Now, this felt more like a nightmare now. I've had dreams like this before mostly when I got sick. A dream where something follows you until you die and the only escape route was by waking up. Usually, that "waking up" button should be available when your enemy was at a knife's length or anywhere close to you.
Except, right now, I was far from having that waking sensation and relief but rather, a life-threatening and mind-shutting feeling.
My legs were getting tired, my upper body wanted to lie down, my back kept on aching and I couldn't release my grip on my camera. 'Pain!' but in a long shout and multiple exclamation points were all that I could think of right now.
What's more was the confusion that I could not get rid of. Maybe because I kept on denying 'it' myself for I kept on thinking 'who the heck would believe this piece of-'
'This is impossible.' No kidding but every dots seemed to start connecting now. I have a lot of questions in mind but I got to save the thinking for later. I got to stay alive, for now.
We took a left turn into a broader high way. We got lucky because the stoplight turned red as soon as we get there and we managed to cross the street. I glanced back and realized that our pursuer was gone now. I did not notice it earlier but we slowed our pace.
"I've got a lot of questions." I said to him in between my breaths. I fell down on the ground and looked up to the sky, taking deep and heavy breaths. I wanted to sleep and I strongly felt like passing out.
"I'm sure you do. What's your name? You can call me Colonel." He said while trying to catch his breath. I could not answer his question because everytime I try to think of my actual name, I felt a subtle pain trying to get in my head. "That was me." I was referring to the guy that was following us but I couldn't move my lips to elaborate further.
Sweats would not stop flowing from my head down to my sole. I was sure that if this was any normal day, I would be so irritated that I would bug my partner to go home. How could this even happen, all of a sudden!?
"Yes and fortunately, he's got your stamina too." I heard him chuckle near me but I no longer have the energy to laugh. I couldn't open my eyelids anymore. Tiredness was winning me over and I just wanted to lie then and there.
"Why?" I asked. I have lots of Whys and Hows and What the hecks but my mind was slowly shutting down every second. I felt him pinching my cheeks hard but the pain on my feet and body was greater.
Luckily, he seemed to get what i was referring to. "We're not supposed to be here," I get that. I figured that one out when I was still at the Square. "This is not Our world."
Hearing that made me want to cry. Maybe because I had to admit defeat and accept every informations that I kept on denying earlier. I felt my lips shaking, trying hard not to sob.
"The one that was pursuing us was the real "You" in this world. We are the tresspassers." He explained even further. My attention was getting a little bit sharper because of this new knowledge that I never liked.
"They were running after us because," he guessed my next question in mind. "Of you. It seemed like we are not allowed to exist and co-exist with our copies here."
"And so they were trying to kill us or at least me because," I opened my eyes to look at him. "You already killed yours." I saw his face and the picture of the dead man came back to me. His eyes showed no pain or regret for what he had done.
"I had to do it. I had to live." I expected and accepted that easily only because I was too tired to argue for the value of life.
I closed my eyes, once again, and looked back at everything that happened this morning. I woke up in a gloomy sky and walked my way to work, like how it used to be. Except, the way to work I took earlier was different but also familiar. That was the first weirdness. I met an accident involving this Colonel guy and I took a picture of it which, apparently, I was not allowed to. Second weirdness. Work office was very different, or at least for me. The Kayla I met there was an angry, stressed and irritated Kayla that was very different from the one I knew. Super weird. This country was governed by a King rather than a President. Another weird.
Now, I'd learned that I was not from here and I have an angry version that was trying to kill me. Cool.
"How do we get back?" I asked Colonel who was finally able to compose himself. For a moment there, I thought I saw rage in his eyes. I felt chill crawled into my spine that disappeared soon enough.
"There's no way out. I don't know the way out." How long has he been here? I was too afraid to ask. For one thing, he wouldn't get those knowledge if he had been here just recently. He must be here long enough to study and observe. Somehow, I felt something twitched inside me.
I stood up but I stayed inclined on the wall. I held my camera and tried swiping the dirt caught in it's case. "They call me John, here. What do we do now, Colonel?"
I realized, I had to stick with this guy for now. The John here has to live his life without my meddling. I had watched enough Hollywood movies to know that you shouldn't interfere with any alternate space.
"For now, we stay low." He said while looking at the people walking around the streets. They do not have any idea of what was happening and so do we. "In this alternate reality, we have to stay alive, John." He offered his hand that I gladly accepted. We were clearly sharing the same thoughts.
"That's not John. I am John." a voice spoke from behind.