The River of Secrets

The Arrival

"Hey, honey, why are you home so late? What were you thinking, worrying us like that?" my mom said as she turned to face me, looking relieved. "I.........uhhhhhh.......you said you were coming home late, what are you doing here?" I glanced back, and forth from my mom to my dad as they looked at me like I was crazy, and I hadn't even started talking about how my bike got stolen yet. "We never said anything of the sort. Are you feeling all right, Elise?" my father said, concerned. "I'm fine! You texted me and told me that you were coming home late! What's up with you guys?!" I wasn't sure if they were playing dumb, making fun of me, or if they seriously had no idea what I was talking about. "Calm down, honey. We know you've been failing school and you've been really stressed out lately after you ended your friendship with Jesse but we can get you help" my mom slowly started reaching for the phone behind her as if I couldn't see it. "What?! I never broke up my friendship with Jesse and I am an A+ student at the top of my class!" I immediately got up and ran for the door as the number my mom dialed on the phone started ringing. I wasn't about to wait for my mom to call her definition of "help".  "Wait, Elise!" my father yelled as I reached for the door knob. I opened the door, prepared to leave and go who knows where. To tell you the truth, anywhere sounds good if it means my parents aren't calling a mental facility or a therapist. The door swung wide open as I came face to face with myself. "Who.....what are you?!" I screamed as my doppelgänger took a step backward in surprise. She looked exactly like me except she wore a black leather jacket, ripped jeans, and shiny black heels. Every feature she had was exactly the same as mine from the dirty blonde hair down to the small small mole on her left arm. A look of realization dawned over the face of my doppelgänger as she grabbed my arm and tugged me down the street. "Look, if this is some kind of prank I really don't appreciate it" I said as she continued to drag me along.  I yanked my arm away and my doppelgänger turned to grab it. "Will you stop pulling away and standing so obliviously in the middle of the street?! Do you know how strange it looks to everyone else when they see two identical girls standing in the middle of the street?!" my doppelgänger said as she took hold of me again and steered me towards the forest. This is all too confusing. It was just a few hours ago that I was with Jesse riding home from school and now my bike is gone, my parents think I'm insane, and I'm wandering around with my doppelgänger.