Questions.

On some level Jamie knew that the slab of living tissue in his car wasn't his wife. It looked exactly like her, it spoke and thought and moved exactly like her, but it wasn't her. It knew it too.

"If you're not Ashley, what do I call you?"

It gazed dully at him. "There is nothing to call."

This was getting frustrating. "For the purposes of conversation, I would like to use a second-person pronoun and a name in reference to the voice on the other side of the conversation." He rolled his eyes at even having to say that.

It thought about it a moment. "Fine. Let's stick with Ashley."

He sighed with relief. "Ok, Ashley. How does it feel, being separated from your personhood?"

The voice of the body of the woman spoke. "It's strange. The body contains everything about the person, but it is not the person. It can remember her wedding night perfectly, it feels a rush of warmth thinking about it. But it is not Ashley. Those things physically happened to the body, but they only truly happened to Ashley."

They pulled into the driveway. Jamie got out and started up the driveway when he realized she wasn't following. He opened up the side door. "Come in," he said, and she followed wordlessly.

They sat at the kitchen table. He was brimming with questions. "How did it feel? To have your identity ripped away?"

The head cocked. "It felt violent. Like being torn in half. The real part went away, and as soon as the bond was severed the remaining body understood what it was, but not what it had lost."

"Wow. Uh, do you want your identity back?"

The mouth moved. "Very much so."