Kim and Kim

As far as I had been able to tell so far, the only thing that had changed in this world was me. Everything else was the same, including the contents of my welcome package and the instructions on where to go.

Orientation was rigidly structured, taking up the first week before classes started properly. Every freshman was assigned a group for tours of campus, explanations of the facilities, team building exercises, and all sorts of other cringeworthy affairs. In the old version of my life I'd gone into the week with high hopes, ones that had dwindled moment by moment as bit by bit my expectations of a new life were slowly stripped away.

But that didn't have to be the case this time.

Sure, this wasn't going to be my life. Yes I was going to take the first chance I got to get out of here and back to my real reality. But while I was here I might as well enjoy things, and I might as well make the most of the time that I had.

Besides which, the knowledge that my time here was limited gave me a unique opportunity. I didn't have to worry about the future, about the consequences of things. Provided I didn't wind up stuck in prison or something like that which would restrict my ability to actually get to the old woman and get back to my proper life, I could do whatever I wanted.

I could live without worry, without a care in the world, and there was something uniquely freeing about that.

So with that in mind I practically had a spring in my step by the time that I reached my little gathering spot for orientation. Turning around the corner and spying the flag jutting up into the sky, held aloft at the tippy top of a pole by one of the two RA's assigned to be our guardians during this first week of orientation. Orientation or initiation, depending on how you pragmatic you wanted to be about it.

Kim and Kim. The two dirty blonde advisors who were assigned to us. One man and one woman, both of them looking like they were pulled out of a catalog designed to give you the most generic possible version of a co-ed. They were both lanky and lean and attractive in a broadly appealing sort of way. Both boundless with their enthusiasm and thrills and all just so happy to see everyone.

In short, they were the human equivalent of a golden retriever.

Gathered around them, sitting on the grass, were a loose accumulation of the people who made up my group for orientation. In addition to the two RAs, each group had ten students in it and they would all straggle in over roughly the next hour. As it stood now I was about middle of the pack, four people gathered on the grass around them as I walked up with my envelope under one arm and my bag slung over my shoulder.

"Hey there you!" Kim said to me as I approached, his voice broad and welcoming, "Are you a part of our group!"

I nodded, "I'm Emily."

The name still sounded unfamiliar in my mouth, but I was shocked to notice that it was starting to feel a lot more natural. If I concentrated on it I could hear myself saying it over and over again, the memories starting to filter in from the life she'd been leading all along that I'd just sort of stepped into. I chalked the familiarity up to that, the only logical explanation I could think of.

"Emily Ross?" the other Kim asked, and I nodded as she scratched me off their list, "Nice to meet you, Emily. Why don't you have a seat? We're just waiting for the rest of the group to arrive and then we're going to do a few get to know you games!"

"Yep," boy-Kim chipped in enthusiastically, "It's going to be so much fun!"

They were both grinning broadly, nigh cheek to cheek as they stared at me expectantly. Not really knowing how to respond to this sort of boundless enthusiasm I meekly gave them two thumbs up and then slipped down to a spot on the grass, hoping they would stop paying attention to me soon and grateful when they did.

Then when I turned to take in the group I suddenly wished that they hadn't stopped paying attention to me. Because the moment they did, was the moment I remembered just who was here on my first day.

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