Miss Fitzhue

By J. McClain

The ghost of Miss Dierdre Fitzhue is trapped inside a sentient robot, and the robot consciousness coexisting with her is very confused. This short story comes from my new collection, entitled Toccatas & Fugues: Stories So Far.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. McClain
• Release date: Sep 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497700666

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Miss Fitzhue

J. Cameron McClain

Copyright © 2013 J. Cameron McClain

Ponahakeola Press

All rights reserved.

Miss Fitzhue

Did you ever have that sensation of looking out of your eyes, as if you weren’t connected to them? As if you were simply an observer inside your body, watching its actions, but somehow separated from everything? When I was a little girl I used to get that feeling. My dad would tell me I was crazy when I’d come and complain. It must have sounded crazy to him.

Well anyway, that’s what I felt when my eyes opened for the first time three days ago.

When I say, my eyes opened, I do mean that, by the way, and not I opened my eyes. It was a strange sensation—no sensation at all. Nothing felt the way it was supposed to. My first impression was that I was paralyzed. I couldn’t explain how my eyes had even opened. Nor could I move my arms or legs, although I could feel some sensation in them.

Nothing made any sense until I remembered that I was dead. It came as a flash, the whole thing, my stupid, horrifying final moments. And everything seemed to kind of assemble itself logically—for a second or two. You see, I’d read a book about the process of death, that the consciousness could sometimes live on for a few minutes after the physical body had expired. I figured my body was dead and my consciousness would soon follow. It had to be so. The car had crashed, that much was certain. That much I remembered perfectly, from the launch off the cliff, through the zero-g ride, and down to the rocks. The road had been icy.  I’d been driving slowly but had lost control anyway. And through we had gone, and over we went. Down, some 600 feet down. I could still remember the screams from