Jim and Melinda had finally settled down and he was entering his first year of internship. They had been happy and he was thrilled to now have a son. Sometimes when he went by a mirror though he still felt shock. This was not his face, it belonged to a man named Sam Lucas who had died over three years ago.
The dreams had started about one year after Jim had remembered his life as Jim and both he and Melinda had hoped that that part of life had past. Now he wasn't sure. Sometimes he would have memories that were not his he was sure of it.
At first Jim had put it off as too little sleep and too many hours pouring over stacks and stacks of medical books. He had years of experience as a medic and that helped but he couldn't believe how little he actually known. But those dreams were now merging into his awake thoughts and he wasn't sure how to handle them.
The hardest things that he was imagining were Sam as a child and his mother and father and sister. Jim and Melinda had kept distance from Sam's family, but they did keep in touch. Sam's mother was a loving woman and just couldn't understand what had happened. To her Jim was her son and that after a major head injury her son had some identity trouble.
Melinda and Jim hadn't seen her for months though, and even though he would call her once in a while, he hadn't seen her. Sam's mother had been thrilled that she was now a grandmother and found it odd that Jim's mother considered herself the child's grandmother too. It took some explaining to tell her that Melinda had been pregnant with the little boy before Jim had died.
Aiden was the son Jim had always wanted who shared with his mother the ability to speak to spirits who had not crossed over to the light. He also seemed to have more powers than Melinda and his powers seemed to get stronger everyday.
One morning while shaving Jim became Sam for several minutes. He did not realize it, however, when Jim reappeared he found himself confused and at the hospital with absolutely no idea how he had gotten there and what he was doing.
'This is not good. What is going on?' he thought to himself.
The rest of the day was uneventful and after sixteen straight hours of work Jim headed home.
Melinda was in the kitchen finishing cooking their dinner. She smiled and gave him a big hug. "Are you ok Jim? You look as if you are very tired."
"Long day. Nothing too bad. Dinner smells delicious." Jim said as he took a seat at the table.
Melinda looked up from the couch and saw the spirit of a young lady standing there. "Can you see me? I need help. People can't see me and I can't find my little girl." the lady asked.
"Yes I can see you. What is your name?" Melinda asked.
"My name is Linda Watson. My little girl's name is Donna. She was with me in the car and I can't seem to find her." the spirit told her.
"Do you know where you were when you were in the car?" Melinda asked her.
"Yes please help me." the spirit begged.
"Jim, I will be back." Melinda offered.
All the time that the spirit had been communicating with his wife Jim could hear a buzzing in his ears. This had never happened before. 'What is going on?' he thought to himself. Outloud he said to Melinda "That is fine I have more studying to do. Hurry home."
For the next two hours Jim studied until he fell into a deep sleep. The dreams came back and he found himself as Sam playing football for his high school team and even found himself remembering some of his old high school friends and their names. When the five am alarm went off it was all he could do to get up.
This time it was like Sam and his mind became one for a short time. Jim retained all his memories and that of Sam's all at once. He seemed to have some of Sam's desires and habits as well. Jim had never smoked a cigar in his life and he was craving one bad at this time.
He was with a patient in the emergency room when Melinda came in with a large cup of coffee and a sandwich. "Oh hon it is good to see you. I am so hungry now that I feel like I could eat a horse." he told her with a hug.
Melinda and Jim walked into the lounge with their food and took a seat. Over in the corner stood a young lady in strange clothes. She was wearing the clothes that one would have worn in the 1970's. He studied her for a moment when she headed over to him.
Jim could see her mouth moving but could hear nothing coming from her lips. He turned to his wife and saw that she had a strange look on her face. Melinda turned her head toward the lady and asked her if she needed help. The woman turned toward her and said something then turned around and walked through the wall.
'This can't be happening to me. To top off all of these strange dreams that I am having I now can see ghosts?' Jim turned to look at Melinda who had a quimsical look on her face.
"Melinda I don't know what is going on but I could see that lady. I couldn't hear what she was saying but I saw her as clear as I am seeing you." Jim told her.
"Did something happen to you lately Jim? Usually if people who have never seen a spirit start seeing spirits it happens after a life altering experience." Melinda asked.
"Unless you count the time that my personallity went into Sam Lucas nothing." Jim told her.
"That is true, there are not many examples of people jumping into other people's bodies. Most of those people eventually forget everything about their other life." Melinda offered.
"Either that or they are put away in mental hospitals because no one believes their stories." Jim said in a worried tone.
"I will look into it further and we'll talk when we get home." Melinda told him and gave him a kiss good-bye.
For the first time ever Jim was nervious about being there in the hospital. This was going to take some getting used to. He saw the spirit of a man leaving his body that day alone. 'From now on working in the hospital sure will be different.' he thought to himself.
When he got home Melinda was busy at her laptop studying everything that she could find about Jim's condition. She looked up at Jim and noticed that there was something different about him. He was smoking a cigar of all things.
Aiden walked into the room at that time and had a shocked look on his face. He ran over and gave his dad a big hug. "Daddy what are you doing with that cigar?" he asked.
Then in a voice that Melinda and Aiden had never heard Jim said "I have always enjoyed a good cigar." He looked around and all of a sudden he realized that he was at home with a cigar in his hand and no memory of the last half hour.
After they had their supper and Aiden had gone to bed Melinda and Jim sat down on the couch. They needed to talk now.
Melinda looked at Jim with worry on her face. The voice that she had just heard was not the voice that Jim had . It sounded more like the voice of Sam, what was going on?"
"I didn't want to worry you, but I have been having problems for a while now. It started with dreams of Sam and his childhood and has slowly crawled into my awake time." Jim told Melinda.
Jim told her of everything the dreams and the lapse in memory. He explained to her that he had just started seeing any spirits. Melinda decided to call their friend Eli and see if he could be of assistance.
Within the hour Eli was sitting in the living room with his two friends listening to the stories. "I think that what has happened is that your two personalities are fighting over the use of only one body. There is medication to help control this, however, in your current circumstances that is not the best route. What I would suggest you do is go in front of a mirror and speak to the man Sam perhaps with a concurrance the two of you can manage and become one." he offered.
"I am afraid that the spirits are going to be a permanent part of my life also. Perhaps because of what has happened to me it was inescapable that I see spirits." Jim said.
"How ironic you can see the spirits and I can hear them. The two of us would make one Melinda." Eli said with a smile.
"Jim you know that I can help you with your new talent and that I will do the best I can to make you feel more confortable when you confront a spirit." Melinda told him.
"Do you really think that this is a permanent ability? Do you think that at sometime I will be able to hear the spirits?" Jim asked.
"There have been many people with your abilitities who have tried to ignore them and they have all be unsuccessful. The best thing to do is to acknowledge the ability and do what you can to help the spirit." Melinda offered.
"Trust me, I know first hand. Ignoring them is just a waste of time. They will follow you everywhere." Eli offered. "You need to embrace them when you can. It is a wonderful experience, really.
Jim looked from Melinda to Eli. He had always tried to understand their abilities and he was sure that what they were doing was for the good of things. He just never thought that he would be able to understand things from the first person. "Thanks guys. I am very tired as I have another sixteen hour shift tomorrow." and with that he headed to bed.
The dreams filled the night and Jim woke up in a sweat. 'It is time that I do what Eli suggested, it is time to talk to Sam in the mirror.'
He went into the bathroom and stood by the mirror. "Sam, I need you to understand that I took over your body after you left. I realize that a part of your personallity is now intertwined with mine and that we now must make ourselves one. We are both good men and I am working on becoming a doctor. What do you say?" Jim asked himself.
It was then that Jim realized that his face was changing, for the first time in a long time Jim was looking into his own face. The voice that he heard coming from his lips were not his it belonged to Sam. "I have been watching you for some time and have been trying to contact you. Up to a few months ago you could not hear me. Finally through your dreams I was able to make contact. I will stay to the back as long as you allow time for me to shine through when it comes to being with my family."
"We have no choice in this manner, and I will honor your request. It is very hard to relate to your mother. She is yours. However, this body needs to be cared for please no smoking of cigars." Jim asked.
"I did that to get your attention and it worked. You no longer tried to deny me in front of your friends and family. It won't happen again, I promise." Sam told her.
As Jim climbed back into the bed he felt relaxed for the first time in years. He knew that this plan would work if both he and Sam stuck to it. He looked down at his lovely wife and thought of Aiden, it would be worth it.
The next morning when the alarm went off Jim headed to the hospital with a new lease on life for him and his little family.