Jessica leans forward, emotions sweeping her away, and tries to kiss the man she knows as John again. Yet, the man she's trying to kiss isn't the same man she married. As her lips are mere inches away from Malachi's, so close that she can feel his breath, he pulls back when something in his mind snaps, and the real world rushes back to him. His eyes look at her, cautious of the woman even if he wasn't seconds ago.

'Who are you?' he asks her as he takes a few steps away from her. The inches between them feel like feet to Jessica. She stands there trembling, trying to put her thoughts and feelings into words. At first, it doesn't work. Her mind is in a state of shock from seeing her husband in person for the first in over a year. She had thought he was dead and to know he wasn't, she's grateful for that much.

Finally, her brain begins to work as she can feel herself starting to calm down, and thinking rationally.

'John, it's me. Jessica,' she says, starting to realize that something isn’t connecting here. Why didn't he remember her? What had kept him away for so long? That last question had been itching in the back of her head for twenty-four hours. Malachi stands there, trying to put the pieces together.

'Who's John?' he asks her, and with his words, her worst fears have come true. She can't believe this, that the man standing before her didn't even know his own name. At first, she's overcome with fear, but then in the back of her mind she can't believe it.

'Stop playing, John,' she says, holding onto the belief that this is just a joke that he's playing on her. Oh, how she wishes it were so. Yet, the blank look in Malachi’s eyes gives it all away. It's not a joke. It's very much real. Too real.

'Oh God,' the muttering coming from her lips as she can't believe it. She tries to think about where she can begin, how she can explain everything, but it's not possible. Not in this time frame. Not in this moment of time. If she tried to, he would shut her out for good, and then it'd be all over. She'd never have another chance again. Then, a light bulb goes off in her head.

'Your pills,' she says, seemingly off the cuff, and she begins to reach inside of her purse. It only takes a few moments before she pulls a bottle from her purse, and Malachi eyes it with great interest. All of this nonsense had bored him as he's slightly out if it from the drinks he's had earlier that evening. All he really wants to do is take a few pills and go to sleep, and yet this insane woman is preventing him from doing so.

Even at the sight of the pills, he's more concerned about why she's in his room calling him John.

'How the hell did you get in my room?' he asks her, and then decides that he should just start calling security. He starts moving towards the phone to do exactly that and she watches him for a moment before realizing what she's doing. In a desperate attempt, she starts walking towards him, hoping to stop him.

'Oh, please, don't call security. Please, I'm not some crazy person, John. I'm your wife!' she yells at him, but he's not deterred as he picks up the phone and starts dialing. She quickly grabs the receiver out of his hands and continues to plead with him.

'No, damnit, John! Look at me! Remember!' she yells at him and he just looks down at her as if she's crazy. She puts the receiver down and walks away from him, trying to hold her emotions back as long as possible.

'Look, get the hell out of my room. I don't know what you're talking about!' he yells at her, his voice starting off calm and even, but ending to the point where he was almost bellowing. The quick change in demeanor throws her off guard as she turns back around and seems rather frantic.

'Take the pills and it'll make sense to you, I promise you,' she tells him before opening the bottle for him. He takes a look at the white pills and thinks about taking them. Yet, he doesn't know this woman, and doesn't trust her for a second. He takes a step away from the telephone and looks at her.

'You expect me to just take these damn pills?' he asks her and she nods her head, hoping it'll be enough. Yet, by the look in his eyes, he's not going to do that. No sane person would. Yet, Jessica knows he's not sane right now, and was hoping to take advantage of that.

'You have a family, John. That's your name--,' she begins to say.

'THAT'S NOT MY NAME!' he yells back, interrupting her. She cowers at the force of his voice, but knows she has to stay strong if she hopes to get through to him. She gathers herself before moving on.

'It is, please, believe me, it is your name. Johnathan Woodson. You have a wife, me, and a little boy who still looks up to you because he's your idol. You were a lawyer and then one night, you didn't come home. You disappeared from our lives, and the police couldn't figure out what happened to you. For several weeks, they searched, and then they told me to expect the worse. That you were dead. At first, I didn't want to believe it, but eventually I did,' she begins to say, but the emotions start to choke her up. She takes a second and looks away from Malachi, hoping to recompose herself. It takes a few moments, but she's able to do it as she finds the strength.

'I came to terms that you were dead, and then, your little boy, he's watching television one night, and sees you. Looking completely different, but it's you. The color of your hair, your facial features, your eyes, they're all the same. You're a little more muscular and your hair is now long, but it's you, god damn it, it's you,' she continues, trying to plead her case. She looks at him, trying to figure out what he's thinking, but it doesn't take long for him to just tell her.

'You're wrong,' he says bluntly. Yet, she stands there, desperate to make him believe her. All she wants is for him to come home and to share her bed with him, and look at their son the way he used to. It breaks her heart to know that her son has been without a father for the over a year now.

'I'm not, John. You suffer from Schizophrenia. You don't know who you are! These pills, they kept you sane! They're the only things that have kept you who you truly are, and when you stopped taking them, this is what happened to you! The dependcy on these damn things and the result of not taking them, they made you like this!' she yells at him, needing him to just accept the reality of it all. He starts to take deep, heavy breaths as he listens to her, and can feel his anger starting to rise.

'I AM GOD!' he yells at her and then smacks the bottle out of her hand with his left hand. The capsules go flying all across the room as she looks and sees the terror in his eyes. Anger starts to take over her as well as she bends over and picks a few of the pills up. She then stands tall and looks at her husband, knowing she can't give up.

'Is that the delusion you’ve come up with, John? That’s you’re God?! You're not God, John! You just think you are! You've got these insane ideas in your head, and now you're too scared to come back to reality! Well, this is your reality, John! You've got a wife and you've got a kid. I know a part of you inside your head knows it, and it's time to act like a damn man! So take these pills and realize that!' she yells at him before thrusting the pills into his hands. He looks at them and then back at her. Slowly, he drops the pills out of his hands and onto the floor. She looks at him, and then two tears stream out of her eyes. The man she once loved is no longer there.

'Get. Out,' he tells her sternly and she just looks at him with disdain in her eyes.

'Fine, John,' she says to him. In one swift movement, she turns around and walks to the door. She slowly pulls it open and walks through the threshold, but before the door closes behind her, she turns back around and takes another long look at John.

'When my husband decides to return, he knows where to find me,' she tells him, and then the door closes. Malachi takes a deep breath in and sighs it all out. He looks around at his room and can feel his knee throbbing. He rolls his eyes at the antics of the crazy woman, and walks into his bathroom. With each step, he can feel the pain just worsen, and he grabs the pill bottle sitting on the sink.

Without any kind of effort, he takes the remaining two pills, and throws them into his mouth. He grabs the bottle of whiskey sitting next to them, and takes a few swigs of those two. At first, they seem to be doing the trick as the pain just slowly washes away. However, a white flash hits him as he drops to both of his knees. The next few seconds prove difficult to breathe for him, and he struggles with the blinding pain right between his eyes.

It seems as if the world deadens to him.

Then, it opens up again, and he looks around with a confused look on his face. He's scared.

'Where am I?' he asks out loud to no one in particular. Everything is blank. The last thing he remembers is walking out of his office, and now he's here. Fear washes over him as he hopes that the one person who can help is there to do so.

'Jessica!' he yells out and he hears nothing. He just sits there, lost to the world he's in now.

Malachi is no more.

To Be Continued.