《Who Killed My Body?》 Chapter 1: Impact When I arrived on Earth, it was a warm spring night. The air was filled with the aroma of hyacinths and honeysuckles, and sky was clear and speckled with stars. If you watched closely at just the right moment, you could see a shooting star streaking above the horizon, hurdling towards the planet¡¯s surface. And on the outskirts of a small college town, in a quiet little forest, under an old oak tree, lay a flower that died just as it was starting to bloom. Her name was Anna. Everything I have, I owe to her. *** My first memory was of the cold, dark void. I traveled through space deprived of heat and light and sound, dormant and unaware of my own existence. I had no thoughts or desires. I was empty, the faint outline of a living thing waiting to be filled in. Then, after what may have been a second or an eternity, I was violently shaken from my stasis. I arrived on Earth nestled in a meteorite, a stone cocoon just strong enough to protect me from the impact of landing. When I emerged from the shattered rock as a barely self-aware, wriggling mass of flesh, her body was the first thing I ever saw. I stared at her with my beady red eyes, tracing over her crumpled figure. Her lightly tanned skin shone in the moonlight. Her wavy, shoulder-length chocolate hair was splayed in every direction. Her dark brown eyes were glazed over, and her limp tongue dangled from her open mouth. Despite lying mere yards from the impact site, she was completely still, her face frozen in a look of terror. She was still warm.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Seeing her made me feel something for the very first time. Following a deep-rooted instinct, some primordial calling desperate for that warmth, I clamored over to her. Prying open her stiff jaws with my tentacle-like appendages, I climbed into her mouth and propagated throughout her body. First, I assimilated with her brain. Soon, her entire nervous system was under my control. In a matter of minutes, every part of her had become one with me. Her body tissue became a patchwork of her cells interlaced with mine, all working under my command. Her body¡ªour body¡ªwrithed and convulsed as I learned to use her muscular system. Coordinating the movement of the arms and legs posed another challenge. Like an unwieldy infant, I learned to crawl, then to stand. Over the course of an hour, I learned to walk. Just as I had mastered the art of not falling over, I felt a vibration against my thigh. My hands rushed to the source and found a flat prism covered in reflective material: Anna¡¯s phone. Still unaccustomed to using my hands, it took me a few minutes of fumbling around before I clumsily took it out and brought it up to my face. Under the light of the moon, Anna¡¯s reflection¡ªmy reflection¡ªpeered back at me. My neck was marred with reddish-purple lines which wrapped around my throat. When I gingerly touched them, Ihad my first taste ofthe sting of pain. I remembered seeing these marks on her body just before I entered it. Somehow, I knew they were very important. In fact, they were the most important thing in the world. As if influenced by Anna¡¯s lingering resentment, a remnant of her final moments left behind in the body I now inhabited, I felt a surge of emotion seeing those marks. I wanted to know¡ªI needed to know... Who killed my body? Chapter 2: Knowledge is Power 10:25 PM Wednesday, April 3
Wally, 2h ago Hey where r u? back from ur run? Wally, 1h ago Are you mad at me or something? was it because i destroyed you in smash bros? lol Wally, 1h ago Missed call Wally, 30m ago Are you ok???? pls answer Wally, 2m ago Missed call Wally, now seriously Anna PICK UP
*** While still in my hand, the phone buzzed once more, lighting up a display filled with glyphs and icons I couldn¡¯t yet comprehend. I turned my attention to studying the object itself. Placing a finger on the circular impression at its bottom, I unlocked Anna¡¯s phone, and with it, a vast world of knowledge opened up to me. The display on the screen changed, showing a collection of panels filled with images of people, places, and things. Below these were more undecipherable glyphs. I hesitantly poked the screen, unintentionally selecting a video to play. At first, the sudden outburst of noise from the device startled me. But as it continued, the excited warbling of human speech intrigued me. Having assimilated with a human brain, language and expression came easily to me. Using Anna¡¯s phone, I taught myself to how to read, write, and speak, how to smile and laugh, frown and cry. What human infants take months to acquire, I learned in several hours. Although I didn¡¯t inherit any of Anna¡¯s knowledge or memories, I quickly learned the basics of communication, of social interaction, of being human. Or at least putting on a good act. However, the many nuances of humanity would take more time.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Now able to read, I changed course to study the sciences. I learned everything I could about the human body: what nourished it, what harmed it, and what made it tick. Armed with a detailed diagram of the vascular system, I directed my cells in repair the skin on my neck. I watched in amazement and delight as the marks around my throat slowly vanished. Soon, I moved on from humans to the rest of the animal kingdom. The myriad of forms that life on this planet could take amazed me. I was distracted from a nature documentary about large predatory cats by a rustling in the bushes nearby. I hastily put the phone, now very precious to me, back in my pocket and turned to face the sound. Admittedly, I was a bit paranoid that I was being stalked by a big cat myself. Instead, a light brown quadruped with an ornate decoration on its head emerged, unaware of my presence. I knew the word for it now: a buck. My stomach groaned and my mouth filled with drool as seeing the creature triggered another new instinct: hunger. Automatically, as if I¡¯d done it many times before, I morphed my arms into three pairs of fleshy spears, with form and color not unlike the appendages of my original body. Then, in an inhuman burst of speed, I impaled the unwitting creature in the chest and flank. It barely had time to register its own death. I leaned over the carcass. A seam opened down my face, and another split appeared perpendicular to the first. Then, the four sections of my face unfurled like the petals of a blossoming flower, revealing rows of serrated teeth lining the edges. At the center was my mouth, filled with larger pointed spikes. Above it to either side were my eyes: gleaming red rings surrounded by black sclerae. The sudden change to my anatomy didn¡¯t concern me as I buried my face into the creature¡¯s flank and devoured it, leaving only the bones behind. It seemed that, despite my human facade, I was a creature built to rend flesh. Chapter 3: Early Bird ¡°Hey guys, how¡¯s it going? It¡¯s me again! This time I thought I¡¯d show you my favorite place for an evening jog. The forest paths here are really lovely. Whenever I¡¯m super stressed about classes, I find being in nature really helps calm me down. We¡¯re coming around the bend now and we¡¯ve almost reached my favorite¡ªah! Hey, what are you¡ª" She never finishes her sentence as the phone is knocked to the ground. With the sounds of scuffling and Anna¡¯s muffled cries, the video cuts out. *** Finished with the deer, I wiped my bloodied hands and face on my clothes. Thankfully, they were dark enough to make bloodstains difficult to see. I returned my attention to Anna¡¯s phone. After spending a lot of time absorbing as much information about this new world as I could, I decided to learn more about Anna. After some trial and error, I managed to navigate to her camera roll. Many of the pictures were of nature: a robin here, a newt there, a short video of a bee hovering around a flower. The remainder were shots of herself making silly faces and poses, often in the company of another human. Several featured her hugging a grinning young boy who bore a striking resemblance to her. Another frequent guest was a tall and thin male, with fair skin, green eyes, and messy light brown hair that stopped just above his brow line. This one often seemed like an unwilling participant in the photos. There were also a few videos of her speaking excitedly to the camera. She would describe her day, tell an interesting story, or give advice about life in college. They reminded me of the videos I came across while first learning human language. Until I reached the most recent video. It started out like the others, with a high energy greeting. She was running down a wooded path, speaking to the camera as the sun set behind her, when she was cut off by the thump of her phone hitting the ground. It ended with the sounds of a struggle, her distant, muffled screams, and then eerie silence as a gloved hand reached for the phone and stopped the recording. I felt a chill down my spine and subconsciously placed a hand on my neck, where the strangulation marks used to be. These were Anna¡¯s last moments. I watched the video again and again, trying to glean any sort of clue about the identity of the culprit. But other than the nondescript black glove, there were no identifying features. I was on my sixth playback when the phone¡¯s battery ran out. It had been foolish of me to ignore the low power warnings, but I was determined to find out more about Anna¡¯s death. Now, I was cut off from my only source of information about Anna or this unfamiliar world, and I was no closer to finding the truth.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I searched my other pockets, finding Anna¡¯s keys and wallet. Like her phone, it was decorated in pastel-colored flowers. Inside were a few bills of currency and several plastic cards. One contained her picture, name, and academic year: Annalise Tran, freshman. Another had a string of numbers, with ¡®DEBIT CARD¡¯ printed across the top. I knew humans considered these things valuable, and that some were even willing to violently seize them from others, yet Anna¡¯s belongings were left untouched. This wasn¡¯t a robbery gone wrong. As far as I could tell, only her life had been taken. Unable to deduce anything further, I put everything away and began walking through the forest, hoping to find a way out. Though I had excellent night vision, I had no idea where to go. Once again, I cursed myself for being careless with the one lifeline I had. Eventually, I came upon a dirt trail and began to follow it. I walked and walked, until the sun began to peek over the horizon. I had stopped for a moment to appreciate the stunning beauty of my first sunrise, when I heard the pounding of feet on the trail ahead of me. His skin was somewhat pale, and coated with the sheen of sweat. He had an athletic build, with a well-toned abdomen and muscular arms and legs. His short black hair was styled and well-kept, even during a morning run. His cheeks were flushed, though that was probably from the exercise, and he looked quite shocked to see me. Yanking his headphones out and sprinting over to me, he shouted, ¡°Anna?! I really didn¡¯t expect to see you¡­ out here¡­ this early¡­¡± Whoever he was, he clearly knew my body¡¯s former owner. I couldn¡¯t act clueless without raising suspicion. ¡°Hey there uh¡­ you,¡± I managed to squeak out. Not an ideal greeting, but I didn¡¯t have much to work with. ¡°You?¡± He seemed a bit hurt. ¡°Sorry¡­ John?¡± I knew it was common name, but the odds weren¡¯t in my favor. ¡°It¡¯s uh¡­ Josh actually. Josh Chen, the guy that sits behind you in physics lecture? I figured you at least knew my name¡­¡± His eyes darted downward as he scratched the back of his neck. ¡°Anyway, what are you doing all the way out here at 4 AM? You were always complaining about 9 AM classes being too early¡­¡± I had to think fast. ¡°Oh, I uh¡­ couldn¡¯t sleep last night. So¡­¡± I thought back to Anna¡¯s last video. ¡°¡­so I went for a jog to destress. But it got really dark, and I couldn¡¯t find my way back.¡± He didn¡¯t buy it so easily. ¡°You got lost? But don¡¯t you have your phone on you? You could¡¯ve just used GPS.¡± ¡°Yeah, I was going to use¡­ that, but my phone ran out of battery.¡± It was the first truth I¡¯d told so far. Well, half-truth. I didn¡¯t actually know what GPS was yet. He still didn¡¯t look convinced, but he mercifully dropped the matter. ¡°OK, well I guess it¡¯s pretty lucky we ran into each other. I can take you home. You live in Whitmore building, second floor, right?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± I made a mental note of that: Whitmore second floor. Thank you, Josh Chen. ¡°Cool, I was just finishing my run anyway. Let¡¯s get you home, you look exhausted.¡± I was. Social interaction was harder than I expected. Chapter 4: Home Sweet Home Her laptop is plugged in, still on, filling the room with a soft blue glow. Evidently, she hadn¡¯t planned on being gone long. It feels strange being here, sitting on her bed, sifting through her things. It¡¯s like I¡¯m an unwanted house guest, an intruder. But I know that the girl who lived in this room, in this body, is already gone. I am all that¡¯s left to fill her place. *** ¡°Alright, we¡¯re here!¡± Josh stared expectantly at me as he held open the glass door to the residence hall. I had been gawking at streetlights and cars and buildings the whole walk here. Though I had seen these things in videos, this was my first exposure to man-made structures in person. I shouldn¡¯t have stopped to stare at every little thing, though Josh probably attributed my slow pace to exhaustion. After realizing he was waiting for me, I hastily made my way inside. ¡°I actually live here too, on the seventh floor,¡± he said, taking his student ID out of his pocket when he reached a plastic gate. ¡°Mmm,¡± was all I managed to reply, too intensely focused on how he held the card up to a black rectangle on the side of the gate. With a click and a beep, the gate withdrew to allow him through. Sifting through Anna¡¯s wallet, I pulled out her ID and mimicked what Josh had done, trying my best to hide my delight that it worked on the first try. We walked down the hall in awkward silence until we reached the elevator, something I was thankfully familiar with from my research. ¡°Allow me,¡± Josh said, reaching over to a panel of numbered buttons and pressing those marked ¡®2¡¯ and ¡®7¡¯. ¡°You must be relieved to finally be home, huh?¡± I nodded and smiled, an expression I had practiced many times. ¡°Thanks again for helping me out.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. He blushed. ¡°Any time, I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re safe.¡± When the elevator suddenly accelerated upward, I lost my balance and staggered forward. Watching videos hadn¡¯t prepared me for the odd sensation of heaviness followed by lightness. Josh held out an arm, which I grabbed and used to right myself. ¡°Sorry, thanks,¡± I mumbled, my cheeks turning red. Even though I had only learned to walk a few hours ago, it was still embarrassing. ¡°No worries. You must be really out of it,¡± he replied, looking sheepishly in the other direction. With that, the elevator doors opened, and I hurried out. My next challenge was finding Anna¡¯s room. I walked down the hall lined with doorways, each room conveniently labeled with animal-themed nametags for its residents. I finally reached a door with a single nametag, a white rabbit with ¡®Annalise¡¯ neatly printed on it. I attempted to turn the door handle, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. Recalling the mechanism humans used for keeping out intruders, I pulled out Anna¡¯s keyring and inserted each key into the slot in the handle. On my third attempt, I heard a click, turned the handle, and entered Anna¡¯s small dorm room. It was softly lit by an open laptop resting on a neatly organized desk. The screensaver depicted a smiling cartoon bee drifting across the screen. To the side of the desk was a small window with the blinds closed. Several small plants were lined up along the windowsill, their pots ornately decorated with painted-on designs. Her bed was unmade, with a nightgown draped across one side. My first priority was to recharge Anna¡¯s phone. I had seen enough tech reviews to know vaguely what I was looking for. After rummaging through her desk and checking under the covers, I found a white cord peeking out from under her nightstand. After plugging the phone in, I turned my attention to the laptop. After pressing a key, the cartoon bee was replaced with the picture of a sprawling meadow. In the center of the image was a white box filled with text that read ¡°Enter PIN¡±. I sighed and closed the lid. This was a problem for another time. Making my way over to the bed, I changed out of my muddy, blood-spattered clothes and into the nightgown. Intending to only rest for a moment, I laid my head on the pillow. Between its gentle coolness, the soft, snug caress of the nightgown, and my own fatigue, I quickly drifted into slumber. Chapter 5: A Vanishing Flower At 9:45 AM, he hefts his bookbag over his shoulder and heads out the door. Anna hasn¡¯t responded since last night, and he¡¯s starting to get very worried. Is she okay? Is she just mad at me? What if something happened? Oh God, what if¡ª His whirling thoughts of worst-case scenarios are interrupted by the ding of the elevator as it arrives on his floor. The door slides open and he enters, looking up at the last moment to find he isn¡¯t alone. ¡°Oh, hey Josh,¡± he mumbles. His classmate cocks an eyebrow. ¡°Wow, Wally, what¡¯s got you looking so depressed?¡± Blunt as always, but Wally doesn¡¯t have time to be bothered by trivial things. ¡°You didn¡¯t happen to see Anna today, did you?¡± Josh slaps him on the back and laughs. ¡°Are you psychic or something? I just saw her this morning!¡± Wally breathed a sigh of relief as Josh continues. ¡°It was kind of crazy, she got lost in Alder Park last night and didn¡¯t get back until I ran into her this morning and walked her home. She seemed really out of it. Might be sick or something.¡± A new wave of concern crashes over Wally. He reaches for the button for the second floor, but Josh intercepts. ¡°Dude, you should let her rest. She looked exhausted, probably clonked out as we speak.¡± Wally is annoyed at first; Anna is his best friend, after all. But he sees the logic in what Josh said, and resolves check on her in the afternoon. The two exit the elevator on the first floor and head to their physics lecture. Despite a fascinating talk about electromagnetic fields, Wally can¡¯t seem to concentrate. *** I awoke to the urgent ringing of Anna¡¯s 9 AM alarm. Despite only having slept for a few hours, I felt well-rested and refreshed. Perhaps my body didn¡¯t need as much sleep as the average human¡¯s. I quickly turned off the alarm and checked the phone¡¯s battery: 72%. Leaving it plugged in, I made my way to Anna¡¯s desk and took a seat. Opening the laptop, I was greeted once again by the PIN prompt. The cursor blinked impatiently as I wracked my mind for ideas. Recalling that it was common for humans to use important dates as passwords, I retrieved Anna¡¯s wallet from the nightstand and pulled out her student ID. On the back, beneath her phone number and home address, her date of birth was printed: ¡®May 4, 2000¡¯. I typed ¡®050400¡¯ into the prompt and hit enter. Incorrect. ¡®542000¡¯. Incorrect. ¡®05042000¡¯. Incorrect, and I had four attempts left before I would be locked out for an hour. I stood up in frustration, returning the card and wallet to the nightstand.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I unplugged the phone and brought it with me to the desk. Surely something in this fount of knowledge could give me a clue. I opened the calendar in search of other important dates. After Anna¡¯s, the next birthday was her younger brother¡¯s: August 12th, 2009. I tried ¡®081209¡¯ and ¡®08122009¡¯, both incorrect. With only two tries left, I had to move on. The next date that seemed to have personal importance was marked ¡®Wedding Anniversary¡¯: February 26th, 1993. I entered ¡®022693¡¯ into the prompt and was greeted for the first time with a loading icon. Success! Navigating her well-organized file directory, I found folder groups for school documents, vlogs, and other miscellaneous files. It seemed Anna had a small online following that watched videos she posted about her experiences in college. This would be immensely helpful for learning about her life, as well as how to emulate her mannerisms. After all, I needed to know enough about her to fill her place without rousing suspicion. However, it also extended the list of potential suspects to hundreds of anonymous individuals that knew who she was and possibly where she lived. I spent much of the day watching her videos and browsing documents on her computer, becoming as familiar with her as I could. I practiced her patterns of speech and writing, and memorized any personal information I could find. I immersed myself in Anna¡¯s life, starting with her family. I learned that she doted on her younger brother, keeping a list of toys and games to get him for Christmas and birthdays. She was very close with her father, though he and her mother had divorced when Anna was only 10. She blamed her mother, who constantly put pressure on Anna to perform well in school and pursue a lucrative career path. But her mother was also the breadwinner of the family, while her father was financially unstable and barely able to support himself, let alone his two children. Her mother was granted custody, and Anna only kept in touch with her father through texts and phone calls. That, I realized, was why he didn¡¯t appear in the pictures on her phone. I learned that Anna loved nature and art. I came upon incredibly realistic digital paintings of bees landing on flowers and beetles dueling on leaves, many of which were based on pictures she took and sketches she made while hiking. Her passion for illustration delighted her father, a painter himself, but created tension with her mother. As Anna lamented in texts to her father, her mother refused to pay her tuition or support her education in any way unless she majored in a ¡®worthy¡¯ discipline. Medicine was off the table since Anna couldn¡¯t stomach the sight of blood. So, despite wanting to become an entomologist, she majored in chemical engineering. Finally, I learned that Anna always wore a special hairpin. It was a gift from her father, the last thing he gave her before they parted ways. The pin featured a four-petaled lavender blossom: Lunaria annua, the honesty flower. In every picture and every video of Anna, no matter when it was taken, where she was, or what she was doing, she wore that hairpin. And yet when I had found her body¡­ it was gone. Chapter 6: Words She Never Got to Say
Anna: hey there¡¯s something I need to tell you. Wally: what is it?? Anna: I don¡¯t want to make things weird between us or anything¡­ Wally: it¡¯s fine lol, spill the tea Anna: ¡­ never mind Wally: dude that¡¯s illegal u have to tell me now Anna: n o p e Wally: TELL ME OR I WILL COME DOWN THERE AND MAKE YOU Wally: u have THREE SECONDS Anna: ok ok fine. it pains me to have to tell you this but Anna: you suck at Street Fighter Anna: there I said it, I hope we can still be friends :P Wally: ¡­ ur an actual goblin Anna: yeah but I¡¯m your goblin ;)
The texts are from six days ago. I find this note on her phone from the same day:
I want to tell him how I feel, but I can¡¯t get over the fear that he doesn¡¯t love me back. I¡¯m scared I¡¯ll ruin everything and then it will be like Noel all over again. I care about our friendship too much to do that¡­
*** It was past noon by the time I finished watching all of Anna¡¯s vlogs. After my revelation about the missing pin, my next move was to gather all the information I had about her death. I started by uploading her final video to her laptop for safe keeping. I made note of the fact that she was still wearing the hairpin in the moments before her capture. It could have simply fallen out during the struggle, but I had seen an image of her riding a roller coaster wearing that pin. Surely if it could withstand those forces, it wouldn¡¯t come off so easily. At least, not by mistake. Most likely, her killer had taken it as a sort of trophy. And with any luck, it was still in their possession. The next clue was Anna¡¯s cause of death: strangulation. But not from a normal chokehold. Though the marks were completely healed, my memory of them was crystal clear. They were thinner than human fingers, and wrapped continuously around her neck several times. She must have been choked with a weapon, perhaps a garrote or small chain. Finally, the location of her body: deep in the woods, far from any path or trail markers. Somewhere the killer thought no one would find her. Unless they were willing to risk poor cell reception while hauling a corpse through the woods, they must have known their way around the area and planned a route beforehand. Perhaps the killer targeted Anna specifically and somehow knew she would jog down that path that fateful night, or maybe they were simply lying in wait for any unsuspecting passerby. Either way, it was clearly premeditated. In all, I was left with frustratingly little to go off of. I would need to learn more about the people closest to her in her daily life. As if on cue, her phone lit up with a buzz: a text from Wally.
hey you ok? heard from Josh you weren¡¯t feeling well, let me know if you want to talk.
Because I had been distracted from learning about Anna¡¯s life by looking into her death, I knew almost nothing about him. Not knowing how to reply, I opted not to respond at all. Instead, I began scouring Anna¡¯s phone for information. Using the image Anna had assigned him in her contacts, an unflattering close-up of his face, I was able to identify him as the pale, lanky teen reluctantly featured in several of the photos on her phone. From their text history, I realized Wally had been the one who sent the texts which helped me discover Anna¡¯s phone. In a small way, I was in his debt.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I had just started reading their earlier conversations when I heard a faint knock on the door, followed by a gentle male voice. ¡°Anna? It¡¯s Wally,¡± he said, just above a whisper. I didn¡¯t reply. ¡°You haven¡¯t been responding to my calls or texts, so I got really worried. I um¡­ I hope you¡¯re not mad at me.¡± The sadness in his voice made me feel a bit guilty, though not enough to risk speaking to him. ¡°I¡¯m going to give you some space, but when you¡¯re ready to talk, I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll just uh¡­ leave these by the door.¡± I heard a brief rustling. ¡°Just some things to help you feel better.¡± I waited until the sound of his footsteps had long since faded before cracking open the door and taking a furtive look. Wally had left a small basket filled with an assortment of foods, as well as a hand-written note.
Hope these make you feel better! I know plums are your favorite. I added some noodle soup cans in case you¡¯re still sick. Don¡¯t worry, I made sure they were vegetarian! Also threw in a box of macarons since I know you love them. Just want you to know I¡¯m always here for you. -Wally
I learned a lot from such a short note. Anna was quite close to Wally. She liked plums and macarons. And, unfortunately for me, she didn¡¯t eat meat. Because of my unique biology, my body demanded much more energy than a normal human¡¯s. I needed a lot of food, especially meat, for proper nourishment. Although my last meal was substantial enough to last another day or two, it would be a struggle to continue such an¡­ unconventional diet. My only other option was to buy and eat meat in secret. But I had an even greater concern: it was by sheer luck that I found out Anna was vegetarian, and there was probably a lot more I didn¡¯t know about her. But if I wanted to be able to pass as her, I would need to learn all of it. And fast. I set the food aside, driven by an urgency to fill the gaping holes in my knowledge. I spent the rest of the day scrolling through the notes and texts on Anna¡¯s phone, with a particular focus on her closest friend and confidant: Wally. The two became friends in high school, bonding over their shared social status as nerdy outcasts. Neither of them really fit in, not Anna with her passion for plants and insects, nor Wally and his love for astronomy. They ended up going to the same university, though that was just as much a consequence of financial convenience as of their close friendship. She seemed to admire his intelligence, often asking him for help in mathematics and calling him ¡®Einstein¡¯ on several occasions. I didn¡¯t understand the relevance of a renowned German physicist until I realized Wally¡¯s last name was Steiner. They kept up a playful rapport, comfortable with teasing each other while knowing they could always rely on each other for support. It wasn¡¯t until I came upon a fairly recent note that I realized how Anna truly felt about Wally. In it, Anna worried about her romantic feelings for an unnamed man. But, in combination with texts she sent Wally the same day, the truth became clear: Anna loved Wally, but she couldn¡¯t find the courage to tell him. And now, she never would. This certainly complicated things. Would I have to pretend to love Wally in her stead? If he already knew about her feelings, it would be strange if I began acting coldly, but if he was oblivious, it might seem out of place to express romantic interest. How could I possibly walk the fine line drawn by a girl in love yet too scared to confess? Beyond a biochemical explanation, I barely understood love in the first place. Romantic dilemma aside, I knew I couldn¡¯t push Anna¡¯s closest friend away forever. I would need to learn to interact with him. Pulling out her phone, I stared at Wally¡¯s last text for several minutes. I composed a dozen different responses in my head, but settled on a simple ¡°thank you¡±. While waiting for a reply, I changed into Anna¡¯s nightgown and nestled into her bed, prepared to sleep. I drifted off without seeing a response. Chapter 7: Out on the Town I¡¯m in a forest clearing, floating and disembodied. The sky is purple fading into orange-red as the sun dips beneath the trees. I see two figures in the distance, one short and one tall. Unable to make them out, I draw closer. Eventually, I can see and hear them clearly. Anna is telling Wally that she loves him, that she¡¯s loved him for years and finally worked up the nerve to say it. Wally is grinning, his face beet red. He says he loves her too, though he never could bring himself to tell her until now. They embrace. I¡¯m dreaming, something I¡¯ve never done before. It¡¯s a blissful, happy dream¡­ until hundreds of shadowy, black-gloved hands burst out from the trees. Anna shrieks as they wrap around her legs, her arms, her waist, and her throat, until they cover her mouth and she can¡¯t scream anymore. Wally grabs onto her and pulls as hard as he can, but it¡¯s futile. Anna is covered in so many hands, not even an inch of her skin is visible. I race towards them, but I have no hands to hold onto her with. I am formless, like a ghost. All I can do is watch in horror as Anna is wrenched from Wally¡¯s arms and dragged into the shadows. *** I woke from my nightmare in a cold sweat. Desperate for some sort of comfort, I rummaged through the basket of food Wally gave me the day before, retrieving a macaron. From the first bite, I could tell why Anna liked them so much. Or perhaps this body had simply retained her tastes. Either way, I found solace in their creamy sweetness and quickly devoured the entire box. Having calmed down, I decided to check Anna¡¯s phone. It was just past 7 AM, and while Wally hadn¡¯t texted yet, someone else had.
Nessa, 8m ago Hi Anna, I noticed you weren¡¯t in chem or calc lecture yesterday. Hope you¡¯re feeling ok! Let me know if you need the notes ??
Before, I had been too preoccupied with Wally to take inventory of Anna¡¯s other recent contacts. Now, I had ample time. Vanessa Mendoza, Nessa for short, was Anna¡¯s only other friend at this school, at least according to Anna¡¯s text history. Like Anna, she was a chemical engineering major, though unlike Anna it was of her own volition. She would often help Anna with chemistry homework. In return, Anna would come remove any insects that snuck their way into Nessa¡¯s room. While Nessa was terrified of bugs, particularly spiders, Anna had no qualms about catching creepy crawlies and releasing them outside, or even keeping them around for a bit to make sketches. It was a very mutualistic relationship, though not as strong as Anna¡¯s friendship with Wally. Unfortunately for me, it meant there was one more person who had been close enough to Anna to notice if I made any slip-ups. While researching Nessa, I also looked into Anna¡¯s academic life. Both Nessa and Wally had exchanged class schedules with Anna over text, giving me detailed knowledge of when and where I would need to attend classes during the week, as well as what times I could buy meat without the risk of running into Anna¡¯s friends. I replied to Nessa, explaining that I hadn¡¯t been feeling well and that I would appreciate taking a look at her notes the next time I saw her: next Monday in calculus. After reading and watching everything I could find on Anna¡¯s phone and laptop, as well as rummaging through her tiny closet to study any other personal belongings, I realized there wasn¡¯t much more I could learn in this small room. I would need to go out eventually, if not to investigate then at least to resume Anna¡¯s life. Otherwise, people would become suspicious. In addition, I was curious about Anna¡¯s classes. Everything I knew about this world, which was still woefully little, was self-taught via the Internet. I thought I could benefit greatly from attending an institution for higher learning. Plus, Wally¡¯s exquisite macarons made me wonder what other culinary delights humans had to offer. First, I would have to get dressed. Anna conveniently kept her outfits already matched in her closet, meaning I would have no trouble dressing exactly as she did. I changed into a light pink blouse paired with a pastel floral skirt. Her wallet, in which I also stuffed her phone and keys, was attached to a thin shoulder strap that I slung around my neck. Noticing that her tennis shoes were still coated in dirt from two nights ago, I opted for the tan, fleece-lined boots sitting beside them. I headed out the door, locking it behind me. I strolled through town at a leisurely pace, keeping a mental map of where I was and how to return home. The last thing I wanted was to get lost again. I tried to study every building and read every sign as I went, though it was a challenge to do so without appearing lost or out of place. Luckily, it seemed Anna hadn¡¯t been very social, though I had already surmised as much from the limited number of contacts in her phone. No one greeted or seemed to recognize me as I made my way through town. The fact that there were so many students attending the university certainly worked in my favor.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. While walking past a building labeled ¡®Peking Palace¡¯, I caught the mouth-watering scent of cooking meat. Knowing Wally would still be in class, I entered the building. I was handed a menu before being guided to a table. I ordered a plate of sweet-and-sour pork and started in on it voraciously as soon as it was served. Though I wasn¡¯t particularly hungry, I hadn¡¯t eaten meat in two days, and the aromatic spices and rich flavor were irresistible. I admired how humans could transform food from a necessity to an art-form. I had been so uncoordinated with chopsticks that I resorted to using my hands to eat. Halfway through digging into my meal, I noticed other patrons of the restaurant were staring at me. I reminded myself that I still needed to follow human etiquette in public, even if no one knew me. My face flush with shame, I cleaned my hands and face with a napkin. Determined to prove I wasn¡¯t a barbarian, I picked up my chopsticks and, after several minutes of trial and error, managed to finish my meal. It wasn¡¯t elegant, but it was a marked improvement. I paid for the food using Anna¡¯s debit card and left, continuing to take in the sights and sounds of the college town. I passed dozens of students sitting outside coffee shops and restaurants reading and typing on computers, chatting with each other over meals or cups of coffee. Not long ago, perhaps Anna would have been among them. For a moment, the thought made my chest ache. Not wanting to dwell on the life that had been stolen from Anna, I pulled up a map of the university on Anna¡¯s phone. Taking a meandering route through the main campus, I made note of each of the buildings where Anna¡¯s classes were held. Near the end of my self-guided tour, people became trickling then streaming out of every building as classes ended. I did my best to avoid them. As I passed the calculus lecture hall, I heard a familiar voice behind me. ¡°Hey, Anna!¡± Wally called out as he dashed over to me. Startled, I turned around slowly. After pausing to catch his breath and brush his tousled hair out of his face, he continued, ¡°Good to see you out and about, but how come you didn¡¯t come to class today?¡± Hoping he couldn¡¯t catch the scent of pork on my breath, I replied softly, ¡°Oh, I¡¯m¡­ still not feeling great. I just thought getting some fresh air would make me feel better.¡± Wally frowned, then reached out to put the back of his hand against my forehead. I suppressed the urge to flinch; it was the first time anyone had ever touched my face, though it wasn¡¯t an unpleasant feeling. ¡°You don¡¯t feel feverish¡­ did you try the soup I gave you?¡± he inquired as he withdrew his hand. ¡°Yeah, thanks for all the food, it really helped,¡± I said. I had lied about the soup, wanting to take the path of least resistance in the conversation, but my gratitude was genuine. ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± he said, though he seemed distracted. Instead of looking directly at me, his gaze was fixed slightly past my face. He was staring, I realized, at the side of my head. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, it dawned on me what was bothering him. ¡°What happened to your hairpin?¡± I felt a rising panic as I cursed myself for not preparing an excuse beforehand. I fumbled with my words, struggling to form a convincing response. ¡°Oh um¡­ when I got lost in the woods I uh¡­ dropped it. It must have been too dark to notice.¡± As my shaky excuse took form, his face softened from a quizzical look to one of pity. ¡°Aw, Anna, I¡¯m so sorry!¡± Before I knew it, I was wrapped in his embrace, my face awkwardly squished against his chest. He rested his chin lightly on top of my head. ¡°I know how much you loved that pin¡­¡± he continued, his voice vibrating my head. I let out a sigh of relief; he believed me. ¡°Oh, I almost forgot!¡± Wally exclaimed, releasing me. He slipped his backpack off his shoulders, unzipping it and taking out a small stack of papers. ¡°Here¡¯s a copy of my physics notes from yesterday and today. Just slip them under my door when you¡¯re done, and let me know if you have any questions! Today¡¯s topic was pretty tough.¡± I caught a glimpse of neatly labeled and annotated diagrams as he handed them to me. ¡°Thanks, will do,¡± I said, before realizing I had no idea where Wally lived. ¡°By the way, what was your room number again?¡± At that, Wally¡¯s eyes narrowed in a look of concern. ¡°Anna, you¡¯re joking right? We hang out there all the time.¡± Asking had been a mistake, but hopefully one I could fix. After all, Wally had been very understanding thus far. I put my hands on my temples and shut my eyes as if in pain. ¡°Sorry,¡± I muttered. ¡°My head just feels kind of fuzzy and I¡¯m drawing a blank.¡± It seemed to work. When I opened my eyes again, his features were twisted with worry. ¡°Oh, sorry, didn¡¯t mean to give you a hard time. I¡¯m in Whitmore 531.¡± I stifled a triumphant smile as he continued, ¡°Hey, maybe we should get you home, you aren¡¯t looking so good.¡± Wally fussed over me as we made our way home, asking where I was hurt and when I started feeling ill. I shrugged noncommittally at his questions, feigning exhaustion. He quickly caught on, and we walked the rest of the way in silence. Chapter 8: Mother Knows Best He bounces giddily in the back seat, clutching his favorite robot action figure¡ªa gift from his sister. ¡°Are we there yet? How long ¡®til we¡¯re there? Does Anna know we¡¯re coming? I wanna surprise her!¡± His mother knows nothing can stop his endless chattering, so she doesn¡¯t bother trying to quiet him. ¡°Just a bit longer, Tucker,¡± she says through gritted teeth, rubbing the bridge of her nose with one hand. Too caught up in his own excitement, he doesn¡¯t notice his mother¡¯s mounting frustration. After a few more minutes of driving punctuated by Tucker¡¯s babbling, they pull up to the street in front of Anna¡¯s residence hall. ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± Tucker squeals in delight as he barrels out of the car. She steps out and grumbles, ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with¡­¡± *** After returning home, I skimmed through Wally¡¯s notes. In my previous scientific studies, I had focused on biology and human anatomy. As a result, I only understood some of the words, and the diagrams and notation used were well beyond me. I would need to learn everything Anna knew about mathematics, physics, and chemistry, all in the span of a few days. Thankfully, I was a fast learner. I studied late into the night. Armed with Anna¡¯s notebooks, school documents from her laptop, and an array of educational websites, I absorbed a few years¡¯ worth of STEM education over the span of several hours. I didn¡¯t sleep until I was able to comprehend the entirety of Wally¡¯s notes. Finally satisfied, I went to sleep. The clock read 4 AM. I awoke the next morning at 9 AM to a buzz from Anna¡¯s phone.
Mom, now Tucker and I are coming to visit. Heading out now, see you in 2 hours.
Tricking two people who had known Anna for most of her life would be a major challenge, but at least I had some time to prepare. I started by eating breakfast: plums, courtesy of Wally. I felt it was important to adopt regular mealtimes, especially since I would be living as Anna in the public eye. I spent the next twenty minutes showering and brushing my teeth. Although I could command my cells to kill bacteria and adjust what chemicals were excreted to eliminate body odor, I wouldn¡¯t be able to replicate the fragrance of shampoo or the minty freshness of toothpaste. After drying off and getting dressed, I picked up my phone and started to review previous conversations between Anna and her mother. I was interrupted by another text.
Wally, now Hope you¡¯re feeling better! wanna hang out?
Still on edge from my last encounter with Wally, I was glad to have an excuse to say no. After all, any unnecessary interaction was a chance to make another stupid mistake. I apologetically declined, explaining that my mother would be visiting today. Uh oh, good luck, he replied. I knew Anna¡¯s relationship with her mother had been strained, but I lacked insight into whether Anna was openly defiant of her mother or chose to keep quiet and fake a smile. For all her complaints to her father, her text exchanges with her mother were brief and curt, almost business-like. And, in the end, hadn¡¯t she caved and chosen a major she had no interest in to appease her mother? Based on this, I decided to act demure and submissive to her, but without affection. In contrast, I would be playful and doting with her younger brother Tucker, or Tuck as Anna called him. Surely a child wouldn¡¯t be hard to entertain. I soon received another text from Anna¡¯s mother announcing their arrival. I took a deep breath, trying my best to calm my nerves, before heading down to greet them. Reaching the first floor, I spotted a stout woman with sharp features and graying hair holding the hand of a lively young boy. I recognized the child from Anna¡¯s pictures, though his hair had grown substantially.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Tucker¡¯s face lit up as soon as he saw me. ¡°Anna!¡± he cried, running up to me and holding out his hand, his fingers splayed. I recognized the gesture at once, and slapped my own outstretched palm onto his. ¡°Hi, Tuck!¡± I grinned, proud of my thoroughly practiced and perfectly executed high-five. I was therefore quite puzzled by Tucker¡¯s reproachful expression. Before I could ask why he looked so disappointed, Anna¡¯s mother interjected. ¡°All right you two, let¡¯s hurry up and grab lunch. I haven¡¯t eaten since this morning.¡± It seemed she was just as no-nonsense in person as she was over text. We made our way to a small sandwich shop, ordered our food, and went to sit at an outdoor table. I settled for grilled cheese, while Anna¡¯s mother and brother got to enjoy turkey and roast beef. Anna¡¯s brother, who had been staring at me intensely since we left the residence hall, finally spoke. ¡°Hey Anna, do you remember that time you broke your ankle roller skating? Was it your left foot or your right?¡± I was taken aback by his abrupt and oddly specific question. He hit me with another before I could respond. ¡°Oh, and you know that birthmark you have that¡¯s shaped like a frog? Where was that again? And um¡­ oh! You know¡ª¡± ¡°Stop it with your silly games and just eat your food, Tucker,¡± Anna¡¯s mother said with a cutting glare, sparing me from a further onslaught of questions. ¡°But Mom, she didn¡¯t do the secret handshake! Anna never skips the handshake.¡± He pointed an accusing finger at me. ¡°She could be an imposter for all we know. Like an evil robot from the future, or a shapeshifter, or¡­ or an alien coming to infiltrate the Earth!¡± I shifted uncomfortably at how close to the truth his last haphazard accusation was. ¡°Tucker Tran, stop pestering your sister this instant or we¡¯re getting back in the car and driving home.¡± Anna¡¯s mother had once again come to my rescue. I was beginning to think she wasn¡¯t so bad, despite Anna¡¯s complaints. Tucker sniffled, looking deflated. He remained quiet for the rest of the meal. After a while, Anna¡¯s mother broke the silence. ¡°So, Anna, how have your studies been coming along?¡± ¡°Pretty well,¡± I replied. After all, I had given myself an intensive crash course in all of Anna¡¯s classes just the night before. ¡°Oh? Well, last time I checked, your midterm grades weren¡¯t exactly impressive.¡± She shot me a derisive look. ¡°I do hope things start to improve.¡± ¡°S-sorry, I¡¯ll try harder this time,¡± I said softly, looking down at my half-eaten sandwich. Maybe Anna was right about her. ¡°Don¡¯t talk back to¡ªoh.¡± She seemed caught off guard by how easily I capitulated. ¡°Um¡­ good, please do.¡± I realized I had made a grave error in my assessment of their relationship dynamic. I should have fought back, should have argued that I was trying my best or that I¡¯d be doing better if I could major in a subject I actually enjoyed. But it was too late now. Finishing our meals in silence, we paid and left, heading back to the residence hall. When we were a block from the building, I saw a familiar, tall figure waving at us in the distance. Tucker¡¯s face lit up and he dashed ahead. ¡°Wally!¡± he cried as Anna¡¯s mother and I jogged to catch up. ¡°Hey there, Tuck,¡± Wally said, patting his head as the excited nine-year-old clamored around his waist. ¡°Hello, Wallace,¡± Anna¡¯s mother said once she had caught her breath. ¡°Good afternoon, Ms. Bernstein,¡± Wally replied politely. Apparently, she had returned to her maiden name after the divorce. ¡°Wally, I gotta tell you something super secret. Follow me!¡± Before anyone could protest, Tucker grabbed Wally by the arm and dragged him across the street. Too tired to follow, Anna¡¯s mother resigned herself to watching from a distance. Her eyes still on Tucker, she said to me quietly, ¡°I do hope you¡¯ve been learning a thing or two from Wallace. He¡¯s a bright young man.¡± I murmured my agreement. I figured that, having already committed to acting docile, it would be even more out of place to start picking a fight now. Besides, Wally¡¯s intellect was hard to deny. She turned to me, her features soft for the first time since she arrived. It made her seem older and more fragile, in stark contrast to the fearsome look I was becoming used to. ¡°I know I can be hard on you,¡± she said, just above a whisper, ¡°but it¡¯s because I love you. I just¡­ I want you to have a bright future.¡± I didn¡¯t expect something so heartfelt, nor did I anticipate the unknown, visceral emotion it would trigger. Without thinking, I replied, ¡°Thank you mom, I know. I love you, too.¡± I barely resisted a strange compulsion to hug her. She began to tenderly stroke my hair. Her voice wavered as she said, ¡°I haven¡¯t heard you say that in such a long time¡­¡± Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. I turned to face the street, watching Tucker and Wally conspire in the distance, as she wiped them away. After a few minutes, Tucker led Wally back to us wearing a satisfied grin. ¡°Alright, Mom, let¡¯s head home. I think Wally and Anna want some time alone,¡± he said, giving Wally an exaggerated wink. Chapter 9: Detective Steiner Tucker peeks across the street, making sure they¡¯re out of earshot of Anna¡¯s evil doppelganger. He then turns to Wally, his face grave. ¡°Listen Wally, I know this sounds crazy, but I think Anna¡¯s been kidnapped and replaced by an imposter!¡± Wally raises an eyebrow. ¡°What makes you think that, Tuck?¡± He takes a deep breath. ¡°Well first of all when we got here she didn¡¯t do the secret handshake so I thought hey that¡¯s weird better investigate, so then I asked her questions only Anna would know but she didn¡¯t answer them and my mom wouldn¡¯t let me continue the interrogation, and then at lunch¡ª¡± Wally holds back an amused grin. ¡°Slow down, bud! Okay, let me get this straight. Anna didn¡¯t do your secret handshake, so you think she¡¯s been replaced by an evil clone?¡± Tucker stomps his foot in frustration. ¡°That¡¯s not all! When we were eating, I swear I caught her staring at my roast beef sandwich, like she wanted to have it. And you know Anna. She cares about animals so much she¡¯d never eat meat!¡± Wally nodded sagely. ¡°It must be pretty serious if it¡¯s come to that.¡± Emboldened by finally being taken seriously, Tucker exclaims, ¡°Darn right! You¡¯ve gotta help me, Wally! Mom thinks I¡¯m crazy and you¡¯re all I¡¯ve got!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Tuck,¡± Wally says with a wink, ¡°Detective Steiner is on the case.¡± Of course, he doesn¡¯t believe Tucker¡¯s imaginative theories. But he does have to admit, Anna¡¯s been acting weird lately, and he would like to find out why. *** After seeing Anna¡¯s family off, Wally and I headed back to the residence hall together. ¡°So, how bad was it this time?¡± Wally asked as we approached the entrance. ¡°You know, the usual,¡± I replied, letting him fill in the blanks. ¡°Oh¡­ sorry.¡± There was an awkward pause as we entered the building and passed through the gate. Once we reached the elevators, he continued. ¡°Did you have any trouble with the physics notes? I can help explain things if you want.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m good. I¡¯ll give them back to you once I get home.¡± I hadn¡¯t yet figured out how to act around Wally, and until I did, I wanted to keep our time together as brief as possible. The elevator doors parted and we stepped inside. ¡°Really? You were struggling a lot with electric fields, I thought you would definitely need my help¡­¡± He gave me an incredulous look that put me on edge. ¡°Yeah, things just kind of clicked for me. Maybe it¡¯s because your notes were really clear,¡± I said without looking at him, instead directing my gaze to the side of the elevator as I pushed the button for the second floor. ¡°Oh, okay. That¡¯s good.¡± He changed the subject, seeming to sense my discomfort. ¡°Are you free this evening? Maybe we could play some Smash or something.¡± I paused, trying to look tempted by the offer, then replied, ¡°I wish I could, but I can¡¯t tonight. I have some homework to catch up on. Maybe another time?¡± The elevator dinged as we arrived on my floor. ¡°Yeah, whenever you¡¯re free,¡± he said, looking deflated. We both stepped out and headed to my room. Wally waited outside while I retrieved his notes.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Thanks for these, they really were a huge I help,¡± I said as I handed them over with a smile. This time, I was telling the truth. He looked down, trying unsuccessfully to hide his blush. ¡°No problem, what are friends for?¡± With that, we parted ways for the evening. Exhausted by so much social interaction and so many close calls, I washed up and went to bed early that night. I spent the next day at home, preparing for my first day of classes by practicing Anna¡¯s handwriting and intensively researching human social norms through online videos and movies. I also figured out how to have food delivered to the dorm, ordering a variety of dishes from a local Thai restaurant and devouring everything in one sitting. I had gone a bit overboard, using all of the cash in Anna¡¯s wallet to cover the bill, but I wanted to experience everything human cuisine had to offer. Wally texted late in the afternoon, asking if I wanted to hang out, but I was still weary from the day before. I told him I was feeling ill again, so he sent his well wishes and didn¡¯t bother me for the rest of the day. I found it difficult to fall asleep that night, worrying about the endless number of ways things might go wrong the next day. On Monday morning, I woke up hours before Anna¡¯s 9 AM alarm and found myself unable to fall back asleep. After showering, putting on jeans and a butterfly print t-shirt, and packing Anna¡¯s bookbag. I spent the remaining time looking at myself in the mirror, mimicking Anna¡¯s facial expressions from videos of herself and practicing small talk with imaginary strangers. Admittedly, it was rather useless to practice social interaction when I was completely alone. At 9:40 AM, I steeled myself for the challenging day ahead of me and headed out. When I arrived at the physics lecture hall, it was nearly empty. Wanting a good view of the blackboard, I took a seat near the front of the room. I pulled out Anna¡¯s physics notebook and neatly arranged her pens and highlighters on my desk. Within minutes, students began spilling in, filling the room with lively chatter. Josh entered the room and took a seat near the back, failing to notice me as he chatted with some of his friends. I turned my gaze back to the entrance, anticipating Wally¡¯s arrival. I had decided the day before to be open and friendly with Wally, keeping things platonic. If Anna had known Wally for years and never mentioned her feelings, I saw no reason to shake up the status quo. However, if Wally knew about Anna¡¯s crush, either from his own observations or Tucker¡¯s confidential conversation with him the day before, and confessed that he felt the same way, I would have to accept his feelings. I hoped it wouldn¡¯t come to that. When Wally entered the room, I waved eagerly at him. He waved back, but wore a puzzled look as he sat down beside me. ¡°Morning, Anna. I¡¯m surprised you chose to sit near the front today. Normally I have to pull teeth just to get you to the middle rows.¡± I laughed nervously. ¡°Yeah, I figured I should start taking classes more seriously. You know how my mom is¡­¡± In reality, I had chosen the seat because I was eager to learn, but the need to appease Anna¡¯s mother made for a convenient excuse. ¡°Yeah, I hear you,¡± he said with a pitying look. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t complain. Maybe now Professor Petrovitch will finally call on me when I have a question.¡± He elbowed me playfully as an older man with a bushy gray mustache walked up to the board and began the lecture. I took copious notes as he spoke about calculating electric flux through Gaussian surfaces, feeling a twinge of pride that I could follow everything he said. I was also quite pleased with how well my handwriting matched Anna¡¯s. Paying rapt attention to the lecture, I completely failed to notice Wally¡¯s slight, pensive frown whenever he turned to watch me. When lecture ended, I began packing my things. As I was about to stand, Wally said, ¡°Hey Anna, did you hurt your hand or something?¡± I gave him a bewildered look. ¡°No, why?¡± The oddly specific question reminded me of Tucker¡¯s interrogation the day before, but I buried the thought. Surely Wally didn¡¯t have the same wild imagination as Anna¡¯s kid brother. ¡°Oh, I just noticed you were holding your pen kind of weird today¡­ maybe it¡¯s just because you were so serious about taking notes. I¡¯ve never seen you so focused in physics before! Usually I have to beg you to stop pestering me so I can hear the lecture¡­¡± He laughed, but that did nothing to ease my worry. I realized there was no way I could perfectly emulate every single detail of Anna¡¯s behavior. Instead, I needed a reasonable explanation for my deviations from her usual mannerisms. I sighed deeply. ¡°Yeah, my mom¡¯s been getting on my case about my grades lately. Honestly, it¡¯s really stressing me out,¡± I said, hoping to garner Wally¡¯s sympathy. It seemed to work. ¡°Hang in there, soldier,¡± he said with a small salute before gently patting my shoulder. Flooded with relief, I let out a genuine, mirthful laugh. Perhaps living as Anna wouldn¡¯t be so difficult after all. Chapter 10: Whats Wrong with Anna? Anna clutches her pen firmly, in stark contrast to her normal feather-light touch. Wally had seen her draw before, mesmerized by how her hand danced lightly across the page. It¡¯s probably just stress, he thinks, knowing how much pressure her mother puts on her to do well in school. But he can¡¯t shake the feeling that something is off. He notices little things, like how she chooses a seat in the front even though she hates being called on, or how unbothered she seems by even the more advanced concepts brought up in lecture. Or how hastily she draws her diagrams while taking notes. Before, diagrams were the only things Anna would copy from the board, taking her time to make sure they were clean and polished, as if she were in an art class rather than a physics lecture. Must be because she¡¯s paying more attention to the lecture than usual, he thinks. In a weird way, he misses her pestering and note-passing and jokes at the professor¡¯s expense, even though they were distracting. All of the little things add up, and it¡¯s almost like he¡¯s sitting next to a different person. He recalls what Tucker told him the day before, but quickly dismisses the outlandish idea. There¡¯s a perfectly logical explanation for all this, he reasons. She¡¯s just going through a rough time, that¡¯s all. But his mind, traitor that it is, flashes back to his childhood. When he was ten, his father let him watch Body Snatchers even though it was an R-rated movie. For weeks after watching it, he was paranoid that everyone he knew and loved had been replaced by soulless replicas, ready to turn on him at any moment. The memory sends a shiver down his spine before he pushes it away. *** Parting ways with Wally, I headed to calculus. As I entered the lecture hall, a petite, bespectacled girl with olive skin, hazel eyes, and a ponytail of frizzy black hair saw me and gave a small wave. Based on the profile picture in Anna¡¯s contacts, this was Nessa. Pleased that she had already chosen a spot in the front row, I took the seat to her right. ¡°Hey Nessa,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Hi Anna, glad to see you¡¯re feeling better,¡± she said, her voice soft and soothing. ¡°Here are the notes. These are just copies, so you can keep them.¡± I thanked her profusely as she handed me two neat stacks of paper. Just as I had finished putting them away and taking out Anna¡¯s calculus notebook, a middle-aged woman walked briskly into the room and began writing equations on the white board. With that, a lecture about Taylor series expansions began. Compared to Wally, Nessa was much quieter and more reserved. She remained completely focused on the lecture, but never raised her hand to ask or answer questions. When the class ended, she packed her things, bid me a quick farewell, and left for her next class. Satisfied with how smoothly things went with Nessa, I got up to leave when I noticed a strange tingling sensation on my arms and face. The feeling soon passed, and I attributed it to my nerves settling after clearing the day¡¯s two biggest hurdles. The only class left was expository writing, and as far as I knew, Anna hadn¡¯t been close to anyone in it. As I was leaving, I received a text from Wally, asking if I wanted to grab lunch together. I realized I was quite hungry, and although I knew it would have to be a vegetarian meal, I figured something would be better than nothing. Plus, Wally would probably find it strange if I kept trying to avoid him. I had already resolved to be friendly with him, and if that meant eating together then so be it. We agreed to meet at the dining hall on campus. When I arrived, I was overwhelmed by the vast array of options. Eventually, I decided to get a Mediterranean vegetable wrap along with chips and a sugar cookie. After paying with Anna¡¯s debit card, I found Wally at a table for two and took a seat. ¡°Sorry to keep you waiting,¡± I said, seeing that he was already halfway finished with his hamburger. My gaze lingered on the beef patty, until I was snapped out of my daze by Wally¡¯s voice. ¡°Haha, no worries. I know the lines at the wrap station can take forever.¡± I hoped he hadn¡¯t noticed how enthralled I¡¯d been by his meal. As we ate, the tingling sensation I¡¯d felt that morning returned. This time, it remained for several minutes, gradually ramping up to a more acute prickling. Soon, it felt as though every cell in my arms and face were wiggling and rubbing against one another, and I had to concentrate to keep them still. I rushed to finish my food, straining to hide my discomfort while Wally gushed about a new satellite that was scheduled to launch soon. After making quick work of my wrap and chips, I took a large bite from the cookie, filling my mouth with an almost cloying sweetness. A moment after I swallowed, the odd feeling subsided. I let out a contented sigh, thankful for the respite. ¡°Wow, Anna, that wrap must be really good for you to be done so fast,¡± Wally said, not quite finished with his own food. I blushed, realizing how rapidly I¡¯d been eating. While Wally finished his meal, I nibbled on the remainder of the cookie, trying to figure out what had caused so much unrest in my body. If it was simply due nerves, it should have been worse in the morning, when I was much more on edge. Besides, I had been in equally nerve-wracking situations before without experiencing anything like that strange phenomenon. I was still lost in thought when Wally nudged me with his empty lunch tray. I was confused for a moment, before realizing he was offering to throw my trash away for me. I gratefully obliged. After that, Wally left for his next class while I made my way to the library. I had about two hours to kill.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. After reading through Nessa¡¯s notes, I began mulling over the odd tingling I had felt. Timing, I realized, was key. The first time it happened, my stomach was empty. I had skipped breakfast in the morning, too nervous to feel hungry. Then, it happened again during lunch, made even more intense by the proximity to Wally¡¯s juicy beef patty. And it stopped almost as soon as I ate the cookie, a treat packed with sugar that could flood my cells with energy. Clearly, the sensation was linked with hunger, though it wouldn¡¯t be satiated by vegetables or grains. I found it strange that it hadn¡¯t happened before, but it had been several days since I killed that buck in the woods. Perhaps such a large, protein-rich meal had kept the tingling at bay. Until now. I knew it would return soon unless I ate a substantial amount of meat. However, Anna¡¯s next class was about to start, and I didn¡¯t want to miss it. I resolved to hold out for one more hour. Arriving at the classroom, I noticed it was much smaller than the lecture halls I was growing used to, with actual school desks instead of the auditorium-style seats of the lecture halls. I chose a spot in one of the middle rows, hoping to avoid attention. Though I had perused the readings Anna had been assigned, I wanted to avoid having to speak as much as possible. The factual rigidity of science and math came much more naturally to me than the nuance and subtlety of good prose. And I wasn¡¯t exactly in the right mental state to participate in thoughtful discussion. As I passed the back rows to get to a seat, I noticed a pale, skinny girl with sharp cheek bones and deep bags under her sunken brown eyes shoot me a biting glare. Seeing her sent an inexplicable spike of rage through me, and for a second, I glared back. It seemed Anna had an enemy I wasn¡¯t aware of. Making a mental note to look into it later, I turned my attention to the front of the room, where the professor was setting up a projector. The class was less of a lecture and more of a guided discussion of the readings. About halfway through the class, the tingling feeling returned, progressively becoming more of an itching. It felt as though my cells were vibrating, chaffing under my tight control. Perhaps hunger was triggering an instinctual urge to transform my body into a weapon perfected for the hunt. Expending all of my energy and attention on maintaining a human appearance, it became increasingly difficult for me to focus on the class. Thankfully, most of the other students were eager enough to speak that I never had to be called on. As soon as class ended, I collected my things and bolted out of the room. I entered the first fast food place I came across and ordered several cheeseburgers. The cashier raised an eyebrow, likely shocked at how much food I planned to eat despite my small physique. I ignored him, scrambling for Anna¡¯s wallet so I could quickly pay, leave, and eat. In addition to my growing hunger, I ran the risk of bumping into Wally or Nessa the longer I stayed. I pulled out Anna¡¯s debit card and jammed it into the card reader. The cashier frowned and tapped the screen. ¡°It says your balance is insufficient.¡± ¡°What?!¡± Starting to panic, I took the card out and inserted it again. ¡°Balance insufficient. Do you have another card?¡± I shook my head. Anna¡¯s mother never gave her a credit card, perhaps because she didn¡¯t trust her with money or perhaps as just another means of controlling her. In any case, the debit card was all I had. ¡°Well, we also take cash¡­¡± I hastily checked Anna¡¯s wallet. Aside from some spare change which wouldn¡¯t be enough for even one burger, there was nothing. I had spent it all on Thai food the day before. I cursed myself for being so frivolous with money. I had just assumed Anna¡¯s debit card could provide as much as I needed. And now, I was paying for my carelessness. The cashier crossed his arms. ¡°Sorry, but I¡¯ll have to cancel your order if you can¡¯t pay.¡± I apologized and went home empty-handed. By the time I reached Anna¡¯s room, it felt as though my arms and face were blurring at the edges. My cells rippled, trying to morph and reform as I fought hard to maintain their shape. In desperation, I downed both cans of noodle soup Wally had given me the other day. They barely took the edge off of my hunger; I needed meat. I spent a few minutes considering my options. Asking Wally or Nessa to buy me a meal would be pointless. Anything without meat wouldn¡¯t do much to stave off my hunger. As far as I knew, Anna didn¡¯t have any secret stores of cash, and I had searched her room pretty thoroughly before. Admittedly, I could have asked Anna¡¯s mother to add money to the debit account, but I convinced myself that, with the amount I needed to consume, I would quickly run out again and draw unwanted suspicion. Really, I just wanted an excuse to hunt again. It was an instinctual drive that was becoming more and more difficult to suppress. Having made my decision, I changed into a dark-colored t-shirt and leggings and packed a string bag with a change of clothes, just in case things got really messy. After slipping into Anna¡¯s still-muddy tennis shoes, I poked my head out of the room to check that the coast was clear. With no one in sight, I quietly stepped out, locked the door, headed downstairs, and exited the building. I was completely oblivious to the fact that, as he was coming home from dinner, Wally saw me leave. After navigating through town and reaching the forest, I began walking down a dirt trail, listening carefully for signs of prey. Deer overpopulation was an issue in the area, so I knew I¡¯d have no trouble finding a meal. Sure enough, after a few minutes of walking, I heard the telltale rustling of foliage in the distance. I swiftly turned in the direction of the sound and tilted my head, trying to get a more precise idea of the source¡¯s location. More rustling and the snapping of a branch gave me all the information I needed, and I bolted through the forest towards my unsuspecting prey. My arms split into three pairs of tentacles, releasing the tension that had been building all day. I quickly found my quarry, a doe standing in a small clearing, feeding on a low-lying bush. Just as it heard my approach, I wrapped two arms around its head and cleanly snapped its neck before it had the chance to escape. Even though I had a change of clothes, I wanted to create as little mess as possible. After a relatively painless death, the doe¡¯s body fell to the ground with a thump. My face unfurled, razor-sharp teeth gleaming in the last few rays of the setting sun, and I began to feed. I didn¡¯t realize how famished I was until I took my first bite of succulent, gamey flesh. Everything around me faded as I ripped and tore at the carcass. I was so preoccupied with eating that I didn¡¯t hear the rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs coming from behind me. Chapter 11: A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing He moves stealthily behind her, careful not to step on any branches or brush against any foliage that could give him away. It¡¯s not weird to follow her like this, he tries to convince himself. I¡¯m worried about her, that¡¯s all. Given her last forest excursion, it¡¯s in her best interests to have someone watching out for her. But he still feels guilty for slinking around behind her back. Anna continues to walk briskly down the forest trail, oblivious to his presence. Just as he begins to think he and Tucker were mistaken, that nothing out of the ordinary was going on with Anna, and that this is just a normal evening walk, she stiffens and turns her head sharply. Thankfully, he still isn¡¯t in her line of sight. She cocks her head to the side, as if homing in on a nearby sound. His heart stops, thinking she somehow heard him even though he had been so careful. Then, in a burst of speed he didn¡¯t think possible from someone with such short legs, she sprints away from the trail and into the trees. Startled, he pauses a moment to process what just happened. Then, cursing himself for being so slow to react, he dashes after her. Her trail of trampled foliage is easy to follow, but no matter how hard he runs, he can¡¯t seem to catch up to her. When did she get so fast? He makes his way through the forest, panting as he ducks and weaves through the trees, trying not to trip on the dense underbrush. After a minute, he hears a thump somewhere nearby, accompanied by the cacophony of a flock of crows taking flight. Out of breath, he slows his pace to a walk. Straining his ears, he can just make out faint squelching and ripping noises that remind him of gory horror movie scenes. The sounds of flesh being torn from bone. At first, he thinks his mind is playing tricks on him, that watching too many slasher flicks as a kid has made him paranoid. But as he follows the path left in Anna¡¯s wake, the noises grow louder. He draws closer and closer to the source of the unsettling sounds, his dread and apprehension growing with every step. He knows he¡¯s being stupid, that you should always run away from weird noises when you¡¯re alone in the woods, but his concern for Anna trumps his sense of self-preservation. Finally, he reaches a small clearing, finding Anna several feet away, hunched over what looks like a dead deer. Despite the rustling of bushes as he makes his way into the clearing, she doesn¡¯t seem to notice him. He can see now that the disturbing noises are coming from the deer. Or rather, what¡¯s left of it. A pit forms in his stomach that threatens to swallow him whole. Something is very wrong here. ¡°A-Anna?!¡± Wally¡¯s voice cracks as panic rises in his chest. His mind is racing, trying to find some logical explanation for why Anna would be out in the woods at night, hunched over a deer carcass doing¡­ whatever that is. This is probably just a huge misunderstanding, right? Any moment now, she¡¯ll turn around and explain whatever weird prank this is supposed to be and laugh at me for falling for it. She probably has a camera rigged up somewhere¡­ But when she turns around, there¡¯s a horrifying mess of flesh and blood and teeth¡ªso many teeth¡ªwhere Anna¡¯s face should be. It gurgles something incomprehensible at him. Wally is so petrified he can¡¯t even bring himself to scream.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. *** ¡°A-Anna?!¡± Wally¡¯s panicked voice snapped me out of my ravenous haze. Without thinking, I turned to face him, my monstrous form on full display. Blood and drool dripped from my many rows of teeth, spilling onto the forest floor. ¡°Wahl-egh?¡± I gurgled, startled by how alien my own voice sounded. Only then did it dawn on me that I was still transformed. My altered anatomy was clearly not suitable for human speech. Wally stood there, completely paralyzed. His face, which had always been kind or sympathetic or worried for my sake, was now twisted in terror and disgust. It felt as if the ground had dropped out from under me. I wished the forest floor really could swallow me up so I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the awful aftermath of my own carelessness. I took a slow step toward Wally, struggling to restore my human appearance. I tried to recall Anna¡¯s face, but my addled brain was drawing a blank. All I could picture was Wally¡¯s look of wide-eyed horror. In response to my movement, Wally attempted to take a step back, but his legs were shaking so badly that they gave out from under him, sending him tumbling to the ground. Even as he fell, his frantic eyes remained locked onto me. Folding up the edges of my face, I was finally able to reform Anna¡¯s visage. Now, the only evidence of my gruesome meal were a few small flecks of blood on the collar of my shirt. And, of course, the half-eaten deer carcass behind me. Seeing a terrifying monster adopt the face of his closest friend, Wally¡¯s jaw dropped. I took several more steps forward. Unable to stand, Wally tried to crawl backwards to get away from me, unwilling to let me out of his sight. Finally able to speak, I said softly, ¡°I promise I¡¯m not going to hurt you.¡± With my arms still splayed out in the form of fleshy tentacles, it wasn¡¯t very convincing. While he clearly didn¡¯t believe me, he seemed to gather enough courage to stand. As soon as he was on his feet, he made a break for it. He didn¡¯t get very far before I caught him and gently constrained his arms and legs with my tentacles. Before he could scream, I covered his mouth, too. ¡°Mmmmf,¡± he grunted, trying to wriggle his way out of my grip. When I moved a free tentacle to retrieve Anna¡¯s phone from my pocket, he flinched and squeezed his eyes shut, as if he expected me to kill him then and there. I knew he had no reason to trust me, no reason to believe I wouldn¡¯t murder and devour him without leaving a trace, but it still stung. As nonsensical as it was, I was starting to believe we were friends. But I was never Wally¡¯s friend. Anna was, and she was the only one who could convince him that I wasn¡¯t a threat. ¡°Wally, I know you¡¯re terrified right now, and that none of this makes sense, but you have to trust me.¡± He shot me a derisive glare, as if to say yeah right, not in a million years. I manipulated the cells at the tip of my free arm to form a vaguely human hand, with which I could operate Anna¡¯s phone. I pulled up her final video, held it up to Wally¡¯s eyes, and pressed play. He stopped struggling and watched the entire video without so much as a blink. When Anna¡¯s desperate cries cut off and the video ended, he turned to me with a scowl, waiting for an explanation. If I wanted to win him over, this was my chance. I took a deep breath, then began to explain everything. How I came to Earth in a meteorite, how I landed in this forest and found Anna¡¯s strangled corpse as soon as I emerged, how I assimilated with her body and tried to live in her place, and, above all, how fervently I wanted to catch her killer. By the end of my story, the fear in Wally¡¯s eyes had somewhat given way to deep thought. ¡°I¡¯ll let you go if you promise not to scream or run,¡± I said, under the impression that he would at least consider what I¡¯d told him. He vigorously nodded, so I carefully released him and merged my tentacles back into two human arms. Stiff from having been restrained for so long, Wally rotated his shoulders and stretched his arms. Now that my appearance was indistinguishable from Anna¡¯s, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to look at me. Chapter 12: Who Else Could It Be? My name is Wallace Steiner. If you¡¯re reading this, I¡¯m probably dead, and there¡¯s something crucial you need to know about Annalise Tran. The real Anna has been killed and her body has been taken over by a shapeshifting, flesh-eating alien. It is highly intelligent and very dangerous. It will no doubt deny these claims and try to cover its tracks. No matter how natural my death seems, no matter what that thing in Anna¡¯s body says, I have been murdered. Please, whoever is reading this, don¡¯t let that monster get away with it. He knows he¡¯s being reckless and stupid, typing this when she¡ªwhen it is right there watching him. He knows that if it does decide to kill him, the note on his phone will probably never be found. Or that, in the off chance someone does find it, they won¡¯t take it seriously. But it still gives him a tiny sliver of hope that, no matter what horrid fate befalls him, the truth will still be out there. *** Wally fished through his pockets for his phone and asked to see the video again. I obliged, holding Anna¡¯s phone up to him and hitting play. He typed frantically as he watched, and continued to do so even after the video ended. I moved closer, trying to get a better view. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± I asked. He turned away to block my view of his screen. ¡°Just jotting down some notes,¡± he replied harshly. I decided not to push the matter. Above all, I needed to prove to him that I came in peace. I waited until he was finished typing before going over everything I knew about the murder. Which wasn¡¯t much. First, I told him about the strangulation marks I found on Anna¡¯s neck, and how they seemed to have been made by a weapon rather than human hands. Then, I shared my theory that the killer knew the area well and had planned their route beforehand. Finally, I mentioned Anna¡¯s hairpin, which had gone missing at some point between when she was captured and when I discovered her body. ¡°Wait,¡± Wally interrupted. ¡°The other day, you told me you lost it in the woods. So that was a lie? Wait, what am I saying, of course it was a lie. Everything you¡¯ve said these past few days has been a lie.¡± He shot me a pointed glare. His fear was giving way to rage. I looked down at my feet. ¡°I admit, I lied to you before¡­ but everything I told you just now is the truth.¡± He scoffed at that, and I began to grow frustrated. ¡°Listen,¡± I said, raising my voice, ¡°you¡¯ve already seen everything. You already know I¡¯m not human, so it¡¯s not like I have anything left to hide.¡± Wally flinched, reminded of who¡ªwhat¡ªhe was dealing with. I cursed myself for getting so defensive. I needed to handle this delicately. ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just¡­ I don¡¯t know nearly enough about Anna. All I have are bits and pieces from her videos and texts. I want to know who killed her, but I have nothing to go on. I just arrived on this planet a few days ago, I have no idea where to start and I¡­ I think I need your help.¡± He stared at me, bewildered, as if he couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. I wondered if that was because of the apology, the plea for help, or both. After a moment, he cleared his throat. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s say you are telling the truth. What can I possibly do? There¡¯s no body,¡± he gestured to me for emphasis, ¡°no murder weapon, no evidence of her death other than your word and that video. I know even less about what happened than you do. I didn¡¯t even know it happened until just now.¡± He didn¡¯t fully believe me, but at least we were making progress.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°You may not know anything about Anna¡¯s murder,¡± I said, ¡°but you were her closest friend for years. You probably know more about her than anyone else. Did she have any enemies? Any stalkers? Anyone at all that would want to hurt her? It isn¡¯t much, but I caught a girl staring daggers at me in her expository writing class.¡± Wally perked up at that. ¡°In expos? Can you describe her?¡± I tried to recall as many details as I could. ¡°She was skinny, really pale. Um... she had super dark bags under her eyes. Her hair was¡­ reddish-brown, I think?¡± Wally''s face lit up. ¡°That¡¯s gotta be Lizzie Petrov! She used to torment Anna all the time back in high school, until she finally got suspended for bullying. Her life kind of spiraled once she got to college. I don¡¯t know the full details, but I heard she started getting into hard drugs. And she definitely still holds a grudge against Anna.¡± Finally, we were getting somewhere; we had our first suspect. ¡°If she lives on campus, she might know her way around these trails¡­ and it sounds like she had a motive. Do you think she¡¯d be unhinged enough to kill Anna?¡± As Wally considered the possibility, his eyes fell. ¡°Maybe,¡± he muttered, but I could see doubt and fear return to his features. He didn¡¯t think Lizzie was the culprit at all. In his eyes, she was a scrawny, sickly, possibly drug-addicted human being, while I was a flesh-eating monster capable of taking down a full-grown deer with ease. It was obvious Wally still thought I was the killer, and given the circumstances, I couldn¡¯t blame him. But to quell his doubts, I would need to confront them. ¡°Look, Wally, I know you don¡¯t have any reason to trust me.¡± Wally opened his mouth as if about to object, but decided against it. I pressed on. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t either, if I were in your position. But if you think I¡¯m the killer, then how do you explain the video I showed you?¡± Without missing a beat, Wally replied, ¡°You could have easily faked it after taking over her body. It doesn¡¯t even show her being attacked. All you would need to do is drop the phone, fake some screams, and put on a black glove to end the video.¡± Expecting that response, I countered, ¡°Sure, let¡¯s say I had the foresight to fake the video just in case someone found me out. But that would mean I have Anna¡¯s hairpin in my possession.¡± Wally shrugged dismissively. ¡°Okay, fine, you have her pin. So what?¡± ¡°To take Anna¡¯s place, I needed to impersonate her to the best of my abilities. I even practiced matching her handwriting. Granted, my imitation of her wasn¡¯t perfect, but not for lack of trying. I did everything I possibly could to sound, act, and look exactly like Anna.¡± Realization dawned on Wally¡¯s face. He could tell where I was going with this. ¡°You and I both know Anna always wore that pin. So,¡± I concluded, holding back a triumphant smirk, ¡°if I¡¯ve had it all this time, why haven¡¯t I been wearing it?¡± Unable to come up with a rebuttal, Wally begrudgingly crossed his arms and remained quiet. He didn¡¯t want to admit it, but I raised a good point. It seemed he would accept my story, at least for now. I held out my hand. ¡°So, do we have a deal?¡± He shifted his gaze from the ground back to me, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. ¡°A deal?¡± ¡°You won¡¯t tell anyone about me, and in return I will do everything in my power to make sure Anna¡¯s killer is brought to justice. With your help.¡± His eyes narrowed, considering my proposition. Then, he turned away, looking off into the distance where the sun had just finished dipping below the horizon. ¡°Fine,¡± he grumbled, refusing to shake my hand. I withdrew it with a smile. We walked home in silence, with Wally giving me a wide berth. I could tell that, even though he had agreed to work with me, he still didn¡¯t trust me. But I could live with that. No matter how precarious our relationship, I was in desperate need of an ally. Chapter 13: An Uneasy Alliance Wally returns to his room in a daze. On autopilot, he washes up and prepares for bed, replaying the events of that evening in his mind. He lies down and stares up at the ceiling, repeating what he knows, or at least what he thinks he knows, over and over in his head. Anna is dead. An alien took over her body. The alien wants to find her killer. The alien might be her killer. Either way, Anna is dead. That¡¯s the only thing he knows for certain. And yet, no matter how much he thinks about it, it doesn¡¯t feel real. The truth slides off of his brain like water on wax. As if it will only be true if he accepts it. He closes his eyes, trying to fall asleep and escape this nightmarish reality. Tossing and turning, he eventually gives up and grabs his phone from his nightstand. He scrolls through his camera roll, starting from the very beginning: the first picture he took with his brand new smartphone. He¡¯s 14, two months into his freshmen year of high school, sitting at a school desk. Behind him, Anna sticks her tongue out and makes bunny ears behind his head. Seeing the flower pin in her hair reminds him of the conversation he¡¯s been trying to forget, so he moves on to the next image. But there¡¯s nothing he can do. Anna and that pin are inseparable. Or rather, they used to be. Wally flicks through the images, disappointed by how few of them feature Anna. He had always been camera shy, but now he regrets letting his low self-esteem bar him from capturing all the moments they shared. Pictures of stars, planets, constellations, rocket ships, and galaxies clutter up his screen, all worthless to him now. He would trade all the stars in the universe just to talk to her, the real her, one last time. He pauses at the most recent photo he has of her. It was from a few months ago, during their winter break. He and Anna decided it would be fun to try out paintball. She was small and agile, able to hide in crevices and quickly duck behind walls, while he was too tall, clumsy, and uncoordinated. He never stood a chance. In the photo, Anna¡¯s hair is disheveled and stray splotches of paint coat her face. She¡¯s grinning triumphantly, striking a pose while holding up her index and middle fingers. It¡¯s not a peace sign, her voice echoes in his memory. It¡¯s a ¡®V¡¯ for victory. It¡¯s finally starting to sink in that she¡¯s gone. As he stares at her smiling face frozen forever, a bright light in an otherwise dark room, Wally can¡¯t hold back his tears anymore. That night, he dreams about her. They¡¯re playing paintball. She¡¯s giggling, shooting at him as she retreats behind a barrier. ¡°You¡¯ll never catch me,¡± she taunts in a singsong voice. He laughs through the sting of the shots and chases after her, catching her from behind. His shots are wild, but he manages to hit her once on the arm and once on the back. ¡°Finally got you!¡± he cries. But she doesn¡¯t turn around, doesn¡¯t move at all. She just stands there with her back turned as drops of red paint slide down the back of her shirt. ¡°Anna? You okay?¡± he walks up to her and puts a hand on her shoulder, turning her around to see her face. He¡¯s greeted by pulsing flesh lined with rows of serrated teeth. Wally screams. *** I woke up early the next morning, still filled with anxiety from the night before. Wally was willing to help me, which opened up so many new possibilities. But he also knew my secret. And he wasn¡¯t very fond of me, to put it lightly. It was Tuesday, which meant I had a 9 AM chemistry lecture and chemistry lab in the afternoon, both with Nessa. I was relieved knowing I wouldn¡¯t have to attend a class with Wally, given how tense things were between us. In public we would have to act like nothing had happened, which wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Chemistry lecture was uneventful, as expected. Thanks to Nessa¡¯s notes, I had no problems following the professor¡¯s discussion of the redox reactions used to power batteries. However, as I was packing my things, Anna¡¯s phone buzzed.
Wally, now getting lunch at noon, meet me in food court?
Nessa peeked over my shoulder as I typed out my reply. ¡°Text from Wally?¡± she asked. ¡°Yeah, he wants to have lunch together at noon.¡± ¡°Mind if I join you guys? We have chem lab right after that, so we could just head out together.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I replied nonchalantly. Inwardly, though, I was glad. Nessa¡¯s calming presence would be a great help in easing myself into interacting with Wally. It would give me an excuse to act as Anna, a mask I had grown attached to wearing, for a little while longer. Sure, I wouldn¡¯t be able to eat anything with meat, but I was still satiated from the previous night¡¯s meal, so I wasn¡¯t very concerned. And really, I wouldn¡¯t be able to order anything at all until I found a way to obtain more money. Nessa¡¯s face lit up. ¡°Great! See you then,¡± she said cheerily before heading off to her next class.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I spent my down time in the library, perusing shelves packed with textbooks, encyclopedias, and journals. The breadth of human knowledge was truly astounding to me; just a small portion of it could fill a whole building. I picked out a book about astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life and settled down to read it. The irony wasn¡¯t lost on me. After finishing the last page, I checked the clock. 11:54 AM, just enough time to make it to the dining hall. I returned the book to the shelf and headed out. As I made my way through the dining area, I spotted Wally and Nessa sitting in a booth and maneuvered my way to them. Seeing me approach, Nessa grinned and waved. Wally did not share her enthusiasm, doing his best to avoid making eye contact with me. ¡°Hey guys, hope you didn¡¯t wait long,¡± I said as I put my bookbag on the seat next to Nessa. ¡°No worries,¡± she said sweetly, ¡°I just got here a minute ago. I¡¯ll go get in line now, see you two in a bit!¡± She scooted past me and headed toward the taco station, leaving me alone with Wally. ¡°Hey¡­¡± I said quietly. Wally looked up, frowning. ¡°Why¡¯d you bring Nessa? Nothing against her, but I asked you to meet me so we could discuss things. And we can¡¯t exactly do that with her around.¡± ¡°S-sorry,¡± I replied, flustered. ¡°She was sitting next to me when I got your text and asked to come along. I thought it¡¯d be weird to say no since she and Anna were close.¡± Wally sighed, his harsh expression easing somewhat. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Maybe a cafeteria packed with people isn¡¯t the best place to talk about a murder, anyway. I just didn¡¯t want to¡­ um, never mind.¡± His eyes moved downward, once again avoiding my gaze. He didn¡¯t finish his sentence, but I had a pretty good idea of what he intended to say. He didn¡¯t trust me enough to meet with me somewhere secluded. I cracked an amused smile, recalling how nervous I had been to meet with him by myself. Although, unlike him, I had no concerns about being eaten. ¡°Anyway,¡± he said hastily, eager to change the subject, ¡°what are you going to get? I¡¯ve heard the veggie burgers here are pretty good.¡± My smile went away. ¡°Actually, I used up all of Anna¡¯s money the other day. You can go ahead and order, I¡¯ll just wait here.¡± His wide eyes shot up to look at me. ¡°Wait, you used all of her money? How?¡± He kept his voice down, but didn¡¯t bother hiding his shock. I blushed, painfully reminded of how impulsive I had been. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize her funds were so limited, so I went a bit overboard trying human foods¡­¡± He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly exasperated. Then, he pulled a $10 bill out of his wallet and held it out to me. ¡°Here, you should be able to get a decent meal with this.¡± I gaped at the gift, surprised by his generosity. ¡°Are you sure? You don¡¯t have to, I¡¯m still full from¡­ um, you know¡­¡± He placed the bill in my hands impatiently. ¡°Just take it. Vanessa would think it¡¯s weird if you came here for lunch and didn¡¯t end up getting anything.¡± With that, he left to get his own food. I ended up taking his advice and ordering a black bean burger. It didn¡¯t look remotely like meat, but I was willing to give it a try. As that was being prepared, I gazed wistfully at the freshly baked cookies displayed on a shelf nearby. Knowing money was a precious resource, I had to restrain myself. After paying for my food, I returned to the booth where Wally and Nessa had just started their meals. I took my first bite of my burger, and while I wasn¡¯t expecting much, I was pleasantly surprised. Despite looking like charred vegetables encased in black mush, it had a satisfying savory flavor. It was certainly rich in protein, which was essentially what I needed from meat. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was something. A good option for when I couldn¡¯t have meat. I eagerly took another bite. Although Nessa had asked to tag along, it was Wally who initiated the conversation. As it turned out, the two shared a passion for science. Initially shy, Nessa began to open up, speaking enthusiastically about a particularly interesting elective she was taking that delved into the structure of the atom. As it turned out, physics and chemistry weren¡¯t so disparate after all. Though I had nothing to add, I was also fascinated by the subject, listening intently as I ate. In what felt like no time at all, nearly an hour had passed, and it was time for Nessa and me to leave. Wally waved goodbye, grinning as he thanked Nessa for such an interesting chat. But that smile fell when his eyes fell on me, as if he only just remembered I was there. For a split second, his features darkened. He waved again, more subdued, the edges of his mouth forced weakly upward in a strained smile. Then, he turned away and began gathering his things. Chemistry lab was much more difficult than I had anticipated. I assumed that, because I knew the theory behind it well, the lab would be simple. In reality, there were so many variables to keep track of, so many techniques one needed to know, that I found myself ill-prepared. Thankfully, Nessa more than made up for my incompetence. She was able to multi-task with ease, watching the heating mantle controlling our reaction while jotting down notes and observations, then switching over to the mortar and pestle to grind up a reagent that would be needed several step from now. Meanwhile, the flask I was meant to watch heated too quickly, giving rise to a runaway reaction that caused our product to spill out in foamy globs. A flustered Nessa rushed to help me get things under control and clean up the mess. ¡°Sorry,¡± I whimpered, wiping away sweat from my forehead. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure when to turn the heat down¡­¡± Once things had settled, Nessa patted me on the back. ¡°No biggie! You wouldn¡¯t be Anna if you weren¡¯t terrible at chem lab.¡± She chuckled, and I responded with a shaky laugh. For once, making a mistake had worked in my favor. As soon as I returned to Anna¡¯s room, I collapsed on the bed, exhausted more mentally than physically. After taking a few deep, calming breaths, I decided to check Anna¡¯s phone. There were a few missed texts.
Wally, 30m ago We have a lot to discuss. Can we meet up for dinner? I¡¯ll pay. Wally, 29m ago Meet me in the lobby at 5. Wally, 26m ago Oh, and please come ALONE this time.
Okay, see you then, I responded before setting the phone beside me and shutting my eyes. Chapter 14: Boiling Point Wally watches as she delightedly stuffs her mouth with food. There are fleeting moments where he forgets that she isn¡¯t Anna, but an alien creature that¡¯s taken her place, wearing her body like a costume. He has to shake himself out of it, reminding himself that the real Anna is dead, that she¡¯s never coming back. But it¡¯s so painful knowing that he was completely oblivious while she suffered a violent, lonely death. Sometimes, he would rather give into the delusion that the Anna before him now, with her contented smile and stuffed cheeks, is real. She swallows and begins to speak. It¡¯s cruel just how much she looks and sounds like Anna. If he hadn¡¯t caught her in the woods last night, he could never have guessed that his best friend had been replaced by a horrifying monster. ¡°I still think we should look into Lizzie,¡± she says. ¡°I didn¡¯t mention it before, but when I first saw her, I felt this burning hatred, like I wanted to rip her hair out then and there. Which was really weird, since I didn¡¯t even know who she was at the time.¡± That snaps Wally out of his stupor. ¡°You mean like¡­ you somehow felt Anna¡¯s hatred for her?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure, maybe. I have felt strange emotions out of nowhere before. Like the other day with Anna¡¯s mom, I felt the urge to hug her and I had no idea why.¡± That throws him off. Anna never struck Wally as particularly fond of her mother. But maybe that had just been a front, a surface-level frustration that still gave way to love. After all, you¡¯d have to be pretty cold to completely hate your own mother. All of this begged the question: was Anna still in there somewhere? The alien told him it had assimilated with Anna¡¯s brain, and that she hadn¡¯t been dead for long. If so, then could there be some way to bring her consciousness back? Could Anna regain control of her body? He would have to get rid of the parasite infesting her, but that was a small price to pay to give Anna a second chance at life. Wally shakes his head, trying in vain to quash those idealistic thoughts. He knows he shouldn¡¯t get his hopes up. They were too good to be true, and even if Anna could miraculously come back, he was no match for the monster in her body. Whether or not it had killed Anna, it could easily rip him to shreds in seconds, and he would be utterly helpless to stop it. ¡°Wally?¡± says the monster. ¡°Huh?¡± he responds, distracted from that gruesome thought. It starts to say something about Lizzie, but he doesn¡¯t care to listen. The more he thinks about that thing in Anna¡¯s body using her like a puppet, the more his fear and despair give way to seething rage. And then that rage boils over. *** After freshening up, I headed down to the first floor of the dorm to meet Wally. He was standing by the exit, tapping his foot with his arms crossed. I took a deep breath and approached, forcing a smile. ¡°Hey,¡± he said with a nod. ¡°Hi,¡± I replied. ¡°Where did you want to eat?¡± ¡°I was thinking we could get takeout from this Indian place close by. My roommate is back from his classes, so we¡¯ll have to eat in your room. That way we¡¯ll have some privacy.¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± I said. With that, Wally headed out the door, letting it close behind him. As I pushed it open again, I realized the small acts of kindness I¡¯d taken for granted, like smiling whenever he saw me, or holding open a door. Trying not to dwell on the past, I jogged to catch up to Wally, who had already started walking away. He acknowledged my presence with a brief side-glance, continuing his brisk pace. Because his strides were so much longer than mine, I had to speedwalk to keep up. ¡°So um¡­ what are you thinking of ordering? I don¡¯t know much about Indian cuisine.¡± Although this was true, I had mainly wanted to break the awkward silence growing between us. ¡°Actually, I already ordered the food. It should be ready right when we get there,¡± he replied without turning to look at me. ¡°Oh¡­ okay,¡± I replied. The silence stretched on until we arrived at the restaurant. Wally led us through a side door designated for food pickups and checked a shelf lined with bags. Finding his order, he handed me two plastic bags which emanated the tantalizing scent of meat and spices. After paying and thanking the cashier, he left with me in tow. Once outside, he held out his hands. ¡°I can take those now,¡± he said flatly, but I was glad for even this scrap of kindness. ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± I said eagerly. ¡°You paid for the food so this is the least I can do! Thanks, by the way, for buying me lunch... and now this. I¡¯ll pay you back when I can.¡± He shrugged, returning his arms to his sides. ¡°It¡¯s no big deal.¡± Once we returned to Anna¡¯s room, we took a seat on the floor, using napkins as makeshift placemats. Wally set out containers of food in front of us, explaining what each dish was. He took a container of rice and curry for himself, while I opted for tandoori chicken and garlic naan. Wally ate slowly, occasionally giving me weird looks as I scarfed down my food. The mouthwatering aroma was hard to resist, but I made an effort to slow down when I noticed his disconcerted stares. Still, by the time I had finished off most of the chicken and several naans, he wasn¡¯t even halfway finished with his meal.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°I should¡¯ve noticed this sooner, but you really do eat a lot,¡± Wally said, picking at grains of rice with his fork. I blushed. ¡°Yeah, my cells have a higher energy demand than human cells. And they need a lot more protein, which is why I was doing¡­ that in the woods yesterday.¡± I expected my mention of last night to make Wally uncomfortable, but he actually seemed intrigued by my unique biology. Looking up from his plate, he asked, ¡°Does it have to come from raw meat? Does eating normal food not do anything for you?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Any meat is fine, it¡¯s just that the amount my body needs is so large that I ran out of money and had to resort to¡­ desperate measures.¡± I neglected to mention the hunting instincts that accompanied my hunger. I was already enough of a monster in Wally¡¯s eyes. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Wally grunted, lapsing into silent thought. Wanting to move the conversation away from my unusual appetite, I asked, ¡°So you wanted to discuss finding Anna¡¯s killer, right?¡± ¡°Ah, yeah. So far, we don¡¯t know enough. We don¡¯t really have any suspects, either. We¡¯ll probably need to look into her vlogs, maybe get a list of IP addresses.¡± I frowned at the prospect of sorting through that many people. After all, her videos had hundreds of cumulative views. Surely it was more likely to be someone Anna knew personally. ¡°What about Lizzie¡­ what was it¡­ Petrov? You don¡¯t think it could be her? I mean, she even bullied Anna in the past.¡± Wally shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve thought about that, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s her. She was a bitch to Anna for sure, but I don¡¯t think she would ever go that far. I don¡¯t think she¡¯d even be physically capable of it. Anna was small, but she was feisty. She could hold her own in a fight with someone like Lizzie.¡± Recalling how sunken and tired Lizzie¡¯s eyes were, how her pale skin was, and how scrawny and shaky her limbs were, I had to admit it was unlikely Lizzie could have taken Anna down on her own, even with the element of surprise working in her favor. But just because she didn¡¯t jump Anna herself didn¡¯t mean she wasn¡¯t involved. ¡°What if she had help?¡± I posited. ¡°What if she hired someone to do it for her?¡± Wally gave me a dubious look. ¡°Like a hitman? That¡¯s a real stretch. I mean, even if she wanted to, I doubt she could afford to hire someone. I asked around a little, and from what I¡¯ve heard, she can barely afford to pay her drug dealer these days. And I can¡¯t think of anyone else who hated Anna enough to want her dead.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I replied despondently. Discouraged that my only lead had been shut down, I returned to scarfing down food in silence. Even the chicken¡¯s delicious flavor provided little comfort. After a few minutes, I decided to try one more time. Even with Wally¡¯s assurances that Lizzie was innocent, I couldn¡¯t shake the anger I felt whenever I pictured her face. That had to mean something. After swallowing and setting my food down, I reiterated my concerns. This time, I also told Wally about the inexplicable, intense rage I felt when I first saw Lizzie. That definitely got Wally¡¯s attention. ¡°You mean like¡­ you somehow felt Anna¡¯s hatred for her?¡± Though I didn¡¯t voice it, I had the same thought. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, maybe. I have felt strange emotions out of nowhere before. Like the other day with Anna¡¯s mom, I had this strange urge to hug her and I had no idea why.¡± I recalled the visceral emotion I had felt during my heartfelt conversation with Anna¡¯s mother. It was strong, almost painfully so, making my chest feel tight yet warm. Something so raw and bittersweet¡­ could that have been love? It seemed farfetched, but maybe Anna¡¯s most powerful emotional attachments were etched into her body. Perhaps, even after the last neurons fired in her brain, some deep-rooted connections remained and were preserved when I assimilated with her. If that was true, then another question arose: was Anna¡¯s hatred of Lizzie due to years of bullying, or was it a deep resentment for the person who killed her? I turned to Wally, wanting to share these ideas with him. He seemed dazed, lost in thought, like he was looking through me rather than at me. ¡°Wally?¡± I asked nervously. ¡°Huh?¡± His eyes refocused on my face. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s not Lizzie? Maybe the¡ª¡± ¡°Look, can you just drop it with Lizzie?!¡± I flinched as his sudden outburst cut me off, but he paid me no mind. ¡°I told you, I already looked into it! You asked for my help, you wanted my insight, and there it is. And honestly, it¡¯s pretty fucking suspicious that you keep pushing this narrative that the shriveled up shell of the girl who used to call Anna some mean names back in high school would straight up murder her in cold blood. Maybe you just want me to think it¡¯s Lizzie so you can get away scot-fucking-free!¡± Wally was breathing heavily, his face bright red. Finished with his rant, he continued to shoot me a piercing glare. I stood up, unable to hide my exasperation. With our significant height difference, it felt good to tower over him for once. ¡°You still think I¡¯m lying? If I was really Anna¡¯s killer, I would¡¯ve just offed you in the forest last night. Why take a chance letting you live?¡± I came off as more threatening than I intended, but there was no going back now. Wally let out a vicious laugh and rose to his feet, once again looking down on me. ¡°Oh yeah? Then why not finish the job now? Go ahead, I bet I¡¯d taste real good.¡± He was clearly trying to get a rise out of me, and it was working. I reached up and grabbed him by the collar, yanking him down so that his face was at my eye level as he yelped in surprise. ¡°Don¡¯t try to twist my words. I said if I was the killer, which I¡¯m not. What do I have to do to get it through your thick skull that I¡¯m not the enemy here?!¡± He struggled to release himself from my grip, trying to pry my hands off of him, but I was much stronger. After giving up on breaking free, he stopped for a moment. Then, an unnerving smile crossed his face. ¡°You want me to trust you? Then transform right here, right now, and let me film it. And if I ever get even the tiniest inkling that you¡¯re lying to me, I¡¯ll expose you for what you really are.¡± I matched his smirk with one of my own. I knew how much he cared about Anna. If there was even the slightest chance I was telling the truth, there was no way he would leak such a video. And even if he did, who would believe it? I was sure even Wally knew it would be dismissed as doctored footage. No, he was just testing me, expecting me to refuse, to give him a reason to distrust me. ¡°Fine,¡± I said without hesitation, calling his bluff. ¡°Wait, really?¡± His smug look gave way to disbelief, confirming my suspicions. I let go of his collar, allowing him stand up straight again. ¡°I said fine. If this is what it takes to prove that I have nothing to hide, then so be it.¡± I walked over to Anna¡¯s bed and sat down, trying to project confidence. ¡°Get out your phone.¡± Chapter 15: Know Thine Enemy Even though he knew what was coming and tried to brace himself, Wally is still filled with an instinctual terror that turns his skin to gooseflesh and makes the hairs on his neck stand on end as he watches Anna¡¯s face split and unfurl. His trembling arms fight to keep his phone steady as he records the transformation. But as much as he wants to look away, he forces himself to study the monster¡¯s hideous form. The many rows of small, pointed teeth that line the edges of its face, dripping with a clear slime that might be saliva. Its gaping maw filled with large, conical incisors that all point radially inward. Its eyes, red rings which seem to glow with reflected light, follow him as he moves to capture every angle. ¡°Th-the um¡­ the arms, too,¡± Wally says, unable to hide the tremor in his voice. The creature squints at him, an oddly human expression of annoyance on a decidedly inhuman face, before granting his request. Its arms split into several writhing tentacles, each colored maroon from the tip to the upper arm, where they transition back to Anna¡¯s skin color. Having stared at the creature for several minutes now, he is slowly growing used to it, being gradually desensitized to this horrific distortion of the human body. He ends the recording, but still can¡¯t pull his eyes away. After all, for someone as enamored with astronomy and the pursuit of the unknown as Wally, bearing witness to a living, breathing extraterrestrial lifeform is as fascinating as it is terrifying. He hasn¡¯t forgotten his anger and distrust, not entirely, but curiosity and scientific interest are gaining ground. And, he figures, if it ever does decide to turn on him, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to know what its weaknesses are. *** Once Wally had finished filming me, I returned to my human form. He took it surprisingly well, especially compared to the last time. As he continued to stare at me, apparently lost in thought, I cleared my throat and asked, ¡°Was that good enough?¡± ¡°Hmm? Oh, right,¡± Wally responded, playing back a portion of the video on his phone. ¡°Yeah, uh¡­ this is fine. How¡­ how do you even do that?¡± That one question sparked a long discussion of my unique biology and abilities, during which Wally listened intently, even jotting down notes. I explained that while my transformation was something of a default form, I also had precise control over the individual cells and tissues in my body, which was itself a mosaic of Anna¡¯s cells and my own. I mentioned my ability to heal as an extension of this, recounting how I removed the strangulation marks on Anna¡¯s neck. I told him that I had little memory of the time before I landed on Earth, left without knowledge of what I was or if there were others like me. I lamented the fact that, in addition to knowing almost nothing about myself, I didn¡¯t retain any of Anna¡¯s memories, either. ¡°Wait,¡± Wally interrupted. ¡°I get that you don¡¯t have her memories, but what about learned skills? Like, how can you speak English?¡± ¡°Oh, I just taught myself. The Internet was immensely helpful.¡± Wally balked at that. ¡°You taught yourself everything? Surely you at least knew basic things, like how to walk.¡± I shook my head. ¡°When I first landed, I knew how to walk in my original body, but I had to relearn all my motor skills in Anna¡¯s body.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ incredible,¡± Wally said in wide-eyed amazement. I tilted my head, puzzled by how impressed he was. ¡°Are humans born knowing those things? I thought you also had to learn to walk and use language¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, I did, but it took me a year just to say my first words. You were able to speak perfect English in what¡­ a day?¡± ¡°A few hours, actually,¡± I said sheepishly. ¡°But I still had an adult human brain, so that must have helped. Humans are hardwired for language, after all.¡± ¡°Okay, fair enough. But what about learning other things, like Anna¡¯s classes? I saw you in physics. It seemed like you understood everything perfectly, and I know for a fact Anna would¡¯ve taken at least a week to grasp those concepts.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just a quick learner, I guess¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s an understatement,¡± Wally said with an amused grin. It was the first time I¡¯d seen him genuinely smiling at me since he discovered the truth. ¡°At this rate, you could be the next¡­ Einstein¡­¡± Suddenly, the smile fell from his face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked, alarmed by the abrupt shift in mood. I tried to recall where I¡¯d heard the apparent trigger, ¡°Einstein,¡± before. It seemed so familiar, but I couldn¡¯t quite make the connection. ¡°Nothing, I just¡­ it¡¯s nothing,¡± he replied, looking down to check the time on his phone. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s getting late. I think we should get some sleep. Let¡¯s talk more tomorrow, okay? And um¡­ sorry for exploding on you earlier.¡± I was shocked by his graciousness. ¡°That¡¯s okay, it must have been a lot to take in all at once.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± he said, beginning to stand up. ¡°Anyway, goodnight An¡ªoh. Um¡­ do you have a name?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯ve just been going by Anna. I don¡¯t mind if you call me that, it¡¯s a nice name.¡± I figured it would make things simpler, since he would have to call me Anna in public. That was a mistake. Wally frowned. ¡°Anna was her name, and you¡¯re not her,¡± he said coldly. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his noise. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll just call you¡­ Allie or something.¡± ¡°Ah-lee,¡± I repeated. ¡°Oh, as in ¡®Ann-AH-LEE-ss¡¯? That¡¯s pretty clever!¡± I thought Wally had the same concern I did, accidentally using my real name in public. This way, it would be easy to explain away a slip-up as a new nickname. But again, I miscalculated. Wally rolled his eyes, growing frustrated. ¡°No, it¡¯s short for alien.¡± ¡°But alien doesn¡¯t start with ¡®ah¡¯, it starts with ¡®ay¡¯,¡± I quipped. He groaned and put his head in his hands. ¡°It¡¯s not that deep. It¡¯s literally just short for alien.¡± Foolishly, I decided to tease him a bit. ¡°Oh, I could spell it ''A-L-L-Y'', like your name but without the ¡®W¡¯. As in ¡®Hi there Wally, I¡¯m your ally, pleased to¡ª''¡± ¡°IT''S SHORT FOR ALIEN,¡± Wally shouted, leaving the room and slamming the door behind him. Admittedly, I had pushed my luck, attempting build rapport with him by emulating Anna¡¯s proclivity for wordplay. Evidently, I tried to get too friendly too soon, and it had the opposite effect. My mind flashed to an earlier point in the conversation, the moment when Wally shifted from jovial to somber. Finally, I remembered that ¡°Einstein¡± was what Anna had called Wally in a text. I kicked myself, realizing why he had looked so sad, why he insisted on naming me something else, and why he reacted so violently when I tried to act like Anna. He didn¡¯t want to be reminded of her. Of course he didn¡¯t, because he was still grieving her. And every time he looked at me and saw her face, it opened his wounds anew. I booted up Anna¡¯s laptop, filled with a renewed conviction to find Anna¡¯s killer, for Wally¡¯s sake as well as hers. I looked through her browser history, locating the login page for her email. Although I didn¡¯t know her password, I did have her cell phone, and after resetting the password to something I would remember, I was in. I scrolled through her inbox, skimming past messages from friends, school announcements, and the occasional junk mail, until something caught my eye.
From: [email protected] Subject: party You better keep your mouth shut OR ELSE. -A
It was sent on April 1st. Two days before Anna¡¯s death. Chapter 16: Conspiracy of Silence Anna stumbles up the stairs, clutching a half-filled solo cup. Music pulses from behind her, worsening her growing headache. While going upstairs in her uncoordinated, inebriated state isn¡¯t ideal, the bathroom on the main floor is occupied, leaving her no other choice. She hunches over, placing her free hand on the steps in front of her for balance, more climbing than walking at this point. She soon gives up on the solo cup and places it between columns of the banister, using both hands to make her way up. Finally reaching the top, she shuffles towards the room closest to her. Just as she reaches for the door handle, she hears faint moans, muffled from behind the closed door. Her face, already flushed from the alcohol, reddens even further. Flustered and about to turn away, she makes out hushed speech. ¡°C¡¯mon baby, I know you want it,¡± says a gruff male voice. A quavering, high-pitched voice responds, ¡°N-no I¡­ unghh. Please¡­ s-stop¡­¡± Though the voice is faint, Anna can¡¯t help but pick up hints of distress. Something isn¡¯t right here. She raps lightly on the door and puts her ear against it. There are sounds of frantic shuffling, but no response. She knocks again, harder, and hears the male voice swear, seconds before the door is flung open. As Anna stumbles backwards and nearly falls over, she¡¯s confronted with a buff, shirtless frat boy who dwarfs her in size. He looms over her, looking down with contempt. What sticks out to her most is his spiked auburn hair, seemingly as red with anger as his face. ¡°The fuck you want?¡± he says, slurring his words. ¡°I was¡­ l-looking for¡­ bathroom,¡± Anna replies, her mind panicked but sluggish. ¡°This look like the fucking bathroom?¡± he growls, glaring at her with frigid blue eyes. As Anna flounders to come up with a defense, a heavily intoxicated girl stumbles out of the room. She has messy pigtails, denim shorts, and a skewed crop-top revealing a glimpse of her lacy bra beneath. ¡°Where you going?!¡± the boy shouts, then mumbles under his breath, "things were just gettin'' good..." ¡°Mmmf,¡± pigtail girl grunts in response, lurching forward. Anna barely manages to catch her, struggling to keep them both upright. After adjusting herself to better support pigtail girl¡¯s weight, Anna shoots the boy an accusatory look. He throws his hands up, making Anna flinch at the sudden movement. She worries that he¡¯ll bring them down to strike her. Instead, he leans in and says in a harsh whisper, ¡°The fuck you lookin¡¯ at? The bitch was into me, I ain¡¯t done nothin¡¯ wrong.¡± Anna smells the alcohol on his breath and fights the urge to gag. With that, he goes back into the room, slamming the door in her face. ¡°Sure¡­¡± Anna mumbles to herself, turning back to the stairs. Wrapping one arm around pigtail girl¡¯s torso and holding the banister with the other, she painstakingly drags her downstairs. Thankfully, pigtail girl isn¡¯t much taller than her. As they make steady progress, hearing the pulsing bass of the music grow louder actually fills her with relief. Upon reaching the foot of the stairs, she hastily sets pigtail girl against the wall, glad to be free of the burden. After catching her breath, Anna nudges her. Pigtail girl¡¯s eyes flutter open and take a moment to focus on Anna¡¯s face. ¡°Whuh?¡± she mumbles. Anna speaks slowly, taking care to enunciate as best she can, ¡°Are¡­ your¡­ friends¡­ here?¡± She nods, pointing vaguely in the direction of the living room. ¡°Names?¡± Anna asks. ¡°M-Maddy¡­ Lauren¡­¡± the girl responds. Hesitant to leave her alone, but figuring that the main floor is crowded enough that someone would notice if something happened to her, Anna makes her way toward a crowd of dancing partygoers. She squeezes through the crush of bodies, calling out the names she¡¯s been given. Eventually, a tall girl with intricately braided hair looks Anna¡¯s way. ¡°You say Maddy?¡± she calls out. Anna scurries towards her, despite being constantly bumped off course by the people dancing around her.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. After reaching her, Anna asks, ¡°Are you Maddy?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ why?¡± she says, giving Anna a dubious look. ¡°Your friend¡­ needs help.¡± Anna grabs the reluctant girl¡¯s hand and leads her around the edge of the crowd, towards the stairs. She¡¯s relieved to find pigtail girl sitting exactly where she left her. The tall girl brushes off Anna¡¯s hand and rushes to her friend¡¯s side. ¡°Omigosh, Livie, what happened?!¡± She adjusts the girl¡¯s shirt so that her bra is no longer showing. Pigtail girl keeps her lips tight, pulling her legs inward and wrapping her arms around her knees. Anna opens her mouth, about to explain what she saw and heard, but quickly shuts it, feeling it wasn¡¯t her place to say. ¡°Mind if I go?¡± she asks instead. The tall girl nods and thanks Anna for helping her friend. With that, Anna leaves in search of her own companion. Exhausted, she makes her way to the kitchen, where a familiar mop of dirty blond hair sticks out at the edge of the room. Picking up her pace, she calls out to Wally, who¡¯s standing alone staring at his glass of water. His bored eyes light up when he sees her. ¡°Anna, there you are! Wow, you look uh¡­ worse for wear.¡± Anna leans against the wall next to him, too drained to stand on her own. ¡°Can we¡­ go home?¡± He pats her head and grins. ¡°I thought you¡¯d never ask.¡± Putting an arm around her torso to support her, he guides her to the front door. As they walk home, Wally tells her about all the crazy things he saw other people doing at the party. ¡°It¡¯s pretty weird being the only sober one in the room,¡± he concludes as they enter the elevator of their dorm. Anna just nods, refraining from telling him about her own experiences that night. Once they reach Anna¡¯s floor, Wally asks, ¡°So, thoughts on partying? You were the one who pushed us to give it a try.¡± ¡°No more¡­ parties¡­¡± Anna groans. ¡°Agreed,¡± Wally chuckles. After they part ways, Anna enters her room and collapses on her bed, not even bothering to change into her pajamas. Her mind replays the events of the party, tormenting her. She worries over whether she did the right thing by not saying anything until she slowly drifts off to an uneasy sleep. *** I immediately texted Wally, sending him a screenshot of the email and putting an emphasis on when it was sent. As I waited for his reply, I continued to stare at those eight words for several minutes. For the past few days, I had been grasping at straws for leads, when this had been here all along. Not that I would¡¯ve known what to do with it without Wally¡¯s help. My attention fixated on the computer screen, I nearly jumped out of my seat when Anna¡¯s phone buzzed.
Wally, now do you know what April 1st is?
Other than the date¡¯s proximity to Anna¡¯s death, I had no idea of its significance. No, please explain, I replied. Wally responded almost instantly.
Hate to break it to you, but this is probably a prank. Look up April Fool¡¯s day.
I took his advice and nearly had my hopes dashed. The email had been sent on a day dedicated to practical jokes and hoaxes. But I still couldn¡¯t shake how ominous the message was. Might be a coincidence, I told Wally. After all, weren¡¯t jokes supposed to have a punchline? A few minutes passed before Wally got back to me.
Checked my inbox and didn¡¯t see anything like this so wasn¡¯t a mass email. Still think it¡¯s probably a prank though. I have to sleep, we can talk more about it tomorrow.
I set the phone aside and returned to the laptop, trying to glean as much as I could from what little information the email gave me. First, if it really was from the killer, they must have known Anna personally. They had signed off with a single letter, ¡®A¡¯. Would they have been bold enough to use the first letter in their name, or did it stand for something like ¡°anonymous¡±? And then there was the subject line: ¡°party¡±. Was it a reference to a past event, or one that had yet to happen? I thought it could be something perfectly innocuous, like wanting to keep Anna quiet about a surprise party for a friend. After all, there were no explicit threats in the message. But then I checked the sender¡¯s address again. Replacing the numbers for letters, it spelled out ¡°all gone¡±, which was eerie on its own. What¡¯s more, it didn¡¯t appear in Anna¡¯s contacts, and when I looked up the domain name, I found that it hosted disposable email accounts. That ruled out all of the innocent interpretations I could come up with. The more I looked into it, the more convinced I was that the message was a threat on Anna¡¯s life. A threat that the sender made good on. Knowing I couldn¡¯t get much more out of the email, I decided to wash up and go to bed. But even after lying down with my eyes shut for an hour, I was still too wired to sleep. Instead, I stared up at the ceiling, turning the message over in my head. It was agonizing, feeling closer to the answer than ever but having to wait until the next day to find out anything more. With sleep evading me, I passed the time coming up with different scenarios to explain why someone would want to silence Anna, each more absurd than the last. Did she witness a crime? Was it gang-related? Was it a crazed hater from her vlog channel, trying to stop her from making videos? Could it be a government conspiracy? Maybe the ¡®A¡¯ stands for ¡°Area 51¡±. Or ¡°alien¡±. Hah, I thought at that last one. I really need to sleep. Chapter 17: The Dead Dont Speak He watches Anna and her tall friend part ways at a fork in the path ahead. Seeing the opportunity to speak with her alone, he jogs up to her as she ambles along the path. ¡°Hey, Anna,¡± he says as he falls in step beside her. She turns to him, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. ¡°Oh, hey¡­ Josh, right?¡± Josh can¡¯t help but grin at the fact that she remembers his name. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s me.¡± After a brief pause, she asks, ¡°So¡­ did you need something?¡± Josh blushes. ¡°Oh, r-right, sorry,¡± he stammers. ¡°I um¡­ missed something important toward the end of the lecture. One of my friends just wouldn¡¯t shut up. Guys, am I right¡­ haha¡­ anyway, did you happen to catch that last equation? The parallel circuits one?¡± Anna laughs apologetically. ¡°Sorry, but I¡¯m the last person to ask about that stuff. I just draw the diagrams. But I¡¯m sure Wally caught it, so I could ask him and get back to you next lecture.¡± ¡°That¡¯d be great, thanks,¡± Josh replies with a smile that belies his disappointment that their conversation is already coming to an end. She nods and says, ¡°Talk to you then,¡± before picking up her pace to reach her next class. Just as she leaves earshot, Josh hears pounding footsteps behind him, followed by a vigorous slap on the back that sends him stumbling forward. ¡°Yo, Josh,¡± Austin shouts, completely unapologetic for almost knocking him over. He¡¯s broad-shouldered and muscular, standing several inches above him. Boisterous and more than a bit dense, he¡¯s not the sort of person Josh would typically associate with, but being on the swim team together had made them into circumstantial friends. Josh sighs. ¡°Hey man, take it easy would ya?¡± Austin laughs at him. ¡°Sure buddy. Anyway, do you know that chick?¡± He points at Anna¡¯s receding figure in the distance. Josh tenses and narrows his eyes. ¡°She¡¯s just a classmate. Why?¡± Austin shrugs. ¡°Just wanna know her name, that¡¯s all.¡± Josh elbows him in the ribs, a bit harder than intended. ¡°Why, so you can get in her pants?¡± he asks, only half joking. ¡°Woah dude, chill,¡± Austin winces, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. ¡°Trust me, she¡¯s totally not my type. Like, you couldn¡¯t even pay me to¡ª¡± ¡°Okay, okay, I get it,¡± Josh interrupts, not wanting to hear whatever vulgar ending Austin had planned for that sentence. ¡°What do you want her name for, then?¡± ¡°Damn, what is this, 20 questions? I just saw her at a party the other day and her uh¡­ friends were smokin¡¯ hot. So I wanted to ask her for her friends¡¯ numbers. That okay, your majesty?¡± Josh shoots him an annoyed look, but the tension eases from his shoulders. ¡°Yeah, whatever. You really do have a one track mind. Anyway, her name¡¯s Anna. Annalise Tran. Happy?¡± Austin replies with a smug grin, ¡°Very.¡± Josh doesn¡¯t see why Austin would need Anna¡¯s name to ask for her friends¡¯ numbers, but most of the things Austin does make little sense to him, so he decides not to dwell on the matter. Instead, he revisits what Austin said about seeing Anna at a party. Anna didn¡¯t really strike Josh as the partying sort, nor the type to have a ¡°smokin¡¯ hot¡± gaggle of friends to party with. From what he¡¯d seen of her, she was fairly introverted and withdrawn. In fact, he¡¯d only ever seen her hang out with one other person, a guy. Did she have a secret night life he wasn¡¯t aware of? Josh shakes his head, scolding himself for being too quick to make assumptions. Preoccupied with his own thoughts, he doesn¡¯t notice the dark look passing over Austin¡¯s face. *** When the first rays of daylight began to peek through the blinds, I was finally able to fall asleep, though it wasn¡¯t long before I was awoken by Anna¡¯s 9 AM alarm. I groaned, wrested from the sleep I had fought so hard for. After getting ready, I left the dorm and headed for physics. When I arrived at the lecture hall, I found Wally sitting in one of the middle rows, off to the side. ¡°Hey,¡± I said, taking a seat next to him. ¡°Oh, hey,¡± he replied. ¡°You didn¡¯t want a front-row seat?¡± I asked, knowing Wally liked to be an active participant. ¡°Nah, I figured this would be better so we could discuss things. Besides, I can still see the board just fine from here.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. I¡ª¡± I was cut off by a shrill, nasal voice behind me. ¡°Oh. My. God. Austin did what?!¡± Wally and I both turned around. Behind us, a girl with blond hair tied up in a tight bun was whispering something to her friend, whose mouth was agape.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The blond girl winced. ¡°Keep it down,¡± she hissed, then noticed us staring. ¡°Mind if we ask what that was about?¡± Wally asked. The blond girl sighed. ¡°Yeah, but try not to spread it around,¡± she said, giving her friend a pointed look before turning back to us. ¡°Were you guys at that big frat party in February? They called it something dumb¡­ ¡®Triple Twos¡¯, I think? Something like that.¡± Wally seemed to recognize the name. ¡°On the 22nd, right? Yeah, we were there,¡± he replied. ¡°Did you happen to see anything fishy with Austin McGregor? He¡¯s this big, buff white dude. Acts like a classic frat boy douchebag. Red-head, spiky hair, loud as hell. He¡¯s pretty hard to miss.¡± Wally shook his head, and I followed his lead. ¡°Well,¡± the girl continued, ¡°my friend said she got super wasted at that party and he¡­¡± she looked around before leaning in. ¡°Let¡¯s just say he wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer. Anyway, someone overheard them and interrupted before things went too far. My friend finally reported the incident two weeks ago, so now we¡¯re trying to find the chick who helped her out. She¡¯s the only witness we know of, so she¡¯d be huge for making the case. Problem is, my friend never got her name.¡± Wally frowned. ¡°Sorry to hear that happened to your friend. Do you think she would recognize the person who helped her?¡± ¡°Probably,¡± she replied. ¡°And one of our other friends saw her, too. She¡¯s been looking around campus, but no luck so far. There¡¯s just too many people, and her memory from that night is pretty fuzzy.¡± ¡°Sounds rough. We¡¯ll let you know if we hear anything,¡± Wally said. ¡°Yeah, thanks. I¡¯m Lauren, by the way.¡± We introduced ourselves, then turned back around. I opened my mouth, about to speak, but Wally shook his head to quiet me. After class, he scribbled on his notebook. I nodded in agreement. Once lecture ended, we left together. After making sure Lauren wasn¡¯t nearby, Wally said to me, ¡°Anna and I were at that party. Actually, that¡¯s the only party we ever went to. Anna seemed really out of it when we left, but I thought it was just from the alcohol¡­¡± Things started falling into place. ¡®A¡¯, Austin McGregor, party, keep your mouth shut. Anna really had witnessed a crime. Coming to the same conclusion as I did, Wally ran a hand through his hair. ¡°Shit,¡± he muttered. ¡°Do you really think it was him?¡± I asked, wanting to confirm we were on the same page. ¡°I mean, it all adds up. The investigation started two weeks ago, around the same time Anna received that threat. Then, someone kills her two days later. And you heard what Lauren said, Austin¡¯s a buff guy. He could¡¯ve easily overpowered her. So he had the means and the motive, and he clearly isn¡¯t against hurting women. But I just don¡¯t understand¡­¡± he turned to me with a pained look. ¡°Why didn¡¯t Anna ever tell me about all this? I mean, we were best friends. At least, I thought we were¡­¡± Unsure of what to say or how to comfort him, I tried to pat him on the back, but he shrugged me off. ¡°Look, I have to get to class, and so do you. We can discuss this more at lunch.¡± He picked up the pace, refusing to look at me. I let him go, knowing he needed space. Calculus lecture was uneventful, but I found it difficult to concentrate with so many thoughts and worries swirling around in my head. Nessa seemed to pick up on it, asking if I was okay, but I just told her I hadn¡¯t slept well that night. Which, to be fair, I hadn¡¯t. As soon as lecture ended, I raced to the dining hall, eager to talk to Wally about the bombshell we¡¯d received. I chose a booth near the entrance and took a seat. Not long after, Wally found me and set his things in the seat across from me. He wordlessly pulled out his wallet and handed me a $10 bill. ¡°Oh, um, you don¡¯t have to¡­¡± I said, pleasantly surprised by his offer. He rolled his eyes. ¡°Did you manage to get some money, then?¡± I looked down at the table, fidgeting with my hands. ¡°Well, no but¡ª¡± ¡°Then take it.¡± He placed the bill on the table and left to get food. I reluctantly took the bill and used it to buy a black bean burger, with a few dollars left over. I would have ordered a real burger, but I knew Nessa would be done with her classes around this time and didn¡¯t want to that risk. Wally was just setting down his tray when I returned to our table. I tried to hand him what was left of his money, but he shook his head. ¡°You need it more than I do,¡± he said. ¡°Besides, you said you¡¯d pay me back someday, right? So let¡¯s just call it a loan.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I replied, taking a bite from my burger to hide my smile. ¡°Anyway,¡± he continued, ¡°I did some digging on Austin. Turns out, he and Josh are on the swim team together.¡± ¡°Josh as in the guy who found me in the forest? The one in our physics lecture?¡± I asked. Wally nodded. ¡°And luckily for us, he¡¯s also in our physics section.¡± Which was in less than an hour. We agreed to find out more about Austin from Josh after section, then tried to quickly finish our meals. When we were almost finished eating, a tall girl with brown hair in a long, intricately woven braid walked up to our table. ¡°Hey, sorry to disturb you but were you guys at that big party last February? It was on¡ª¡± she stopped abruptly, looking directly at me. ¡°Wait, do I know you?¡± Before I could respond, Wally answered in my place. ¡°Probably not. We don¡¯t party.¡± The girl shot him a glare. ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking to you,¡± she huffed before looking back at me expectantly. I knew Wally was lying, but realized it would be best to play along. ¡°N-no, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever met you before,¡± I replied, nervous despite technically telling the truth. She squinted, looking me up and down, as I shoved the remainder of my burger into my mouth. I hoped that, between my puffed out cheeks and the lack of Anna¡¯s distinctive hairpin, she wouldn¡¯t make the connection. Time seemed to stretch as she studied my face closely, until finally she ended her scrutiny. ¡°Hmm, okay. Well, sorry to bother you,¡± she said before walking to another table. Once she was out of earshot, I breathed a sigh of relief and sank into my seat. ¡°That was close,¡± Wally exhaled, his voice shaking slightly. ¡°Yeah¡­ I feel so bad for them though. Anna can''t testify so... what will happen to the case? Do... do you think I should come forward as the witness?¡± ¡°No way,¡± he responded firmly. ¡°You aren¡¯t Anna, and you didn¡¯t witness anything. One wrong move and your cover would be blown. Besides, that bastard has a bigger crime to answer for. He killed Anna, remember?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I sighed, crossing my arms and pursing my lips. It was frustrating, but I knew Wally was right. If I tried to come forward as Anna, everything would fall apart when they pressed me for details. So, as much as I wanted to help Austin¡¯s victim win her case, I couldn¡¯t. But I would make certain that both she and Anna got justice. No one else would have to suffer at the hands of Austin McGregor ever again. Chapter 18: Bitter Pills to Swallow ¡°But dad, the swim meet¡ª" ¡°No, absolutely not. You are not under any circumstances going back to campus until I finish cleaning up your mess. Just sit still, keep your worthless mouth shut, and let the adults handle this!¡± Spit flies from the man¡¯s mouth as he speaks, some of it landing on Austin¡¯s face. ¡°Austin, sweetie, what your father is trying to say is that you should lay low for a bit until things blow over. They have no proof that anything happened, so the case won¡¯t hold water. Your dad just has to make a few calls. It¡¯ll be over in a couple weeks, and then your life can go back to normal.¡± His mother places her hands gently on his shoulders, but it does little to comfort him. They don¡¯t know that there is proof: a witness. But after his father¡¯s reaction to the news, Austin isn¡¯t going to tell them about that. He gingerly brings a hand up to the red welt on his cheek. It still stings, making his blood boil. Once his parents leave the room, he locks the door and flips open his laptop. In a fit of rage, he pulls up the university¡¯s student directory, searches ¡®Annalise Tran¡¯, and pulls up her profile. He has to resist the urge to punch the screen when he sees her face. Instead, he scrolls down to her email address. Bingo, he thinks. Now, to keep her quiet¡­ At first, he considers bribing her. After all, a few thousand dollars is chump change to him. But in his vengeful mind, she¡¯s not worth even one penny of his. That goodie two-shoes wouldn¡¯t take a bribe anyway, he thinks. No, I need to put that little bitch in her place. He furiously types out a threat and hits send. A second later, he puts his hands on his head and clutches his spiked hair. ¡°Oh, shit,¡± he groans, realizing the gravity of what he¡¯s done. ¡°Shit, shit, shit,¡± he mutters as he frantically clicks around, desperately searching for a way to cancel the email. But it¡¯s too late. He slams his mouse down against the desk and tips back into his chair, blinking back bitter tears. What¡¯s done is done, and all he can do now is pray that his threat is enough to keep her silent. *** When we entered the classroom for our physics section, I scanned the room in search of Josh. I spotted him quickly, but the table where he was seated was already packed. It seemed we were one of the last people to arrive, so we resigned ourselves to two empty seats near the back of the room. If we wanted to talk to Josh, we would have to wait for the end of class. It was frustrating, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. Once class ended and students began filing out of the room, Wally and I walked over to Josh. He was still sitting at the table, furrowing his brow as he worked through a particularly difficult question in the problem set. I had struggled with it too, despite my firm grasp of the material, and ultimately had to ask Wally for help. Wally tapped him on the shoulder. ¡°Hey, Josh,¡± Wally said. ¡°Sorry to bother you, but you wouldn¡¯t happen to know Austin McGregor, would you?¡± Josh frowned as he turned to face us. ¡°You guys heard those rumors about him, huh? He actually hasn¡¯t been around for a while. His parents came down and picked him up two weeks ago. He even missed the big end-of-March swim meet. Told me it was a ¡®family emergency¡¯, but the timing seemed kind of fishy.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. My heart sank. ¡°Wait¡­ so there¡¯s absolutely no way he could¡¯ve been in town last week?¡± I asked. Wally elbowed my arm, but I had to be completely certain. After all, we had been so close. Everything pointed to Austin being the killer. Josh shook his head. ¡°Nah, no way. Even if he wanted to, he said his parents won¡¯t let him out of the house.¡± He paused, then cocked his head, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Wait¡­ didn¡¯t the party happen in February? What does last week have to do with anything?¡± ¡°Anna¡¯s just been really anxious since she heard about the incident,¡± Wally answered to cover for me. ¡°She¡¯s been worrying about it this whole week, especially since she was at that party. I¡¯ve been worrying too, to be honest. To think it could¡¯ve been her¡­ ugh. Makes me sick just talking about it.¡± Josh grimaced, apparently just as disturbed by the idea. ¡°Yeah. I always knew he was kind of an asshole, but the rumors going around are¡­ well if they¡¯re true, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d ever be able to look him in the eyes again.¡± He turned to me with a small, reassuring smile. ¡°Well, luckily you won¡¯t have to worry about him for a while. It¡¯s a really long drive from his house to here so it¡¯s not like he could sneak out and make it home before his parents notice.¡± I knew he was trying to comfort me, but all it did was bury my last shred of hope that we really had found the killer. ¡°Anyway,¡± Josh continued, ¡°I should go, I have another class after this. Stay safe out there, and feel free to reach out if you ever need help!¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks.¡± I smiled at his kind offer, though it did little to ease my disappointment that our only lead had fizzled. Josh finished packing his things and waved goodbye. I waved back, while Wally only gave a strained smile. ¡°He¡¯s all talk,¡± Wally muttered under his breath once Josh had left. I gave him a quizzical look. ¡°I thought he was nice¡­¡± Wally rolled his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t be so na?ve. Not everyone is as nice as they seem.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± I huffed. ¡°Look, I get that you¡¯re upset our lead didn¡¯t pan out. Believe me, I am too, but that¡¯s no excuse to take it out on others. Not on me and not on Josh.¡± ¡°Whatever,¡± he grumbled. ¡°Let¡¯s just get out of here.¡± Neither of us spoke as we left the classroom and made our way back to the dorm. Finally, as we entered the elevator, Wally broke the silence. ¡°I really thought we had him,¡± he lamented. ¡°Me, too¡­¡± I replied. ¡°Can we really be sure it wasn¡¯t Austin? It can¡¯t have been a coincidence that Anna was killed two days after he sent that email.¡± Wally sighed and shook his head. ¡°I thought the same thing, but his alibi is just too solid. You heard what Josh said. He lives too far away to drive to campus, kill Anna, dump her body, and make it home without anyone noticing. Unless you think Josh is lying¡­¡± I shot him a glare. He shrugged and continued, ¡°Then as much as I hate to admit it, we¡¯ll have to start looking for new leads.¡± ¡°But then¡­ what about the sexual assault case? Even if he didn¡¯t kill Anna, she¡¯s still dead. There¡¯s no one who can testify¡ª¡± ¡°Stop,¡± Wally interjected. ¡°I know what you¡¯re going to say, but there¡¯s nothing we can do about that. I know it sucks, and I truly wish we could help, but it¡¯s just not a risk we can afford to take. We have to focus on finding Anna¡¯s killer.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right¡­¡± I whispered, crestfallen. As much as I wanted to help, I couldn¡¯t testify with memories I didn¡¯t have. But that meant Austin would likely be acquitted of his actual crime, and his victim would never get the justice she deserved. Just as we arrived at the second floor, Wally¡¯s phone began to ring. After glancing at the screen, he hastily waved me on. ¡°I have to take this. Just go on ahead, I¡¯ll come by your room after I¡¯m done.¡± I got out and watched the elevator doors close between us, left to wonder what sort of call could be so important. Chapter 19: Missing Persons He picks up the phone and is greeted by someone mimicking the sounds of static. ¡°Krrrt. Tucker to Wally, Tucker to Wally. Come in, over.¡± Wally stifles a laugh. ¡°What¡¯s up, Tuck? Need something?¡± ¡°Krrrt. Affirmative. Requesting investigation status for Operation Imposter, over.¡± Wally pauses, deliberating over what to say. Tucker was sharp for someone so young, and he had been spot-on in his suspicions. After all, Anna really had been an imposter. But he obviously couldn¡¯t tell Anna¡¯s little brother that she had died and been replaced by an alien, or that he was working with said alien to avenge her. ¡°Ah, right, Operation Imposter,¡± Wally eventually replies. ¡°It¡­ it was a huge success, and Anna is safe and sound.¡± He struggling to keep his voice steady and his tone upbeat. ¡°Wow, really?!¡± Tuck squeaks, abandoning the walkie-talkie impression. ¡°Did you catch all the bad guys?¡± ¡°Actually, there were no bad guys to catch. Your big sister just had a lot on her plate this past week, so she was really stressed out. But things are back to normal now, so you don¡¯t have to worry.¡± Wally falters on the last word, overwhelmed by the grief he had barely managed to push down in the past two days. ¡°Oh¡­ glad to hear she¡¯s okay,¡± Tucker responds, not seeming to notice the hitch in Wally¡¯s voice. He pauses, and Wally can just make out someone¡¯s warbled yelling in the background. ¡°Well my mom says I gotta go do the dishes now,¡± Tucker continues, ¡°but tell Anna ¡®hi¡¯ for me! And thanks for looking into it for me. I knew Detective Steiner would get to the bottom of things!¡± Without waiting for a reply, Tucker ends the call. Wally throws his phone on his bed and leans against the wall. He shuts his eyes and clutches chest, knowing that what he told Anna¡¯s little brother couldn¡¯t be further from the truth. *** While waiting for Wally, I decided to get some homework out of the way. After nearly an hour, I had just finished my calculus problem set when I received a text. Wally, now Picked up a pizza for us to share, heading to your room now. Once again, Wally was providing me food, knowing I still couldn¡¯t get any on my own. I was grateful, but I didn¡¯t want to keep imposing on him¡ªI would need to remedy my money problems soon. Just as I began that train of thought, I heard a knock at the door and a muffled voice. ¡°Pizza delivery.¡± I rushed to open the door. In his arms was a large cardboard box from which emanated the pungent odor of cheese and grease. Resting atop the box were napkins and paper plates. ¡°I figured you wouldn¡¯t mind a meat lover¡¯s pizza,¡± he said as he entered the room, setting the box on the floor as I shut the door behind him.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. My eyes lit up. ¡°I definitely don¡¯t mind that!¡± My enthusiasm was rewarded with a small but fleeting smile. Wally opened the box and handed me a plate. After we each grabbed a slice, I got settled on the bed while Wally took a seat at Anna¡¯s desk. ¡°So,¡± Wally said in between bites. ¡°Where should we look next? Did you happen to see any other suspicious emails?¡± I shook my head, my mouth still full from my third slice of pizza. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯d be too easy, wouldn¡¯t it¡­¡± Wally frowned, lapsing into silent thought. After swallowing my food, I asked, ¡°Austin may have an alibi, but do you think he could¡¯ve hired a hitman?¡± Wally considered the idea for a moment. ¡°From what I¡¯ve heard, his family is pretty loaded¡­ but I don¡¯t know how freely he can spend that money. And even if he did have the funds to hire someone, why would he bother threatening her, only to have her killed two days later? All that would do is leave evidence connecting him to the crime.¡± ¡°Maybe he killed her because she still planned to testify, even after the threat,¡± I posited. ¡°But then how would he have found out? It¡¯s not like Anna would¡¯ve announced that to him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± I replied. ¡°Then I guess we can rule Austin out for now. You know¡­ we still haven¡¯t looked into Lizzie¡­¡± Wally groaned. ¡°Not this again! I¡¯m telling you, whatever bad vibes you got from her don¡¯t automatically make her the killer. Yeah, she made Anna¡¯s life hell in high school, but that probably explains why you felt what you did. Besides, if Lizzie really is the killer, wouldn¡¯t you have felt Anna¡¯s terror, too?¡± That gave me pause. Every time I thought of Lizzie, I always felt a rising anger, echoing the strong emotions I experienced when I first encountered her. In my mind, she was already guilty. But it seemed rage had clouded my judgement because Wally was right. I didn¡¯t feel a trace of fear towards Lizzie¡ªonly hatred. Which left my suspicion of her completely baseless. ¡°Yeah¡­ you¡¯re right,¡± I finally conceded. ¡°Well, other than Lizzie and Austin, we don¡¯t know of anyone else who would want Anna dead. And we still haven¡¯t ruled out that she was targeted randomly. Maybe we should see if there¡¯s been any disappearances in the area?¡± Wally nodded. ¡°It¡¯s more likely that the killer is someone who knew her¡­ but at this point we don¡¯t have much to go on. And it wouldn¡¯t hurt to check.¡± I got off of the bed, setting my empty plate aside. Wally stood up, yielding the desk to me. I quickly took a seat, opened Anna¡¯s laptop, and began searching for local news articles about deaths and disappearances while Wally watched over my shoulder. Most of the articles were either too old to be relevant or were about young children. Though just as tragic, we needed recent cases, and ones where the victim shared something in common with Anna. After almost an hour of fruitless searching, scouring articles and missing person reports from a wider and wider range of dates and locations, we were about to give up. And then we saw the headline that changed everything. Radio Silence: Popular Beauty Vlogger Still Missing After 8 Months The vlogger in question, a woman in her late twenties, had an online following much larger than Anna¡¯s. The neighborhood where she had last been seen was less than an hour¡¯s drive from campus. What¡¯s more, the article was written less than a year ago. This was the lead we¡¯d desperately been searching for. Chapter 20: Ultimatum Anna¡¯s cursor lingers above the upload button. One click, and her hard work will be out there for all the world to see. It used to exhilarate her. Filming and editing gave her a brief respite from the worries of her everyday life. But now, every time she tries to upload her latest video, she freezes up. She can¡¯t overcome the paralyzing fear that something in it might give her address away, even though she was so careful to edit out any identifying information. But according to him, it¡¯s already too late. Her location has been compromised. Still, she can¡¯t bring herself to hit the button. She drags her mouse away, bringing it instead to the messages tab. Her inbox hangs on the loading screen, as if warning her to turn back. Ignorance is bliss, after all. But after a few seconds, that chance is gone. Anna can see that, once again, he has sent her several messages. For the past few days, she¡¯s been too anxious to read them. After steeling herself, she opens the conversation and reads all of the messages she¡¯s missed.
WhizKid20: Please respond¡­ WhizKid20: So you¡¯re just never going to reply? WhizKid20: You¡¯ll regret ignoring me. WhizKid20: I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE.
Her hands are shaking as she reads his final message.
WhizKid20: If you don¡¯t reply to me in the next 24 hours, I WILL RUIN YOU.
It had been sent two days ago. *** After quickly skimming the article, I turned to Wally. His gaze was locked on the screen, no doubt parsing the text for every possible detail. ¡°This is it¡­¡± he breathed. ¡°Allie, you were able to access Anna¡¯s email. Did you try her YouTube channel?¡± I shook my head¡ªI had been so preoccupied with Austin¡¯s email that the thought hadn¡¯t occurred to me. I pulled up the website and logged into her account using the same credentials as her email account. After successfully logging in, the screen displayed a dashboard with so many options, I didn¡¯t know where to start. ¡°Thanks,¡± Wally said, giving me an approving pat on the shoulder before hastily retracting his hand. ¡°Uh¡­ mind if I take over?¡± I gladly relinquished the seat to him and watched with bated breath as he navigated to Anna¡¯s direct messages and scanned through the many conversations she¡¯d had with her fans. One in particular captured his interest. A user by the name of ¡®WhizKid20¡¯ had reached out to Anna three months ago, introducing himself as a male fan who had been watching her videos since she first started posting. Their conversation started out relatively benign, with Whiz Kid complimenting her vlogs and telling her he couldn¡¯t wait to go to college himself. The two went back and forth over several weeks. Whiz Kid would initiate conversations, mentioning interesting things that had happened to him or giving feedback to Anna¡¯s latest videos, and Anna would give short but sincere replies. But then, things began to take a disturbing turn. On March 15th, Whiz Kid confessed that, with a little bit of sleuthing, he had figured out where Anna lived, and said that he happened to live very close by. He said it would mean a lot to him if they could meet in person, but Anna curtly declined. Whiz Kid refused to take no for an answer, continuing to pester her for the rest of the month. Anna began ignoring his messages, so he grew more and more aggressive. He sent his final message on March 30th, threatening to ruin Anna¡¯s life if she continued to spurn him. In response, Anna finally blocked him. A few days later, she was murdered.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Wally bolted from the chair and began pacing around the room. I leaned forward, rereading the messages over and over again. The dates coincided perfectly with Anna¡¯s death. And, knowing that another vlogger had gone missing in the area, this threat was even more alarming than Austin¡¯s. Anna might not have been his first victim. ¡°What the fuck,¡± Wally muttered. ¡°She received two separate threats in the span of three days and she never mentioned a word of it to me? To anyone?! Why would she hide something like this?¡± In her vlogs, Anna seemed so energetic and carefree, but even before receiving those threatening messages, that bubbly exterior must have hid a deeper unhappiness. She hadn¡¯t seen her father in years, her mother was pressuring her into a career path she hated, and she was struggling in school. It seemed even Wally, her closest and most trusted friend, didn¡¯t truly know how troubled she was. Perhaps Anna was an even better actor than I was. ¡°I mean, she was more stressed out than usual, but I chalked that up to her mom putting more pressure on her. I should¡¯ve tried harder¡­ if only I¡¯d asked her¡­¡± Wally¡¯s voice wavered, and tears began welling up in his eyes. He caught me staring and quickly turned away, wiping his eyes. ¡°You can¡¯t blame yourself, Wally,¡± I said softly. I knew her death had deeply affected him, but I¡¯d never seen him cry before. It was hard to watch. ¡°There¡¯s no way you could¡¯ve guessed what was going on. And even if you had tried to pry, she probably wouldn¡¯t have told you. It seems like she didn¡¯t want anyone to know.¡± I walked over to him and put a hand on his back, trying to console him, but he twisted away and turned to face me. ¡°Look, Allie, I appreciate you trying to comfort me, but you just don¡¯t understand. Friends are supposed to watch out for each other, rely on each other. Not that I¡¯d expect you to know anything about friendship¡ª¡± Wally cut himself off, no doubt realizing how harsh his last remark was. But he¡¯d already made his feelings clear, reminding me that I was an outsider to humanity. Wally coughed and cleared his throat. ¡°A-Anyway,¡± he continued, glancing at me guiltily before averting his gaze. ¡°We don¡¯t have time to dwell on what I should have done. Right now, we need to focus on catching Anna¡¯s killer.¡± He returned to the laptop, pulling up the news article that had started us on this path. ¡°Yeah,¡± I mumbled as I joined him, standing off to the side as much as I could while still being able to view the screen. We began looking into Melissa Bordeau, the beauty vlogger who went missing. She had more in common with Anna than just making videos. Like Anna, she had wavy brown hair and an upbeat, energetic on-screen personality. She even followed the same patterns of intonation as Anna. While exaggerated positivity wasn¡¯t uncommon among Internet personalities, it was still quite striking how similar their on-camera personas were. The more we delved into things, the more it seemed the two were connected. Both Melissa and Anna had likely been targeted because of their videos. The killer could easily reach out to them, pretending to be an ardent fan. He would start with friendly conversation and establish a rapport, easing his quarry into a false sense of security before eventually asking to meet in person. And that¡¯s when he would strike. Anna knew better than to take the bait, but he came after her anyway. After she denied his advances, he must have begun stalking her in person, waiting until the perfect opportunity came along¡ªan evening jog in the forest, with Anna alone and at his mercy. After he strangled her, he ditched her body deep in the woods, no doubt confident that she would become just another missing person. Which meant a message from her would be the last thing he¡¯d expect. After much deliberation on how to approach things and what exactly to say, Wally and I unblocked WhizKid20 and gave him the response he had been so desperate for.
Uni Anna: So sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to ignore you! A lot happened to me these past few weeks, so I haven''t had the chance to check my messages until now.
All we could do now was wait for him to spring our trap. We doubted the killer would take what we¡¯d sent at face value, but surely a message from his dead victim would be too intriguing to resist. Chapter 21: Tangled Web After losing yet another game, Anna throws her controller down in frustration. It hits the carpet with a thump and bounces away. ¡°Jeez Anna, don¡¯t be such a sore loser,¡± Wally scolds her, wearing a triumphant grin. ¡°Oh, fuck off Wally,¡± she snaps. ¡°Maybe I wouldn¡¯t be so sore if you didn¡¯t use such cheap characters and shitty tactics that ruin the fun of the game.¡± She¡¯s being uncharacteristically vicious, but she feels so inexplicably angry at him. The way he trounces her at every game they play. His smug little grin every time he beats her, as if he thinks he¡¯s better than her. She hates him for it, even though in the back of her mind she knows it¡¯s silly to get so worked up over something so pointless, and that she¡¯s just projecting her own feelings of inadequacy. She thought that hanging out with Wally would give her a brief respite. All she wanted to do was unwind and forget about her worries for a few hours. But anxiety seeps into everything, tainting her thoughts, making her irritable and constantly on edge. Every glance becomes a glare, every smile a judgement, every word a veiled insult. It even invades her dreams. For the past few nights, she¡¯s had horrible nightmares about shadowy, faceless people attacking her or grabbing her for behind. She screams for help, but no one around her seems to hear. They don¡¯t even stop to watch as she¡¯s dragged away. She wants to tell Wally about everything she¡¯s been going through. About the threats she¡¯s been receiving that have her constantly looking over her shoulder, wondering if the world is conspiring against her. She wants so desperately to have a shoulder to cry on. But it¡¯s too late for that now. Her secrets and lies have been piling up, covered up with fake smiles and assurances that everything¡¯s fine. If she lets it all out now, she¡¯s convinced their friendship will be ruined. After all, they made a promise to comfort and confide in each other, to rely on each other no matter what. She¡¯s betrayed that promise many times over. ¡°Anna!¡± Wally¡¯s concerned shout pulls her away from her storm of thoughts. ¡°Huh?¡± she replies. ¡°I said are you okay? You zoned out for a minute there.¡± She stands up and retrieves her controller. ¡°Oh¡­ yeah¡­ I¡¯m fine. Sorry for snapping at you.¡± She walks over to Wally¡¯s desk, where his computer monitor is still displaying the victory screen, and sets the controller down. Then, she heads toward the door. Wally quickly sits up, furrowing his brow. ¡°That¡¯s okay. Are you leaving already?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± she responds without further explanation. She needs to leave now, before she explodes at him for no reason and says something she¡¯ll regret. ¡°Where are you going?¡± he asks as she turns the door handle. ¡°Out for a run in the park. I just need some fresh air,¡± she replies. ¡°Oh¡­ well be careful out there. It¡¯ll be dark soon.¡± He looks as if he wants to say more, but she¡¯s already stepping out of the room. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will,¡± she says, waving goodbye with a forced smile. ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± *** After staying up late into the night waiting for a response, Wally finally gave up and went to bed, taking the remainder of the pizza with him. I promised to text him as soon as I received a reply. Keeping Anna¡¯s laptop on the bed beside me, I continued to monitor her inbox to no avail until eventually, I drifted off to sleep. I awoke early the next morning and immediately went to check the conversation with Whiz Kid. After an agonizing few seconds waiting for the laptop to exit sleep mode, I finally saw it. One new message. Before anything else, I texted Wally that Whiz Kid had taken the bait. In less than a minute, I heard a frantic knocking on my door.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. As soon as I unlocked the door, Wally zipped into the room. He was still wearing pajamas, his hair was even more disheveled than usual, and his eyes were reddened and puffy. ¡°What¡¯d he say?¡± ¡°You got here so quickly, I haven¡¯t even checked yet,¡± I replied. I grabbed the laptop off the bed and set it on the desk. Wally followed me, standing so close behind me that I could feel his exhaled breath on my shoulder. Finally, I opened the message.
WhizKid20: Anna??? omg you haven¡¯t posted any vids so I¡¯ve been really worried about you! please forget about all the awful things I said before. I was going through a really hard time at home and school and I took it out on you. I¡¯m sooo sorry, it was really wrong of me ?
Whiz Kid had confided in Anna before about his supposedly troubled home life. He claimed his father had left when he was young, leaving his unemployed mother to raise him and his four younger sisters on her own. He had also mentioned being relentlessly bullied at school. Of course, we didn¡¯t buy any part of his sob story. ¡°Wow,¡± Wally scoffed. ¡°This asshole still thinks he can weasel his way into getting sympathy?¡± I shook my head in agreement. ¡°Still, he seems pretty unphased to get a message from the girl he thought he killed. Does he think he failed somehow? Or does he know it¡¯s not really Anna?¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± Wally said with a shrug. ¡°All that matters now is that we can catch the bastard. We just need to get him to meet up with us¡­¡± I frowned. ¡°Do you really think he¡¯d agree that easily? I mean, he¡¯s got to think something is off here.¡± Wally put a hand on his chin. ¡°We¡¯ll have to ease him into it. Let¡¯s just chat with him for a few days to get him to lower his guard. We have to somehow convince him that he¡¯s really speaking with Anna, and that she has no idea he attacked her. With any luck, he¡¯ll want to finish what he started.¡± With that, we formulated our reply and sent it off.
Uni Anna: It¡¯s ok, I shouldn¡¯t have been so rude to you to begin with... Sorry to hear you were having a tough time.
After waiting several minutes without receiving a response, Wally headed back to his room to get ready for the day. While periodically checking for a reply, I did the same. Even without having to worry about luring in Anna¡¯s killer, I had a long day ahead of me¡ªchemistry, physics, calculus, and expository writing all landed on Thursday. Catching Whiz Kid was obviously more important than Anna¡¯s classes, but there wasn¡¯t much point in waiting around all day, not knowing when Whiz Kid¡¯s next message would come. I texted Wally to let him know how busy I would be, and sent him Anna¡¯s login information so he could also monitor the account. After chemistry with Nessa, I met up with Wally in physics. Once again, we took a seat off to the side, where we could whisper to each other and check our phones without being noticed. The entire lecture went by and there was still no reply from Whiz Kid. I was beginning to worry that he had caught on, and judging from Wally¡¯s look of consternation as he packed his things, he felt the same. We agreed to meet in my room for lunch, then parted ways to head to our next class. In calculus, Nessa seemed to notice my worsening mood and frequent, anxious glances at my phone. ¡°Hey Anna, is everything okay?¡± she whispered to me halfway through the lecture. ¡°Yeah, I just um¡­ I¡¯m waiting for an important call.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. You seemed pretty distracted, so let me know if you need the lecture notes later,¡± she replied, then shifted focus back to the whiteboard. I silently thanked how selfless and caring Nessa was, always willing to help but never trying to pry. Once again, class ended and Whiz Kid still hadn¡¯t replied. I trudged back to the dorm, already trying to come up with ways we could locate him in case he never messaged us back. Could we trace his IP address? I wasn¡¯t familiar enough with technology to know how, but maybe Wally would. Upon reaching my room, I set my bookbag aside and opened up Anna¡¯s laptop. I checked her messages, at this point expecting not to see anything new. When I saw the notification, I did a double take. Whiz Kid had finally responded.
WhizKid20: don¡¯t apologize! what I said was really unacceptable. honestly, I¡¯m surprised you even gave me a second chance. it really means a lot¡­
After texting Wally about it, I reread the message a few times. It was short, but it implied something crucial. Even after revealing a glimpse his true nature, Whiz Kid was still attempting to play the part of the innocent fan. He was trying to endear himself to Anna and regain her trust, no doubt so he could lure her in and kill her for good. But that was exactly what we wanted, and it rendered what we planned to do next that much easier. Chapter 22: Careful Masquerade As he explains to Allie the solution to her physics problem, it triggers a vivid flashback in Wally¡¯s mind. He¡¯s tutoring Anna instead, showing her different ways to find integrals for functions. When he finishes speaking, he realizes she¡¯s staring at him rather than the paper he¡¯s been using to jot down equations and illustrate his points. Her eyes are pools of liquid chocolate, focused intently on his face which is mere inches from her own. Wally leans back in his seat, desperate for some space between them. He can feel the blood rushing to his face and the heavy pounding of his heart in his chest. ¡°D-did everything make sense?¡± She nods enthusiastically. ¡°Yup, as expected of a genius. Thanks a ton, Einstein! You¡¯re a life saver.¡± She grins, ruffling his hair playfully. Wally is wrested back into reality by Anna¡¯s voice. ¡°Wally?¡± It starts out distant and muffled, but sharply gains clarity as he regains his bearings. ¡°You okay?¡± Back in the present, Anna is watching him with a look of concern. No, he thinks bitterly, angry at himself for making that mistake so often. Not Anna. *** Wally arrived soon after I texted him. I took the pizza off his hands and began setting out the plates while he sat at the desk and began reading Whiz Kid¡¯s latest message. ¡°Thanks,¡± he muttered as I placed a slice on the plate beside him. I nodded. ¡°So, what do you think? It seems to me like he¡¯s trying to get back on Anna¡¯s good side.¡± ¡°Yeah, I agree,¡± he said, turning toward me. ¡°At this rate, we might even be able to get him to meet us this weekend.¡± There was a fierceness in his eyes, an unexpected hunger. ¡°This weekend? Isn¡¯t that a bit hasty?¡± I was worried Wally¡¯s grief and anger were beginning to cloud his judgement. He shrugged, as if our one chance at catching Anna¡¯s killer didn¡¯t hinge on handling the situation with care. ¡°We¡¯ll have to see how things go, but keep in mind that the longer we stretch things out, the greater chance there is that he catches on or gets cold feet.¡± He did have a point, so I dropped the issue. With that goal in mind, we crafted our reply, hoping to spark further conversation.
Uni Anna: no worries! I hope things are going better for you now.
As we waited for a response, Wally and I finished off the pizza. After half an hour, we still hadn¡¯t received anything. I resorted to working on homework while Wally began anxiously pacing around the room. He continued for nearly an hour, and it was becoming unbearable. ¡°Hey, Wally?¡± I asked, breaking a long silence. He stopped pacing and looked over at me. ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Could you help me with this physics problem? I¡¯m kind of stumped.¡± Actually, I knew exactly how to solve it, but I wanted to give Wally something to do to take his mind off of things. Judging from his haggard face and a subtle twitching in his eyes, he sorely needed the distraction. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll take a look,¡± he replied, with what I thought was a hint of relief in his voice. He wheeled the chair over to the side of my bed and accepted the problem set I handed to him.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°It¡¯s the last problem, the magnetic fields one,¡± I said. He grunted an acknowledgement and began to examine the question. After a moment, he brought the sheet over to the desk, grabbed a pencil, and began scribbling out a solution. I couldn¡¯t help but grin¡ªmy plan had worked. Wally¡¯s eyes had sparked back to life as he worked intently on the problem. In a few more minutes, he was finished. He handed me the paper and explained how he had worked through the question. His solution was even more elegant and efficient than mine. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re a genius. I hadn¡¯t thought of that. Thanks a ton!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°No problem,¡± he replied with a blush and a slight smile. There was an awkward pause as he stared at me, his eyes becoming distant and glazed over. I cocked my head, wondering if I had said something wrong. ¡°Wally? You okay?¡± Snapping out of his daze, he hastily looked down at his phone. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. By the way¡­ it¡¯s 2:40. Don¡¯t you have class soon?¡± I turned away, pretending not to notice the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. I could only think of one thing that could elicit that sort of reaction from him. ¡°I was thinking of skipping it. This is way more important.¡± ¡°Oh, uh¡­ it¡¯s fine if you want to go. It¡¯s been hours and Whiz Kid hasn¡¯t responded. There¡¯s no point in sitting around doing nothing, and if he does respond, I¡¯ll still be here.¡± It was a thinly veiled attempt to get me out of the room. He clearly wanted to be left alone. ¡°Sure,¡± I obliged. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll head out then.¡± I quickly packed my things and left. When I reached the classroom, I noticed Lizzie was nowhere to be seen, though I figured she wasn¡¯t the sort of person to worry about her attendance. It relieved a tension my shoulders I hadn¡¯t realized was there. Throughout the class, I periodically checked for texts from Wally. Toward the end, after a heated debate between two classmates about the veracity of a claim, I noticed a new notification.
Wally, 12m ago Finally got a reply, will try to make small talk
With the class winding down anyway, and the professor preoccupied with listening to my peers, I sneaked out of the classroom and hurried back to the dorm. When I entered my room, I saw Wally sitting at the desk, watching the screen as he munched on some chips. Next to him was a large paper bag, from which there wafted a delicious scent. He turned to greet me with a wave, his mouth still full. ¡°Hey,¡± he said after swallowing. ¡°I had some Chipotle delivered, feel free to have some.¡± He handed me the bag before continuing. ¡°Anyway, Whiz Kid is finally starting to talk. We¡¯ve been going back and forth for a bit. Nothing important yet, but I feel like we¡¯re getting close. I think we should start planning out our next move.¡± I began reading the chat log over his shoulder. After such a long wait, it was somewhat disappointing how mundane their conversation was. The two had taken turns catching up with each other in a careful masquerade. ¡°Our next move?¡± I asked. ¡°As in¡­meeting him in person?¡± The thought filled me with nervous anticipation. ¡°Exactly.¡± Wally¡¯s eyes met mine and I could see that intense hunger burning in their emerald depths once again. ¡°I¡¯m thinking we should ask him to meet us at the park on Saturday to ¡®apologize¡¯ to him in person. We can scout out a good meeting spot tomorrow.¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± I replied. ¡°I guess we can work out the details once we¡¯re there.¡± Wally nodded in agreement and returned to watching the screen for new messages. We spent the rest of the evening eating and chatting with Whiz Kid, priming him for our eventual request to rendezvous. This continued late into the night, until Wally pushed to move ahead with our plan. I expressed apprehension at first, but quickly gave in. At that point, Wally wouldn¡¯t accept any further delay¡ªnot when Anna¡¯s killer was almost in his grasp. We sent a message asking Whiz Kid if he would like to meet on Saturday so ¡®Anna¡¯ could apologize in person. His reply was almost instant.
WhizKid20: omg yes it would be an honor!!! Saturday works for me. what¡¯s a good time and place? Uni Anna: How¡¯s 10 AM at Alder Park? WhizKid20: that¡¯s perfect, I live right nearby. see you then!
No doubt, he thought Anna was foolish enough to come alone, completely defenseless, and he was desperate to seize on that opportunity. We expected as much, since we had been so careful to plant that idea in his head, making Anna seem remorseful for ignoring him and eager to make amends. The fact that he lived so close to the park where he killed Anna cemented our belief in his guilt, not that we needed any further convincing. Finally, everything was falling into place. Chapter 23: Insatiable Wally tosses and turns in his bed, to the point that the rustling of his sheets and creaking of his mattress prompts an unintelligible groan from his sleeping roommate. He wills his body to be still, but has no such luck with his mind. Adrenaline rushes through his veins as he thinks about how close he is to having Whiz Kid in his grasp. He shuts his eyes and imagines having the killer at his mercy, clutching his throat, wringing the life out of him the same way he did to Anna. Wally shakes his head, trying to clear away his macabre thoughts. He had always seen himself as a pacifist. He shied away from violence and was opposed to capital punishment. And yet, now that the loss is personal, all of those reservations disappear. In his eyes, no punishment is too severe for the man who took Anna¡¯s life. He laughs inwardly at his own hypocrisy. Hoping to distract himself, Wally sits up and snatches his phone from the corner of his nightstand. Without thinking, he opens his photos, pulling up rows and rows of images interspersed with shots of Anna. He scrolls through them, lingering on every picture of her. Reliving the precious moments he managed to capture is as wonderful as it is painful. He can almost hear her mirthful laugh, see her bright smile, smell her scent of lavender and honey, feel her soft embrace, but every whisper of her slips away as soon as it appears. This is something he does often, though it never numbs the pain. It isn¡¯t meant to numb the pain. No, he torments himself this way to ensure those precious memories never fade, to remind himself of what¡¯s been taken from him, and to reaffirm his resolve. He reaches the end of his camera roll: a video of Allie, not Anna. Her transformation is a horrid distortion of Anna¡¯s features, an insult to her memory. It¡¯s still unsettling, but when he watches it now, he doesn¡¯t feel the same terror and rage as before. In the past few days, Allie has proven to be earnest, even na?ve in some ways. He used to see her ravenous eating habits as savage and animalistic, but now she reminds him more of a child forgetting her table manners. It¡¯s almost amusing whenever she asks him about mundane things he considers common knowledge, revealing unexpected gaps in her understanding of the world despite how quick she is to learn. Even her personality makes her difficult to hate. She¡¯s cooperative and amiable despite how cold he¡¯s been to her, and she¡¯s considerate of his feelings in a way he would never have expected from an extraterrestrial being. He used to resent that, too, because of how human she seemed, which made it that much more difficult to separate her from Anna in his mind. It was so much easier to despise her when there were no other suspects, but now his animosity towards Allie is quickly fading. He¡¯s beginning to feel guilty about how harsh he¡¯s been to her. If it weren¡¯t for her, Anna may have just become one more missing person, another Melissa Bordeau. She would still be gone forever, but with an uncertain fate and no way of finding the culprit. Thanks to Allie, he could get closure and Anna could get justice. His thumb lingers over the delete button. Keeping the video almost feels like a betrayal. After all, hadn¡¯t Allie proven herself to be trustworthy? She¡¯s been working just as hard as him to find Anna¡¯s killer. Ever since he found out her secret, she had been nothing but open with him. The fact that she let him film her transformation in the first place was a testament to that. Still, he can¡¯t bring himself to do it. There¡¯s still a nagging doubt in his mind, a worry that she could still be lying, or at the very least hiding her true intentions. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to keep it, he thinks. At least until we catch Anna¡¯s killer. *** After we arranged our meeting with Whiz Kid, Wally retired to his room for the night. We agreed to meet up at noon the next day so we could search Alder Park for an ideal meeting place. Falling asleep was unexpectedly easy, perhaps because I had been left exhausted by an eventful day. With no classes on Friday, I was free to sleep in. However, late in the morning, I was roused from my deep slumber by a familiar, cavernous ache in my stomach. I grabbed Anna¡¯s phone to check the time: 11:25 AM. Wally would still be in class, and regardless, I didn¡¯t want to remain reliant on him for every meal. Unfortunately, campus would be bustling with people by this time, which meant hunting was off the table. I clamored out of bed and crouched in front of Anna¡¯s backpack, unzipping the front pocket. I fished around for a moment before excitedly yanking out my prize: a handful dollar bills and a few coins of spare change, remnants from the meal money Wally had lent me two days before. I hurried to get dressed. After some searching, I was able to find a fast food place where I could get a sizable meal for cheap. I ordered as many servings of chicken nuggets as I could afford. As soon as my order was ready, I rushed home with my haul and began stuffing my face. Though the nuggets were crispy and succulent, and abundant enough to entirely fill my stomach, I was somehow left unsatisfied. The telltale prickling that often accompanied my hunger began to run along my arms. I looked down at my distended belly with a perplexed frown. How could I possibly still be hungry when I felt so bloated?Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Desperation pushed me to resolve an issue I had been putting off. I pulled out Anna¡¯s phone and texted Anna¡¯s mother, explaining that my debit account had run out of funds. She replied almost immediately, rebuking me for waiting until the last minute to tell her. I apologized, but was greatly relieved when she said she had transferred a few hundred dollars to the account. Unlike before, I was determined to spend it wisely. However, my relief was short-lived. Despite finally being able to afford my own food, I still felt so full that the prospect of taking another bite made me queasy. I retched at the thought and had to fight to keep my food down. Yet, much to my dismay, the cells in my arms and face were quivering restlessly. Were the nuggets so greasy and processed that my body was rejecting them? That must be it, I thought, despite the fact that I¡¯d had no problems with similarly unhealthy meals before. I didn¡¯t want to consider the possibility that my hunger couldn¡¯t be sated by normal food, or worse, that I was craving something else entirely. Instead, I resolved to endure my discomfort and eat a healthy lunch. Then I remembered that Wally and I were going to Alder Park at noon¡ªten minutes from now. I¡¯ll just have an early dinner, I consoled myself. I hoped I would last that long. Just before noon, Wally knocked on my door. ¡°You ready?¡± he called out from the other side. I readied myself by clamping down on my cells, forcing them to behave. Once everything was under my tight control, I opened the door and stepped out. ¡°Ready,¡± I replied through gritted teeth. Wally raised an eyebrow. ¡°You seem tense. Nervous already?¡± ¡°Yeah, a little.¡± I was, but not for the reason he was thinking. While I had a handle on myself now, I was worried my control would slip. Even in the best case, with no one else around to witness it, Wally would still realize I¡¯d been keeping something from him. After I¡¯d worked so hard to gain his trust, it would be a devastating setback. Wally gave me a look of sympathy and an awkward pat on the back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, tomorrow¡¯s what you should really be nervous for.¡± As soon as he finished the sentence, his gaze dropped to his feet. He blushed and pulled his hand back. ¡°That uh¡­ wasn¡¯t very reassuring, was it¡­¡± I chuckled, and my apprehension lessened, if only for a moment. With that, we headed for the park. When we arrived, we decided to take the trail closest to campus. A worn-down sign posted off to the side read ¡°Loggerhead Trail¡±. A few feet away, there was another sign which read ¡°Beware of deer¡±. About a quarter mile down the trail, a small side-path split off from the main track, windings its way through the thick of the woods. We decided to follow it, wanting to see where it would lead. The narrow footpath was littered with branches and large rocks, forcing us to watch our step as we trekked along. I noted that, if one were in a hurry, the rough terrain would make running back to the main trail difficult. After several minutes of walking, the path dead-ended into a small clearing¡ªthe perfect meeting place. Our plan was simple. I would meet Whiz Kid in the clearing, seemingly alone to keep his guard down. When he got close enough, Wally would jump out from behind and subdue him, and I would assist if needed. Then, we could begin our interrogation. The densely packed trees surrounding the clearing would provide ample cover for Wally to hide in, as well as a convenient buffer to any sounds of distress the would-be killer might make once we captured him. It was far enough away from the main trail that I could transform without much fear of being seen by passersby, though I hoped it wouldn¡¯t come to that. We spent a while working out fine details, deciding exactly where I would stand and where Wally would lie in wait. Once we were confident that we were sufficiently prepared for tomorrow¡¯s confrontation, we began our careful hike back to the main trail. Our planning had distracted me enough to take the edge off my hunger, but as we started heading home, it returned with a vengeance. The usual tingling rapidly intensified. After only a few minutes, my skin literally began to crawl, with small ripples travelling across the surface of my arms. I rushed to cover the patches of wriggling flesh with my hands, desperate to hide the unsettling phenomenon from Wally¡¯s view as I tried to quash my own cells rebelling against me. Wally shot me a concerned look. ¡°Allie? Is something wrong?¡± he asked. While he didn¡¯t seem to catch the unnatural movement of my skin, he certainly noticed my panicked attempts to conceal it. It took all my concentration just to keep my body still. I struggled to form the words for a reply. ¡°F-fine,¡± I managed to choke out, though it was rather unconvincing given that I was trembling from the strain. He frowned, taking a step towards me to get a closer look. ¡°You don¡¯t look f¡ª" Picking up the sounds of branches snapping and foliage rustling nearby, I stopped paying attention to his words. It was as if part of my mind shut off, overtaken by a primal instinct that refused to be held back any longer. My head swiveled wildly in the direction of the noise. I caught the telltale scent of deer carried on the breeze, making my mouth flood with saliva. There was an instant release of tension as my arms split into several fleshy tentacles. Wally let out a startled yelp at my sudden transformation, but I barely registered his presence as my mind narrowed onto a singular focus: my prey. Chapter 24: Tempest Wally pauses for a moment to catch his breath and give Allie a chance to catch up. As he inhales deeply, he looks up at the sky. Gaps in the canopy reveal dark clouds gathering overhead, and he feels a tiny drop of rain hit his face and slide down his cheek. Should¡¯ve checked the weather, he thinks. He had been so eager to head out and formulate their plan, he had even skipped lunch. Needless to say, he hadn¡¯t brought an umbrella. He turns around, watching as Allie slowly closes the distance between them. Her eyes are downcast, her face scrunched in a look of intense concentration, and her arms are crossed over her stomach. She must be worried about tomorrow, Wally surmises. She is the centerpiece of their scheme, after all. Not only would she be acting as the bait, but if their confrontation becomes physical, she would be the one to overpower their would-be assailant. Suddenly, Allie¡¯s eyes widen and she inhales sharply. She stops walking and frantically begins rubbing her arms, hugging them tightly against her torso. ¡°Allie? Is something wrong?¡± Wally asks. He notices that the rain has begun to pick up, now a steady pitter-patter against the leaves instead of a light sprinkle, and he wonders if that¡¯s the cause of Allie¡¯s strange behavior¡ªher first encounter with precipitation. Wally almost chuckles at the thought of the na?ve alien being scared of a few raindrops. ¡°F-fine,¡± she splutters in delayed reply. Seeing that she¡¯s started violently shaking, Wally¡¯s amusement quickly gives way to grave concern. He walks toward her, trying to discern what¡¯s wrong. ¡°You don¡¯t look fine,¡± he says. ¡°Here, let me¡ª¡± Allie¡¯s head jerks up, and Wally¡¯s words die in his throat. As if a switch has been flipped, the panic and desperation in Allie¡¯s eyes have been replaced by predatory hunger. Her feral gaze bores deep into him, making the hairs on his neck stand on end. In the blink of an eye, her arms have transformed into writhing tentacles. ¡°Agh!¡± Wally cries, throwing up his arms as a futile defense. Every fiber of his being is urging him to run, but his legs are glued to the spot. Besides, he knows Allie would catch him in an instant. He squeezes his eyes shut, bracing for the excruciating pain of being impaled in every vital organ. His mind detaches, flashing back to the first time he saw Allie transformed, feeding on a deer carcass. He recalls the note he wrote that night on his phone¡ªhis desperate plea to whoever finds what¡¯s left of his body. I should¡¯ve never trusted her, he thinks, fully convinced that he is about to die. But at least I kept that video. The pain never comes. Instead, he feels a light whoosh of air as Allie darts past him and into the forest beyond. *** When I finally came back to myself, my face was transformed, buried in the flank of my fallen prey. My clothes were soaked, stained a deep crimson which even the steady rainfall couldn¡¯t wash away. I was kneeling in a pool of blood, ripping away at the half-eaten entrails of my latest victim¡ªa juvenile buck. Though I was now fully conscious, I continued to tear off and devour strips of flesh from the body. The rich, metallic taste of fresh game was too enticing to resist. My hunger had finally subsided, and for a moment I was blissfully content. Then I heard the crunch of trampled foliage and the stomping of approaching footsteps. ¡°Jesus, Allie!¡± Wally shouted, pushing branches out of the way as he approached. ¡°We didn¡¯t come here so you could slaughter some innocent woodland creatures. Could you at least try not to act like a monster?!¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I lifted my head and hastily reverted to my human form. Looking guiltily up at him, I said, ¡°S-sorry¡­ I was just so hungry.¡± ¡°What do you mean ¡®hungry¡¯? I¡¯ve been giving you food all week!¡± I rose to my feet and began to explain the strange symptoms that accompanied my hunger, describing how, even after I stuffed myself with meat that morning, I still wasn¡¯t satisfied. After what had just transpired, it became clear to me that the unhealthiness of the meal was not the issue. ¡°I¡¯m not sure why,¡± I concluded, ¡°but I think my food has to be¡­ freshly caught.¡± Wally looked understandably shaken by the revelation. He took a moment to process everything I¡¯d said, then asked pointedly, ¡°When did this start happening?¡± I shifted my eyes downward, unable to meet his scrutinizing gaze. ¡°This Monday,¡± I admitted. Wally¡¯s face reddened even further, and a vein on his forehead began to bulge out. ¡°You¡¯ve been hiding it from me this whole time?¡± ¡°I know I shouldn¡¯t have but I¡­ I was just so scared that if I told you, you¡¯d never trust me.¡± It was a poor excuse, but it was all I had. ¡°Well, you sure did a stellar job with that, Allie,¡± he said, every word dripping with venom. ¡°Back then, you were so adamant that you were on my side, that you were being completely transparent, that you had nothing to hide. But clearly you were full of shit, so now I definitely don¡¯t trust you. What other secrets have you been¡ª¡± A wicked blade of light split the sky behind Wally, followed shortly by the rumbling boom of thunder. For a brief moment, I thought I could make out a long-haired silhouette hiding among the trees. When I blinked, it vanished. I raised my palm signaling Wally to stop before he could continue his emboldened rant. ¡°What,¡± he growled. ¡°I think I saw someone behind you,¡± I replied in a hushed voice. Wally glared daggers at me, unconvinced. ¡°Are you seriously trying to change the subject? If you think you can get out of this by trying to scare me with shitty ghost stories, you¡¯re sorely mistaken.¡± I opened my mouth, about to argue, but even I wasn¡¯t confident in what I had seen. Perhaps it was merely a trick of the light, or an eerie shadow cast by some otherwise unassuming vegetation during the flash of lightning. With the storm drowning out my hearing and washing away any scents in the air, I had no way of detecting the presence of another person. Still, I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that we were being watched. Undeterred, Wally continued to berate me, even as the drizzle of rain progressed to a torrential downpour. ¡°I was actually starting to trust you, y¡¯know that? Even though you¡¯re an alien that¡¯s controlling my best friend¡¯s corpse and hunts wild animals in the woods, I was almost willing to look past all of that. Maybe I didn¡¯t consider you a friend, but I did start to think of you as a genuine ally. But now¡ª¡± Wally was drowned out in an instant by the roar of thunder as a bolt of lightning struck so close behind him, it shook the ground beneath us. We rushed to shield our ears as the deafening blast of sound reverberated through our bodies. Then, wide-eyed and pale as a sheet, Wally swiveled around to face where the lightning had struck. His jaw moved up and down, but the ringing in my ears obstructed whatever he was trying to scream to me. Still, even through the heavy downpour, I could see it. A massive tree behind Wally was tipping dangerously forward, about to fall. And he was directly in its path. As it accelerated downward, I jumped in the way, desperate to stop its descent. I transformed my arms and held them above my head in hopes of catching the tree before it smashed us into the ground. As soon as they made contact, I wrapped my tentacles around the trunk and was forced into a crouch under its immense weight. Struggling to keep something so massive suspended in the air, I felt an intense burning in every part of my body as my cells rapidly multiplied. Within seconds, my muscles were reinforced enough to hold up the toppled tree without much trouble, and I carefully guided it to the ground beside us. I was too preoccupied to notice it then, but after that latest burst of growth, almost all of muscle tissue in my body was truly mine¡ªmy cells were beginning to outnumber and overtake Anna¡¯s. Wally fell to his knees, sinking a little into the mud. ¡°Holy shit¡­¡± he muttered, looking up at me in both terror and awe. ¡°Allie¡­ how did you do that?¡± Chapter 25: Parting Clouds A shadowy figure darts through the trees, retreating into the depths of the forest under the cover of heavy rainfall and booming thunder. How peculiar, they think, mulling over the results of their test. The subject¡¯s behavior is even more anomalous than expected. Very interesting¡­ They take a sharp left turn, and skid to a stop, arriving in front of a massive oak tree. Taking a few steps to the right, they drop into a crouch and peer into the small crater before them. This hole in the earth is filled with murky rainwater, but they reach into the muck without hesitation. After a moment of groping around, they pull out a sizable brown clump. The rain quickly washes away the mud coating it, revealing a porous, pale gray rock beneath. More tests are needed, they decide, gently tucking the stone away in their pocket. But I will have to exercise greater caution going forward. The subject seemed to have noticed me¡­ *** Panting heavily, I allowed my tired arms to regain their human shape. ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ sure. I¡¯ve never¡­ done anything¡­ like that¡­ before¡­¡± I replied in between gasps of breath. After regaining my composure, I held out a hand to help Wally up. His bewildered stare shifted to my hand, then my face, then back to my hand before he grabbed it and used it to hoist himself up. We made our way to a spot where the canopy was denser, shielding us somewhat from the rain which had already begun to let up. Too tired to stand, we sat side by side with our backs against the nearest tree. Once we had settled, Wally finally spoke. ¡°Let me get this straight. You jumped in front of a huge falling tree and you didn¡¯t even know whether you could stop it? You could¡¯ve died, Allie. We both would have if you hadn¡¯t¡­¡± He stopped mid-rebuke, letting out a deep sigh. ¡°Sorry, I¡­ I should be thanking you right now. You saved my life¡­¡± Despite my exhaustion, I couldn¡¯t help but grin. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I couldn¡¯t just let my only ally die on me. And if you were in my position, I¡¯m sure you would¡¯ve done the same.¡± Wally shook his head and gave me an incredulous look. ¡°How can you think that when I¡¯ve been such a jerk to you?¡± I shrugged, drawing my knees to my chest. ¡°I don¡¯t blame you for your reaction to all this. Honestly, I¡¯m glad you were willing to work with me at all. Besides, no matter how much you dislike me, I know there¡¯s no way you¡¯d let anything happen to Anna¡ª¡± I stopped, realizing my blunder a second too late. Wally always hated it whenever I tried to emulate Anna, so I could only imagine how upset he would be by the implications of what I¡¯d just said. But he didn¡¯t yell at me. He didn¡¯t even frown. He just turned to me with a small, sad smile. ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, just above a whisper. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± With that, he looked away, digging through his pockets and pulling out his phone. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± I asked anxiously. He didn¡¯t reply, but tilted the screen toward me so I could get a better view. He opened his camera roll and tapped on the most recent video. As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I was filled with a sense of dread. It was my transformation video, the one he planned to use as leverage if I ever did something to invoke his wrath. ¡°W-Wally? Please wait, I¡ª¡± ¡°Just watch,¡± he cut me off, though his tone was unexpectedly gentle. My heart skipped a beat as his finger came down on the screen. However, instead of attempting to share the video and expose my secret to the world, Wally hit the delete button. Then, without a moment¡¯s hesitation, he navigated to his recently deleted folder and permanently wiped it from his phone. Then, he moved on to his notes, pulling up a short paragraph. My name is Wallace Steiner, it began. My eyes widened as I scanned its contents, and I felt a pain deep in my chest. Upon reaching the end, I looked up at Wally. He had been watching me the whole time, his sad eyes searching my face.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Did you really think I would¡­ Wally, I would never¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t bring myself to say Wally¡¯s worst fears aloud. How could I not have realized how terrified of me he must have been? I foolishly assumed that, because he agreed to work with me, he at least understood that I didn¡¯t plan to harm him. But this whole time, he must have been struggling with the constant fear of a lethal betrayal. I had always been a monster in his eyes. Wally sighed and slumped against the tree, looking even more weak and deflated than before. ¡°I wrote this the night I found you¡­ feeding,¡± he explained. ¡°Between the note and the video, I thought that, if you ever decided to turn on me, I could at least try to take you down with me.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± was all I could muster in response. ¡°But now,¡± he continued, ¡°I know I don¡¯t need to worry about that anymore.¡± Then, like the video, he proceeded to completely remove the note from his phone. The painful tightness in my chest vanished along with it. We rested there for a while in comfortable silence, until the storm finally passed and the clouds began to part. Sunlight streamed in through the leaves above, creating patterns of light and shadow that danced along the forest floor as a light breeze blew by. Wally was the first to get up, holding onto the tree trunk for support. After shaking out his legs, he held out a hand to me. I took it with a grateful smile, and he helped me to my feet. We walked home drenched and covered in grime, too tired to worry about the odd stares we got from passersby. It was nearly evening by the time we reached the dorm. We immediately split up and showered off, changing into clean, dry clothes before meeting back up in my room. As eventful as our excursion to the park was, we couldn¡¯t forget our original purpose for going there. Wally stood behind me as I started up Anna¡¯s laptop and logged into her vlog channel. We sent Whiz Kid a message with detailed instructions on how to reach the meeting place we had decided on, claiming that it was Anna¡¯s ¡°favorite secret spot¡± and that it would give them some privacy. The prospect of having Anna all to himself deep in the woods must have been enticing, because it didn¡¯t take long to get a response.
WhizKid20: Sounds good, can¡¯t wait to meet you!
¡°Hey, Allie¡­¡± Wally said after reading the reply. ¡°Yeah?¡± I turned my chair to face him. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay with acting as bait? I¡¯m sure Whiz Kid knows this is a trap, but he agreed to it anyway. If something goes wrong, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to help you¡­¡± ¡°Hey,¡± I said in mock offense. ¡°Did you already forget who saved you today? I¡¯m more than capable of defending both of us. And let¡¯s face it, you will probably be the one needing my help if things go downhill.¡± Wally¡¯s frown broke for a moment, replaced with an amused smile. ¡°Besides,¡± I continued, switching to a more serious tone, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have agreed to the plan if I wasn¡¯t willing to accept the risks. And I¡­ I owe it to Anna to see this through.¡± ¡°Yeah, so do I,¡± Wally said softly. His expression was somber, but there was a fiery determination in his eyes. After deciding when to meet the next morning, Wally returned to his room. We went to bed early that night, wanting to be as well rested as possible for the daunting task ahead of us. Though it was impossible to quell my anxieties, I was so physically and mentally exhausted by the day¡¯s events that I had little trouble falling asleep. I woke up the next morning just before my 8 AM alarm, feeling refreshed and invigorated. My body felt stronger and more robust than it ever had before, though I didn¡¯t stop to ponder why, chalking it up to the benefits of a good night¡¯s sleep. I quickly washed up and got dressed, then rushed downstairs to meet Wally. I was ahead of schedule, but he reached the lobby shortly after I did, and we headed for the park together. We reached the meeting place well in advance of the agreed-upon time. Our plan was to get there at least an hour early and scout out the area, just in case Whiz Kid planned to ambush us. When we arrived, we thoroughly searched the area, checking behind every tree and in every bush, but nothing seemed out of place. After confirming that we were the first ones to arrive, we went over the details of our plan one more time. Then, finally, we were ready. Wally gave me a silent nod before getting into position. There was a sense of camaraderie between us that hadn¡¯t been there before. We really were partners now, and whatever happened, we were in it together. Despite my fraying nerves as I took my place in the center of the clearing, I felt an odd sense of warmth and reassurance. For the first time since I arrived on Earth, I had someone I could truly depend on. Chapter 26: Resolve After running a comb through his hair and checking himself in the mirror one last time, Collin rushes out of the bathroom. He crosses the living room, careful to avoid the various dolls and trinkets his younger sisters have strewn about on the floor as he makes his way to the front door. ¡°I¡¯m going to meet a friend, ma, be back later!¡± he calls out. He neglects to mention the fact that he¡¯s never actually met this ¡®friend¡¯ in person before. ¡°Just get your ass home by lunchtime!¡± she shouts from the kitchen, not bothering to ask where exactly he¡¯s going. With that, he heads out the door. Instinctively, he moves toward the corner of their small front yard, before remembering that what he¡¯s looking for won¡¯t be there. Oh right, he thinks. Those assholes took it. The group of three boys who constantly torment him at school had begun to ramp up their efforts to make his life miserable, going as far as to steal his bike the day before. There was no way he could afford a new one, and he didn¡¯t want to report them for fear of retaliation, so he would have to do without. With a heavy sigh, he leaves the yard, hoping he¡¯ll make it in time despite having to travel on foot. He walks briskly past rows of tightly packed townhomes, anxiously rehearsing what to say in his head. He has so much he wants to tell her. How sorry he is for every awful thing he said. How she managed to make life seem worth living, even when he was ostracized at school and unappreciated at home. How much she inspires him. How much it hurt when she ignored him¡­ He shakes his head, pushing away that negative thought. That doesn¡¯t matter anymore, he reminds himself. It took a little longer than I¡¯d hoped, but I¡¯m finally going to meet her. After several minutes of walking, he reaches the local park and heads down the Loggerhead trail, having memorized every letter of her instructions. Normally, he¡¯d be concerned about meeting a stranger in such a secluded place. But she isn¡¯t a stranger¡ªshe helped him through some of the darkest times in his life. Anna wouldn¡¯t lie to me, he thinks as he takes a right onto a narrow footpath. *** There¡¯s no way, I thought in despair as I saw the boy enter the clearing. That can¡¯t be him. He was scrawny and only slightly taller than me, with buzzed black hair and light brown skin. He wore round-framed glasses, beige cargo shorts, and a t-shirt depicting a cartoon rocket flying away from the Earth. His face lit up as soon as he saw me, and he began to pick up his pace. ¡°Hey Anna!¡± he called out with a wave. He walked up to me, passing the tree where Wally had concealed himself. It seemed Wally was just as shocked as I was because he had missed his cue. ¡°It¡¯s me, WhizKid20,¡± the boy said. The moment he confirmed his identity, Wally leapt out from his hiding place. He hooked his arms around the boy from behind, holding him in place. Whiz Kid let out a startled yelp before Wally covered the boy¡¯s mouth, preventing him from crying for help. Wally stared at me helplessly, waiting for me to make my move, but I was still trying to process what had just transpired. In hindsight, Whiz Kid had been a far too willing to meet alone, deep in the woods, at a time and place of our choosing. If he was smart enough to get away with killing Melissa¡ªyet another faulty assumption we had made¡ªthen why would he agree to putting himself in such a disadvantageous position. Our plan hadn¡¯t exactly been well thought out, given how hastily we put it together. When Wally dismissed my doubts about moving so quickly, I easily gave in, convinced that his intelligence and expertise about the human world had guided his decision. In reality, his judgement had been clouded by rage, in the same way my thoughts about Lizzie had been. ¡°We have to stick to the plan,¡± Wally said desperately as Whiz Kid squirmed feebly in his grip. As I watched the boy struggle in Wally¡¯s arms, I was forcefully reminded of Anna¡¯s younger brother. Our plan was to restrain Whiz Kid and remove whatever weapons he had brought, but we certainly hadn¡¯t expected this.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Wally, he¡¯s just a kid,¡± I said helplessly. We had assumed the Whiz Kid moniker was just another layer of deception, designed to make his targets think he was a harmless, innocent young fan. When he claimed that he was just starting high school in his messages to Anna, we dismissed it along with the rest of his backstory as a manipulative fabrication. But if that hadn¡¯t been a lie, maybe none of it had been. Maybe he really was just a bullied kid with a tough home life who had lashed out in frustration when someone he looked up to rejected his attempts to reach out. ¡°Anna, please just search him,¡± Wally pleaded. ¡°We have to be sure.¡± He didn¡¯t elaborate, but I knew what he was implying. As absurd as it was to suspect Whiz Kid now, we couldn¡¯t just give up on our lead after coming so far. It was too painful to admit that, in reality, we were no closer to finding Anna¡¯s killer than when we started. And with each day we¡¯d wasted investigating red herrings and chasing false leads, the real murderer slipped further and further from our grasp. Finally, I took a few steps forward. Whiz Kid¡¯s terrified eyes darted to me as I approached and checked clothes for weapons. All I could find was a cell phone and some loose change in the pockets of his shorts. ¡°There¡¯s nothing,¡± I reported, crestfallen. Once again, we had been too quick to assume guilt. ¡°Shit,¡± Wally hissed. He released the boy, then turned and stomped away towards the edge of the clearing, clenching and unclenching his fists. ¡°What was that for?!¡± Whiz Kid cried, understandably shaken. ¡°Oh, um¡­ sorry about that,¡± I said, frantically trying to come up with an excuse for why Wally had accosted him. ¡°My uh¡­ bodyguard here is a bit paranoid. He wanted to make sure you didn¡¯t have anything you could hurt me with.¡± To my relief, his panic faded as a look of understanding dawned on Whiz Kid¡¯s face. ¡°Ah, yeah¡­ after the messages I sent, you must¡¯ve thought I was a lowlife creep, huh? I can¡¯t blame you¡­¡± His eyes fell to the ground, too ashamed to meet mine. ¡°I¡­ I said some horrible things that I really regret. I¡¯m so sorry, Anna¡­¡± He began to choke up over those last few words. Based on the tears welling up in his eyes, it seemed like a genuine apology. I almost wanted to console him, to tell him that he was forgiven. But Anna¡¯s forgiveness wasn¡¯t mine to give. ¡°Well¡­ um¡­ it was brave of you to come and apologize in person, Whiz Kid,¡± I said. When he heard me use his alias, Whiz Kid looked back up at me, wide-eyed and flustered. ¡°Oh sh-uh¡­ shoot, I didn¡¯t even introduce myself. My real name¡¯s Collin and I¡¯ve actually been a fan of yours for a while¡­ your videos really helped me get through some hard times, and honestly, I don¡¯t know if I would¡¯ve survived this far into my freshman year if it weren¡¯t for you¡­¡± He spoke rapidly, without even pausing to take a breath. Wally, whose arms were crossed and whose face was creased in a deep frown, finally decided to interject. ¡°Well, Collin, if you were such a big fan, why did you send those messages in the first place? Anna went through a lot of hardship because of you.¡± ¡°I know¡­ I understand if you never forgive me,¡± he said softly. ¡°I just¡­ I was so frustrated with the world. I felt like your videos were the only good thing in my life. And when I realized you lived in my area, I became obsessed with meeting you. But when you denied me I¡­ I thought you were just like everyone else, looking down on me and pushing me away¡­¡± ¡°So you decided to make her just as miserable as you were,¡± Wally interrupted, clearly uninterested in Collin¡¯s excuses. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Anna,¡± he said, mortified. ¡°I really am. After I had a few days to cool down, I realized how terrible I¡¯d been. I tried to apologize, but you had already blocked me. You even stopped posting videos. That was because of me, wasn¡¯t it¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but pity Collin. While he certainly was to blame for making life harder for Anna, he wasn¡¯t the reason Anna would never post another video again. But there was no way I could tell him that, so I simply nodded. I felt a pang of guilt as a look of anguish crossed his face. ¡°I knew it¡­¡± Collin began to sob as the tears he had struggled to hold back began streaming down his face. ¡°Oh God, Anna, I¡­ you helped me through so much, and yet I¡­¡± He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. ¡°Please don¡¯t stop because of an asshole like me¡­ I¡¯m sure there are so many others who need you, just like I did¡­¡± I felt a tightness in my chest, reminded of just how many lives Anna had touched. How many people would have to mourn her if they ever found out about her death. It wasn¡¯t just Wally. Her mother, her brother, Nessa, Josh, Collin and many of her other fans¡ªto some degree, they would all feel the void she left behind. I placed a gentle hand on Collin¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry anymore,¡± I reassured him. ¡°I won¡¯t let them down.¡± He wiped his eyes and cracked a small smile. ¡°Thank you,¡± he whispered. And with that, we parted ways. Interlude February 4, 2010 Two lumpy masses of pale gray rock enter the Kuiper belt. The visitors from a distant star share a similar shape and size, each measuring several meters in diameter. The first follows a trajectory that will send it towards the Sun, while the other moves tangent to the outer ring of the solar system. The latter is travelling fast enough to escape the Sun¡¯s gravitational pull, remaining on course to pass through Kuiper belt and exit the solar system without incident. That is, until it crosses paths with a dwarf planet much larger than itself. Just hours after arriving in the belt, it crashes violently into an unforgiving hunk of ice and rock. In that instant, the second asteroid¡¯s thousand-year journey comes to an end. Much of it is destroyed on impact, vaporizing or crushing many of the organisms housed within. Those that escape this violent end are still jettisoned from their stone cocoons, left to die of exposure in the unforgiving vacuum of space. Only one small piece of the rock cluster is spared, sent hurtling toward the center of the solar system. The meteoroid¡¯s only inhabitant, the sole survivor of the crash, is roused from its stasis by the collision. It¡¯s cells are weakened by the resulting shockwaves, but it remains unaware of the catastrophe that has just taken place. As the heat generated by the impact dissipates, the creature quickly forgets the event and drifts back into hibernation. *** November 18, 2017 Having avoided the brutal fate of its partner, the surviving asteroid rapidly approaches the Earth. It begins to burn up upon entering the planet¡¯s atmosphere, breaking into hundreds of round chunks as the immense heat destroys the chemical binding which held the rock cluster together. They slowly spread out over the course of their descent, drawing ever closer to their target. Soon, the Earth¡¯s surface is peppered with meteorites no larger than basketballs. Many are plunged into the depths of the ocean, but some make impact on land. Awoken from their long slumbers by the sudden influx of thermal energy, the organisms held within each begin to emerge from their stone cocoons. They open their beady red eyes, searching for signs of sentient life.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Meanwhile, a young woman sits hunched over her computer, working late into the night. Her long hair is drawn back in a tight ponytail to keep it out of her face as she stares intensely at the screen. Suddenly, she¡¯s startled by a loud crash outside, strong enough to vibrate her chair for a moment. She springs out of her seat and peers through her bedroom window. Squinting, she notices a pillar of smoke billowing out from her yard, dimly illuminated by a nearby streetlamp. She rushes downstairs, slips into a pair of sneakers, and heads out the back door to investigate. *** April 3, 2019 The meteoroid finally reaches Earth, bringing an end to its solitary voyage. It streaks through the sky and lands in a forest on the outskirts of a small college town. The rock¡¯s alien inhabitant emerges, its cells still weakened from the collision all those years ago and rattled even further by the harsh landing. It must find a host soon, or it will die. It opens its eyes and begins to take in its new environment. It quickly notices a motionless hunk of flesh, set apart from its surroundings by the infrared signal it exudes¡ªwarmth. Following an instinctual directive, the creature moves towards the body and enters the largest orifice it can find. Its cells should be destroying and consuming those of its host, but the creature is far too weak, having used the last of its energy to enter the body. However, circulation in the host has ceased. The host¡¯s cells are cut off from the nutrients needed to survive and are drowning in their own waste products. A compromise is reached between the two dying organisms¡ªsymbiosis. The host¡¯s cells cede control to the creature¡¯s as it assimilates first with the brain, then the rest of the body, forcing the heart to pump and the lungs to suck in air once more. Though most of the host¡¯s neurons have died, the structure of their connections remains preserved as the creature¡¯s own nerve cells slowly replace them. Soon, it is able to control the muscles of its new body. In no time at all, it learns to stand, to walk, and even to use human technology. All the while, someone watches from the shadows with rapt attention, staying far enough away to escape the creature¡¯s notice, but close enough to observe every fascinating detail. Chapter 27: How to Tell a Lie As they walk through town on their way home, Collin¡¯s words echo in Wally¡¯s head. There are so many others who need you, just like I did. He wants to hate the kid for what he put Anna through, and for becoming yet another distraction in their search for her killer, but he can¡¯t bring himself to. After all, he had been a lot like Collin once. He too had been picked on in school, and he knew exactly how it felt to be ostracized and socially isolated. Anna had been the one to reach out and pull him up when he had reached his lowest point, just as she had with Collin. She was the dazzling light that led him out of the darkness. But in an instant, without him even noticing, she had been snuffed out. He never even got to repay her. Wally looks over at Allie as she walks briskly by his side. Her eyes are set forward in a look of fierce determination, in sharp contrast to his own feelings of dejection. In that moment, she reminds him of Anna even more than usual, and the sting of loss cuts that much deeper. Still, it is comforting to know that Allie really is on his side, though it baffles him that an alien creature would care so much about avenging Anna. He wonders if it stems from a sense of self preservation, a drive to eliminate any potential threats to her existence. However, that doesn¡¯t explain her willingness to risk her life to save him, or the compassion she showed for Collin during his apology. Despite her monstrous physiology, her behavior is unmistakably human. *** As we walked home, I mulled over my promise to Collin. Making videos that were just like Anna¡¯s would be a challenge, but if I could pull it off, it could serve another crucial purpose¡ªluring Anna¡¯s killer to us. Instead of directly messaging one person like we had with Collin, we could broadcast to her entire audience that Anna was alive and well. And if the killer was among them, they would be desperate to know how their victim could have survived unscathed and unfazed. I turned to Wally, about to share my idea with him, but noticed that he was lagging behind me by several feet. He was so sluggish, presumably from exhaustion, that I was beginning to outpace him despite my much smaller stride. Not wanting to drain him further, I decided to hold off until we reached my room. A few minutes later, we arrived at the dorm. After holding the door open for Wally and closing it behind me, I took a seat on the bed. Wally all but collapsed into the desk chair, taking a moment to shut his eyes, breathe, and collect himself. Then, he spun the chair to face me, crossing his arms. ¡°So that was a complete bust,¡± he said with a deep sigh. ¡°What should we do now?¡± ¡°Actually,¡± I replied, ¡°I was thinking¡­ this whole time, we¡¯ve been the ones going after the killer. But what if we had them come to us?¡± Wally cocked an eyebrow. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, we might have been wrong about Collin, but maybe we weren¡¯t too far off. If Melissa¡¯s disappearance really is related to Anna¡¯s killer, then in all likelihood¡ª¡° ¡°The killer watched Anna¡¯s videos,¡± Wally finished for me. ¡°But it¡¯s not like that¡¯s new information¡­¡± I nodded, trying not to be annoyed by the interruption. ¡°Right, but if that¡¯s the case, they would definitely notice a new video on her channel.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A look of understanding dawned on Wally face. ¡°So you really meant it when you told Collin you¡¯d keep making videos. And when the killer sees a new upload on Anna¡¯s channel¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯ll be shocked,¡± I said excitedly. ¡°They¡¯ll want to know how she could have possibly survived. Since they live in the area, they could easily come here to investigate. And when they do, we¡¯ll be waiting for them.¡± Admittedly, my plan made some key assumptions¡ªthat the killer would be intrigued enough to come investigate despite the risk of being caught, and that they would be obvious enough about it that we could spot them. But at this point, we didn¡¯t have much else to go on, and I was so weary of following false leads that this more passive approach seemed very appealing. Wally must have felt the same way because he agreed to the idea without any fuss. ¡°It couldn¡¯t hurt to try,¡± he said with a shrug. ¡°Great!¡± I said with a grin, springing off of the bed. ¡°Can you film for me?¡± ¡°Wait, you mean right now?¡± Wally said incredulously. ¡°We haven¡¯t even had lunch yet! And we should at least plan out what you¡¯re going say first.¡± Still satiated from my meal in the forest the day before, getting lunch hadn¡¯t even crossed my mind. All I could think about was the fact that the sooner we uploaded the video, the sooner we could catch Anna¡¯s killer. Plus, I was eager to make good on my promise to Collin. But Wally did have a point¡ªin my excitement, I failed to consider the preparation necessary for making the video. We would have to explain Anna¡¯s absence over the past month, keeping in mind that the killer would be watching. Should ¡®Anna¡¯ sweep the attempt on her life under the rug? Speaking about such a personal and traumatic event so soon after it occurred might seem strange, but pretending that nothing happened might alert the killer that something was off. While that could work in our favor by piquing their interest, it could just as easily make them raise their guard. In addition, viewers would certainly notice that Anna¡¯s signature hairpin was missing, and we would have to make something up to explain its absence. Assuming the killer had taken the pin, they would immediately know our cover story was a lie. Which meant that, in a way, we would be indirectly acknowledging that the assault occurred. Alternatively, ¡®Anna¡¯ could acknowledge that someone had tried to kill her and claim that she miraculously survived. That might help us lure in the killer, especially if they were concerned that she had seen their face. However, because I had already healed the strangulation marks on my neck and was completely free of physical injuries, it wouldn¡¯t be very believable to the rest of Anna¡¯s audience, and the last thing I wanted to do was ruin her reputation by getting her branded as a liar. To make matters worse, accusations of attempted murder might attract police attention, something I wanted to avoid at all costs. After ordering a pizza, Wally and I ate while discussing our options. Ultimately, we decided it would be best not to mention the attack. Instead, I would cite vague ¡°personal issues¡± as the reason for the month-long hiatus, making sure to cover my neck and act more subdued than Anna usually did in her videos. That way, the killer could infer that I was referring to the attack while all other viewers would remain oblivious. Once we had drafted a short script, Wally returned to his room for some much-needed rest. Meanwhile, I began to grow anxious about convincing viewers that I was Anna. Given that much of what I knew about Anna¡¯s mannerisms came from her vlogs, I was actually more prepared to mimic her online persona than her actual personality. Still, I spent the rest of the day rewatching Anna¡¯s vlogs, paying close attention to her tone and inflection, as well as the words, phrases, gestures, and facial expressions she tended to use. Then, I practiced my lines, taking care to incorporate those elements as much as possible. Despite all of that, I was worried her fans would notice every little mistake I made. Wally and Tucker had caught on almost immediately, and this time there would be hundreds of people watching me, picking apart my every word and every move. Since I didn¡¯t have Anna¡¯s hairpin, there would be an obvious visual difference from her other videos, and that might prime them to look for other deviations. I feared their scrutiny just as much as I feared letting them down. And if Anna¡¯s killer figured out that I was an imposter, our plan might completely fall apart.