Kim was awake but she couldn’t being herself to open her eyes yet. She could feel the sun on her face but she wanted to stay in bed forever. She was so sleepy and relaxed. She stretched and burrowed herself back down into her silk sheets and comforter.
She heard the shower running, the sounds of humming floating out from the slightly open door. Why did Kanye always have to get up so early? Hopefully she could convince him to slide back into bed with her when he got out of the shower. The thought woke her up the rest of the way. Why wait? Maybe she should just join him in the shower and get the day started sooner? She missed him so much, missed his voice, missed his body. She felt like it’d been forever since--
Wait. Kanye?
Kim opened her eyes and sat upright. Where was she? How had she gotten here? She remembered the fight with Other Kim and then...nothing. She blinked a few times and the sunlight dissipated enough for the room to come into view. She was home. Not home home, not with Kanye. Not with North. Oh God, North. The memories, the feelings she associated with them, were flooding back, like a storm after an impossibly long dry spell. The earth of her heart almost too cracked and dry to absorb them.
She was in her condo in Miami. She was still in the game.
So who was in the shower?
The humming stopped and the water shut off.
“Umm, hello?” Kim called, afraid of who might answer.
She heard the shower door open, a towel being pulled from the rod. Then a blonde head popped out from behind the door. “Hey, good morning,” Willow smiled. She emerged from the bathroom, her hair still wet. The towel she was wearing did very little to cover her up. She came and sat by Kim, on the edge of the bed.
“You’re awake! Awesome!”
Kim rubbed her eyes and touched at her hair, wondering what it was doing, exactly. “Hi,” Kim said simply. She was processing too much information in her head and wasn’t even sure where to start.
Willow read the confused look in Kim’s eyes and helpfully offered a few of the pieces. “You collapsed after your battle with Other Kim at Femme. I brought you here, figured you needed some rest after everything you’ve been through. I was right! You’ve been asleep for like 24 hours. How do you feel?”
Kim breathed and tried to assemble an answer. She felt good, awesome in some unnameable way, but also sad, irrevocably sad. “I guess okay?” Kim ventured. “I’m not sure.”
“Well good morning, A-lister,” Willow said, reaching out to tuck an errant strand of hair behind Kim’s ear. “I hope you don’t mind I used your shower. Was that okay? You’re looking at me weird.”
Kim caught herself staring at Willow. “No! It’s fine! It’s nothing, it’s just--” Was it the light? Or seeing her without her makeup? Or without that same ruffly dress she always wore? Willow looked different. She looked...amazing? “Thank you,” Kim said. “Just thank you, for getting me home. Wait. You called me A-lister.”
Willow nodded and smiled. Kim felt it and knew it to be true. It was not that she felt more powerful, it was that she felt more herself than she had in a very long time.
Willow crossed her legs, semi-successfully attempting to keep her towel from falling off. “So you’re feeling okay? Do you need anything? We weren’t sure what happened at the end of your battle there, did Other Kim have some kind of spell that she put on you or something?”
“No,” Kim said, looking around the room to keep from staring at Willow. “I’m fine. I’m great. I’m perfect.”
“But what was that emoji that flew into you?”
“Card Index. It’s sort of an old, ancient cypher, a relic from a bygone age. It has to do with names, contact information. Memories. Things that were taken from me when I first came to this world. They’ve all been returned to me now. I have it all back, all of me, my whole life.”
“Before you came to this world?” Willow asked. “What does that even mean? Are you like an alien or something.”
“No, it’s complicated,” Kim said. “I was banished here, to this world. By Paris Hilton.”
Willow furrowed her brow. “There’s no Hilton in Paris,” Willow said. “There’s Hotel Utopie? Although I don’t think I’ve ever been in there. Anyways how do you get banished by a hotel?”
Kim smiled. “No, Paris Hilton is a person. A very evil person.” She looked up at Willow, who was smiling back at her, trying to follow along. The sun was streaming all around her face. “I don’t even know how to explain it. But I see how to get home now. I have to go.”
Willow’s face went panicky. “Go? Go where? You can’t leave. After everything you’ve accomplished? With the Other Kim out of your way this is your Hollywood now. There’s so much we could do.” Willow’s cheeks flushed pink at “we”. “I mean you. There’s so much you could do here.”
Kim struggled to explain. “The world I come from. I have a life there. A family, and fans who need me. I have a husband and a daughter. I have to get back to them. They’re worried about me.”
Willow nodded, looking away, turning something over in her mind. “I was thinking,” Willow said. “About when I first started becoming a celebrity, and my handlers insisted I had to be dating someone. And I didn’t want to! At all! But I was too young and naive to stand up for myself. And you know how they make you choose whether you want to date men or women?”
Kim nodded.
“And I went to see Kim. Other Kim. For advice. And she said I should date boys. Said she had the perfect guy for me.” Willow rolled her eyes. “Dirk. It was like she made the decision for me. And you wonder, like, how far back was she manipulating everything? Did she just make me date him so that it would hurt when she took him away?”
“You were so mad at me,” Kim said. “I thought you really liked him.”
Willow almost died laughing. “GOD no. He was terrible. That stupid tight vest? No, it was just, like, part of my brand, you know? I thought our narratives were tied together. Like an It Couple or something. I was never really into him, just the idea of him, or what he represented for my career.” Willow shuddered at the memory. “Men are so terrible.”
“Aren’t they?” Kim said.
“But it was all too late, I never got the chance to remake that decision. Even though I would much rather have been with a woman.”
Willow was staring at the empty space in the bed next to Kim. Then she noticed herself staring at it and looked away.
“Anyways,” Willow said, in a small, faraway voice. “I don’t want you to go.”
Kim shifted her legs under the sheets. She realized she was naked, and realized someone must have undressed her. She wasn’t sure what to say. She was having some extremely conflicted feelings. She was about to speak when a fluffy doggy leapt up on the bed, smashing the mood.
“Callum Woof!” Kim cried, scratching behind his ears.
“I removed that dumb siphoning spell from him,” Willow said. “He’s good as new.”
“Thank you,” Kim said, her eyes finding Willow’s. “Can you watch him? I can’t take him where I’m going.”
Willow nodded. Kim bent down and buried her face in Callum Woof’s fur. “You take good care of Willow, sweetie,” she said. Callum flopped down and rolled over, batting at her hand, demanding pets on his tummy.
“So I was wondering,” Willow said. “You’re from this other world. And you’re the Kim Kardashian there. And we also had a Kim Kardashian here.”
“Yeah?” Kim said.
“Is there a Willow Pape there too?” Willow asked, trying to smile, wiping a tear away. “Are you guys friends?”
Now Kim was crying. “No,” she said. “You’re the only Willow Pape. There’s no one else like you.”
Willow smiled, but it was a sad, defeated smile. She reached out to pet Callum, softly. “I better get dressed,” she said.
“Same,” Kim said, letting whatever moment had almost just happened pass. They both reached for their phones.
A few minutes later, both dressed, they stood out on the porch. The sounds of the surf hitting the beach filled the air. It was going to be a beautiful day.
“So what happens next?” Willow asked.
“You send me home. And then you’re in charge. You’ll be the #1 celebrity in Hollywood. Don’t screw it up.”
Willow gave Kim a look. “Please, I was born for this.” They both laughed. “It’ll be weird doing this alone though,” Willow said.
“You’re not alone. You have friends now. Call Maria, call Rani. Call the 3 Sisters. They’re a little creepy but they grow on you.”
Willow smiled. They hand hugged, then actually hugged. Kim pressed her body tightly to Willow’s and held her. Then Callum Woof bounded up on his hind legs, pawing at their legs, demanding to be included. They laughed and picked him up and snuggled him together.
“Okay,” Kim said, pulling away, gently dabbing under her eyes. “Before I lose my nerve. I need you to end my game.”
Willow set Callum down. He scrambled up onto one of the lounge chairs.
“Do you understand this is like watching you die?” Willow asked.
“I know. But I promise it’s not like that,” Kim said. “The universe is a very big place, and it’s filled with all kinds magic.”
Willow nodded. She stood before Kim and held her phone out. “Love you,” she said.
“Love you too,” Kim said.
And then Willow pressed Video game and End With Leftwards Arrow Above, and the world began to shimmer and fade away, and Kim thought she heard Willow calling out one last thing to her, but she was too far away, and the words, whatever they were, were lost.