Me & Her

Me

This isn't right.

No. This isn't right. This isn't fair.

This isn't supposed to happen. She's supposed to be my Mother. I came back to save my Mother. But my Mother is gone, and I don't know where she is. All I know is that my real Mother would never have done those things to me.

The woman standing opposite me, however, is not my Mother. She is a figment. A canvas painted with invisible ink Now I'm seeing her under UV light, and I wish I were blind.

The woman who is not my Mother but is named Karen Hill is smiling with amusement. As if I'm a flea in a Circus. As if she's about to reach out and pluck my legs from my body. One by one.

"I don't understand..." I trail off. I do understand. This woman pretended to be our Mother and I was naïve enough to believe her. She wormed her way into my heart, my lungs. Just to monitor me. To monitor us. To see if we were still useful. My brain jitters, electrocuting itself.

"You knew. You knew about everything. When we snuck out of the house at night, about our discovery of Miss Kirby. It was you who gave the order to shoot her". I understand now, I understand everything. The woman whose name is Karen Hill smiles, her lips almost translucent. The blood on her temple is too red – food colouring. Another jibe aimed at Alyssa.

"I forgot how much fun you were Alice. Now, let's not make a big deal out of this. Come quietly, no fuss. There's a good girl," she says. My lips tingle. I want to vomit. Bile swim into the back of my throat, but I choke it down.

This isn't right.

"How could you lie? Where is my real Mother?" I snap. Karen Hill says nothing.

"You're not my Mum! Where is my real Mother?" Again, and again and again. Sighing, Karen Hill cocks the tranquiliser gun.

"I can see we're not going to get anywhere, are we?" she says, snapping her fingers. I glance up the staircase before it's too late.

"Light! Bo! Run!" I shriek. Karen Hill smiles up at him, as if she always knew he was there.

For a moment, Bo does not move. He hangs back in the doorway, a man pausing beside the executioner's axe.

"Get out of here!" I scream until my voice is hoarse. Luckily, Light listens.

And then all Hell break's loose.

From the front door, the kitchen door, the living room, the basement, men and women brandishing rifles and tranquilisers emerge, as if bursting from the woodwork. I back up towards the stairs. Search for Bo, even though I knew he's gone and I'm on my own now.

Well. Almost.

'Hurry. Back the way we came!' Alyssa is shouting, though her voice, even inside our head, seems caked with tears. She never knew anything about Karen Hill, I realise. She wore her heart on her lapel just as I did. I find I manage to smile at myself.

We're not so different after all.

My feet scramble over themselves, pounding up each step. The bookcases close in on me, like the men behind me and the women to the left. I rush towards the nearest bookcase and try to pull it out in front of me. My hands burn and the weight proves too much. The thudding of the boots upon the staircase, the clicking of the triggers ready to be pulled.

My lungs contract, but they can't expand. It hurts. I'm crying. It hurts. Alyssa. Alyssa, help me!

The bookcase slips from my grip, wobbling. I scream, trying to scramble away. My feet fall out from under me and I find myself sipping and I can see the bookcase toppling and the men and women and Karen Hill smiling behind me. I find myself falling, falling nothing.

My head cracks against the carpet, the bookcase landing on top of me and—