FIFTY SIX: NICOLE AND HER DOPPELGANGER

The book was titled "Beginning and End of a girl named Nicole" and it was really intriguing. I know, because I kept reading it throughout the night. I couldn't put it down. Besides the fact that it was really interesting, it caught my fancy in a way. It felt like the book was originally meant for me. And it was written for me and about me. I think I am Nicole. I strongly believe that was the message Robinson was trying to pass across to me. He knew I was smart enough to decipher it. When I read further, I found out why this gift of Robin to me was really special. It was a book about me, or a girl like me, and it was a guide for me to live in the human world unscathed, or so I thought. I figured that Robin gave me that book because he thought he would not be coming back, he might have believed he'd not make it, that the war would kill him, or freeze him in his world, and since he was obligated to protect me, he had to write a guide for me. As I held the book in my hands and read it, it felt more and more precious. It was so precious and I'd never misplace it. I'd always keep it with safe and carry it with me everywhere I went to. I still have that book with me even though it's more than ten years now, and everything that happened to Nicole in the book keeps happening to me, exactly as it was written there. Mom called me at midnight while I was still up. That's what stopped me from reading further. I thought something was wrong at home. Or perhaps Mrs Harley had reported me to her.She was rarely awake at that time. "Hello Ariana, I need you home urgently" that was her first statement. "Is everything all right, mom?" I asked, panicking. I lay the book on the table near Mira's bedside, and stood up. Her voice was strained. "Not exactly, darling, Your father is not well" she said. "Don't worry, he's undergoing treatment already. I just need you home, I'll return you in the evening, I promise. Okay?" "Oh mom, what's wrong with dad?" I was worried. Cameron never fell ill. I wondered what was the nature of his illness. "I don't know, darling. I just want you home for a while" "Okay mom. That's no problem" "I'll come fetch you in the morning. By 8am and return you before 7pm. Please go to bed as early as possible. I love you" "I love you too mom" she hung up. I could not go back to reading because i was troubled. Neither could I fall asleep. The fact that Cameron's illness worried mom was Binfact unsettling. I tried to continue reading my book but I couldn't read past few sentences. And surprisingly, the next sentences I read matched my current situation. "Nicole, I need you home before tomorrow" Mrs Clark pleaded. "I need help in taking care of your father please" "Mama, what's wrong with Papa? I am scared now" Nicole stopped arranging the books on her shelf. School had been so tough on her. But home had been tougher. "I don't know what happened but he can't move his body. I need to get him to a doctor" ... "What's wrong? Why do I experience Nicole's situation? Does it mean Cameron can't move his body?" I closed the book and laid down on the bed, muttering under my breath, "Robin, please help me. Please come to me. I miss you" but there was no response. The book was sacred of course. It was infact very mysterious because it started to startle me as I didn't know what would happen to Nicole next. I watched Miranda's sleeping body beside me but I couldn't sleep. After turning over in bed for almost an hour, I decided to pick up "Beginning and End of a girl named Nicole" to continue reading it. I was really scared but I was very curious to know if Nicole's father was fine, if my own father would be fine too. "When did this begin, mama? Papa was fine before I left home you know" "I don't know, daughter. He started to feel pains in his upper body claiming that he could not move his arms properly. Before I knew it, it already extended to his knees. Now he's bedridden at home and I can't carry him" Nicole's mother sounded apprehensive. "Will he be fine, mama?" "I don't know. I am worried" "I am coming home today. Please come for me as soon as it's morning..." I resisted the urge to read further and instead turned many pages and arrived at page 59. Something there caught my attention. It was about Nicole having an accident on her way home, to see her father. She had an accident that made her lose energy in her legs. She could not walk anymore. They had to put her on a wheelchair that the doctor said would be utilized for eight months before she could use her legs at all. I was so frightened by that part, that I immediately called Mom back, without thinking twice. "I think I have to do the things Nicole did wrong, right. I have to do them right, and I'll not have to end up like her. I'm sure it's a guide for my survival" I thought to myself. She did not take her calls but I didn't stop trying. She took it at the seventh ring. "Hello mom. I'm sorry, I won't be coming home. Don't bother coming to fetch me please" I spewed the words hurriedly before I could stop myself. I wanted to hang up immediately those words escaped my mouth, but part of me wanted to hear what she had to say. I felt like I was rude with my words. "What's wrong, my dear? I already said I was coming to fetch you at 8am. Are you okay?" "I have a bad feeling about coming over" I responded. "I don't know, mom but if I come home now, I might lose a part of my body" I said clearly even though I sounded absurd in my own ears. "What the heck are you talking about?" She sounded surprised, shocked and confused at the same time. I could imagine the horror on her face-- the way she had stared at me when I asked her and Cameron if they knew who Gregory the ghost was, in his lifetime, or the way she stared at me when I insisted I didn't know who Jack was. "It doesn't make sense, I know that, but please believe me just this once, mom. You can come for me next week, I promise, but not in the morning today" I said and hung up. I heard her sigh before the line went off. "Robin, where exactly are you? Why are you not responding to me anymore? Have you really left me?" I cried kneeling before the bed. All this while, Miranda never woke up. It was almost 4am and I still couldn't find some sleep. I thought of painting something but there was no power. The only illumination in the room was a bedside lamp that was not bright enough for anything other than maneuvering around the room without falling on objects. So, I just cried and cried. In my frustration, I dumped the book in the trash can. It was right in the hallway after opening Miranda's room. I didn't want to have to follow instructions. The next day was coffee day and the night was for the pool party. I wasn't going to let that book stop me from having fun, even if it was dangerous. So I squeezed it among the rubbish and covered up the can. It hurt to do that, but having it in the room with me was worse. The temptation to read further was strong and destructive. "Robin, you had better come in person to protect me, because I'm not going after a girl who lived in the sixteenth century. I don't want to be her. I want to be me. Please" I muttered and looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of him but he was not even near "I hate you" I said, because he refused to respond to me, and that was the same clause on my lips in the morning when Miranda woke me up. It was already dawn, around 8:30am in the morning and she was fully dressed in a blue jumpsuit. She in fact had some gloss on her lips and eyeshadows. The three other girls were towering above me by the bedside too. They were fully dressed as well in very beautiful jumpsuits and dope eyeshadows. "You hate us?" Josephine asked as soon as I opened my eyes and got conscious of my environment. I yawned repeatedly and asked them to draw back the curtains because the lights seeping in was blinding me. "Get up, baby girl and go have a bath. We're running late" "How long have you been here?" I asked them, still yawning. I wanted to go back to sleep. I barely had four hours of sleep, but I couldn't tell them that. I didn't want to stay at home either. I strutted to the bathroom and in ten minutes, I was done. Thankfully, I had a pair of jumpsuits in my bag. It was white. It was one of my favorite dresses and that was because it didn't fit tightly on my stomach or thighs like other dresses that I owned. "Mira, is mom no longer mad?" I whispered as soon as I was ready. I thought I shouldn't let the other girls know. "She's out to work. She left a note in the microwave for me, so I figure that she's no longer upset. She prepared breakfast for us as well. Let's hurry out and grab some. Today's coffee and hamburger day!" She replied loudly.That sounded good. All the girls looked so much like adults. I was sure Mrs Harley would not like to see us dressed like that. We could pass for fifteen, sixteen, seventeen or eighteen. Even Phoebe and her twin had wigs on. They were only fourteen. I was the youngest but you'd never know. Michelle was the same height as me, and Miranda was the tallest of us all. While others ate breakfast, I left the table and joined Miranda in the kitchen. There, I read the note her mother left before going to work. "This is breakfast for you girls. I expect a good attitude from you as from today. No night outings and no overbearing attitude. I know you don't want to be grounded." I found that sweet but Miranda claimed it was annoying. "At least she cooked something for us. Thank Goodness" she said, dipping some hotdogs into the sauce in her plate. She was looking outside the window at no particular thing. "I should be careful not to smear my lipgloss" she laughed. "Today, I'll be reckless! A reckless girl, not a reckless dog though" she winced. I wondered how much stubbornness rested in her bosom. "Mira, what do you think about the note?" I asked. I wanted to not malhandle the second chance we were granted. Or I'd be sent back to my parents and Mira would be grounded. "I just said I find it annoying." She responded without casting so much as a glance my way. "I mean, she gave us a second chance. She's going to ground us if we disobey her again" I said. It was a critical topic but she took it with levity. She seemed to not care at all about the whole thing. Maybe she has lost all respect for her mother. "That's never happening" Mira said and left me in the kitchen. She wasn't interested in the conversation. Sometimes I forgot that she was only almost twelve. She talked like she was eighteen or twenty.