Chapter Twelve - Identicality

 After a short time getting over the fact that she had a clone, Annabelle went into her room and changed out of her soaked clothes. Keera, as asked, calmly waited in the living room as Annabelle did this. A few moments passed and Annabelle came out of her bedroom, her long hair pulled back into a ponytail, sitting down next to Keera. 

 "I guess the first thing I am going to ask is, do you remember anything from MY life? I read that clones remember some certain things from their hosts lives, from the time they were born to their current age." Annabelle said. "Of course that was a science fiction book, talking about the possibilities of cloning..."

 "...I didn't think they could actually do it, but I guess you proved them wrong. I suppose in that case you are going to grow naturally for the rest of your life?"

"Yep."

 

 "And yeah, I remember a lot of things, like how you dumped water on Tom that one time..." Keera then smiled, "...actually I remember you doing that a lot of times. Hmmm... anyway, yes I do have your memories, but as you said only until I so-called 'turned ten', the age I am supposed to be at now. I do not remember anything past that age, however, but I'm sure that will come back to me. Strangely, I also remember something about a detective movie, but you weren't there, it was someone else."

 "So what about yourself?" Keera asked, "What has happened to you since you turned eleven?"

"Um... stuff."

"What kind of stuff? Please tell me! I want to know about your life, considering you are technically my mother, I would like to know a few things about you." 

 "Well... the story of my life after eleven isn't a happy tale, well mostly anyway. On my eleventh birthday I thought I was old enough to see a movie called 'Night of the Killer Unicorn', one supposedly based on a real event that took place in the sixties in Sunset Valley.  I've been terrified of those things ever since. A few months after my birthday I was witness to a meteor shower that destroyed much of this town. A lot of people didn't make it. We were forced to move out of town, to Bridgeport...."

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Meanwhile, Tom, Kelly, Scarlett, and John were down at the arcades, the former playing Foosball and the latter two playing arcade games. Scarlett, a hot-headed girl, was visibly getting upset at the game for killing her character too much. 

 "How's your game going?" Scarlett asked.

"Pretty good, yours?" John replied.

  
"It's really starting to anger me."

"What else is new?"

"I'm down to three lives! Why did I pick this stupid game?!" Scarlett smacked the arcade.

"Because the machine is red, perhaps?"

"...good point."

 Meanwhile, Kelly and Tom were nearby playing a game of Foosball, one that Tom was losing at.

"I don't know, cous'." Kelly said, "Do you think we should have left Annabelle by herself at home? I mean, she did just have a horrific experience a few months ago. Being kidnapped and all."

 "Annabelle's a strong young woman, she can handle herself. I'm sure if there's trouble she can stop it. Besides, she was the one that saved my life at Plasma 501. Trust me Kelly, she's tough."

 "Well, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well, you underwent the same thing, even more so because you were in two different fist fights in the same night, that and the whole thing about you seeing your father's spirit after falling down those stairs-"

"What are you saying, that I hit my head, imagined my father's voice, and magically healed myself? I know what I saw, heard, and felt Kelly. Besides, before that I didn't even believe in magic. Everything that I believed was possible or impossible changed that night. Hell, for all I know UNICORNS could exist! Annabelle believes they do, so.... WHO knows?!"

"GAME OVER" Scarlett's game said. She slammed her hands on the controls and walked away angrily. 

"Stupid game. It didn't jump when I told it to, there was no reason for killing me!" Scarlett said. "Screw this, I'm going to get a gumball, you want one?"

"What? Nah, I'm good." 

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  "...Then there was this British Millionaire and his adopted father, both of them were corrupted, snobby pieces of sh... well, that's a word not for youthful ears. Jack Tooms was the father's name, and he was known as the Benefactor, a man who funded criminals to perform research for creating devastating weapons, like one that caused the Meteor Shower. We met the Benefactor once, in Bridgeport's library..."

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"So since we've been back to Sunset Valley, how many times have you spent the night at the Graveyard hoping to see your parents' spirits? I've noticed you sneaking out of the house all the time, Tom." 

 

  "Work. WORK DAMN YOU!!!! Don't make me kick you!" 

 "I am only going there to see if I'm not crazy and my parents really are there." Tom replied. "I kind of hope to see them one day, when I really need them, like when I did in Bridgeport. Who knows when that will happen."

 

  "Damn gumball machine, give me my red gumball! NOW!" Scarlett reached her leg over and kicked the machine, unfortunately this caused gumballs to spill out, making her lose traction in her boots. 

 

   "Whoa!!!"    

"If you want, Tom, we can go right now, to the graveyard. I know it's broad daylight so there's next to no chance of seeing them, but I haven't really seen where my aunt and uncle are buried."

 

 "

"Well, I suppose you're right." Tom replied after a short time thinking about it. "After we finish this game we go to the graveyard, deal?"

"Deal." Kelly said.

  "Ow."

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 "... and we just barely escaped the Plasma 501 before it violently exploded, I used some sort of teleportation ability that I learned from what I believed to be my parents from a distant planet, my birth parents anyway. Unfortunately I haven't been able to use it since then. I dunno. So that's pretty much been the gist of what's happened since I turned eleven." 

"........"

"Well you asked."

Chapter Eleven - Keera

November 28th, 2018

Six months had passed since the Kethrin and Coen family moved from Bridgeport back to Sunset Valley. For them, the move was arduous, because they didn't really want to return to the place that caused them so much sorrow as children, but they had no choice.

Upon their return and subsequent settling in, Mei had found out some terrible news: her father had died, and her mother was distraught over his death. She had no choice herself but to return to her homeland of Shangri La, China, to stay with her for a few months. Elliot, not wanting to abandon his wife in her time of need, left with her. Kelly decided to stay behind, meaning Maria Kethrin was now the sole guardian of the five teenagers living in the house...

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Sunset Valley had changed since the meteor shower. Not much on the inside, but well enough on the outside. Mayor Bebe Hart was credited to the sudden outburst of economic growth that allowed the town to evolve out of the destruction. 

 

In the five years since the destruction, the town was able to build themselves a New Central Park, with a center memorial to honor those killed in the meteor shower. This was parallel to the new City Hall that was built to show the town was vibrant and ready for a new era.

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Due to her wealth as a movie star and rising career in the Sunset Pictures Film Studio, Maria Kethrin was able to purchase a mansion of her own, and named it "Kethrin Hall". The mansion was relatively new, and was built into a hill overlooking the town, between the Landgraab and Alto Mansions,

 One morning, a sound resonated through the house, the sound of a doorbell. Annabelle Kethrin was sound asleep when the doorbell rang, but the repeated use of the device woke her from her slumber.

 

 She sat up in bed, not wanting to get out due to the earliness of the day. "CAN ANYONE ANSWER THE DOOR?!"

"KELLY? SCARLETT?" Annabelle yelled, "WHERE IS EVERYONE?!"

 Begrudgingly, Annabelle stood up out of bed and walked to the door, where she saw some strange guy wearing a white jacket reminiscent of one people at the Science Lab wear. 

 "Hello Miss Kethrin, Annabelle. Or Annabelle Kethrin, or whatever your name is I don't know I think you're name is Annabelle... do you mind if I call you Annie?"


"Yes."

 "O-o-okay. My name is Dr. Hartford, I work at the Bridgeport Science Lab and... Um... Annabelle I wanted to come by personally and tell you that the process is completed. THE process. She's here. Though from your reaction I bet you have no clu-"

 "What the hell are you talking about?" Annabelle asked, tired and confused. "What 'process' and who is 'she'? Most importantly, can't you come back later?"

 "Actually no. This must be discussed NOW! RIGHT NOW! Annabelle, I am honored to tell you that you are the first ever recipient of..." 

 "A CLONE!" Hartford threw his arms up in pride, but Annabelle had nothing of this. Sure she was an alien, but even the idea of a clone seemed ridiculous to her. 

 "Did you escape from the madhouse? I know a couple people there and they would like nothing more than to play some kind of practical joke on me. Did Toomes set you up for this? If so tell him I wish he'd die."

  "Well, no. And we know about your confrontation with Jack Toomes, that IS kinda why I'm here. First of all, do you remember your time in the hospital after that library explosion? After you were admitted, the doctors took a blood sample from you and it came back as a... not so match... with anything... on Earth." 

 

"WHOA! What are you trying to say, that I'm some alien? Because you can clearly I'm human! Human human human. You can see I'm human, can't you?" 

"Well... um... well even if you were an alien I wouldn't care. I like aliens, they're cool. Anyway, I think you should know that your blood was sent to us at the science lab, and we analyzed it. After mixing it with a tiny bit of blood from someone born ... well, someone that scratched herself with a needle and needed a tetanus shot... sorry I honestly would tell you who's blood but I have terrible handwriting and terrible memory... anyway, when we put it into an incubation pod, the mixed blood somehow formed into the shape of a humanoid infant. She rapidly aged over the past six months, retaining fractured memories from what we assume to be YOUR life, and  We called the child K3-3RA and she decided to name herself... Keera."

 

Annabelle thought this entire thing through, wondering if this man was as much of a crackpot as she thought, then figured this must have been a hell of a practical joke. In any case, she decided to test this a bit further. 

 

  "Where is she now?"

"I don't know." Hartford said, "I brought her here, and when we pulled up she ran off. I don't know. I do believe she's still on the property."

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  Dr. Hartford left, leaving Annabelle confused. She decided that this may have been some bizarre case of mistaken identity, or perhaps a practical joke from some crazed loon. In any case, she decided to go back to bed and deal with this when she woke back up.

 

Suddenly another sound roused Annabelle from her bed. This time it was the sound of a little girl laughing. Coming to the conclusion that one stranger had already seen her half-naked, and she didn't want to the neighbors to think she was strange, Annabelle decided to put on her favorite outfit and ran outside the house towards a treehouse that was built into the home for children who lived there before her family moved in.

  When she got to the tree house, Annabelle heard the sound of the girl's laughter increasing. She was definitely up there, if she even existed and wasn't a figment of Annabelle's imagination. 

 "Keera?" Annabelle asked, thinking herself crazy. "Keera, are you up there?"

"Yes I am." A young voice said. Annabelle recognized it as exactly her own when she was around eleven or twelve. 

"Come down so I can see you, Keera." 

"Well, I will, but first I need to do something. What does H₂O mean?"

"H₂O?" Annabelle replied, "...that's the molecular structure of... oh sh-"

 Suddenly Keera dumped a bucket full of water onto Annabelle's head, mimicking a time when she did to Tom. Annabelle was far from pleased, and considering that she was technically Keera's "mother", she felt the need to discipline someone.

 "GET. DOWN. HERE!" Annabelle said, infuriated. All the strangeness of having her own clone was literally washed away by a wave of anger. 

 When Keera finally used the tree house's exit, Annabelle got a good look at her new clone. 

"Hello mommy! I'm so glad to finally meet you!"