Clones

Alive

Merete stood silent in front of her childhood house. Sabrina shook next to her.

After a long journey of searching for this place, they found it. They'd wandered around for hours before Sabrina remembered something and they found it.

The sisters hadn't seen their family, each other, or this house in ten years. Now that they were standing face to face with their childhood, they could only hope they could keep themselves from crying.

(They both failed and cried as soon as they saw the house.)

The door creaked open allowing the light into the dark house. With each step, the floor may break. Bugs and discussing other creatures floated on the walls, floors, and ceiling. This house had been abandoned for over ten years. And it had a noticeable difference between the last time the girls had seen it. They looked through the rooms finding nothing before the group split up. Merete was on her own to look through the dark, old, home.

Sabrina looked on the first floor with Evelyn, Merete on the second floor, and Jack on the third.

"Hello?" Merete called. She hoped to get an answer from her dad or mom. An answer was given.

"Sup?" Jack answered with a chuckle.

Merete ignored him and continued throughout the house.

A floorboard cracked below the girl and Merete dove forward catching the hidden knob of her old bedroom door on accident. She stepped out of the broken wood scraps and cautiously opened the door. She looked around the room. An empty closet and a bed. That's it! Except for the droid standing creepily near the once window seat of Merete's room.

It was a protocol droid.

It stood motionless across the room with an old bed between the two. The droid's lights flashed and its eyes lit up.

"Good day, Merete!" The droid called with a robotic wave like Baymax.

Merete smiled.

"Hi, is anyone home?" She asked. Merete's dad probably would have answered if he was home though. So would've her mom so Merete didn't have too much hope left.

"Oh yes," the droid sounded ecstatic. "My master has returned after a search for you."

Merete giggled and sat on the small rusty bed. She faced the droid and realized it needed a paint job and a bath. The bed squeaked and was once again silent once she had sat down.

"My master has left you with a message, would you like to hear it?" The droid asked.

"Of course." Merete answered and breathed heavily with her life long dream of meeting her parents again resting at her feet.

The droid began with a tone that reminded Merete of someone she knew. "Hi, Merete or Sabrina or Jack or Merete two!" It began. Merete gasped.

Dad wouldn't know about Jack or my clone...  she thought, but continued listening and thinking of how Moses might know of Jack and Evelyn.

"I'm sorry for tricking you into coming here. You wouldn't come if I didn't." The droid laughed like the recorder had at this part. "Gee I dunno, I don't even know if you'll stay after I tell you I'm not your father, so I'll wrap this up quickly. Don't tell the others that I'm not your dad. I'll make my way back there and you'll hopefully be happy with me. I love you, bye bye!" The droid then quit talking and powered off.

Merete curled up on her old bed. She wiped a tear from her eye and tried to not think of her dad. Her dad that really was dead. Her dad that never told her to meet him at home.

Merete sniffled and coughed into the unwashed sheets.

She then heard a soft and sweet roar from above her. Up the stairs, across from the hall. She hopped off the bed almost running into the protocol droid. She ran over to the noise with a hopful gleam in her eyes. As she looked up into the brown eyes of Kizet, the one she had called her son, tears filled both of their eyes. Merete dashed up the stairs and Kizet ran down. They met in the middle and hugged.

"I thought you were dead!" Merete cried.

"I'm glad I'm not!" Kizet laughed. "I don't wanna die, I'm only seven and a half!"

Merete laughed with him and continued hugging him until Jack slumped down the stairs. He clearly found nothing above Merete's floor.

When Jack met Kizet's gaze, he smiled. Kizet turned to him and smiled too. Jack knelt down to his size and Kizet ran over to him.

"Have you asked out Merete yet?" Kizet asked. Jack didn't understand him because he still didn't speak Shyriwook.

Merete knew that Sabrina would much rather find their dead father alive than her sister's dead "son". She wondered how to reveal this to her, after all, Sabrina could easily kill everyone and walk out unharmed so she hoped to not make her mad.

Merete leaned over to the two boys where they hugged. She joined them and for the first time in a while, Merete felt genuinely content and happy. She couldn't feel any better.

Until the door to the house slammed open. Sabrina, on the first floor, was the first to hear the men march in.

She grabbed a chair from the rotting kitchen table and fought them off as long as she could.