Сергей Редькин – The Queen of the Two Moons (страница 2)
Was Lizzy going crazy and was seeing things that weren’t there? Nope. The moms in the alley were all screaming, and the grandmas were trying to run away. There was definitely a shooting just now.
The twin woman had said that they were trying to erase them. Another click. Lizzy’s brain started to work again.
It took her a couple of minutes to get into the endless stream38 of people hurrying to their work. She stopped by the curb39 to catch her breath when a car tire screeched40 next to her, and the passenger door opened.
“Get in, quick,” the driver yelled.
“Come on, Lizzy. We don’t have much time!” He sounded agitated41. He knew her name!
Lizzy gaped42 at him. It was
“I know,” he said without taking his eyes off the road. “It took me awhile to understand this, but I’m not who you think I am.”
It dawned on her43. “You’re his copy.” He nodded.
She got into the car.
She couldn’t stop looking at him. This man looked exactly like Mark, the boyfriend who was supposed to propose Lizzy soon. They both had round faces and blue eyes. Only his hair was combed in a different way, to the right side, and he wasn’t wearing pajamas, but a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. The man’s skin was tanned as if he had spent a lot of time under the sun. Mark was not a big of fan of sunbathing and preferred to stay inside. Also, the stranger was wearing a rather chunky44 diver’s watch with a steel bracelet on his right hand, unlike her boyfriend who wore his dress watch on a leather strap on the left hand. She remembered that because she had given him that watch as a birthday present. It was only a few days ago. It was expensive and it had taken her a while to choose it in the department store that was near her office.
“He was trying to make you leave the apartment this morning. To save you,” he said. “He just needed a bit more time.”
“We found him first and told him everything,” he said. “He thought we were from the future,” he added with a sad smile.
He kept quiet for a while. Only the sound of the accelerating45 engine filled the air.
Lizzy felt that the numbness which her body had gone into to protect her from the shock of losing Mark and watching the assassination of the woman who was supposed to be her copy was slowly melting away and the intense mix of emotions and feelings she had never experienced was about to overwhelm her.
“He was adamant46 to keep you out of it,” he said finally, breaking the silence. She felt tears running down her cheeks and his face became blurry47.
“How do you… did you know my boyfriend?” she asked. “We just met Mark yesterday,” he said after a pause.
He watched her for a moment.
“Listen, we both lost important people today,” he continued. “I know this is all messed up48, but we need to stay together. At least for a while to get to the bottom of it49.”
She couldn’t see and hear him anymore. Grief finally broke through the barrier of shock. He took her hand and quietly said: “Don’t worry, Lizzy. We’ll figure this out.”
Then he took a ramp to merge onto the highway out of the city.
Chapter 2: Lizzy’s Diary (Present Time)
I guess the most difficult thing in this crazy story is to accept the reality of it and get used to wearing Beth, my twin copy, clothes. The latter isn’t a big problem because we were the same size, and she had good taste. I have six more days before the jump, and I must put all my memories together while they’re still fresh and painful. Yes, pain. I don’t know if I’ll feel it after the jump. It connects me to the past. My past. My life seems to be so long ago. Will I still be me if I lose it?
In any case, I’d better start my diary from the beginning.
I was in the car with Marco
The car stopped.
“Here’s where we’ll meet him,” Marсo said. “Who?”
“The man who knows the answers,” he said and opened the door. “Are you coming?” “How do you know that man?” I asked Marco when we got out of the car.
“
“To do what?”
“Apparently53, someone didn’t want that meeting to happen.” “To do what?!”
“That’s what you and I are going to find out because Lizzie didn’t live long enough to explain that to you and I think he’ll do a better job,” Marco said, looking around. “It should be somewhere close.”
I looked around as well. We were close to a mountain.
“There’s nothing here,” I stated the obvious54. “Aren’t these the Adirondack Mountains?”
I knew that because our company had arranged a corporate retreat in this area a year ago. It was a good outing. We had a lot of fun hiking, canoeing, and checking out waterfalls.
“Not sure what they’re called here, but we call them the Algonquian Hills in my world. This is where we came to your world. There’s supposed to be a cave here,” Marco said looking intently55 in the direction of the mountain. He added: “Oh, I think I see it.”
It took a while to get to the place where we were going, which turned out to be an entrance of the cave. I had not seen it on the company’s retreat. It was big enough for both of us to walk without touching the ceiling. Marco had a couple of flashlights with him. He gave me one, switched his on and led the way. We walked in and went ahead for a hundred meters or so. It was chilly and a bit eerie inside. I shivered.
I began, “How are we supposed to—”
That’s when I saw a big sea green56 flash of light ahead of us that turned into a big pulsating greenish-yellow ball just like bright northern lights. Weirdly57, there was no sound. The ball started to open, like some kind of a portal, and a male silhouette58 walked right out of it.
It lasted a few seconds and then the ball was gone, but the man remained59. He approached60 us. He was in his sixties, with a short gray beard and long hair, wearing khaki pants and a dark green turtleneck sweater61. He seemed nervous, but he was smiling.
“Marco, Lizzy,” the man said as if he knew us well.
So, naturally, I fainted62 because a human being can take only a certain amount of drama and science fiction in one day without losing consciousness63.
I had a dream that I saw my mom. She was smiling and nodding as if she understood my situation. I wanted to get closer to her and ask her what I should do, but when I opened my mouth, I came to my senses.
First, I heard some soft voices. There were two men whispering64. I tried to open my eyes. It wasn’t easy because they were swollen65. I was thirsty66 and I was lying on something soft.
“Ahem67?” I cleared my throat.
“Oh, good.” I heard Marco say. “She’s awake.” I heard him walking over to me.
“Lizzy,” Marco said, taking my hand. “How are you?” “Thirsty,” I said with an effort.
“Listen,” he continued. “This is Peter.”
I opened my eyes and saw the man from the big ball of light. He was smiling and now looked vaguely68 familiar for some reason. He waved at me. I looked at Marco. “He’s your dad, Lizzy,” Marco said.
I’ve never really met my father – or I should say that I don’t remember him. I knew almost nothing about the man except seeing a few pictures of him that my mom kept. Back then, he appeared to be a well-built smart-looking handsome young man in late twenties with short dark hair. I remember that he was smiling in those photos. My mom told me that he was a good man, but he had to be someplace away from the family. I think she made that up. In fact, she never gave me a proper explanation, and, as a little girl, I used to imagine him to be a great explorer blazing a trail69 in some jungle. Other relatives told me that he disappeared when I was a year old.
When I got older that mental portrait of my father slowly faded away70, and I didn’t think much about him. Of course, I was wondering if I was like him from time to time71. I am sure I had a lot of daddy-isn’t-home issues which I had to deal with, but I was pretty sure that I turned out to be relatively unscarred72. My mom and I were best friends, and it seemed to me that we didn’t need a man in the house to complete73 the picture.
My mom died two years ago of cancer. On her deathbed, she told me one thing: “I hope you meet your father one day. I can feel he’s still alive.”
At the time I thought it was a very strange thing to say, perhaps it was the cancer talking.
And now there he was, smiling again. My estranged74 dad. Did I feel anything at that moment? I can’t say that I did.
“Hello, Lizzy,” he said.
“Hello,” I said, feeling a bit awkward75, not knowing how to address him76. He nodded and looked at Marco.
“We don’t have much time, Marco,” he said.