[WARNING!! SLIGHT GORE!]
"So what you're trying to tell me… is that we somehow got—"
"Teleported to a parallel dimension. Exactly. That was indeed what happened to us. Unfortunately." I finished it for her.
"And there was also a corpse in your closet."
"Exactly."
As realization finally sunk in, Kristina's face contorted into an ugly scowl. For once, she probably felt helpless. On the other hand, probably relieved she wasn't alone in this. Or at least that was what I thought. I had no way of reading what's inside her head at that time.
"But I don't understand," said Kristina. "According to the letter you showed me, the other Dandie mentioned he killed a…"
"A middlefolk. Yes, he did say that."
"Right. A middlefolk. He said he killed it on the time the switch was about to happen. And I'm sure he wrote the letter after he hid the corpse in the closet. What baffles me is if he really didn't have time to dispose of it, he couldn't have the time to commission someone to deliver the package as well. Don't you think? Can we really trust this other Dandie?" She asked me. "Huh, Dandan?"
"I, uh, unfortunately I can't answer that for sure. There is no way for us to know. Besides, do we really have a choice? You were attacked. We were both transported. If anything, we know that a weird creature, or creatures, is currently out there waiting for their chance to jump on us for whatever reason. Shouldn't we worry about that more? And how to return too? I don't like it here, Kristina."
She shot me a smile, a forced one. "Me neither," she told me. "That's why I thought we should read the other Dandie's journal and take care of the corpse after that."
"You know what? That's a good idea."
We flipped through the first page.
--ENTRY NO. 1 [JANUARY 1, 2000]--
"Huh? It's still 2000 here?" Asked Kristina as she saw the heading.
I shrugged. It was already 2023 in our world.
--I was seven years old when I realized I'm different from the rest. The other kids my age love to play but I was interested more in animals. To be specific, ugly-looking animals. Just like the blobfish and the naked mole rat and the hammer-headed bat.--
--I remember making a terrarium when I was ten but my mum threw it away. I can't really blame her. After all, I only had cockroaches at that time. But had she waited a few more weeks, I could've added other lifeforms in there too. Like say, tarantulas and dart frogs.--
--But ma, you were wrong. They weren't just cockroaches. They were my friends. That's why I'm sorry I had to kill you.--
Kristina gasped beside me.
"I knew it! The other you is a psychopath, Dandan." She exclaimed.
"Well, I don't think so. Read the next paragraph."
--To those who might be reading this, please know I didn't murder my own mum. She was long dead before I killed her.--
--I noticed things started to change in our house. My mum was acting strange. She doesn't cook for me and dad anymore. I also sometimes see her nibbling the corners of our table and the faucet. By then, I knew she wasn't my mum and that my real mum was gone, never to return again. I proved me right when one stormy night, I saw her eating my dad.--
--I was so scared at that time. My dad, still in his work uniform, lifeless eyes wide open, and my mum sitting atop him with a bloated belly, barfing. Turned out dad was way too big for her stomach after all.--
--I remember running all the way to the park despite the storm. My mum didn't ask where I went when I returned late at night. It was hard pretending I didn't know what she just did. That's why I felt no remorse when I killed her. And I was proven right for thinking she isn't my mother when her body transformed into the darkest sludge mankind have ever known. Turned out, the sludge monster ate my mum and the sludge became my mum.--
"I—I think, I should stop reading for now." Said Kristina. "This is all too much for me to take."
"Yeah. Me too." I told her as I closed the journal. "Should we take care of that thing in the closet then? I don't think it's a good idea to leave it there for long. I don't want a morgue smelling bedroom. Considering how hot and humid it is in this country."
She chuckled. "Me neither."
A pig greeted us as soon as we opened the door to my room, making weird noises. Probably her way of saying hello. And yes, the pig was a girl.
"Woink～"
And then I noticed the golden bold letters on her pink collar. B-E-T-T-Y. The pig's name was Betty. And the other me told me to give the corpse to Betty if all else fails. And we decided to do just that though we didn't really know how the heck was a pig gonna "dispose" of that thing.
"Ugh! Never in my wildest dream did I ever think a day where I had to do this shit will come." Complained Katrina as she wrapped our hands in plastic we found in one of the kitchen drawers.
"Heh! Me neither."
She momentarily froze when she saw the corpse.
"Still wanna do this?" I asked her.
She let out a helpless sigh. "Ha! Of course. We're in this together."
"I hope you don't regret saying that," I said. "Okay. In the count of three, we haul this bad boy to the floor."
The floor was lined with plastic, by the way.
"Ready, one, two, lift!"
*thud!
The body was now on the floor.
"Now what's next?" She asked.
"We let Betty do her thing."
And with the mention of her name, Betty sauntered in our direction.
"Woink～"
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was when Betty the pig with a beautiful pink collar grew tentacles from inside her mouth.