[Fiction] [Alternate Futures] Chapter 1 and 2 (Happy Birthday; Alice)
(Technically, I'm cheating on the date. But I was ready to post this before midnight yesterday, then our internet just suddenly conked out...grah.)
Anyway, I finally decided to do a major overhaul for Alternate Futures, and I finished the first two chapters. So I have 2 chapters for April. XD
Chapter 1: Happy Birthday
(included in the online magazine, India and the Conundrum)
(It was once said there isn’t just one universe in existence, and the world consisted of an infinite number of multiverses; of parallel realities existing side by side. But in one of these universes, the only thing 15-year old Allisana Silvano knew, or even cared about, was that she was having a really bad birthday.)
Chapter 2: Alice
Chapter 2
Alice
“Happy birthday Alli, happy birthday, Alli…”
Alli suppressed a laugh as her father hit another wrong note while her mother sang louder to cover up for his mistake. She looked down at the cake before her, lit up with fifteen small candles.
Her father pressed a button on the camera, propped up on a tripod, and he walked back to the dinner table where he and his wife watched as Alli blew out the candles on her cake.
It was already a family tradition, and she knew that after the candle-blowing, her mother would serve pasta (“For long life,” her father would insist). She still didn’t feel like eating, though, and she only ended up twirling the noodles idly with her fork.
“Is something bothering you, dear?”
Alli looked up at her mother, startled. “Did something happen at school today?” her mother went on.
Alli hesitated. Cecilia. Cecilia…and Neil. She wondered if maybe she could tell her mother about it, but when her mother added, “Another difficult exam, wasn’t it? Don’t worry, if you study harder I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” she realized that it was very embarrassing to have her mother know that she was worrying about something so shallow and impractical, at least to her mother’s eyes.
“No, Mom,” she said, flinching under her mother’s gaze. “We didn’t have any exams today. It’s nothing, really.” She smiled as she shook her head for further emphasis. She realized too late that she was still wearing the sapphire ring in her right hand, and she hoped that her mother would not notice it. She would just probably tell her to ask among her classmates to find out who gave it to her, which was, of course, very practical, but also highly embarrassing.
“Did I overcook the noodles again?” her father asked, looking flustered. “I knew it. I was really distracted by that really fascinating documentary on cloning a while ago, so I forgot that I-”
“No, the noodles are all right, Dad,” Alli said hastily, taking in a forkful and chewing them at once. “See? I was just-er, thinking about something--” She began to choke, and she hastily coughed out the noodle that had mistakenly made its way towards her windpipe. She shook her head again at her mother as she downed the glass of water her mother had given her.
“Er. I’m fine, Mom.”
Her mother didn’t say anything. Alli looked at her father instead, to avoid her mother’s questioning gaze.
“And no, Dad, your noodles are just fine,” she said, ruffling her father’s rapidly thinning hair. “What documentary was that you were talking about?”
Throughout Mr. Silvano’s account of the documentary he had just watched, Alli’s mother didn’t say anything, and when Alli turned to look at her, she saw a certain sadness in her eyes, even while her lips were turned up in a smile at something Alli’s father said.
Alli could not dwell on it for very long, however, as her father pulled her in to give her their gift for her birthday, and soon, she had forgotten all about it.
*******
“Good night, Alli. And happy birthday.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she said, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She yawned. “You too, Mom. Good night to both of you.”
She hugged both her parents, and she went inside her room, turning on the light switch as she entered.
“Wait, Alli.”
Alli turned, and smiled, seeing her mother still at the doorway. “Oh, hi, Mom. Yes, don’t worry, I’m not going to sleep yet…I will study for that physics exam tomorrow.”
“That’s not what I was going to talk to you about,” Mrs. Silvano said, sitting down on Alli’s bed.
Alli looked at her mother warily, not liking the direction their conversation was taking. “I’m really okay, mom. I was just distracted a while ago…I was…um, thinking of the physics exam. You know very well that physics is one of my worst subjects. Well-apart from chemistry. And biology. And…”
Her mother laughed softly at this. “You shouldn’t be so flustered,” her mother said. “There was just something I was worried about a long time ago, and I decided that I should talk to you now about it. Before anything else, though, take this.”
She pressed something into her daughter’s hands. It seemed to be a book of some sort, heavy and bound in black leather, its pages slightly yellowed with age. Alli turned the pages over, brushing her hand over the text.
“Oh, thanks Mom,” she said, putting the book on her desk. “Was it your old journal when you were fifteen? I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from it. I’ll read it later. I’m going to study now.”
Her mother shook her head. “I think it’s best that you read it now, dear. So I will be able to explain everything.”
Alli’s heart sank as she realized what all this was about. Her mother had suspected all along that Alli was unhappy in school, and this giving of her old journal was equivalent to her saying, “See what I was like when I was fifteen? You should follow my example, so you would do so much better in school.”
“I really need to study now, Mom,” Alli said, more harshly than she intended. “Please.”
Her mother’s shoulders slumped somewhat. “I see,” her mother said. “I’m sorry to be such a bother, Alli.” She glanced at the book that lay unopened on Alli’s desk, and she walked out the door.
Alli let out a sigh of relief when her mother was gone. She went back to studying, trying to ignore the gnawing guilt she was beginning to feel as she thought of her mother’s strangely sad eyes when she looked at her daughter before she left.
*******
Curiosity and boredom got the best of her, however, and after trying futilely to solve a particularly difficult problem from her physics exercises, she opened the book her mother gave her.
The first page she read startled her out of her drowsiness, and she sat straight up in her chair.
I told him that whatever he did, I would never believe him. And yet here I am, writing everything down. Perhaps, deep down, I acknowledge the truth of what he has told me.
Alli could not believe her eyes. Could her mother have written this? But she was one of the most, well, normal people Alli knew. It was impossible.
Alli continued to turn the pages, reading snatches of the other journal entries. All of them started and ended abruptly, and made no sense to her.
And he claimed that other worlds exist, or rather, other universes, parallel to our own. I laughed in his face when he told me this, but he did not even so much as crack a smile when I did so.
Alli remembered that her teacher, Miss Belen, said something about parallel universes once. But only briefly, because she said many scientists scorn the theory, and it wasn’t science at all, but merely a lazy way out of explaining other phenomena. She never really understood the whole thing, and she wondered why her mother would be writing about something like that.
“Did any event occur that was particularly life-changing for you?”
I stopped laughing when he asked me this question, and I only shrugged, and said that I could not think of any at the moment.
He persisted, however, and I finally thought of an answer to his strange question.
“The day of our school trip,” I said, looking at him pointedly, and he smiled. I smiled back, relieved that he had caught my meaning.
“Now, say you never went on that school trip,” he said, taking my hand into his. “Imagine how you would be, if that never happened.”
“We would never have met,” I said simply.
“And?”
“None of these things would have happened. I would have gone on being the girl that I was. And I guess at this time, all I would have cared about was making money, and other such trivial concerns. And I would never have fallen in love with-”
I could not speak anymore. I only buried my face in my hands.
“Parallel universes are like that,” he went on, and I was glad that he did not pay heed to my sudden burst of emotion. “They are infinite, and often they differ from each other in only one particular event: an event that changes that course of that world’s history. And individuals, in particular, change.”
Alli stopped, and read the last line again.
Individuals, in particular, change.
A number of questions had come up in her mind. Who was the man her mother-if she had written this thing, but Alli could hardly believe it-spoke of? Was it her father? Another impossibility. And what school trip?
She turned the pages over, looking for some answers, or even hints as to what the whole thing was, but there were no other such entries, only more notes on parallel universes, and strangely, magical abilities. She had half a mind to go to her mother’s room to ask, but with the way she had treated her mother earlier, she was ashamed to go to there now. In the morning, she decided.
Besides, one thought had taken hold of her, and she turned it over in her head, considering.
He claimed that other universes exist, parallel to our own.
If parallel worlds do exist, Alli thought, then somewhere out there, I would exist as a different person. She frowned, remembering the day just past, and the days before that, all mostly miserable. Things would certainly be better for me, right? Maybe in another universe, I could be popular like Cecilia, and Neil would like me.
She yawned suddenly, and glanced at her clock, surprised at how late it was. She looked at the physics book on her lap, and groaned.
Or even if I were just as smart as her, I’d be perfectly happy. She put the book and the journal down on her desk, and lay down on her bed, deciding to get a few minutes’ rest before studying again.
If only there was some way I could know, she thought, closing her eyes. I wish I could. She laughed softly for thinking such ridiculous thoughts. Such things did not exist, she knew. Whoever wrote the journal was probably just delusional, so that definitely could not be her mother. In the morning, she would ask her mother about everything.
The ring on her finger suddenly began to glow, emitting a blue aura. The light surrounded her while she lay sleeping, then dissipated into a thousand little blue orbs, which soon faded into the darkness.
Alli was able to sleep for two minutes without interruption until she was woken up by the sound of something heavy falling into her bed.
She sat up, grumbling. Her books just kept falling onto her bed each night. One day, she promised herself, she would fix her books, but not tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Or the day after that. Whatever.
She flicked the lamplight on and to her surprise, it wasn’t one of her books that had fallen on her bed. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she stared again at the space beside her, and only saw her reflection in the surface of a mirror.
She fell back down on the bed, and decided to just put the mirror away when she woke up the next morning. She briefly wondered where the mirror had come from, when she sat up again, and nudged her ‘reflection’ with a shaking finger.
She screamed at the same time the girl beside her opened her eyes.
“Alli? Alli! What’s wrong?”
Alli ran to her parents’ room and straight into her father’s arms, still shaking all over.
“Dad! Mom!” she screamed, looking back at her room. “I-I s-saw this stranger in my room, and she looked like-”
“A burglar! How dare he!” Mr. Silvano yelled. He stopped Mrs. Silvano before she could get up from bed, shaking his head. “It’s much too dangerous, dear. Stay here.” He got up and followed Alli to her room. He grabbed the first thing he could reach, which turned out to be a broom, and decided to use it for protection.
They crept onwards. Mr. Silvano gripped his daughter’s hand so tightly, it was beginning to form a bruise.
Not a sound could be heard, except for the sound of their own breathing.
Slowly, Mr. Silvano turned the knob, and swung the door inwards. It creaked on its hinges, and Alli flinched at the sound, turning to hide behind her father and the broom he was brandishing.
Unconsciously, they held their breaths, until they saw what lay behind the door.
The room was empty.
“Alli?” Mr. Silvano said. "There’s no one here.”
“She was really there,” Alli said, looking around the room. She opened her closet in case anyone was hiding there, but saw nothing.
Mr. Silvano made a quick scan of the room. “No one here,” he announced. “No sign of a forced entry either. Are you sure there really was someone here? What did this person look like?”
“She looked exactly like me,” Alli replied. “At first I thought I was looking at a mirror, but then…”
Her words trailed off, for the more she thought about what she had seen, the more ridiculous it sounded. Granted, it was not the only strange thing that had happened that day, but this was a little bit too much.
“Maybe it was a dream,” Alli said thoughtfully.
Her father looked at her, bemused. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“I think so,” Alli said. An unknown person giving her gifts, that she could take. Secrets in the family, sure, that was still completely understandable. But seeing someone who looked exactly like her…that had to mean that she was completely delusional.
“Maybe it’s all that studying, Dad. Physics really is bad for your health, huh?” She laughed, although she did not feel much like it. She took a deep breath, willing her hands to stop shaking.
Her father sighed. “Well, if you’re really sure...”He hesitated, but eventually bid her good night. He left her the broom for safety. “Sleep well, Alli,” he told her anxiously. “I’ll leave the door unlocked so you can easily run to us.”
Alli nodded and watched him go, wondering if it was such a good idea to be alone again in her room.
When her father closed the door, Alli collapsed on her bed, her eyebrows furrowing together. Was she really going insane? Why now, of all times? She knew she had seen something, but it was impossible. She even touched that person, too...or had that been a dream as well?
She reached out to grab her blanket, but to her surprise, it was not on her bed anymore. She knew she had left her blanket on her bed when she had run out of the room.
Puzzled, she looked under her bed, and saw her blanket lying there. Strange, but she really remembered that she had-
Suddenly, someone clamped a hand to her mouth.
She was about to scream again when a voice spoke behind her.
“Please don’t scream,” the girl whispered kindly. “Hi. My name is Allisana Silvano, which, if I’m not mistaken, is also your name.”
Alli managed a muffled “What?” and the girl nodded, satisfied.
“I’ll take that for a yes,” the other girl said. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I’m not into hurting myself, you know.” She laughed, and Alli wondered how she could manage that under the circumstances.
“I’ll let you go if you promise not to scream, all right?” She looked at Alli, and Alli had no choice but to nod. “Thank you.” Slowly, the other girl released Alli. “Sorry, I had to do that. I really wouldn’t want mom and dad to see both of us at the same time.”
Alli briefly wondered if she should scream now, but she decided to trust the girl in front of her.
She could now see that this girl really looked exactly like her. The same unruly black hair, the same plain dark eyes, and even the same smile. They were even wearing the same blue shorts and the same oversized t-shirt.
They even had the same name, at that. This girl, indeed, was her.
Still, it was really hard to believe. She rubbed her eyes rapidly, but still, the girl in front of her didn’t go away.
“Mom? Dad?” she burst out, unable to say anything else.
“Yeah, Mom, Dad,” the girl replied. “Your parents, and my parents too.”
Alli swallowed, staring at the girl in front of her.
“I am you, and you are me,” said the girl. “I think.”
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“It’s weird, I know. What am I doing here?” The girl furrowed her eyebrows, and rested her chin on her right hand.
“W-wait,” Alli said, still dazed. “You’re me? And I’m you? But how?”
“I have no idea.” The girl shrugged. “But sometimes the strangest explanation can be the true one. I mean, what other explanation is there? The facts are all laid out in front of us, and this conclusion, no matter how strange it seems, seems the only way to explain things. Don’t you agree?”
Alli raised an eyebrow at the girl in front of her, which the girl responded to by also raising an eyebrow at her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I don’t know.” Alli shook her head. “You just talk strangely, that’s all.”
“I do?” The other girl looked taken aback. “But if you were me, and I were you, then you also talk like this-however I seem to talk-right?”
“No.”
“That’s strange.” She saw Alli’s physics book lying on the study desk, and picked it up. “You don’t read this very often, do you?” the girl asked, frowning. “It looks almost brand new.”
“Er…yes,” Alli said, taking the book away from her. “I never really liked physics, so I only usually end up studying my notes.”
“And biology? Do you like that subject?”
“Not very much, either.”
“Chemistry?”
Alli groaned.
“Hmm. Social studies? Language?”
“I’m okay there,” Alli said, brightening. “Not exceptional, but at least I pass.”
“Hmm,” the other girl said again. “And what was your score in the last chemistry exam we had?”
Alli blushed at this, and she shook her head, for it was strange to be embarrassed to tell herself what she got on that exam. Still, she took a few minutes before answering.
“I--I didn’t pass, okay?” she said, her eyes fixed on the floor. “And you?”
The other girl told her.
Alli’s jaw dropped, the implications of the other girl’s score crashing down upon her.
“You. Do. Well. In. School?”
The girl nodded, smiling somewhat sheepishly.
Mr. Silvano got up from their bed, and went out the door to check on his daughter. He thought he had just heard her cry out, and he decided there was no harm in checking up on her now.
“Um, not so loud, please,” the other girl said, glancing at the door. “Mom and Dad will hear us.”
“Oh, Dad can sleep through anything,” Alli said, laughing. “You know that, right?”
“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be sure.” The other girl laughed too, and she lay back down on the bed. “Any idea why I’m here?”
“You’re the smart one, not me.” An idea suddenly popped into her head then, and she sat up straight, looking at the other girl beside her. “Could you have come from a universe parallel to my own?”
The other girl sat back up then, and she nodded. “I think you’re right. Miss Belen mentioned it in class, right? And you would be an alternate version of me, and vice versa. See? We’re more alike than you think.”
Alli reddened at that, and she shook her head. “No, I could never be as smart as you. I only thought of it because I read it in the journal mother gave me-I mean us.”
The other girl looked at her strangely. “What journal?”
“This, of course,” Alli said, getting the slim volume from her desk.
“Mom never gave me anything like this,” the other girl said, frowning.
“Really? But then why-”
“I don’t own a ring like the one you have on your finger either,” continued the other girl.
“Someone gave it to me yesterday,” Alli replied, removing the ring from her finger, and handing it to the other girl. “I don’t know who gave it, though, because I just found it in my bag yesterday.”
“A secret admirer?” The other girl smiled. “That’s one thing you have that I don’t.”
“No, not a secret admirer!” Alli protested, blushing further. “That’s impossible. No one in school notices me. Why in the world would I have one? It is weird, though.” She got the ring back from the other girl, and said hastily, “Do you think all this has something to do with why you’re here?”
“Maybe,” said the other girl. “I’ll think it over. You have to get some sleep.”
“Ah, no,” Alli said, sighing. “I have to study for physics. I just don’t get torque, and my notes are just no good…”
“I can help you, you know,” the other girl offered.
“Thanks,” Alli said, smiling shyly. “I wanted to ask, but-”
“It’s okay,” the other girl cut in, “I am you, after all, right?”
Mr. Silvano frowned, looking at Alli’s closed door.
Yawning, he knocked again on the door, but still got no answer. He could hear voices from behind the door, which alarmed him. Who was his daughter talking to?
He knocked again, and tried the door. To his relief, it was unlocked.
With his heart furiously pounding on his chest, he hurriedly swung the door open.
“Alli! Are you all right?” he yelled, grabbing the broom that rested near the door.
Two girls looked up at him, identical expressions of shock on their faces.
Both girls looked alike, too.
What was stranger still, both girls looked like Alli.
“What the-” was all Mr. Silvano was able to blurt out when-
Slam!
Mr. Silvano blinked. Shaking, he turned the knob once again, only to find out that it was locked.
Inside, Alli collapsed on the floor, panting. To the other girl she gasped, “Hide! Now!”
Alli had no time to check if the other girl really was hidden, because at that moment, her father pounded on the door so loudly, she thought he was going to break it down.
She opened the door, and her father tumbled headlong into the room.
“Alli, what’s going on?” he sputtered, grabbing the broom and brandishing it once again in self-defense. “Who-what-where-”
“What’s going on, Dad?” Alli said innocently, throwing the question back at him.
“I could have sworn I saw two of you,” Mr. Silvano said, bewildered. “Then you slammed the door, and-”
“I was so surprised when you suddenly rushed into my room,” Alli explained, “that I slammed the door. I’m really sorry. I’ve been so jumpy, since I had that dream.”
“But I entered a while ago and I saw--”
“Two of me?” Alli raised her eyebrows in what she hoped looked credibly incredulous.
“I guess I better get some sleep,” Alli’s father said, scratching his head. “You sure you’re really okay?”
“Yes, Dad. Sorry to make you worry.”
“And you didn’t cry out just a while?”
“Huh? No.”
“And you weren’t talking to anyone just now?”
“Dad, you’re not making any sense. Who would I be talking to?”
“Aren’t I, though?” Her father yawned then, and said, “Well, good night, Alli.”
“Good night, Dad.” Alli kissed her father on the cheek fondly, and closed the door, making sure to lock it this time.
Mr. Silvano walked away, still perplexed by the incident. He swore never, ever to watch documentaries on cloning again.
Alli let out one long breath, glad that that went well.
“You can come out now,” she called out to the other girl. She looked around the room, and said, “Where are you, anyway?”
The other girl came out from under the bed, pushing away the boxes of old toys Alli still kept there.
“So that’s where you hid earlier,” Alli said, nodding. “Of course.”
“I used to do that when I was little,” the other girl said, brushing the dust away from her clothes. “You did too, right?”
“I remember now. Yes.”
“Next time, lock the door, okay?” The other girl sat back down on the bed and said, “So, shall we continue?”
“Thanks,” Alli said. “You know, I’m really glad you’re here, er, Alli.” It sounded strange calling someone else by her own name, but she decided she rather liked it, somehow.
“Actually, no,” the other girl said, smiling. “Most people call me Alice.”
“Alice.” Alli thought that over for a moment, and smiled back. “That’s great-I won’t be so confused, then.”
“And you’re called Alli.” Alice held out her hand, and Alli shook it. “Nice to meet you, Alli.”
“You too, Alice.”
The other girl leaned back on the bed, opening Alli’s book to a certain page. “Well then, Alli. Shall we begin?”
“Now do you get it?”
“It’s easier than I first thought,” Alli said in awe. “I never thought I would get it…”
“See?” Alice reassured her. “We’re just rather strange, you see. There’s sort of a different way of learning for us. I had a difficult time too, you know, before I realized that.”
“Gee, thanks,” Alli said, blushing at Alice’s reassurance. “I guess I just never really had confidence in myself. I always thought I was just stupid…thanks, really. To think that it only took us-”, she glanced at her bedside clock, “-four hours to study for everything! I think that’s really good! I usually take days to study, and I don’t even understand everything then.”
Alice smiled proudly. “I know. That’s really good! I mean four hours is-”
Alli’s words finally sank in.
“…four hours?”
They looked at each other, both bewildered.
“Four hours?” Alice repeated incredulously. “Are you sure?”
“We started at three,” Alli said slowly. “And it’s already seven o’clock…”
“It took us that long?” Alice said, frowning.
“No, that’s not what bothers me,” Alli said, looking nervous.
“What else could bother you?” Alice looked annoyed, and kept scowling. “I guess I’m still not as good a tutor as I thought I would be. If I need four hours to teach myself...”
A brief silence followed, with Alice still frowning and Alli staring at the clock as if staring at it would change the time the hands now indicated.
A knock on the door came, followed by Mr. Silvano’s voice.
“Alli? You ready? We have to go now. Have you taken a bath yet?”
Then came a shriek.
“I’M GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL AGAIN!”
***
He watched as she ran past his classroom, looking for the ring he had given her. To his surprise, she did not seem to be wearing it anymore.
He frowned, sinking lower into his seat.
She was in danger, and without the ring, nothing else could protect her. If only there was some way to warn her.
He will find a way, he thought. And he should-soon.
Comments again appreciated. ^^ And do check out India and the Conundrum too! (Issue 1 would probably be released by today.)
Anyway, I finally decided to do a major overhaul for Alternate Futures, and I finished the first two chapters. So I have 2 chapters for April. XD
Chapter 1: Happy Birthday
(included in the online magazine, India and the Conundrum)
(It was once said there isn’t just one universe in existence, and the world consisted of an infinite number of multiverses; of parallel realities existing side by side. But in one of these universes, the only thing 15-year old Allisana Silvano knew, or even cared about, was that she was having a really bad birthday.)
Chapter 2: Alice
Chapter 2
Alice
“Happy birthday Alli, happy birthday, Alli…”
Alli suppressed a laugh as her father hit another wrong note while her mother sang louder to cover up for his mistake. She looked down at the cake before her, lit up with fifteen small candles.
Her father pressed a button on the camera, propped up on a tripod, and he walked back to the dinner table where he and his wife watched as Alli blew out the candles on her cake.
It was already a family tradition, and she knew that after the candle-blowing, her mother would serve pasta (“For long life,” her father would insist). She still didn’t feel like eating, though, and she only ended up twirling the noodles idly with her fork.
“Is something bothering you, dear?”
Alli looked up at her mother, startled. “Did something happen at school today?” her mother went on.
Alli hesitated. Cecilia. Cecilia…and Neil. She wondered if maybe she could tell her mother about it, but when her mother added, “Another difficult exam, wasn’t it? Don’t worry, if you study harder I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” she realized that it was very embarrassing to have her mother know that she was worrying about something so shallow and impractical, at least to her mother’s eyes.
“No, Mom,” she said, flinching under her mother’s gaze. “We didn’t have any exams today. It’s nothing, really.” She smiled as she shook her head for further emphasis. She realized too late that she was still wearing the sapphire ring in her right hand, and she hoped that her mother would not notice it. She would just probably tell her to ask among her classmates to find out who gave it to her, which was, of course, very practical, but also highly embarrassing.
“Did I overcook the noodles again?” her father asked, looking flustered. “I knew it. I was really distracted by that really fascinating documentary on cloning a while ago, so I forgot that I-”
“No, the noodles are all right, Dad,” Alli said hastily, taking in a forkful and chewing them at once. “See? I was just-er, thinking about something--” She began to choke, and she hastily coughed out the noodle that had mistakenly made its way towards her windpipe. She shook her head again at her mother as she downed the glass of water her mother had given her.
“Er. I’m fine, Mom.”
Her mother didn’t say anything. Alli looked at her father instead, to avoid her mother’s questioning gaze.
“And no, Dad, your noodles are just fine,” she said, ruffling her father’s rapidly thinning hair. “What documentary was that you were talking about?”
Throughout Mr. Silvano’s account of the documentary he had just watched, Alli’s mother didn’t say anything, and when Alli turned to look at her, she saw a certain sadness in her eyes, even while her lips were turned up in a smile at something Alli’s father said.
Alli could not dwell on it for very long, however, as her father pulled her in to give her their gift for her birthday, and soon, she had forgotten all about it.
*******
“Good night, Alli. And happy birthday.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she said, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She yawned. “You too, Mom. Good night to both of you.”
She hugged both her parents, and she went inside her room, turning on the light switch as she entered.
“Wait, Alli.”
Alli turned, and smiled, seeing her mother still at the doorway. “Oh, hi, Mom. Yes, don’t worry, I’m not going to sleep yet…I will study for that physics exam tomorrow.”
“That’s not what I was going to talk to you about,” Mrs. Silvano said, sitting down on Alli’s bed.
Alli looked at her mother warily, not liking the direction their conversation was taking. “I’m really okay, mom. I was just distracted a while ago…I was…um, thinking of the physics exam. You know very well that physics is one of my worst subjects. Well-apart from chemistry. And biology. And…”
Her mother laughed softly at this. “You shouldn’t be so flustered,” her mother said. “There was just something I was worried about a long time ago, and I decided that I should talk to you now about it. Before anything else, though, take this.”
She pressed something into her daughter’s hands. It seemed to be a book of some sort, heavy and bound in black leather, its pages slightly yellowed with age. Alli turned the pages over, brushing her hand over the text.
“Oh, thanks Mom,” she said, putting the book on her desk. “Was it your old journal when you were fifteen? I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from it. I’ll read it later. I’m going to study now.”
Her mother shook her head. “I think it’s best that you read it now, dear. So I will be able to explain everything.”
Alli’s heart sank as she realized what all this was about. Her mother had suspected all along that Alli was unhappy in school, and this giving of her old journal was equivalent to her saying, “See what I was like when I was fifteen? You should follow my example, so you would do so much better in school.”
“I really need to study now, Mom,” Alli said, more harshly than she intended. “Please.”
Her mother’s shoulders slumped somewhat. “I see,” her mother said. “I’m sorry to be such a bother, Alli.” She glanced at the book that lay unopened on Alli’s desk, and she walked out the door.
Alli let out a sigh of relief when her mother was gone. She went back to studying, trying to ignore the gnawing guilt she was beginning to feel as she thought of her mother’s strangely sad eyes when she looked at her daughter before she left.
*******
Curiosity and boredom got the best of her, however, and after trying futilely to solve a particularly difficult problem from her physics exercises, she opened the book her mother gave her.
The first page she read startled her out of her drowsiness, and she sat straight up in her chair.
I told him that whatever he did, I would never believe him. And yet here I am, writing everything down. Perhaps, deep down, I acknowledge the truth of what he has told me.
Alli could not believe her eyes. Could her mother have written this? But she was one of the most, well, normal people Alli knew. It was impossible.
Alli continued to turn the pages, reading snatches of the other journal entries. All of them started and ended abruptly, and made no sense to her.
And he claimed that other worlds exist, or rather, other universes, parallel to our own. I laughed in his face when he told me this, but he did not even so much as crack a smile when I did so.
Alli remembered that her teacher, Miss Belen, said something about parallel universes once. But only briefly, because she said many scientists scorn the theory, and it wasn’t science at all, but merely a lazy way out of explaining other phenomena. She never really understood the whole thing, and she wondered why her mother would be writing about something like that.
“Did any event occur that was particularly life-changing for you?”
I stopped laughing when he asked me this question, and I only shrugged, and said that I could not think of any at the moment.
He persisted, however, and I finally thought of an answer to his strange question.
“The day of our school trip,” I said, looking at him pointedly, and he smiled. I smiled back, relieved that he had caught my meaning.
“Now, say you never went on that school trip,” he said, taking my hand into his. “Imagine how you would be, if that never happened.”
“We would never have met,” I said simply.
“And?”
“None of these things would have happened. I would have gone on being the girl that I was. And I guess at this time, all I would have cared about was making money, and other such trivial concerns. And I would never have fallen in love with-”
I could not speak anymore. I only buried my face in my hands.
“Parallel universes are like that,” he went on, and I was glad that he did not pay heed to my sudden burst of emotion. “They are infinite, and often they differ from each other in only one particular event: an event that changes that course of that world’s history. And individuals, in particular, change.”
Alli stopped, and read the last line again.
Individuals, in particular, change.
A number of questions had come up in her mind. Who was the man her mother-if she had written this thing, but Alli could hardly believe it-spoke of? Was it her father? Another impossibility. And what school trip?
She turned the pages over, looking for some answers, or even hints as to what the whole thing was, but there were no other such entries, only more notes on parallel universes, and strangely, magical abilities. She had half a mind to go to her mother’s room to ask, but with the way she had treated her mother earlier, she was ashamed to go to there now. In the morning, she decided.
Besides, one thought had taken hold of her, and she turned it over in her head, considering.
He claimed that other universes exist, parallel to our own.
If parallel worlds do exist, Alli thought, then somewhere out there, I would exist as a different person. She frowned, remembering the day just past, and the days before that, all mostly miserable. Things would certainly be better for me, right? Maybe in another universe, I could be popular like Cecilia, and Neil would like me.
She yawned suddenly, and glanced at her clock, surprised at how late it was. She looked at the physics book on her lap, and groaned.
Or even if I were just as smart as her, I’d be perfectly happy. She put the book and the journal down on her desk, and lay down on her bed, deciding to get a few minutes’ rest before studying again.
If only there was some way I could know, she thought, closing her eyes. I wish I could. She laughed softly for thinking such ridiculous thoughts. Such things did not exist, she knew. Whoever wrote the journal was probably just delusional, so that definitely could not be her mother. In the morning, she would ask her mother about everything.
The ring on her finger suddenly began to glow, emitting a blue aura. The light surrounded her while she lay sleeping, then dissipated into a thousand little blue orbs, which soon faded into the darkness.
Alli was able to sleep for two minutes without interruption until she was woken up by the sound of something heavy falling into her bed.
She sat up, grumbling. Her books just kept falling onto her bed each night. One day, she promised herself, she would fix her books, but not tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Or the day after that. Whatever.
She flicked the lamplight on and to her surprise, it wasn’t one of her books that had fallen on her bed. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she stared again at the space beside her, and only saw her reflection in the surface of a mirror.
She fell back down on the bed, and decided to just put the mirror away when she woke up the next morning. She briefly wondered where the mirror had come from, when she sat up again, and nudged her ‘reflection’ with a shaking finger.
She screamed at the same time the girl beside her opened her eyes.
“Alli? Alli! What’s wrong?”
Alli ran to her parents’ room and straight into her father’s arms, still shaking all over.
“Dad! Mom!” she screamed, looking back at her room. “I-I s-saw this stranger in my room, and she looked like-”
“A burglar! How dare he!” Mr. Silvano yelled. He stopped Mrs. Silvano before she could get up from bed, shaking his head. “It’s much too dangerous, dear. Stay here.” He got up and followed Alli to her room. He grabbed the first thing he could reach, which turned out to be a broom, and decided to use it for protection.
They crept onwards. Mr. Silvano gripped his daughter’s hand so tightly, it was beginning to form a bruise.
Not a sound could be heard, except for the sound of their own breathing.
Slowly, Mr. Silvano turned the knob, and swung the door inwards. It creaked on its hinges, and Alli flinched at the sound, turning to hide behind her father and the broom he was brandishing.
Unconsciously, they held their breaths, until they saw what lay behind the door.
The room was empty.
“Alli?” Mr. Silvano said. "There’s no one here.”
“She was really there,” Alli said, looking around the room. She opened her closet in case anyone was hiding there, but saw nothing.
Mr. Silvano made a quick scan of the room. “No one here,” he announced. “No sign of a forced entry either. Are you sure there really was someone here? What did this person look like?”
“She looked exactly like me,” Alli replied. “At first I thought I was looking at a mirror, but then…”
Her words trailed off, for the more she thought about what she had seen, the more ridiculous it sounded. Granted, it was not the only strange thing that had happened that day, but this was a little bit too much.
“Maybe it was a dream,” Alli said thoughtfully.
Her father looked at her, bemused. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“I think so,” Alli said. An unknown person giving her gifts, that she could take. Secrets in the family, sure, that was still completely understandable. But seeing someone who looked exactly like her…that had to mean that she was completely delusional.
“Maybe it’s all that studying, Dad. Physics really is bad for your health, huh?” She laughed, although she did not feel much like it. She took a deep breath, willing her hands to stop shaking.
Her father sighed. “Well, if you’re really sure...”He hesitated, but eventually bid her good night. He left her the broom for safety. “Sleep well, Alli,” he told her anxiously. “I’ll leave the door unlocked so you can easily run to us.”
Alli nodded and watched him go, wondering if it was such a good idea to be alone again in her room.
When her father closed the door, Alli collapsed on her bed, her eyebrows furrowing together. Was she really going insane? Why now, of all times? She knew she had seen something, but it was impossible. She even touched that person, too...or had that been a dream as well?
She reached out to grab her blanket, but to her surprise, it was not on her bed anymore. She knew she had left her blanket on her bed when she had run out of the room.
Puzzled, she looked under her bed, and saw her blanket lying there. Strange, but she really remembered that she had-
Suddenly, someone clamped a hand to her mouth.
She was about to scream again when a voice spoke behind her.
“Please don’t scream,” the girl whispered kindly. “Hi. My name is Allisana Silvano, which, if I’m not mistaken, is also your name.”
Alli managed a muffled “What?” and the girl nodded, satisfied.
“I’ll take that for a yes,” the other girl said. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I’m not into hurting myself, you know.” She laughed, and Alli wondered how she could manage that under the circumstances.
“I’ll let you go if you promise not to scream, all right?” She looked at Alli, and Alli had no choice but to nod. “Thank you.” Slowly, the other girl released Alli. “Sorry, I had to do that. I really wouldn’t want mom and dad to see both of us at the same time.”
Alli briefly wondered if she should scream now, but she decided to trust the girl in front of her.
She could now see that this girl really looked exactly like her. The same unruly black hair, the same plain dark eyes, and even the same smile. They were even wearing the same blue shorts and the same oversized t-shirt.
They even had the same name, at that. This girl, indeed, was her.
Still, it was really hard to believe. She rubbed her eyes rapidly, but still, the girl in front of her didn’t go away.
“Mom? Dad?” she burst out, unable to say anything else.
“Yeah, Mom, Dad,” the girl replied. “Your parents, and my parents too.”
Alli swallowed, staring at the girl in front of her.
“I am you, and you are me,” said the girl. “I think.”
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“It’s weird, I know. What am I doing here?” The girl furrowed her eyebrows, and rested her chin on her right hand.
“W-wait,” Alli said, still dazed. “You’re me? And I’m you? But how?”
“I have no idea.” The girl shrugged. “But sometimes the strangest explanation can be the true one. I mean, what other explanation is there? The facts are all laid out in front of us, and this conclusion, no matter how strange it seems, seems the only way to explain things. Don’t you agree?”
Alli raised an eyebrow at the girl in front of her, which the girl responded to by also raising an eyebrow at her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I don’t know.” Alli shook her head. “You just talk strangely, that’s all.”
“I do?” The other girl looked taken aback. “But if you were me, and I were you, then you also talk like this-however I seem to talk-right?”
“No.”
“That’s strange.” She saw Alli’s physics book lying on the study desk, and picked it up. “You don’t read this very often, do you?” the girl asked, frowning. “It looks almost brand new.”
“Er…yes,” Alli said, taking the book away from her. “I never really liked physics, so I only usually end up studying my notes.”
“And biology? Do you like that subject?”
“Not very much, either.”
“Chemistry?”
Alli groaned.
“Hmm. Social studies? Language?”
“I’m okay there,” Alli said, brightening. “Not exceptional, but at least I pass.”
“Hmm,” the other girl said again. “And what was your score in the last chemistry exam we had?”
Alli blushed at this, and she shook her head, for it was strange to be embarrassed to tell herself what she got on that exam. Still, she took a few minutes before answering.
“I--I didn’t pass, okay?” she said, her eyes fixed on the floor. “And you?”
The other girl told her.
Alli’s jaw dropped, the implications of the other girl’s score crashing down upon her.
“You. Do. Well. In. School?”
The girl nodded, smiling somewhat sheepishly.
Mr. Silvano got up from their bed, and went out the door to check on his daughter. He thought he had just heard her cry out, and he decided there was no harm in checking up on her now.
“Um, not so loud, please,” the other girl said, glancing at the door. “Mom and Dad will hear us.”
“Oh, Dad can sleep through anything,” Alli said, laughing. “You know that, right?”
“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be sure.” The other girl laughed too, and she lay back down on the bed. “Any idea why I’m here?”
“You’re the smart one, not me.” An idea suddenly popped into her head then, and she sat up straight, looking at the other girl beside her. “Could you have come from a universe parallel to my own?”
The other girl sat back up then, and she nodded. “I think you’re right. Miss Belen mentioned it in class, right? And you would be an alternate version of me, and vice versa. See? We’re more alike than you think.”
Alli reddened at that, and she shook her head. “No, I could never be as smart as you. I only thought of it because I read it in the journal mother gave me-I mean us.”
The other girl looked at her strangely. “What journal?”
“This, of course,” Alli said, getting the slim volume from her desk.
“Mom never gave me anything like this,” the other girl said, frowning.
“Really? But then why-”
“I don’t own a ring like the one you have on your finger either,” continued the other girl.
“Someone gave it to me yesterday,” Alli replied, removing the ring from her finger, and handing it to the other girl. “I don’t know who gave it, though, because I just found it in my bag yesterday.”
“A secret admirer?” The other girl smiled. “That’s one thing you have that I don’t.”
“No, not a secret admirer!” Alli protested, blushing further. “That’s impossible. No one in school notices me. Why in the world would I have one? It is weird, though.” She got the ring back from the other girl, and said hastily, “Do you think all this has something to do with why you’re here?”
“Maybe,” said the other girl. “I’ll think it over. You have to get some sleep.”
“Ah, no,” Alli said, sighing. “I have to study for physics. I just don’t get torque, and my notes are just no good…”
“I can help you, you know,” the other girl offered.
“Thanks,” Alli said, smiling shyly. “I wanted to ask, but-”
“It’s okay,” the other girl cut in, “I am you, after all, right?”
Mr. Silvano frowned, looking at Alli’s closed door.
Yawning, he knocked again on the door, but still got no answer. He could hear voices from behind the door, which alarmed him. Who was his daughter talking to?
He knocked again, and tried the door. To his relief, it was unlocked.
With his heart furiously pounding on his chest, he hurriedly swung the door open.
“Alli! Are you all right?” he yelled, grabbing the broom that rested near the door.
Two girls looked up at him, identical expressions of shock on their faces.
Both girls looked alike, too.
What was stranger still, both girls looked like Alli.
“What the-” was all Mr. Silvano was able to blurt out when-
Slam!
Mr. Silvano blinked. Shaking, he turned the knob once again, only to find out that it was locked.
Inside, Alli collapsed on the floor, panting. To the other girl she gasped, “Hide! Now!”
Alli had no time to check if the other girl really was hidden, because at that moment, her father pounded on the door so loudly, she thought he was going to break it down.
She opened the door, and her father tumbled headlong into the room.
“Alli, what’s going on?” he sputtered, grabbing the broom and brandishing it once again in self-defense. “Who-what-where-”
“What’s going on, Dad?” Alli said innocently, throwing the question back at him.
“I could have sworn I saw two of you,” Mr. Silvano said, bewildered. “Then you slammed the door, and-”
“I was so surprised when you suddenly rushed into my room,” Alli explained, “that I slammed the door. I’m really sorry. I’ve been so jumpy, since I had that dream.”
“But I entered a while ago and I saw--”
“Two of me?” Alli raised her eyebrows in what she hoped looked credibly incredulous.
“I guess I better get some sleep,” Alli’s father said, scratching his head. “You sure you’re really okay?”
“Yes, Dad. Sorry to make you worry.”
“And you didn’t cry out just a while?”
“Huh? No.”
“And you weren’t talking to anyone just now?”
“Dad, you’re not making any sense. Who would I be talking to?”
“Aren’t I, though?” Her father yawned then, and said, “Well, good night, Alli.”
“Good night, Dad.” Alli kissed her father on the cheek fondly, and closed the door, making sure to lock it this time.
Mr. Silvano walked away, still perplexed by the incident. He swore never, ever to watch documentaries on cloning again.
Alli let out one long breath, glad that that went well.
“You can come out now,” she called out to the other girl. She looked around the room, and said, “Where are you, anyway?”
The other girl came out from under the bed, pushing away the boxes of old toys Alli still kept there.
“So that’s where you hid earlier,” Alli said, nodding. “Of course.”
“I used to do that when I was little,” the other girl said, brushing the dust away from her clothes. “You did too, right?”
“I remember now. Yes.”
“Next time, lock the door, okay?” The other girl sat back down on the bed and said, “So, shall we continue?”
“Thanks,” Alli said. “You know, I’m really glad you’re here, er, Alli.” It sounded strange calling someone else by her own name, but she decided she rather liked it, somehow.
“Actually, no,” the other girl said, smiling. “Most people call me Alice.”
“Alice.” Alli thought that over for a moment, and smiled back. “That’s great-I won’t be so confused, then.”
“And you’re called Alli.” Alice held out her hand, and Alli shook it. “Nice to meet you, Alli.”
“You too, Alice.”
The other girl leaned back on the bed, opening Alli’s book to a certain page. “Well then, Alli. Shall we begin?”
“Now do you get it?”
“It’s easier than I first thought,” Alli said in awe. “I never thought I would get it…”
“See?” Alice reassured her. “We’re just rather strange, you see. There’s sort of a different way of learning for us. I had a difficult time too, you know, before I realized that.”
“Gee, thanks,” Alli said, blushing at Alice’s reassurance. “I guess I just never really had confidence in myself. I always thought I was just stupid…thanks, really. To think that it only took us-”, she glanced at her bedside clock, “-four hours to study for everything! I think that’s really good! I usually take days to study, and I don’t even understand everything then.”
Alice smiled proudly. “I know. That’s really good! I mean four hours is-”
Alli’s words finally sank in.
“…four hours?”
They looked at each other, both bewildered.
“Four hours?” Alice repeated incredulously. “Are you sure?”
“We started at three,” Alli said slowly. “And it’s already seven o’clock…”
“It took us that long?” Alice said, frowning.
“No, that’s not what bothers me,” Alli said, looking nervous.
“What else could bother you?” Alice looked annoyed, and kept scowling. “I guess I’m still not as good a tutor as I thought I would be. If I need four hours to teach myself...”
A brief silence followed, with Alice still frowning and Alli staring at the clock as if staring at it would change the time the hands now indicated.
A knock on the door came, followed by Mr. Silvano’s voice.
“Alli? You ready? We have to go now. Have you taken a bath yet?”
Then came a shriek.
“I’M GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL AGAIN!”
***
He watched as she ran past his classroom, looking for the ring he had given her. To his surprise, she did not seem to be wearing it anymore.
He frowned, sinking lower into his seat.
She was in danger, and without the ring, nothing else could protect her. If only there was some way to warn her.
He will find a way, he thought. And he should-soon.
Comments again appreciated. ^^ And do check out India and the Conundrum too! (Issue 1 would probably be released by today.)