SNAP! and the Alter Ego Dimension (3 page)

“I . . . I didn’t like the pimple, that’s all,” Tammy stammered, trying to convince this other self that she really liked and enjoyed her life. “I love my mum’s house. I like Wayne. I even like Dad when he hasn’t been drinking. Please, let go of me. I’ll never, ever be discontented with myself again . . . ”

Tammy was interrupted by a loud and ugly laugh. “I like your life on earth, too. Do you think it’s pleasant to be stored here, in this grayness? With nothing to do except watch how you’re wasting your life? My life. Especially now that we alter egos can think for ourselves and know that we don’t have to hang around waiting for little snatches of real life? Do you think we like not existing for long periods of time? I want your life on earth and you are not going to stop me. Now you’re here, in my world, your better self will overpower you sooner or later.” Alter Tammy emphasized the word ‘better’. “So, the quicker you lose your strength, the quicker we can get this over with. Nobody will miss you anyway, spotty-face. Not even our dear mother will know you’re gone.”

Alter Tammy squeezed harder. Tammy could feel her arm squashed against her neck. She couldn’t push her rival away. She could still breathe, but she was losing her strength quickly. It was like watching a drowning scene in
The Titanic
movie. The actor would struggle slower and slower until he was too tired to fight anymore. Then he would surrender and slip below the surface.

That was how she was feeling now. She wanted to surrender to the mass of grayness that surrounded her . . .

She had fought so hard, for so long. Yet still alter Tammy was winning. Her perfect self was the stronger.

She may as well concede defeat . . .

“JIEJAJIEEE!”

The sound was blood curdling.

Heck. There were much better things to do on a Friday afternoon than to sit in detention.

He took the chocolate bar from his pants pocket, hoping it hadn’t melted in the heat of the day. Chocolate stains on cricket whites would look too awful for words. He ran his fingers through his rather long, dark blond hair. One of these days some teacher would, no doubt, complain about the length of his hair and he’d get a detention for that, too.

He rang the doorbell. He could hear footsteps on the wooden floors inside the house and it sounded as if Tammy’s mother was coming. Not Tammy.

“Hi, Wayne,” Tammy’s mother gave him a friendly greeting as she opened the door. Mrs. Delport was a very pleasant lady, not like Rosette’s mother. She was unfriendly, cold and a bit surly.

“Hallo, Mrs. Delport,” he replied with a warm smile. “Is Tammy here?”

“Come in, Wayne,” Mrs. Delport answered. “She had a swim earlier, but I think she might be in her room doing homework. I’ll go and see. You wait in the TV-room. Help yourself to some juice . . . ”

Wayne went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of orange, then made his way to the TV-room, sat on the sofa and stared at the black screen of the television. It reflected much of the room like a very dark mirror. He watched himself down the juice, and wondered if there was any cricket on the box today. Would it be rude to switch the TV on?

Deciding against watching the cricket, he put the slab of chocolate on the coffee table and looked at his white sneakers. He’d scuffed them on the bike, but it didn’t show too badly.

“Tammy!” he heard Mrs. Delport calling.

Then she called again. “Tammy, where are you? Wayne’s here.”

He waited, aware of Mrs. Delport moving about upstairs. Where was Tammy? More importantly, had she done the download for him?

Oh heck, he thought impatiently, Tammy had let him down. He was going to get detention because of her. She’d promised, but let him down. He could feel it in his bones. If Tammy was getting him back for laughing at the bulge on her face, then he was going to take the chocolate back with him. Damn it. He was always doing something stupid when it comes to girls. Now Tammy was taking her revenge.

“Wayne.” Mrs. Delport was standing in the doorway. There was a worried expression on her face. “I can’t find Tammy anywhere. There’s a damp towel over the chair by the desk and her computer is still on, but she’s not in her room. She never leaves the PC on for long. She’s not gone back to the pool either.”

“Did you hear her go out?” Wayne asked.

“No,” Mrs. Delport answered. “She can’t have gone out, because she’s still in her swimming-costume, it’s not in her room or in the bathroom.”

“Would she go anywhere dressed only in her costume?” Wayne wanted to know.

“No, goodness me, only if she pulled something over it,” Mrs. Delport frowned. “But she didn’t say anything to me about going out. I was in my study the whole afternoon. She always tells me if she’s going out and I would see her walk past my window.”

“Oh dear, she had to download information for me from the Internet.” Wayne voiced his concern. He didn’t think Tammy would be gone for long, but he needed to hurry now. “May I go and look if it’s in her room somewhere? I can’t afford to wait for her much longer. Please, Mrs. Delport?” Wayne asked and stood up. He took the chocolate and put it back in his pocket. Just in case.

Together they went upstairs to Tammy’s room.

Wayne went in and sat on her chair. He clicked the mouse. The computer was still locked into the web page where Tammy was researching his information. But where was she then? He took his cell phone from his pocket and tapped in her cell’s number. He was startled as a phone sounded right next to him. Wayne quickly lifted some papers lying next to the keyboard and saw Tammy’s phone.

Mrs. Delport grabbed it.

“Tammy never leaves the house without her phone!” she said, sounding even more worried.

“Without her phone she won’t be far, Mrs. Delport,” said Wayne, trying to reassure Mrs. Delport. “Perhaps she’s hiding from me because of the pimple.”

“What?” Mrs. Delport looked puzzled.

Wayne told Tammy’s mother what had happened at school that morning. “I’m not proud about what I did, Mrs. Delport and I’m planning to apologize, but I need this information today. May I download it, please? I’ll be ever so quick, and I think Tammy might show herself as soon as I leave.”

“Okay, you go on,” Mrs. Delport said. “I’ll call the neighbors and ask them if Tammy is there playing with their puppies. She loves playing with them. There are four Jack Russell pups next door.”

Mrs. Delport left the room.

Wayne began reading through the information on the screen and started printing. After a while he realized it was beginning to get dark, but he had enough information to produce his assignment.

He was surprised, and a little angry, that Tammy had still not shown up. They had arranged to meet, and she knew what time he’d be here. Was she that ashamed of a spot on her face?

Wayne put the loose papers inside his cricket shirt, went downstairs and walked towards Mrs. Delport’s study. He overheard her talking to someone about Tammy. He could tell from the voices that so far nobody has seen her.

As Mrs. Delport hung up, Wayne cleared his throat to get her attention. She looked at him.

“I’m going to call the police,” she said and her voice trembled slightly. “Nobody knows where she is. I’ve called nearly all the numbers on her cell phone and all the neighbors. It’s getting dark. I don’t dare wait any longer.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Delport,” Wayne said. He thought Mrs. Delport was overreacting. Parents often did. “But I must go home now. I’m sure Tammy will show up soon. I’ll phone later. I’ll apologize to her for being such a pig this morning. Good luck and good-bye.”

Mrs. Delport walked Wayne out and closed the door behind him. Wayne took his crash helmet, pulled it on and slipped one leg over his bike. He turned the key, revved the engine and drove off with screeching tires while his sneakers hung just above the road surface. The wind lashed his hair against his cheeks, his clothes billowed out as he took the first corner at almost the speed limit.

This is the life!
 he thought, savoring the moment.

The color drained from alter Tammy’s face. She pushed Tammy away and ran like the wind into the grayness. Shocked and surprised by alter Tammy’s obvious fear, Tammy turned around.

In front of her, a long, curved sword clutched with both hands high above his head, legs planted wide, stood a big Oriental boy—ready to bring the sword slashing down on Tammy’s head.

Momentarily, Tammy stood as if frozen to the spot. Her eyes fixed on the sword, sure that it was going to slice her in half at any moment. She prepared to dodge the crazy boy’s blade, not believing for a second that she would be quick enough . . .

“
Matte! Matte!”
Tammy heard a girl’s voice shout sternly. She didn’t know if the call was the boy’s name or some command in a foreign language.

The boy kept the sword still, poised above his head.

From behind him, emerging from this strange grayness, came a petite Oriental girl. White complexion, narrow eyes, jet-black hair. She was dressed in jeans, black boots and a thick winter’s jacket. She put a delicate hand on the boy’s arm and looked at Tammy.

“You speak English?” the girl asked in broken English with a strange accent. Then she smiled.

Tammy felt the fear seep away from her like sea-water receding from a beach.

“Who . . . who are you?” Tammy asked.

“We from Japan,” the girl replied. “Tokyo. Me, Etsu Tanaka. My brother, Hiroshi Tanaka. This Alter Ego Dimension. When you came?” the girl asked.

Tammy guessed that the girl and her brother were more or less her age. That would be about seventeen. The girl stayed next to her brother, holding his arm as the sword was gently lowered. He was also wearing denim jeans with a thick, blue jersey. Etsu stood still, not coming any closer to perhaps avoid frightening her. Then Hiroshi turned around and brother and sister stood back to back with each other. He kept the sword ready in front of him. This strange behavior was puzzling her.

When did she come? Tammy glanced at her left arm. Oh no! She hadn’t put her wristwatch back on after her swim, and because of that she had no idea what time it was. Or . . . was time even relevant here?

“Just now,” she said, her voice calmer. “My other self wanted to kill me.”

“Not kill. Only tire you and make unconscious. Then take over from you,” Etsu told Tammy while she shook her finger from left to right. “They go to our homes and we left here. Stored.”

“So, you’re not alter egos either?” Tammy asked. She felt relieved not to be alone anymore.

“No, we fight. They can’t overpower us, because they don’t have weapons.”

“How did you come here? To this place?” Tammy wanted to know. She was glad that there was an international language like English, or else she and these Japanese youngsters would never have been able to understand each other.

“Me busy on Internet. Suddenly
Snap
came. I play
Snap
. Next thing, here,” Etsu answered.

“Me too. When I clicked on ‘yes’ I floated to this place,” Tammy said.

“Yes. Hiroshi sat behind me in room. He came with me with his desk, chair and laptop. Samurai sword was on wall in front of Hiroshi. It came with bit of wall. Now we got weapon. Our alter egos wanted to overpower us, Hiroshi chased them away with sword,” Etsu told Tammy while her hands joined in the conversation, making a swishing movement with an imaginarily sword. “They now afraid. But we get weaker. Here no food and water in this place. Sooner or later they will win us. We cannot go without food and water. We very, very hungry. And so thirsty.”

Tammy frowned. “Do I understand you correctly? There really is no food and water anywhere around here?”

“Nothing,” answered Hiroshi before his sister could speak.

“What do the alter egos live on then?” Tammy asked.

Hiroshi shrugged. “Perhaps they don’t have to eat. Perhaps they only wake up when they go and take our place on earth. Perhaps that’s why there’s nothing here. Only this grayness. The wall with the sword hanging there came with us when we were transferred here by the
Snap
game. Like this window with the curtains and the piece of wall here behind you. I believe it’s yours?”

Tammy nodded. No food and water? she pondered. This was terrible. Was that what alter Tammy had meant when she said: “As long as somebody is here, the alter ego will overpower him sooner or later”?

Etsu nodded to show that she agreed with her brother. Her thick shoulder-length hair bounced gracefully up and down.

“That’s how they’re going to get us. With no food and water we tire and weaken.” Then Etsu abruptly changed the subject. “What is your name?” she asked, “and how old are you?”

“I’m seventeen. My name is Tammy Delport and I’m from Pretoria in South Africa.”

“South Africa. I know, I know.” she said excitedly. “Where the twenty-ten Football World Cup was held. I sixteen, my brother eighteen. Hiroshi will look after you. Your alter ego will not win you. You stay with us.”

“Thank you, Etsu. Thank you, Hiroshi,” Tammy smiled at her newfound friends.

Hiroshi nodded his head in acceptance and smiled back at Tammy. Then he looked past her to the window at her back. He moved quickly towards the window and pulled Etsu with him. He held the sword in his right hand.

“Birds. Look, Etsu, here are birds. Did they come with you, Tammy?” Hiroshi asked while his eyes were fixed on the birds.

Tammy noticed that his English was better than Etsu’s, although he still spoke with a strong accent.

“Yes, they came with the branches outside the window,” Tammy said.

Hiroshi and Etsu went to the window and stood still right in front of it. Frightened, the birds hopped to another branch. Hiroshi pulled slightly at the burglar bars that were attached to the wooden window-frame.

“May we have the birds?” he asked Tammy.

“What do you want to do with the birds?” she wanted to know.

“Eat.” Hiroshi answered laconically. His voice was at odds with the kind smile on his face.

Tammy was shocked, momentarily speechless. But as she thought about their predicament she could see that Hiroshi was being . . . practical.

“You want to eat those beautiful birds?” Tammy could see the logic and necessity of eating something, but to kill the little birds? There wasn’t even much meat on them. Perhaps in three days she would feel the same, but at the moment her stomach churned at the thought of eating the poor things.

“It has been three days since we came here, Tammy. We are extremely hungry and thirsty. The birds will also die soon from hunger and thirst,” explained Hiroshi.

“How . . . ?” Tammy wanted to ask how they were planning to cook the birds, but decided against it. If you’re really hungry, she supposed, you’ll eat anything in any way. And these two youngsters had been completely without food and water for three days. How long can one survive without food and water? If she remembered correctly, thirst could kill in not much more than three days.

“Never mind. You go ahead and catch the birds if you can,” she gave her permission.

Tammy shivered. She was getting cold. Her arms and legs were covered in gooseflesh. This gray place was much cooler than Pretoria, the city where she lived. Etsu and Hiroshi were dressed in winter clothes and Tammy knew that it was currently winter in Japan and the whole of the Northern hemisphere. Pretoria was basking in summer sunshine.

Hiroshi started to pull viciously with one hand at the burglar bars. They wouldn’t budge. The terrified birds tried to fly away, but it seemed as if they were in an invisible cube. Where the branches of the tree stopped they flew head first into the edge of the blue sky without even a thud. They flapped downwards to land on nothing, standing on the grayness that surrounded the branches and the blue sky.

Etsu joined Hiroshi in pulling at the burglar bars, but the whole window moved forward.

“Hold this,” Hiroshi said and held the sword out to Tammy. For a moment his eyes swept over her almost naked body. Tammy was still clad in just the bikini.

Goodness, where was she going to get clothes? To cover her against the cold and against staring eyes?

She took the sword from Hiroshi, staggering forward under its surprising weight. Slowly Tammy lifted the sword again. It was much heavier than she thought it would be, because she had never handled such a weapon before. The sparkling, steel blade looked as if it was as sharp as a razor and it had a beautifully decorated hilt. On the hilt there was a golden tiger stalking a deer.

Hiroshi and Etsu won their battle against the burglar bars. Some of the screws on the left-hand side had come loose from the wooden window-frame and Hiroshi pried it away a little from the frame, while Etsu was still trying to keep the whole window and wall from moving around on the grayness. Hiroshi unlocked the window and pushed it wide open.

The birds sat with open beaks underneath the branches on the grayness inside the cube. They were tired and definitely sore from repeatedly hitting their heads against something they couldn’t see.

Hiroshi put one leg through the open window. With his foot he prodded the gray base where the birds were sitting. He had to be sure it would take his weight. Then he climbed through and pulled his jersey over his head. Tammy knew he was going to catch the birds with it and felt very sorry for them. It was all her fault. They simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now they would pay with their lives.

Hiroshi let his jersey fall on top of the two birds. They were squatting next to each other for support. Then he knelt beside his jersey, pushed a hand underneath and produced a bird. He took the sprawling bird’s head between two fingers and Tammy quickly closed her eyes. She knew what was going to happen next, but she didn’t want to see it. Unfortunately her ears were not spared the soft snapping-sound and she knew immediately that the little bird was dead.

Tammy sat on the windowsill. She didn’t want to look at Hiroshi for a while. She pulled the curtain that was hanging next to her over her arm. Immediately her arm felt warmer.

Then she thought of something.

She put the sword onto the edge of the sill next to her and climbed on top of the narrow window ledge while she clung to the open burglar bars. With her free hand she started to unhook the curtain from its railing.

“What you do?” Etsu asked while holding the two lifeless birds in her hands. Their heads were hanging downwards and their eyes were closed.

“I’m cold,” Tammy answered and jumped from the windowsill. She landed in what seemed like slow motion on the gray fog. “May I use your sword to cut the curtain, Hiroshi?”

“Of course. I’ve been wondering if you were cold. We shall help. Just say what we must do before we eat. Thereafter our hands will be dirty.”

Etsu let the lifeless birds lie on the windowsill and Tammy asked her to hold onto one piece of the curtain while she herself held onto the rest.

“Hiroshi, if you can cut off this strip where the hooks were, I can use it as a belt. Then I’m going to fold the rest of the curtain in half and cut a hole in it for my head. If I wear the curtain as a dress, it will hang past my knees and keep me much warmer. The belt will keep the two pieces together and there should be enough material on both sides to hang over my arms.”

“That’s clever of you,” Hiroshi smiled and picked up the sword. “There is a wardrobe full of clothes here, but I think they will be too small for you. We can go and have a look later on.”

“A wardrobe with clothes?” Tammy asked.

“Yes, it must have come with somebody, like your window came with you and I that came with Etsu. Etsu and I must eat first.”

Tammy held on to the end of the curtain. The sword was not as sharp as she thought and it was definitely not made to cut material with. With much difficulty Hiroshi managed to cut, or rather saw, the top part of the curtain off.

Tammy folded the curtain in half. Then she asked Hiroshi to thrust the sword through the material to make a hole big enough for her to pull the curtain over her head. He did that and eventually Tammy could put the curtain “dress” on. The material on either side of the curtain was long enough to reach her wrists. She took the thick piece that had formed the top edge of the curtain and tied it around her waist.

“Beautiful dress,” Etsu said. “Now you be warm.”

The thick material made Tammy feel warmer already. It was only her bare feet that were still cold. But at this stage there was nothing to be done about that. Perhaps there was something in the wardrobe that she could use. Tammy looked down at the colored blocks on the material. They were pink, blue and purple. Some two years ago she had gone with her mother to the shops to buy these curtains. Never in her life had the thought crossed her mind that she would one day use them for a dress. Despite the ridiculous situation, she grinned. She would really like to see herself in a mirror now.

She squinted at Etsu and Hiroshi. They were sitting back to back flat on the grayness, each with a bird in their hands, busy plucking the feathers. There were feathers floating all over the place. The sword was lying across Hiroshi’s lap.

Goodness, she was wondering what she looked like. How very vain at a time like this. Instead, she should have been thinking about a plan to get them out of this godforsaken place. It was a simple fact that without food and water, even with her “new dress”, she couldn’t hope to last very long. She was feeling a little hungry already. And thirsty. At home she would just go down to the kitchen and grab herself a sandwich or something. Or even dinner.

But at the moment she would rather die than take a bite from a raw bird. She believed that the Japanese are used to eating raw fish and sushi. She supposed a raw bird was not that bad for them. But what was she going to eat? How was she going to get home again? Did her mother even know she was gone? Or did her alter ego already exist in her home, having taken her place?