Kill Marguerite and Other Stories (11 page)

The police officers take out cylinders resembling spray paint cans and speak into them. They start spraying the whole school, and, eventually, the whole world, with forget-Elizabeth-Wakefield-and-what-happened-with-the-aliens mist. Immediately, you forget what you are doing and who you are. You know that something is wrong—you have the distinct feeling that you are not who you say you are. People keep calling you Jessica. You're not Jessica. But who are you?

A snobby girl named Lila claims to be your best friend. She walks you home, where you recognize your parents and brother, Stephen. In your sunny, Spanish-tiled kitchen, the fifth chair at the dinner table sits vacant, but no one mentions it. There's a fourth bedroom that appears to be someone else's, but no one questions it. It must be for guests, you assume, and occasionally sneak in to steal clothes that conveniently fit you. All of the double sets of items in the bathroom are just extra, you decide, because when someone really needs something, she should purchase two sets, just in case. You live according to this rule throughout your life.

Still, something in your soul feels empty, incomplete. Years of therapy are useless, and you learn to live with the feeling of non-identity.

A decade passes. One day, a thirteen-year-old girl shows up at your door claiming to be you. Indeed, she reminds you of you. The similarities are striking. She calls you Elizabeth, but you have no idea what she's talking about. You're Jessica. Who's Elizabeth? She is institutionalized. You think of her from time to time, but can make no sense of the situation. Eventually, you forget the whole thing.

The End

If only you hadn't hesitated—you might have saved Jessica!

“Take me!” you scream, and hurtle through the second-floor window after them. You drop into the bushes and hit the ground running. “Take me!” you scream again, shaking with terror and remorse.

“Don't worry,” laughs ‘Mr. Bowman,' his metallic screech grating on your ears. “You're coming, too.” He pulls out a laser gun and aims it at you. A thick beam of light engulfs your body and pulls you toward the beam that is transporting Jessica and ‘Mr. Bowman' into the spaceship.

Once you and your twin are together in the force field, a strange thing happens. You begin to merge. Your bodies suction themselves together. It's as though you are swallowing each other whole.

You have been waiting for this your entire life.

You
₂
are treated regally on Planet Xandar. You
₂
decide this planet is a good planet and that You
₂
will not return to Earth.

The End

“Sorry, Jess,” you shake your head adamantly. “Not this time. I'll steal the device myself.”

The next morning, you dress in jeans and a striped sweater and head down to breakfast. When you enter the sunny, Spanish-tiled kitchen, you see your mother standing in front of the stove, making scrambled eggs. Your older brother, Steven, has already wolfed down his meal. He has a couple of textbooks tucked under one arm and is heading for the door.

“Did you have enough to eat?” Mrs. Wakefield asks him. Steven's hearty appetite is a family joke.

As you're eating, Jessica waltzes into the kitchen wearing a short electric blue minidress with purple opaque tights. Jessica always makes a point of wearing at least one purple article of clothing. She does this because she's a member of the Unicorn Club, an exclusive group of girls who consider themselves as unique as the mythical animal of the same name. You, on the other hand, scorn the Unicorns. You think the club's sole purpose is to talk about clothes and boys and to gossip about girls who aren't Unicorns.

Soon you and your twin are strolling down the tree-lined streets of Sweet Valley, California, a town which both of you think is the most perfect place on earth. As always, the sun is shining in a blue sky that's dotted with only the tiniest puffs of clouds, making it that much harder to believe your school has been infiltrated by an alien.

You part ways with your twin in front of your locker. “There's still time,” she says hopefully. “Sure you don't want to switch?”

“I'm sure,” you say firmly. “Good luck with your test.”

Jessica pouts and heads down the hallway to Ms. Wyler's classroom.

You take a deep breath and try to calm yourself. You have a bad feeling about this.

Turn to
page 117
.

This new dimension is peaceful and good, and its people are friendly and eager to welcome you. No one is in a hurry, and baby-sitting is pleasant. There are no enemies. It's a fine world.

The End

“Elizabeth!”

You turn to see Amy Sutton approaching with a smile. Gangly and thin, with straight blond hair and pale blue eyes, Amy is your best friend. She is also a valuable member of
The Sweet Valley Sixers
' staff.

“What's wrong?” Amy asks. Her expression has changed to concern. “You look upset.”

“Amy...I'm going to tell you something awful and you have to promise not to tell anyone. Okay?”

Amy nods anxiously.

As you tell Amy about your strange encounter yesterday, her jaw drops.

“That's terrible!” she says.

“I know,” you say. “You and Jess are the only ones I've told.”

Always grateful when you demonstrate intimacy with her on par with your intimacy with Jessica, Amy offers to distract ‘Mr. Bowman' while you look around his classroom for the device.

Together, you walk to your English classroom.

Go on to the next page
.

You take your seat while the other students mill around. ‘Mr. Bowman' is writing the homework assignment on the board. You glare. Knowing that this is not a real homework assignment but an alien one fortifies your resolve. You glance at Amy. She nods and approaches him.

Before he follows Amy into the hallway, ‘Mr. Bowman' gives the classroom a sweeping glance. You feel his eyes rest on yours for an uncomfortably long moment and sense a malicious alien intelligence beating behind them.

Once he's gone, there's no time to lose. Amid the chatter and activity of the classroom, no one notices when you rush up to ‘Mr. Bowman's' desk and open the top drawer, where, you saw, he left the device yesterday afternoon.

It's not there. You check the rest of the drawers. Nothing but paper clips, student essays and—what's this? Your breath catches. Beneath all of the teacherly ‘props,' you've uncovered the truth: a file with your name on it. You glance through the doorway and see Amy desperately gesticulating while keeping an eye on you.

You open the file and stifle a cry. Inside are a series of grainy surveillance photographs of you: at your desk, at your locker, eating lunch with Amy and Brooke Dennis.

You've got to find that device!

You drop the file and quickly search the rest of the desk. Nothing. But wait—there's ‘Mr. Bowman's' satchel stuffed under the desk. You pull it out and there, inconspicuous next to a thermos, it is: slim and black and shiny, its several lights blinking on and off like eyes.

When you pull it from the bag, it erupts in clicks and static. Oh, no! You hurry to find an off button and see only a small, unobtrusive indentation the size of a thumbprint.

There's a metallic shriek at the door. You look up to see ‘Mr. Bowman' rushing towards you. You freeze.

If you press the indentation, turn to
page 103
.

If you drop the device and climb out the window, go on to the next page
.

You drop the device and climb out the window. Before you drop down, you glance back inside. ‘Mr. Bowman' is rushing after you; behind him, your twin is racing to your rescue.

“Jess, don't!” you yell. “Stop!” You drop to the ground and start running, hoping against hope that your twin heeds your command.

You are almost past the soccer bleachers when you hear a sizzling sound above and behind you. You look back. A beam of light is trailing you. Soon you are engulfed.

You are transported into a spaceship. Once inside, you are greeted by a small band of aliens who resemble the creature impersonating Mr. Bowman. You are grateful at least that your twin is safe.

One of the aliens steps forward and speaks in delicate clicks and clacks into a mechanical device that is apparently some kind of translator. When the alien presses a button, the device speaks back in smooth English: “Elizabeth Wakefield, our kind is in jeopardy. Our planet has been taken over by vice. We need a leader whose unswerving sense of virtue will direct our citizens to live moral lives. We have been monitoring your behavior for some time now, Elizabeth Wakefield, and have chosen you for this assignment. Now it is you who must make a choice. Willingly be our leader or be cast off into outer space.”

If you agree to be their leader, go on to the next page
.

If you refuse, turn to
page 112
.

You straighten your posture. You're responsible, efficient, well-liked. You're a perfect fit.

Your training begins immediately. You learn to communicate in clicks and static. You learn the geography, topography, history, and culture of Planet Xandar, your new home.

Upon landing, your hosts guide you across the planet ceremoniously. Wherever you go, Xandaris are fighting. They want more land, or water, or power, or maybe just excitement. You become their natural leader, because the forces you join are leaderless and tired of conflict.

This is the role you have been preparing for your entire life.

The End

You are discarded, left to float around in outer space and wonder where you went wrong. If only you had made different choices...

In the distance you see another being floating. Could it be...Mr. Bowman! You wave excitedly; he waves back. But you cannot control your movement, and your gesture propels you further away from him. Soon your favorite teacher is out of sight.

You have one secret weapon left that you have not used.

If you think the secret weapon is a time travel device, turn to
page 108
.

If you think it's something else, turn to
page 109
.

You're wrong. There are only two choices.

Return to
page 108
.

Time travel is frightening. Rushing back in time is like riding a roller coaster backward, only faster. You can watch the universe through your private porthole. You see stars born and see them die, you see planets spin off into space, comets come and go, supernovas explode, and all the while you are not even there. You are nothing but pure energy until you pop back into being and time in the tiled hallway of Sweet Valley Middle School.

You race to Mr. Bowman's classroom and burst through the door to stop your twin—but it is too late. Jessica—or is that you?—is holding the futuristic handheld device and screaming as a beam of light enters the room.

“Jessica, no!” you shriek. Your twin looks at you and freezes.

“Jessica, no!”

“Jessica, no!”

“Jessica, no!”

You turn around.

One by one, copies of you are popping into being and time in the tiled hallway of Sweet Valley Middle School. One by one, you are pouring into Mr. Bowman's classroom. Soon the classroom is full of twins.

You stare at one another in confusion.

Jessica screams again—‘Mr. Bowman' is inching towards her with a maniacal glint in his enormous orange eyes. You spring into action. You make for the device while other yous rush to pull Jessica to safety. Some of you work to get everyone out of the classroom. The rest of you focus on pulverizing ‘Mr. Bowman' with high kicks and punches until he disintegrates into thin air. Your collaboration is seamless. It's as though you are thinking with one mind.

Unfortunately, when you grabbed the device from Jessica's hand, you accidentally pressed some button. Now all of the other teachers are rushing into the room, pulling off their masks to reveal their gruesome true selves. Ms. Wyler, Mr. Davis, Mr. Gavin—all of your teachers are aliens!

The beam of light approaches you. It's searching for the transmitter, you realize, and you throw the device at the group of screeching aliens. The beam seizes them, then retracts, pulling them through the window and into the spaceship. The spaceship vanishes.

You cheer as one.

But you continue to proliferate. There is no end to the Elizabeths popping back into the present from the future. Soon the classroom, the school, the world, is overtaken by Elizabeths.

It is too much Elizabeth. There is not enough Jessica. Eventually you turn on yourself. But you just keep coming.

The End

“There you are, Lizzie!” Your twin leaves the group of boys and girls standing outside the gym and runs toward you. “I've been waiting for ages.” You study your sister. Jessica's blue-green eyes are larger than ever, and she looks the picture of innocence. “I've been waiting for ages, too,” you retort. You don't understand how Jessica can think of nothing but having fun all the time. But you can never stay mad at your sister for long. Staring at Jessica's excited face is almost like looking into a mirror. Both of you have long, silky blond hair, sparkling blue-green eyes, and dimples in your left cheeks. But even though you look identical, your personalities are very different. You are the more serious twin. You love school, especially English, and hope to be a writer someday. You helped found the sixth-grade newspaper,
The Sweet Valley Sixers
, and spend a lot of your free time writing articles for it. Jessica's favorite activity is talking about clothes and boys. You're used to having disagreements with your twin. From your long, sun-streaked blond hair and sparkling blue-green eyes to the tiny dimples on your left cheeks, it's almost impossible to tell you apart. But when it comes to your taste in friends, clothes, and hobbies, you really are quite different. You are the more serious one. You love school, especially English, and spend a lot of your free time reading and writing. Jessica's favorite activities are shopping and gossiping with her friends, the Unicorns, a group of shallow, superficial girls whom you openly scorn. But in spite of your differences, you and Jessica are still best friends. You always have the most fun when you are together, and tonight is no exception. You can't help giggling at your sister's enthusiasm. Looking at Jessica is almost like seeing double. Both of you have blond, silky hair, sparkling blue-green eyes, and a dimple
in your left cheek. But your family and friends know that's where the similarities end. Lots of people think of you as the serious one. That isn't exactly true—you like having fun with your friends. But you also like having time alone, by yourself, to read, or write, or just think. You hope to become a real writer some day. Jessica, on the other hand, never likes being alone. She wants lots of friends around her all the time, and she isn't very interested in anything serious, especially school. The two of you have different friends, different interests, and different personalities. But you are still the best of friends. You open the door and glance at your neat blue-and-cream bedroom with a smile. It wasn't long ago that you and Jessica shared a room and constantly got into arguments. But all that changed once you each had a room of your own. When you and Jessica entered sixth grade, your interests began taking separate paths. But though you've grown in separate directions, there is still no one in the world closer to you than Jessica, and you know Jessica feels the same way. You drop your book on the counter of your bright, Spanish-tiled kitchen and pour yourself a glass of milk. You sigh and throw up your hands. But you can never stay annoyed at your sister for long. Being twins makes you as close as any two people can be. From your long blond hair to the dimples in your left cheeks, you are exact doubles in appearance. But that's where the similarities end. Jessica likes to spend time with her friends, gossiping and talking about clothes. You enjoy time with your friends, too, but you also like time to yourself for reading and thinking. Despite your differences, you will always be best friends. Together you stroll down the tree-lined streets of Sweet Valley, California, a town which you think is the most perfect place on earth. You think Sweet Valley is the most
perfect place in the world. There is no spot on earth so perfect as Sweet Valley.