Too Broke For Afterlife

????????????????

Blonde Judy had led me down another hallway and into a storage room where we are now squatting between metal shelves filled with glass bottles.

I stare at my clone in shock as I try to get my breathing back under control.

She raises an eyebrow. "You've got questions."

"I do."

Blonde Judy nods. 

"Okay, so-" 

She gets interrupted by yelling men running past the room. Luckily, none of them stop.

She lowers her voice.

"My plan…well…our plan worked. Isa was able to unlock the door but I was standing behind it."

"What do you mean behind it?"

"I was in the laboratory and started the DREAMS session."

I nod.

"But after I materialized the key, I suddenly woke up in front of the room the Mayor locked Isabella in. With blonde hair."

"Wait, no." I shake my head as I try to sort the information.

"No, I woke up in the laboratory still, after I had…uhm…spent some more time in the dream."

Blonde Judy looks at me amused. "Dude. I'm you, you are me, yet you're too embarrassed to say it out loud?"

"Say what out loud?"

She rolls her eyes.

"You two fucked."

My mouth drops open but I close it again. 

"Right?"

"Y-yeah."

And here comes the stuttering.

My clone seems to enjoy making me nervous. "Good for you. Well, for us, I guess."

"Yeah, good for us."

Great, I can't even talk about sex with myself. How awkward can someone possibly be?

"I guess, the dream somehow duplicated us…you…me…you know what I mean."

Another group of men runs past the storage room but again, none of them stop to check.

I turn back to blonde Judy.

"What if this has to do with alternate realities? What if they somehow overlapped and now you're here and not…in yours?"

"Wait! No, this is my universe. If anything, you're the foreigner."

She crosses her arms. I do the same.

"I'm not."

"Well, me neither."

"Great."

"Great."

We sit in silence for a while, trying to figure out what's going on here.

I'm real. I know that. I've always been here.

Or…could it truly be that while I was asleep I got transported into another universe? What if somewhere out there is a reality where I suddenly went missing?

If we stick with the endless universes theory for a bit, then there has to be some difference between her world and mine. But that also means that there is an endless amount of Priscilla Godwins that we have to fight.

What a nightmare.

But wait, no. This HAS to be my reality! I never died my hair back! 

"I think…" I start my sentence and lean forward a bit.

"I think you are not real. You never existed until I started the DREAMS session. I accidentally created you and because you are me and I am you, you now have all my memories. But you never existed prior to this."

Blonde Judy looks at me unimpressed.

"I'm real."

"Of course you think that! But you're not. I'm not blonde! I went to sleep as a brunette and woke up as such."

"You woke up in my universe. Where I'm still blonde."

I shake my head. "I guess there is only one way to find out."

As soon as I've finished that sentence, the door to the storage room swings open and gets thrown shut again.

Blonde Judy and I both rob back and I grab a box, ready to pull it in front of us.

"Judy," somebody whispers and I recognize the voice immediately.

"Isa!"

I quickly get up, blonde Judy does the same.

Isabella walks around the corner but when she sees us both, she stops in her tracks.

"What…"

She looks at blonde Judy, then at me.

"You…"

"Yeah, we don't get it either," my clone comments.

I ignore the confusion on her face and pull Isa into a tight hug.

Immediately, tears stream down my face.

"Oh my god, you're alive."

She hesitates but then wraps her arms around me. 

"I am and so are you…two."

"I was so scared to lose you," I sniff into her shoulder. "How did you escape?"

"I didn't escape, I was hiding."

Isabella lightly pushes me away to look into my face. Then she looks at blonde Judy again.

"Now why are there two of you? One was already enough."

I playfully punch her shoulder but then let go and dry my face.

Deep breaths, buddy.

Unlike me, my clone is well composed.

"We are not sure. I think it's different realities overlapping while she," she points at me, "thinks I'm just a part of her dream and not actually real."

"Dream? But you're awake."

Isa looks at us confused, waiting for further explanations but that would mean we'd have to tell her about DREAMS.

I have to be as vague as possible.

"I've been having…weird dreams lately. Remember when Nox gave me the crystal? I woke up with it in my hand. What if the same happened to myself? My subconscious somehow copied myself and now there's two."

"Bullshit. I'm real!" Blonde Judy steps forward and looks at Isabella pleadingly. "You believe me, right?"

I push her away. "No! Believe me! I'm the real one!"

"No, I am!"

Isabella raises her hands, trying to calm us down. Then she takes a deep breath.

"Okay, this is starting to feel like one of those superhero movies where I have to shoot the clone. Should I ask a question only the real Judy can answer or how do we solve this?"

"No, Isa. Her hair."

I point at blonde Judy.

"The last time we saw each other, at the casino in San Andy. Was I blonde or brunette?"

"Brunette."

I nod. "Exactly. And you…" I look at my clone. "You didn't dye it, did you?"

She stares at us in shock, probably because she just realized that her existence is a lie.

"No…"

"See? I'm real."

Isabella still seems unsure but then she nods.

"This means either you and I both got transported into an alternate universe or your dream theory is true. Or it's something else. What if it was the Mayor?"

"Speaking of which, we should leave."

I look at blonde Judy. "Are you coming with us?"

"I don't know…"

"No." Isabella grabs her shoulder. "You are going to stay here and pretend you're the real one."

"Wait what?"

"Yes! Befriend the Mayor, get her on your side. You'll be our informant."

Blonde Judy doesn't seem convinced. "But my hair…"

"You'll find an excuse, don't worry. You're smart."

I chuckle. "Thanks."

Isa turns to me. "Oh…yeah, you too. Both of you. So?"

Blonde Judy sighs. "Fine. I'll play along for now."

Without thinking about it, I pull her into an awkward hug. Awkward because our arms go the same way but we manage to figure it out.

"Thank you, me. Now let's get out of here."

<<<

Unlike my clone and Nox, Isa doesn't really seem to know her way around. We hardly manage to dodge a group of guards patrolling through the corridor but considering that this place must be full of security cameras, we'll be caught soon anyway.

I lo- like Isabella, but a sneaky ninja she is not.

Right now we are running down a stairwell, trying to not trip. 

Somebody shouts a few levels above us: "They went this way!" And then we hear a couple of feet trampling. F*ck.

Isa grabs my arm and pulls me through the next best door into another hallway.

White fluorescent light blinds us as we try to find a place to hide. The best place seems to be a small, empty office. The door is unlocked and we storm inside to cower behind the desk. 

Isabella presses her hand in front of my mouth to signal that my breathing is too loud. I try to control myself.

"Let's breathe together," she whispers.

In. Out. In. Out.

I follow the rhythm until my lungs have calmed down. It makes space for my thoughts.

A question is burning on my mind and I look at the woman. She looks back.

"The poem you wrote."

"You read it?" Her eyes widen.

"Was I not supposed to?"

Isa shakes her head. "No, the Mayor had taken it from me when she locked me into the room. I wrote it in case…you know…we'd never see each other again."

I furrow my eyebrows. "So those lines were not hints?"

"No! Is that what you thought?"

I nod. "That's what led me into the laboratory. Clemens and I thought you talking about being drunk was a sign to look for a wine cellar."

"Oh my god."

So I was right from the beginning. There was no hidden meaning. Isa was tjust alking about her feelings. 

"But what did you mean with 30 days?"

"What?"

Isabella doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about. I try to recall the lines. 

"I wish you were still mine. This isn't right. 30 days are just too much. I'm drowning in pages."

She shakes her head. "I didn't write that part. Where did you find it?"

"Inside a book. In the basement."

I let my face fall into my hands and groan quietly. How stupid am I?

"I am a master of imitation."  Apparently the Mayor can imitate handwriting too. She  took the poem to lure me into a trap. And I ran straight into it.

F*ck, Judy.

"Hey, head up." She softly puts a hand onto my shoulder. "We found each other, it's fine now. And about what I said in the poem, don't worry, okay? Those were just my feelings, you can just ignore i-"

"Here you are."

The voice makes me jump and I hit my head against the table.

"Ah, f*ck!"

Nox pulls me up. 

"What was that about? You just ran away! What were you thinking? Were you even thinking? You're so stupid, Judy! Seriously! If I could, I would…"

Luckily she doesn't finish the sentence. Who knows what else she has to say.

I smile shyly into her angry face. Then I point to the woman next to me.

"Look.. I found Isabella."