Deactivation

Shifter thinks her name was Jane.

She is losing herself piecemeal: first she could not fight, and then she could not stand, and now she cannot remember what Downpour’s name used to be.

She is coming to accept there will be no more trips to the mall, no first boyfriend, no first kiss, no college, no wedding dress, no life.

It’s not fair. She was a hero. She tried to be a hero.

Now she is alone. In a hospital room without even her brother for company, Shifter weeps for a lost little girl who might have been named Jane.