Take my Ashley-ness

"Can you take my me-ness? My Ashley-ness?"

Jamie thought about that. "I don't see why not. Are you sure that's good idea, though?" He realized as soon as he spoke that she wouldn't worry about it. She couldn't worry about it anymore.

"Sure, you can always put it back. I'm dying to know what it's like to be, uh, not me." She smiled. "I can picture being someone else, although that would be weird. What I can't imagine is being nobody, not even myself. I really want to know what that feels like."

He was apprehensive, but also curious. "Ok, I think we should probably just cancel dinner at this point. I feel weird about doing this in public. Let's just turn around and go home." Ashley nodded; she was now way more invested in this than a fancy dinner.

As he signaled to turn around and make the block, Jamie asked her again. "Are you sure about this? Like 100% sure?"

She nodded. "Just do it before I lose my nerve."

He concentrated. It was like deep sea diving into an ancient maze. He swam through the tunnels composed of her various attributes - her education, her empathy, her citizenship, her consciousness. He finally found a large, dense block - her Ashley-ness. Her very identity. Jamie seriously reconsidered what he was doing, taking the very foundation of his wife's identity from her. He remembered how badly she wanted this, though. He put his hands on either side of the thing and pulled with all his might.