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!"