Face of Death by Kelly Hashway Page A

his memory had faded away. He didn’t know himself, but he still knew me. I’d just assumed he’d know me now.
    “Ask me anything. I’ll do anything to prove to you that I’m Jodi.”
    “Listen, I’m sorry if you’re hurt, but you have to understand you’re not Jodi. Jodi is my girlfriend. She has brown, wavy hair and the most amazing green eyes. She looks nothing like you.” His voice was soft and sympathetic.
    This wasn’t working. He thought I was some poor girl who’d wound up at the end of a prank gone wrong.
    “Matt, my name is Jodi Marshall. My birthday is December eighth. My best friend is Melodie. She’s your best friend, too. She introduced us. You and I have been dating—or at least we were until—”
    “Until that guy came along. Alec or something.” His face looked strained as he struggled with the memory.
    “Alex. His name is Alex.”
    “I hate that guy. He tried to hurt Jodi.”
    Damn it. He still didn’t believe I was me. Not even after I’d spouted all that off. “How would I know all this if I wasn’t Jodi?”
    “Are you friends with Alex? Did he put you up to this?” Matt’s head turned from side to side as he scanned the morgue. “Where is he? Does he have Jodi?”
    “No!” I was more frustrated with myself than Matt. None of this was his fault. I looked around helplessly for an answer. My eyes fell on the steel walls. Matt would be able to see his reflection in them if I could just get him to focus on that instead of trying to find me—or what I usually looked like at least. “Come look at this.”
    He put his hands up in defense. “Listen, I get that you’re upset, but—”
    “Look at your reflection.” I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice, but he wasn’t listening to me.
    “My reflection?” He stared down at his hospital gown. “Where are my clothes?”
    “Look at your hand, Matt. You have a birthmark on the side of your left palm, right? Or you did, but it’s not there now.”
    Matt stared in horror at his hand. “What’s going on?”
    “Look.” I pulled him closer to the steel wall and under the lights. He held his eyes on me for a moment before looking into it. The second he saw his reflection, he gasped. “That’s not me.”

Chapter 11
    I didn’t know where to start, but at least he’d be more open to hearing the crazy things that had happened now that he saw he wasn’t in his own body.
    “Am I dreaming?” Matt shook his head, still staring at his reflection—well, at Brian’s reflection. “That’s the only explanation. That’s not me. Not my face.”
    “Okay, Matt, please listen to me. I am Jodi. I look different, just like you. And, no, you’re not dreaming. This is all real. It’s going to sound unbelievable, but I need you to trust me.”
    He raised his eyes to me. “Jodi? It’s really you?”
    I nodded, tears forming in my eyes.
    He rushed over to me, pressing his lips against mine. I froze, not knowing what to do. He thought we were still together. Matt didn’t know anything about me and Alex. To him, I was still his girlfriend. I was human now, which meant that he and I could be together. That fact wasn’t lost on me, but neither was the fact that I loved Alex. Still, my unresolved feelings for Matt were lingering, keeping me from pulling out of the kiss.
    My lips gently parted, and without really meaning to, I was kissing him back. This was how our first kiss should’ve been. I wouldn’t stop his heart this time. Being with him felt right. In this moment, being with Matt was what made sense.
    But Alex. I slowly pulled away from Matt, leaning my head against his chest. Tears dripped onto his hospital gown. My tears. For once, I didn’t have to worry about what that would mean. I wasn’t a danger to him.
    “Don’t cry. I’m here. I don’t know what happened to us, but it’ll be okay. I promise.” Great. Now he was the one reassuring me. This wasn’t at all what was supposed to happen.
    “You don’t