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Chapter 1
How could you?!
It's not fair, but then again it's never fair. That's part of living. Except what's not fair is I'm dead and getting yelled at by my sister for abandoning her. Except, I'm not dead. Another version of me is dead who lived in this universe. Apparently, that version lost their hope for a future and the want of a better life. Their anxiety got to them and they left our sister here without any immediate family. Though I'm probably not much better. I left my sister alone in another universe by accident and I don't know if I'll ever see her again.
"How could you?! How could you leave me and your friends?! And then... And then you just show up out of nowhere like nothing happened?! How could you be so awful?! I was sure you were dead and I'd never get to see you again!" Sarah yells as she ineffectually bangs her fists on my chest because she's crying so hard she probably can't see my sad and confused face through all her tears.
"I'm sorry. I'm not me! Please?! Can we go inside? I promise I can explain." I say plaintively as I try to reach through all her feelings of sadness and betrayal.
"Explain?! Explain what?! How I went to your funeral last month?! How I've been mourning your death for the past month because my brother was dead! Do go on! I'm all ears." She finishes sarcastically as we walk to the door to go inside.
I grabbed a beer for each of us and started looking for supplies to make her what I hoped is her favorite mixed drink. People change from universe to universe in the oddest little ways.
"So, firstly, I'm sorry, but I'm not your brother." I say as Sarah sputters her beer mid gulp as she prepares to start arguing with me.
I hold up my hands hoping the placating gesture will give me time to more fully explain.
"I'm from an alternate universe. Sadly, he, your Tim is still dead. I'm not sure what happened here a month ago, but that wasn't me. I just got here a few hours ago and I've been missing my sister and thought I'd pretend to be the me here and hangout for a bit. I didn't mean to upset you and if I'd known I would've just gone on to the next place." I tell her.
"Don't!!" she exclaims loudly. Shocking me into silence.
"What?" I say confused, "I said I was sorry and I didn't mean to upset you. I'll leave as soon as we finish here, I promise" I respond.
"Don't leave! You can't leave! Please, don't leave. You have to stay. I can't take losing you again, please?!" She pleads like back when we were growing up and I told her we had to go to bed, but so much sadder that my heart breaks more than I thought it could at this point.
"I'm not sure I should. I can't replace him." I say.
"But you could. He's gone, we can just tell people it was a case of mistaken identity. I mean with you standing there everyone will just have to believe!" She says with all the hope in her heart sounding like the sister I remember back when we were little kids.
"No, I accidently left my version of you back home when this all began and seeing you here just makes me worry all the more what she must be going through." I responded.
"But are you even sure you can get back to her. I mean maybe it's serendipity that you're here? Maybe the universe brought you here, because I need you more than her and she'll be fine?!" She says with a small cry of desperation. Pleading with her eyes and moving her hands with an obvious want to hold on to me and not let go for fear I'll disappear like a ghost of a dream.
I grab her hand and squeeze for a moment before I start juicing the limes and measuring the hard liquors into a cup. Hoping that maybe if I slow down the conversation she can start relaxing a bit and thinking more reasonably. Though I know deep down it probably won't.
"I don't think that is how the world works, but no I'm not sure how I'm going to return to her. Every time I open a door it seems to be a random universe and when I tried to walk back through the door to a universe I already visited I couldn't. It was like a solid wall I could see through. I could see you on the other side of the door, but I couldn't reach back through. Sorry, not you but a different you." I explained as I poured the drink into another cup with ice and then poured it back and forth a few times to mix everything together before handing it to her. "Here, drink this. I'm not sure, but my version of you likes this and I always enjoy making it."
"Oh, this is good! What's it called?" She asks.
"Inner Peace" I smirk.
She starts sipping quietly on her drink. I can tell from her furtive looks and little sighs that she hasn't given up on getting me to stay and part of me really wants to. If I'm honest with myself, I'm not nearly as certain what to do in this situation as I keep trying to sound.
"I know that look and I guess I'll agree to that." I say.
"You will? Really?!" she smiles back with her flickering hope.
"Yes, I'll stay tonight and sleep on it and we can come back to this tomorrow. Now, what were you planning on making for dinner?" I tell her. Hopefully, with some food and sleep we can come up with a better idea. How can we avoid breaking each other's hearts even more than they already are?