only Renee...

From then on, it didn’t matter whether she’d been under hypnosis recently or not — Renee was there. She lounged across the couch, texting her friends while you watched movies. She teased you constantly, called him “old man” more than she called you James. Sometimes she’d mimic scenes from Renee’s volleyball clips while waiting for the microwave, just to make herself laugh.

Even when you were intimate, there was a difference. She was playful. Restless. As if the Sarah you had known was watching from somewhere far away.

The breaking point came during a quiet evening. You were halfway through a film you’d loved as a couple, when she turned to you and asked, “Did Sarah like this movie?”

You froze. “You liked this movie.”

She smiled faintly. “I don’t remember that. I just remember… watching it with you. Before.”

“Before what?” you asked.

Her gaze held his, unreadable. “Before I was me.”

That night, lying awake, you realized there hadn’t been a sharp moment where Sarah vanished. No dramatic flip of a switch. She’d just… dissolved. A little more each time she went under, a little more each time she came home as Renee.

Now, even without the hypnosis, she was Renee — and Sarah existed only in your memory.