita's wish was worth this much trouble. That despite endangering everyone in the room and making one terrible decision after another, Eva believed her client's wish was important enough.

There was a sudden sting in her neck. Bonnie had taken a syringe filled with a sedative liquid, and plunged it into Eva's neck. Suddenly, her body went numb, sight turned into blurry color, and panicked voices turned into noise.

Three: Neil Watts completely trusted her.

White, empty space stretched as far as the eye can see. Everything was suffused with a bright, ethereal light. Everything was calm.

Eva looked around. She was all alone, floating in this white emptiness. Where was she?

"Hello, dear," said a frail voice.

Eva jumped and turned around.

She wasn't alone, after all. There, sitting in a white armchair, was Lolita, knitting a blanket.

"You're...Lolita," said Eva.

Lolita looked up from her work and smiled, without pausing her knitting.

Eva gasped. "Oh, no...Am I...Did I...?"

Lolita chuckled. "No, you still have plenty of time left. To live, I mean. Not to do the thing you were contracted to do. That time has already run out."

"What? What do you mean 'run out'? Where am I?"

Lolita shrugged. "Beats me. I've just been here knitting this whole time."

Eva slowly approached Lolita.

"Um, sorry if this is rude, but...What are you exactly?"

"A figment of your imagination, most likely. Perhaps I only exist to give you one last chance."

"To do what?"

"To make amends. To apologize to your dead client for your failure to uphold your part of the contract."

"Failure? We...failed?"

Lolita gazed sadly at Eva, and nodded. No, this can't be right.

Eva marched up to Lolita.

"Look, something happened with your daughter, and - "

"Ahh yes. Bonnie. She and I have had a patchy relationship for the past twenty years or so. As I understand, she gave you quite the fright."

"She knocked me out with a sedative."

Lolita seemed mildly interested in this news, as if hearing that Bonnie had invited them to dinner.

"Hmm. So that's why you failed your mission?"

Eva just stood there, dumbstruck.

"But...But, what about Neil? Where's Neil? Is he alright? Did he fulfill the wish?"
Lolita began to fade away.

"Ah, that boy? You've got yourself a good partner," Lolita said merrily. "He stayed with you until the ambulance arrived and spoke to the police for you. You ought to thank him."

Before Eva could repeat her question that never got answered, Lolita disappeared into the hazy white light.

Suddenly, there was nothing but a bright white light above Eva's head. She blinked.

She was lying in a hospital bed, covered in a knitted blanket.

"Why hello there. Nice of you to join us," said Rob.

Eva's boss gave her a smile, which she didn't return.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Eva gingerly put a hand up to her neck, and felt a small bandage there.

"Like a bag of rocks," she croaked.

Rob nodded. "That's to be expected. The sedative is still wearing off, but the doctor says that with a day's rest, you should be just fine."

Rob gave her another valiant attempt at a smile, but gave up. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair next to her hospital bed.

Eva blearily looked around the room.

"Where's Neil?" she asked.

"He's currently being questioned by the police. But he's spent the past few hours by your side."

The guilt needled her in the chest.

"Is he alright?"

"He's doing okay. Or rather, he's unharmed. He's been going crazy with stress and worry otherwise."

"Did he...What about Lolita?"

Rob looked down, steeling himself.

"She's gone. Luckily, Neil was able to get himself out in time."

"But did he do it? Did he fulfill-"

Rob stared at her sadly and shook his head. "There wasn't enough time. She declined too rapidly. I'm sorry."

It was as if a candle had been snuffed out inside of Eva's chest, leaving her feeling cold and empty, like an abandoned house. She turned her head away from Rob. This was all her fault and hers alone.

"Just fire me already," she muttered.

Rob sighed. "I'll tell you what. Let's...forget about that for now. I want you to take the rest of the week off to recover. We can figure out what to do on Monday."

"I don't want to do this anymore," said Eva, her voice breaking. "I don't ever want to do anything like that again."

"Eva. We'll talk about this when you're fully recovered. But not now. Right now, I want you to rest. That's an order."

Eva took a deep, shaky breath. She still refused to look at Rob.

"Your sister will be here to pick you up in half an hour. I need you to take it easy for today, alright? Leave everything else to me."

Reluctantly, Eva nodded. Rob stood up.

"Good. Listen, I hate to leave you so abruptly, but I have to meet with the police and sort out some insurance paperwork with Myrna. Call me if you need anything, alright?"

If Rob had picked up the phone when she had called the first time in Lolita's house...

Rob stood up and left Eva to stare at the ceiling alone.

The rest of the day flew by in a blur. Eva's older sister, Traci, incessantly fussed over Eva from the hospital to the car ride to Eva's apartment and all through the evening. Traci stayed the night at Eva's place. Eva offered to help cook dinner or to inflate the spare inflatable mattress, but Traci almost yelled at her to get back to bed. The two spent the rest of the evening sipping hot cocoa and watching some sitcom on TV.

The rest of the week, however, was lost amidst a growing hurricane of anxiety and shame. This was not rest and recovery; Rob had sent her away to stew in her failure.

She spoke with the police a few times, mainly about the fight with Bonnie. It turns out Bonnie was arrested and serving time in jail for assaulting Eva, but Eva decided not to press any further charges. She wondered if Bonnie was going to sue Sigmund Corp over the incident.

Sunday night, Eva sat on her tiny balcony, surrounded by her vegetable garden. Traci had gone home. Eva had insisted that she felt completely fine, despite Traci continuing to worry. Traci did have work Monday morning, though, so she didn't have much room to argue. She made Eva promise to call the moment she needed anything.

Eva took a sip of her chamomile tea. For the umpteenth time, she ran over in her mind what she was going to say to Rob Monday morning. She wasn't sure what she would say to everyone else at the office, however. And Neil...

Her heart clenched with guilt. She had to be one of the worst people Neil's ever met. She knew how fragile his trust in other people was. She knew she was one of the only people he's ever considered, well, anything remotely resembling a friend. The thought of putting him through more undeserved anguish because of her incompetence at this job only strengthened her resolve.

She finished the last of her tea. She knew what she was going to do.

"Well, that's the long and short of it," said Rob, shuffling a stack of legal forms.

"Since we failed to uphold our end of the contract, we had to give Lolita's family a full refund; Bonnie being the only beneficiary. So, we essentially paid for Bonnie's bail."

Eva nodded and shivered slightly in Rob's drafty office. She had no idea why Rob liked to keep his office window wide open, regardless of the weather outside.

"As for your medical expenses, worker's compensation will be able to cover that, so you don't need to worry. Good news, right?"

Rob gave yet another valiant attempt at a smile.

"Great news," Eva replied robotically.

Rob stood up and began filing the paperwork in a filing cabinet in the corner of the room.

"So," he said, rifling through the various folders, "Here's the predicament we're in. Our Board of Directors discussed this whole Lolita incident, and have deliberated whether or not your actions constitute grounds for termination."

"They do," said Eva. "They absolutely do."

Rob put up a hand. "While Bonnie isn't going to file a lawsuit, she would probably raise a PR stink if we let you off scot-free. The Board is currently taking your extenuating circumstances into account, mainly the fact that Bonnie assaulted you to try and stop you from upholding the contract. That might be enough to mitigate your punishment. They'll be holding a hearing next week; you should've already received your summons in the mail."

Rob came around to Eva's side and sat on his desk. "Personally, I really don't want to fire you," he said. "You're hard-working. You're intelligent. You've got so much drive and dedication that it's almost intimidating. I can't tell you how rare it is to find someone like that. Trust me, we've interviewed a lot of idiots, normal people, and fairly smart people before we found you.

"Granted, what you did was...extreme and ill-advised. But it is my opinion that it's more beneficial to correct that behavior and channel your never-say-die attitude into something more productive, than to simply fire you. And quite frankly, you're really hard to replace.

"So, here's the compromise. We're going to suspend you for a week without pay while we wait for your hearing. There's a very good chance that they won't fire you - not if I have something to say about it. I'm confident that you'll be back to work before you know it. What do you say?"

Eva found herself gaping. She's not immediately fired? This was the opposite of how she expected this conversation to go.

Her brief elation was extinguished by the thought of another disastrous screw-up. What would she do if something even worse happened to either her or Neil on a future mission? The thought of wearing away the company's very tenuous patience in her - let alone the trust of her colleagues - induced a gut-wrenching anxiety.

"Um, thank you for your generosity," said Eva, meekly. "But...I can't promise that I won't do something like this again. In fact, knowing me, I'll find a way to screw things up even worse. And..."

Eva took a deep breath. "...I don't want to be a walking liability for a living. I don't want to work at the 'You're Bad at This' company for the rest of my life."

Rob smiled sympathetically. "I don't blame you. But bear in mind that you're inexperienced, not incompetent; there's a difference. No one except our most veteran employees really know how hard this job can get. You just happened to get a taste of that earlier than most.

"So now that you've had this experience, I'd say you're pretty well-equipped to succeed in this career, if you choose to continue. That's completely up to you, of course."

Rob paused to let Eva consider what he had said. She stared past Rob out the wide open window. A flock of birds fluttered past into the bright sunshine.

"So if I may ask you again: What will it be?" he said.

Eva watched the birds fly into the distance. A light breeze wafted into the room. This time, it wasn't cold; it was encouraging.

Eva turned to Rob and, with a smile, gave him her answer.

Eva scarcely left Rob's room, when a voice called to her.

"Eva!"

She turned and her stomach immediately dropped. It was Neil.

He hurried over to her. "Oh my God, are you alright? Are you hurt? I tried calling you, but your bossy sister kept answering your phone. She's really mean, you know, but I guess that explains a lot. What happened in your meeting with Rob? Did he tell you about your hearing? I'm going to be there too, you know. I'm going to raise some hell. But don't you take that to mean Rob and I are on the same team, okay? We're just...doing the same thing at the same time at the same location for the same goal. Got that? Oh, and first off..."

Neil flicked Eva on the forehead.

"Ow!"

"That's for all the shit you just put me through. Good gravy, it's a lot of work being your partner!"

Eva rubbed her forehead and smiled.

"Well, if that's my punishment, then I'm getting off too easy. Oh, and first off."

Eva flicked Neil on the forehead.

"Ow!"

"That's for calling my sister bossy."

"Oh, we both know it's true!"

"But you're not her sister, so you don't get the privilege of teasing her like I can."

The two walked down the hall to their respective offices.

"And besides, I was the one who was out of the loop for a week," said Eva, fishing for her office key. "I should be asking you how you're doing."

"Just dandy. Listen, I hate to cut this short, but I gotta leave for an assignment with...ugh, Alistair...If this goes well, I should be back in the office by Wednesday at the latest," said Neil, unlocking his door and hurrying inside.

"You'll be here, right? On Wednesday, I mean?" called Neil, grabbing various equipment from his office.

"I'll...I'll be around," said Eva, her voice trailing off.

"Great, we can take a long lunch break and I can regale you with all the fun we had without you," joked Neil, tottering out of his office. He was balancing a bunch of equipment in one arm, while locking his door with the other.

"Alright, I gotta go! I'll see ya later, alligator!" he said from behind his armful of stuff.

And with that Neil was gone. Eva scarcely had time to do more than wave goodbye.

She stood there in silence for quite a while before entering her own office. On the way in, she removed her placard that said "Eva Rosalene" from her door. She remembered wistfully how happy she was to land this job with her own office and official-looking name placard.

With a heavy heart, she tossed the placard into the cardboard box sitting on her desk, along with the rest of her belongings.

It was time for her to leave, too.

Neil heaved the heavy suitcase with the memory machine out of the trunk of the company car, and heaved it toward the back entrance of the Sigmund Corp building. He carefully set the suitcase down, fished out his ID badge, and swiped it into the card reader. The door unlocked with a click, and Neil dragged the suitcase inside.

"Slow down, Neil. What's the hurry?" called Alistair, hobbling out of the car as fast as his arthritis would allow him. "You haven't even locked the car doors yet!"

Without looking back, Neil held up the car key remote.

Beeeeeep! The car let out a protest beep, since Alistair hadn't even shut his passenger side door yet. He shut it, and the car responded with an affirmative "Beep!". Alistair followed Neil into the building. Neil didn't slow his pace.

"Sorry, I just needed to breathe some non-Alistair air. I've spent so long in that car with you, I've forgotten what normal air smelled like," said Neil, walking briskly down the hallway.

"I keep telling you, it's my overactive glands, confound it!" sputtered Alistair. "My dermatologist recommended this oil for my skin. Supposed to help with the smell. So every night, I oil myself-"

"Alright, alright, alright. Can we just...not?" Neil shuddered.

"You brought it up," Alistair muttered.

They went through a door to the main lobby and called an elevator. Alistair got in and stared at Neil.

"Wait, aren't you going up?" he asked.

"You go on ahead. I'll take the next one. Okaythanksbye!" Neil waved as the elevator doors closed. He heaved a sigh of relief.

He checked his phone. Just in time for lunch. He gave himself a mental high five for accurately predicting when this latest mission was going to be over. He should've placed a bet with Eva.

A wicked grin spread across Neil's face. Eva's due for another prank. What better way to welcome her back into the office than a prank call or a water balloon ambush?

The elevator came back for Neil, and he spent the short lift concocting an elaborate plot. The elevator reached his floor, and by the time he dragged the suitcase to his office, he had already decided on placing Eva's car on sale for $1 on Craigslist.

He was so absorbed in his diabolical plans, he hardly noticed the bustle going around amongst his colleagues. They were milling around in the hallway; their hushed conversations quickly silenced when they spotted Neil.

"Oh, Neil," said Roxie, her face uncharacteristically distressed. "Have you heard?"

"Hm?" said Neil, barely listening. He pushed past the group, unlocked his office door and set the heavy suitcase down in his office.

Roxie timidly approached him. "Eva...She..."

"Yeah, I know. She came back on Monday. I saw her briefly before I left," said Neil from his office.

Everyone was crowding his doorway. Roxie exchanged an uncomfortable look with Logan.

"Um...Actually..." mumbled Logan, as if speaking any louder would bring bad luck. "Eva's...gone."

"Gone? Did she already leave for the day?" said Neil.

"She left...for good," said Logan.

Silence.

Neil turned around to look at everyone properly.

"What?"

"Neil," Roxie murmured gently."Eva resigned."

No. That's not right. That can't be right. Neil shoved everyone aside and crossed the hallway to Eva's office. He paused at the empty plastic placeholder on her door where her name placard was supposed to be. He opened the door.

There was nothing and no one in the office. No decorative plants. No essential oil diffuser. No open diary on the desk.

No Eva.

Roxie tentatively placed a hand on Neil's shoulder. "Neil, I'm really sorry."

Neil jerked his arm away. "Welp. Good riddance, then. I can't say I'm going to miss that nagging wet blanket. Onward and upward, it is."

He refused to look at anyone. Suddenly, he could no longer stand to spend another second in this empty office. He shoved past his staring coworkers, retreated into his office, and locked the door.

To be continued...

Next: Act 2 - The Case of Horace Greenlove