This nightmare just got worse.
This means that my sister is in big trouble. My mind races, and I want to run, but I can't.
She looks exactly like my sister, but not quite.
The little girl in the closet is sitting with her back against the wall of the closet under the hanging clothes, with her arms wrapped around her knees. She looks as scared as I feel and I can see that she has been crying. It's obvious she has been in hiding for a while. There are crumpled bags of crackers around her on the floor, cereal bowls, and empty juice boxes. She has made a kind of fort in the closet with blankets and boxes. She stares back at me with her big green eyes, tears slipping down her cheeks, and she is waiting for me to say something.
She is Stuck.
This is my sister's twin. Like me and my sister, she must be confused, terrified, and lonely. I crouch down on one knee and reach out to her but she flinches. I see that I'll have to calm her down. I have to tell her what Sam would want to hear. I pull my hands back and restart.
"My name is Sierra. I'm a friend of Tiarra's. I know this must be really weird and scary for you, but you can trust me."
She blinks and lets out a whisper: "Wh-where is Tiarra? Where's my mom?"
"I had the same questions. Listen, they are both okay. I am trying to sort out this problem too."
"Who are you?" She asks. "Why do you look so much like Tiarra?"
I think about how to explain this in a way that she will understand, and believe. I decide that I'll tell her the way I would tell my sister. She's Sam's twin, so it's about as close as I could get.
Sam.
I don't have time to go through this whole thing, I have to get back. I realize I have no idea how long I've been here, or if it's been too long. If I stay too long and Tom can't get me back, my sister will trapped forever. I think of her, scared and confused in hiding somewhere in that other world, completely alone in that dimension. I don't even have a way to tell Tom to look after her. It makes me sick just thinking about it. I would rather be trapped there than let my sister go through it. I have to help this girl and get moving fast.
"Listen, it's kind of hard to explain. What is your name?"
She looks at me a bit like she trying to decide whether to trust me, and then she says "Tabatha, but my sister calls me Tabby."
"Okay Tabatha, I need you to trust me, to believe me. I'm in the same boat as you are. I'm from far away, and somehow Tiarra and I got switched, and now so did you and my sister Sam."
Tabatha leans forward and her eyes brighten. "Tiarra disappeared today...there was a bright light."
This must have been when I got here. It didn't occur to me that my twin would be yanked away from wherever she was when I jumped using the machine.
"I know. I saw the same thing. I am going to try to get you and Tiarra home, and I need you to just carry on like everything is normal."
"My parents..." Tabatha says.
"Just trust me, my dad is awesome. Just act as normal as possible."
Tabatha looks at me warily, and nods slowly.
"How long is this going to take?"
"I don't know, I'm sorry. But just stick with Tiarra. She'll will be back in a few minutes, and I think she might understand now."
I get up to leave and Tabatha leaps out and practically tackles me with a big hug around my neck. She squeezes so hard it almost chokes me but I hug back. It feels like I'm hugging Sam and I feel the connection. We're all connected.
Sam.
"Okay, I gotta go." I release her and stand up. She slowly gets up and out of the closet, and her eyes are looking scared again.
"Listen, where were you when Tiarra disappeared?" I ask her.
"Right here." says Tabatha.
"Okay, wait here, and she will be back, I promise. Tell her about me, and tell her I am working on it."
"Okay." Says Tabatha.
"Oh, one more thing. Tell Dad that you and Tiarra are doing an experiment at school so you can't eat meat, okay?"
Tabatha looks at me questioningly, and nods.
"Oh, and someday I will cook you the best stinkweed stew you ever ate."
Tabatha giggles and hugs me again, and I leave the house through the back door. I stop at the garage on the way out, because I need something with me from now on, just in case. I grab my BB gun, quickly load it with BBs, and start running.
I'm clutching the little Potentium ball in my free hand as I run down the street back to the spot I landed, thinking about how this little ball of gold metal is my only connection to get back to my sister. I wish I had gotten more time, the chance to see my dad, too. I came all the way back here and I didn't get to see either my dad or my sister. Now I have to go back there, to find Sam. I'm almost back to the spot, and I'm not even sure anymore which world I'm headed back to. I can't even keep it straight anymore, with all this zapping back and forth. Twin World. That's where I'm going.
I reach the spot and squeeze the Potentium...and wait.
Nothing happens for what seems like an hour. I see kids playing down the street. I recognize people walking their dogs. I wish it was all normal again, so I wouldn't have to go back.
Then the ball of light explodes in my eyes and I'm streaking across time and space again. It's starting to make me feel sick. I wonder what would happen if I barfed...would my barf arrive there too? I wonder if my barf has a twin version as well. What if astronauts found my breakfast splattered all over the moon someday. I laugh out loud as I imagine NASA talking to the astronauts. "Say again mission commander...did you say there's, um, human vomit there??"
Before I know it I'm lying on the ground in the grass field near Tom's house.
Twin World.
I try to shake the fuzziness out of my head as I get up, and my legs are still a bit shaky. It's not easy being a dimension jumper.
I need to get Sam but Tom's house is closer, and I have no idea how long I've been gone anymore, so I decide to swing by there first, because if he's there he can help me get Sam. I run around the back to his gate, and up the weed tunnel. I don't see or hear any movement inside. I knock but there's no answer and the door is hanging open a bit. Nobody is home, but the door is open.
That's odd.
I slip inside and tiptoe down the hall towards Tom's room. I don't even know why I'm tiptoeing.
Tom's door is open just a crack, and I read the sign "ENTER AT OWN RISK". For some reason I get an uneasy feeling that it means something this time. I'm about to push Tom's door open when I get a glimpse through the opening.
Tom is sitting on the bed scratching his arm very slowly. Just when I'm about to say hello, his fingers dig into the skin on his arm and he peels back a rubbery-looking flap, and I see the inside of his arm. It's not what a person's arm should look like. It's all electronic parts and gears and tiny blinking lights.
I gasp, and cover my mouth with my hand to block the sound. I stand stone still and my heart almost stops for a second.
Then Tom glances up, and he doesn't look right. His eyes are red with a silver diamond shaped spot in the center. I flinch and bump the door open and his head snaps over to look right at me, and he blinks with one red eye...and it makes the sound of a camera taking a picture.
I turn and run for my life.