Part Seven

"Look." Katie picked up a piece of paper in one of the drawers and gave it to Cheryl.

"A letter?" Cheryl questioned and she started to read it.

'Dear Senior K,

I don't know if I can take it anymore. I feel so lost. My body is tearing apart. I want to go back. Please?'

"What's this? Who wrote this to Senior K?"

"Actually, this is a letter written by an imitator. She switched places with her imitatee like you switched places with your imitator."

"What? So this had happened before?" Cheryl was in complete shock.

"Yes. But only a few seniors knew about it."

"Huh? Why did she write things like 'I feel so lost' to Senior K then?"

"If we stay in different worlds for too long, we will eventually disappear." Katie replied with her eyes looking down.

"What do you mean?" Cheryl crooked her eyebrows with confusion.

"As you know, we are nothingness. Our existence is to imitate humans. If we can't imitate anyone, we will disappear eventually."

"That makes no sense! Seniors don't imitate people too?"

"Yes, that's why they will disappear eventually and new seniors will replace them."

"Oh geez, your world is so confusing. But why are you telling me this?"

"Your imitator is now trapped in your world and we need to get her back as soon as possible."

"But how? I don't even know how to get here!"

"That's why she need me to bring you to her room. She has been working on how to do that for a long time and all she needs is someone to try it."

"What? No. I don't wanna try."

"You are Senior K's only hope! Do you know why Senior K didn't nominate herself in the meeting?"

"Why?"

"After the switching thing happened, she could not get back the imitator in time and we lost her eventually. She was blamed for ineffective management of the human, although we all know that it's not her fault. She almost got turned back to nothingness because of that."

"I know it's sad but I really don't want to be the one to test the machine. But why didn't she show others the machine?"

"If she fails again, she would literally be gone forever. And now you are under my control, Senior K doesn't have to worry."

"Doesn't it mean that you will be the one who disappear if the machine fails?"

"Yes. But it's fine. I have a happy life."

"I guess that's why Senior K trust you so much."

Katie replied with a smile while Cheryl was was really troubled. She did not know whether she should try the machine or not. If she tries it and the machine works, she can successfully get back home and everything will be back to normal. However, if the machine fails, she may die and Katie may turn back to nothingness. If she does not try the machine, Cheryl2 must disappear into nothingness while Katie may be blamed for ineffective management and get killed. It was really hard to choose.

"Give me some time to think about it. I need to... think..."

"Okay, if you need me or Senior K, just send us a message or call us through this thing." Katie handed Cheryl a phone-looking thingy and left. Cheryl sat in a chair helplessly and tried to make the right choice. No one wanted to disappear. But all she wanted now was to take a rest and clear her mind a bit.

Meanwhile, it was Sunday morning in the human world and Cheryl2 saw a message from Cheryl's phone. She picked it up and unlocked it with her fingerprint, identical to Cheryl's. The message was from Jenny.

Jenny : Hey girl.

Cheryl2 did not know how to respond so she decided to copy the "hey girl" for response.

Cheryl : Hey girl.

Jenny saw the message immediately and responded.

Jenny : Have you done your English writing yet? Could you let me see?

Cheryl2 was confused and she searched Cheryl's school bag. She took out a piece of paper with "English Writing Task" written on it.

Cheryl : It's empty.

Jenny : Ummm... You haven't done it?

Cheryl : What am I supposed to do with it?

Jenny : Don't play dumb! Do you seriously forget that we need to write a short story?

Cheryl : Short story about what?

Jenny : Discovered a mysterious world!

Cheryl2 took a look of the paper and closed her eyes afterwards. When she opened her eyes again, the paper was full of words immediately.

Cheryl : Done it.

Jenny : Then send it to me!

Cheryl : Okay.

Cheryl took a picture of the paper and sent it to Jenny.

Jenny : Thanks!

'Why is this Jenny girl asking Cheryl for help?' Cheryl2 wondered.

"Is she Cheryl's friend or something?" she said. "I should probably understand more about Cheryl. Hmm..." Cheryl2 started to find information about Cheryl in the phone. She looked at the past text messages and emails Cheryl sent to or received from different people, hoping to find out clues about Cheryl's relationship with others.

After searching for quite a long time, Cheryl2 had found that Cheryl did not have many friends at school. Her "closest friend" was Jenny. On top of that, Cheryl did not have good grades in school. Her teachers always punished her.

"Hmm... That's kind of sad." Cheryl2 said as she kept on finding information about Cheryl. Instead of searching the phone, she decided to search the drawer and a diary was found. Cheryl2 immediately checked it out and found that Cheryl had a sad life and she wanted a change.

At that moment, a thought came to her mind. 'Should I help her out a bit?' she thought. 'Let's change from her appearance and style.'

Cheryl2 stood up from the bed and walked towards the wardrobe. "Okay..." she said. "Looks like I have to imagine some clothes tomorrow."

She made a list in her monitor to jot down what she wanted to change for Cheryl. She decided to carry out the change tomorrow.