SNAP! and the Alter Ego Dimension (2 page)

“Mum!” she yelled at the top of a voice edged with panic.

Her cry sounded strange in the eerie grayness. Hollow, empty and without echo. Indeed, it was without any substance—as if it had nowhere to go.

She listened hard. No reply. No noise from a breeze or the birds in the garden. Nothing. She was inside nothing, or so it seemed.

Again she looked at her feet. She could see them clearly, but had no idea what she was standing on. Were they standing on nothing? There were no carpets, no wooden floor, tiles, ground, soil, stones or tar. There was only this grayness that surrounded her—as if she was in a formless room with gray walls, a gray ceiling and a gray floor. The only color near her was the piece of wall with its window and the three-dimensional view.

“Mum!” she tried again.

Still nothing. Or not quite nothing. There was a tiny flicker of light off to one side of the window.

Then that too disappeared. Or had she just imagined it? Whatever it was, it was gone now.

She was afraid—more afraid than ever. Her heart pounded as if there wasn’t enough room in her chest.

Step by small step she started towards the window. Cautiously, she stretched out her hand and touched a curtain. It felt right, exactly like the curtain she had drawn each morning and evening for the past few years. She pulled it slightly. And it moved.

That was something, at least.

Then she moved even closer and looked through the window. The birds were frightened by her presence, but it seemed as if they couldn’t fly away. The branches of the tree were limited by the area of the window. It was the same with the sky. The tree had no trunk. It emerged from the grayness, even though her bedroom was on the first floor. Things just floated in the grayness.

Tammy thrust her hand through the black, steel security bars in front of the open window, and it went beyond. Her fingers reached and touched the soft green leaves on a thin branch. The feeling surprised her, but she held on for a moment. That certainly felt like real leaves.

The birds hopped as far away as they could. It wasn’t far. About three meters.

The branches came to an abrupt end, as if they had been cut out of a bigger picture. It seemed to Tammy that only the window itself and the scene directly behind it had shifted with her. Only what she had seen reflected in the monitor had shifted here. Wherever here might be. Her desk, computer and bed were not there. Everything gone—except what had been in the reflection. Her cupboards, the bookshelf, clothing and the shoes on the floor. All gone.

What happened? she wondered anxiously. Who was playing such far-fetched tricks on her? Who even could play such tricks?

“Mum!” she shouted again. And again.

She closed the window so that the birds wouldn’t fly off into the grayness around her and stepped back and turned.

And bumped into something. No, not something. Into somebody.

An ice cold chill cut through her.

The somebody shouted, making Tammy jump at the sudden noise.

“
Snap
!”

She knew the sound, the voice. It was so totally familiar. Because it was her own voice, but it hadn’t come from her lips.

Very frightened, she tried to step away, but she was backed against the window. She couldn’t escape.

She stared, slowly raising her hands to hide her face. Everything was happening too slowly. She stared at herself as if looking into a full length mirror, willing her hands to move faster.

Tammy was standing in front of her, and staring right back.

She was standing in front of herself.

In exactly the same bikini . . .

Exactly the same, but different.

Still holding her breath, she looked more closely. She looked herself up and down, her eyes searching the face of the strange Tammy. She was staring at . . . herself.

Never before had Tammy seen herself so beautiful, so perfect in every way. Her blond hair was almost white, like it had been bleached by the sun and so very shiny. It was the same length, down to her shoulders, but much thicker, more healthy looking. Her skin was smooth and youthful with no sign of the ugly pimple next to her nose.

But her likeness looked . . . wrong. It looked evil! Wicked even.

Speechless, she stared at the other girl. The girl had cried “
Snap
!” as if they were playing a game.
The game!

Damn it, had she been sucked into her computer like a character in some fantastic science fiction story?

Impossible. Unbelievable.

But what else could it be? It must be so, because her identical playmate was standing in front of her—bikini and all.

And then the Tammy she was facing spoke again.

“Hallo, Tammy,” she said. “I’m your alter ego. Your other you, or other me, or other I?” She smiled, but not in a friendly way, pausing before continuing: “Your perfect I, like you always wanted to be. Perfect like Rosette,” said the smugly perfect face. “Only even more so.”

“What? Where am I? Who are you? Am I dreaming? Am I inside my computer?” Tammy asked every question that crossed her mind, unable to wait for the answers.

It seemed as if the girl was gliding closer and closer without moving her legs.

“Oh no, you’re not dreaming. And you’re not inside your computer. You’re inside a different world, the Alter Ego Dimension. A place where all living people’s other selves are stored.”

Tammy frowned, and the perfect Tammy continued to explain: “Whenever somebody is dissatisfied with his or her own self, like you were this morning when you saw that ugly zit next to your nose, their alter ego awakens here and then waits. The more you hate yourself, the more awake we become. The more dissatisfied you are with your life, the stronger we get. That’s all the real you have to do so that the other you, that is me, can go to earth,” she said. “The other you then takes over for a while. Your best friends and family hardly notice the difference. They usually think: ‘She’s changed. She’s a new person’.”

For a few moments Tammy tried to digest her alter ego’s words.

“What? Do you mean . . . like when my father has been drinking?” Tammy wanted to know if she understood correctly.

“
Our
father,” sneered the perfect Tammy. “Oh no, wait, I am you and you are me, thus my father. He is a fine example.”

Tammy thought about her father. While her parents were still married, her mother used to say that her father became another person when he’d been drinking. It was not the person she’d married, and certainly not the man she’d fallen in love with. Did the other Tammy mean that the robust personality of her father was stored here in this Alter Ego Dimension? Had this alter dad awakened every time that her real father drank, to go to earth and afflict himself upon Tammy and her mother?

That made sense, because as soon as her father sobered up he apologized for his bad behavior. But if he was here, how did he know what his alter ego was doing? There obviously was a definite link between you and your alter ego.

“You’re right,” alter Tammy said as if she could read her mind, “and each time you put your best foot forward, it was me, doing it for you. I took over for a while.” Then her voice changed, becoming more businesslike and threatening. “But now there is new technology, Sweetie . . . ”

The beautiful face seemed to sneer and gloat at the same time. “It’s now possible for me to take over from you for as long as I want. For as long as you, for as long as we, live. I don’t have to come back to this boring place anymore. I can take your place on earth and you will be stored here . . . ” she indicated the grayness that surrounded them, “forever.” The alter Tammy’s cruel smile was back. “I shall take your place on earth as the perfect me. Or you. Or should I say us? Except it won’t be us anymore. It’ll just be me.”

Tammy went cold. This perfect Tammy was horrible. Her alter ego was planning to keep her here, a prisoner. How could she be so mean to . . . herself? She stared at her other self. Her perfect self. She was disgusted by what she saw. Did she really want to be that perfect?

It was so superficial. Perfectly pretty, but not perfectly nice. Her alter ego was perfectly horrible. She would rather have a few pimples now and then, thin hair and greasy skin, than be like the girl opposite her.

“What . . . what new technology?” she asked anxiously. She could feel the fear in her throat. Alter Tammy gave her the creeps.

“With the
Snap
game. With Skype, the Internet, nanotechnology, cell phones, micro waves and everything. Just clicking on the “Yes” option brings any person here that is not satisfied with themselves. People don’t need drugs or alcohol anymore to change or escape reality. When they think they’re not good enough they can simply play
Snap
on the Internet and in a blink they’re here. Here where the alter ego takes over. And then
voilá!”
she threw up her hands theatrically. “The real person is stored here forever.”

She glided even closer. Their faces almost touching.

“All your troubles will be gone. Look at me. I’m perfect. Like you’ve always wanted to be. Now I will become you. Your earthly self will have my perfection forever.”

Tammy’s blood raced against her temples. What now? She didn’t want to be stored in this place forever. She didn’t want a ‘perfect’ alter ego taking her place in the real world.

“But the window? Why is it here?” She had to play for time, because she had no idea how to get away or how to escape. Darn, she had to think! Her fear-numbed brain knew just enough to warn her that she must play for time.

“Oh, the window? That comes as a consolation prize. Everything reflected in the screen of your monitor can come along with you, so while you are here you have something to remind you of your old life.”

The alter Tammy ran a finger down the real Tammy’s cheek. “Thoughtful, isn’t it? Something to remind you of what you’ve lost. The views, the animals, the sunny days and starry nights.” She clicked with her tongue. “Enough talking. Time for me to take my place on earth. Things to do. Wayne’s information still needs to be downloaded.”

The alter Tammy looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. She was almost purring. “Cute little Wayne,” she breathed his name provocatively, “he’ll be glad to see that my pimple has vanished into thin air!”

Tammy felt both hands of her alter ego on her face, then on her throat. Ice cold fingers clasped her neck. So hard that she couldn’t breathe.

Tammy grabbed the other Tammy’s hands. At the same time she lifted her knee and struck her alter ego as hard as she could between her legs. Even as she lashed out she wondered if it would hurt to strike herself. It didn’t. She felt nothing except the impact of her knee against the second Tammy’s groin.

Alter Tammy squealed. The sound was distorted, empty and hollow, but the girl’s hands held tight, keeping their murderous grasp around Tammy’s throat. They pressed even harder.

Tammy felt her strength draining away from lack of oxygen. She knew she had only seconds before she would lose consciousness. She had to act now, break the grip or lose the battle. 

Tammy was not the kind of girl who picked fights with other girls. Never before had she even wanted to slap someone, except, perhaps, Wayne this morning. But now it was different. She had to do something or she would die. On her mother’s advice she had taken up martial arts lessons at the Mixed Martial Arts Academy. Her mother wanted to keep her safe in a South Africa plagued by a soaring crime rate. Now she must use her knowledge of self-defense against herself. Her other self. Because of the lessons, she knew exactly how to free herself from this grip . . .

“Ah, you’re thinking about mixed martial arts,” snapped alter Tammy panting. As fast as lightning she released Tammy’s neck and grabbed her underneath her armpits. Tammy sucked in air. At last.
Oxygen
.

“You’re forgetting that I know what you’re thinking, even as you’re thinking it,” alter Tammy said mockingly as she tried to pull her arm over Tammy’s head.

Tammy ignored the voice as she worked out what her enemy was doing.

Hell’s bells! she exclaimed inwardly as she realized the danger. Alter Tammy wanted to do the ‘guillotine strangle’ on her. If she succeeded, Tammy would lose consciousness for several seconds. Time enough for alter Tammy to store her here? No way was she going to let that happen. She must be strong. Enemy Tammy must not succeed.

Unable to apply the ‘guillotine strangle’, alter Tammy tried to put her arm behind Tammy’s neck to cut off her air supply. Again Tammy parried, quickly putting her arm between her own neck and the alter Tammy’s arm. She knew exactly what alter Tammy planned, because they both knew the different kind of grips taught in mixed martial arts.

Again Tammy lifted her knee, but this time she hadn’t enough strength left for a powerful blow. It felt as if alter Tammy was sapping her strength. She didn’t know how long she could withstand her onslaught.