The Clone and I (gxg)

Chapter 6

"Well, hello to you too!" she said lightly. "Long day?"

"They want me to marry Tim, and there was a drill at school, but I don't think it was a drill and there was shooting, and I was so scared but now I'm here and this is so much better!" I blurted, earning a low laugh into my ear.

"That sounds like a busy day," she commented. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just hug me for a minute. I'm sorry if this is inappropriate." I mumbled, feeling the warmth of her body seep into me.

"Hold on, let me close the door and get you out of your clothes." My face whipped up, blushing furiously as she reached around me to close the door.

"My clothes?"

"Oh!" She was blushing now too. "I meant the coat and the boots! I just wanted you to be comfy!"

"Right. Of course!" I agreed, not thinking anything else at all. Uh huh. Oh god I was going to spontaneously combust at this rate! But I slipped the boots off, leaving them at her back door, then took off my coat to drape over the back of an old chair.

She took my hand, and led me over to a couch with a sheet draped over it, then sank into the cushions, pulling me into her lap and holding me. "Is that better?"

I nodded, letting myself relax in her hold and letting myself breathe deep. I was okay, nothing happened. I said no to Tim, and nobody was hurt at school. I was in the arms of a girl that I was crushing on, and she was so kind that she didn't mind holding me. These were all good things.

After a few minutes of just resting, I looked around a bit. All of the curtains on the house were heavy and dark, keeping all the light out. The furniture was either old, like the kitchen table and chairs, or covered in sheets like the couch we were sitting on. The paint, from what I could see, was all old and faded, but I couldn't see much with almost light in the house. It was like living in a cave! It looked as though she had moved in and left all the abandoned furniture where it was. Did she not know how to decorate? Or was she so scared about being found, that she had to live like this?

Never mind, that was an easy question.

"Thanks, Zero." I could feel her hands rubbing circles in my back to help keep my calm, and I don't think I ever wanted to move.

"No need to thank me. I'm just glad you're okay!"

"I'm a lot better now, yeah," I admitted.

"Do you want to go through that giant information burst from earlier?" she wondered idly.

I let out a sigh, wondering if I should be dropping my trivial issues on someone who's very existence was a struggle every day. But, I needed to talk to someone, and as a clone she would understand some of it since clones get stuck in similar situations all the time.

"My mom, she said that she had to use my college fund to handle a tax assessment on the house. I told her I would get a job and pay my own way, but she said Tim's family would pay for it all if I married Tim." As soon as I was done, she snorted and nodded.

"Yeah, that's pretty typical. They do the same thing, or worse, to most of us clones. That's a sneaky one though, I'll give them that." She didn't seem to understand just how much it hurt to be betrayed like that, but from her standpoint it was just a fact of life I guess.

"I know a lot of the clones at school get stuck like that too. I guess I never thought they'd do it to me too," I whined a little.

She looked at me oddly, her head cocked. "Madilyn, How many clones are in your school?" she finally asked in a soft voice.