Chapter #33Caught Between Layers by: Nostrum   “Why do you need them for?” your mother asks with a very serious tone in her voice, colored by Ashley’s own.
“The allowance’s for resources. Like... buying some clothes at the thrift store, maybe a couple flash drives.”
“Clothes?”
“For Quentin! My clothes won’t fit him unless I wear shorts and big shirts and stuff!”
“Alright. I mean – I was thinking about buying at thrift stores too. But why the green pen?”
That one, you suspect, will be the harder sell. “I need to download all the programs away from here, so they don’t track my steps. I was thinking I could download them piecemeal through free Wi-fi.”
“It’s your plan, Davey, so I won’t question the pirating.” (You suspect she’s telling herself “even if it’s wrong”.) “But I still don’t get why you need the green pen.”
“Because I need his knowledge. I can’t just come in and change into Quentin and do things between the time I step out of school and the time you finish dinner. And I could refine the plan on my free time.”
“Davey? Don’t let this affect your studies.”
“I mean – I'd probably be cheating since I’ll have two minds, but that’s not the point. I can’t go as Quentin to school. I’ll need to disguise his looks, which means--”
“You’re going to clone your body to wear yourself as a disguise.”
“And that way, no one’s gonna suspect anything. Not just that – it's perfect for creating alibis, in case something happens.”
“But if the plan’s to tell everything to the FBI--”
“While we figure out who we can trust and who we can’t. It’s temporary – once the case’s closed, we’re not gonna need any of this.”
“That’s not what worries me,” she confesses. “But I see your point. Wait for me here.”
After a few minutes, your mother returns with her purse, and from inside, she hands you the whole case. “I left it on your top drawer. Leave it there once you use it.”
You immediately return to your room, locking the door after quickly checking the others. Barbara’s not on your mother’s room, giving you free reign for your plan. You immediately strip off your clothes, then strip off Quentin’s skin and leave it atop your bed.
As you click the green pen, nothing happens at first. Then, you feel a very uncomfortable itch, and your flesh begins to swell as you feel surrounded by heavy mucus. The experience is so uncomfortable that you search your back for the slit to rip your skin off.
As you emerge, you feel a chill, as when your mother rubs alcohol on you. It fades quickly, alongside the pink tone in your skin, though you still rub it with a clean towel. The outer shell is no longer bloated, but as thin and stretchy as Quentin’s.
You set your cloned flesh aside, checking outside in case someone’s nearby. With no one there, you grab the black pen, checking if the cloned skin will reflate as your mother’s one did. It does, and after checking if he’s “alive”, you check outside again and zap him with the brown pen.
You feel a shock running down your spine and brain and into your arm, and after a few seconds, you see your clone jolting awake. He scratches his eyes, looks at you, and grins. “Did it work?”
“Yeah. Just keep your voice down.”
“Alright.” He studies you as confusion creeps in. “I’m supposed to be the clone, right?”
“Yeah. Sucks to hear the news, isn’t it?”
You see him nod, and almost instantly, see him die inside in real time. “Yeah. Pretty much.”
“I’ll try to make it as least painful as possible, then.” You lean close, whispering to his ear. “You’ll be asleep most of the time. If I need your help, I’ll wake you up.”
“Alright. That makes it less painful, isn’t it?”
“I guess I’ll see you next time.” You take the black pen and zap him, and he returns to the same state from which you created him – an empty skin, sprouting from you.
You prepare to slip inside Quentin again when you hear a knock on the door. You slip his face first, and as you feel it merge with you, you respond. “Kinda busy right now.”
“Davey, it’s me.” You’re unsure if you want to answer to Claire, but you figure you could stall and store your new skin by using the excuse of getting ready.
“You’ll have to wait. I’m changing up.”
“I can wait,” she tells you. “But I know what you’re doing. I just wanna see it.”
See it? That startles you. Does that mean she knows?
“I figured you’d ask Mom about it. When you said that thing about the hookers, I got it immediately.”
You scramble to the door, opening it just enough to berate your sister. “Shut up! Barbara’s gonna hear it!”
“She’s downstairs with Mom.” You see her trying to push in, and you resist. “C’mon! Let me in!”
“You’ll have to wait,” you say as you make a final push and lock your door again. “At least let me get ready.”
“Al-riiiiiight...” After buying some time, you finish slipping into Quentin’s body. You’re unsure if it’s because you stripped off him for less than an hour but slipping in seems a bit easier – almost like you stretched him to your body size.
You’re interested in how much Claire knows, so you dress up and set your skin on the bed, wrapped in the bedsheets your mother’s been using. Then, and only then, you let her in. “Keep your voice down. If Barbara or Cassandra come in--”
“It’s alright, Davey.” She notices the deflated flesh on your bed, and after ripping off the sheet, she glees with delight. “Holy shit!”
“Claire, mind your language...”
“Hey - Mom’s not here, and as things go, that’s pretty tame! Still...” She studies your cloned skin with unusual reverence, caring little that she’s essentially seeing you naked. “Whoa. It feels so real!”
“Yeah, just like every other skin. Now tell me how you figured things out.”
“Whaddya mean?” she asks you with a querulous glare, which quickly fades into a knowing one. “Oh, that! Well, when you said you needed the hookers’ help, I recalled that you said Mom acted so robotically that she wouldn’t fool Tina or me, so I figured you’d use this as an excuse to skip school and--”
“First of all,” you clarify her. “I’m not skipping school.”
“Then why would you make a clone out of yourself?”
“Because I’ll be wearing Quentin 24/7, but I can’t go to school with his skin!”
“Why would you wanna look like that creep...?” She looks at your cloned skin, then hums. “Hold on. You mean you’re gonna wear yourself while wearing that creep?”
“Pretty much. Only way to always keep his mind with me.”
“Oh yeah! I was wondering how you’d download all the stuff you need...” She scoffs, shaking her head. “God, that must be the most ridiculous idea you’ve got.” Then she sits, flailing her leg as she draws a smile on her face. “Hold on. You know what that means, right?”
“That I can keep Quentin’s mind with me.”
“Not that, you dummy! You’re taking your replacement, clothes and all, everywhere!” You dimly suspect her idea, but you threaten her to confess with a leer. “C’mon, like you didn’t think about it!”
“Not really – I'm more concerned you did. It's about putting on anyone and leave my replacement, right?”
“Yeah!” (You figured that was the case, but Quentin's surprised he didn’t think of it first.) “You could become anyone, and nobody’d be the wiser!”
“Claire! Why would I want to do something like that!?”
“Really? In case you need to become someone to infiltrate a place and have an alibi?” She shakes her head, mumbling. “Jeez, and here I thought having two brains would make you smarter...”
That was exactly what I told Mom, you recall. You also recall asking her permission to do so, but of course, it seems someone didn’t hand the memo to Claire. “Hey,” she says as she grabs the pen case. “You think you could do the same with me?”
You snap, snatching the pen case from her. “Why?”
“Because...! I could help you that way!”
“First of all, this isn’t mine. It’s Mom’s. Second, I told her I’d only use it to hide Quentin’s skin while keeping his mind so I can work the plan whenever I got any time.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. If you’d only see it my way--” You square off before your sister. She can be annoying, but this was a whole different level of bossy. You grab the black pen, and she shivers. “Whoa! Davey, what’s wrong with you?”
“My sister wouldn’t answer me like that.”
“Maybe you don’t know me enough.” She extends her arms, defiantly. “C’mon. Check me up. But when you’re finished, you’re gonna listen to my plan.”
You know the black pen can give a “false negative”, so you try with the white pen instead, pointing the green light to her skin. To your surprise, it doesn’t cut, leaving you baffled as to her intentions – and secret desires.
“Convinced?” You notice she’s distraught – betrayed would be the better word – but she steels on. “Anyways, the idea’s simple. I could be the one who switches places. Be like a spy, alright?”
“That’d put you in trouble.”
“But you’d know, right? And you’d rescue me if that were to happen. And yes, I got other ideas with it, but the thing is that I didn’t accept coming here to help you only to be a wall to bounce ideas from. I wanna help, because I know Barbara’s gonna go mad if we don’t do something, and ‘cos I’m starting to like Cassie already.”
You feel your doubts, but just to stick the dagger further, she uses her last weapon against you – her puppy eyes. “And we could have a lot of fun with this! C’mon! Pretty please!?”
You could exercise your right as the older brother, but you’d prove Tina right. You can’t just let her do what she wants. But what if you summon an even higher authority?   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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