The Imposter

The Imposter | Chapter Twenty-Six + Epilogue [Pyrrhic Victory]

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[Chapter Twenty-Six]

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Pyrrhic victory \PIR-ik * VIC-tuh-ree\

(n.) A victory achieved at great or excessive cost; a ruinous victory

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I needed to go somewhere, needed to do something, because just sitting safely in my house was boring me to tears. I hadn't seen anyone for a couple days, except for a glimpse of my parents as they left to go to work. Kyle, Jay, Dash and Jaz had been so caught up in NANO business, leaving me behind to entertain myself. It frustrated me to know that while everyone else was working on protecting me and capturing my clone, I was required to sit here and wait patiently, like a good little girl.

Finally after about an hour of moping around and whining to myself, I decided to do the lesser of two evils and go for a quick run. I figured that because I still had my GPS necklace on I'd be fine and no one would freak out. Plus, I was just going for a quick jaunt about the neighborhood—what was going to happen? That was my first mistake.

After throwing on my workout clothes and locking the front door behind me, I desperately attempted to ignore the heat. With my iPod on full blast, I began to run towards the park, blocking out the heat and all my problems.

Three songs later, I thought my legs were going to fall off and my lungs were going to burst, so I slowed down to a walk, trying not to gasp for air. The park was pretty empty for a summer day, but I didn't mind too much. Waving to different runners and walkers in the park, I smiled and hummed the songs' tunes out loud. Finally I had a break, away from all the drama I had a chance to relax. It was what I had needed for a long time.

I was thinking about the look on Kyle's face if he knew where I was and nearly ran into someone standing in the middle of the walkway.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized quickly, even though it was definitely their fault. When I looked up to smiled at them, I froze with another apology stuck in my throat.

"Maybe we should take this somewhere else," my clone said to me in a haughty voice.

I nodded in silent agreement and motioned towards a more secluded area of the park. Whatever she wanted to say or do to me, I didn't want random people involved or hurt. That was my second mistake.

We stopped by a bench surrounded by bushes and trees, away from the main walkway. "What do you want?" I asked politely. In my head, I was running through all the moves Kyle had taught me, hoping when the time came, I could execute them correctly.

"What do I want?" she sneered back at me. "What a stupid question, you know exactly what I want."

"Well you can't have it," I retorted. Before I could blink, she charged me, grabbing for my necklace. She flung it behind us and moved out of my range. I tried to kick or punch her, but she was too fast for me. Losing concentration was my third mistake.

"Now we're even," she rasped. I realized we were wearing the same thing, making it impossible to tell a difference between us. I wasn't given a chance to think about anything before she started on her rant. "I've been preparing for this day for a while, I even had a way to draw you outside alone, but you did that for me," she laughed bitterly, rolling her eyes. "Stupid, not even worth my efforts. But, I want my life back."