Hello, again. Welcome back. Are you ready for this? Hold on…let's go for a ride…

~%~

Eleanor bit her lip and clutched the tray tightly. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the bedroom door three times. On the third knock it swung open, revealing a Chipette with a blank expression. Her brunette hair was in its usual messy bun. She wore a lilac t-shirt and black sweatpants. Her green eyes were dull behind her purple-rimmed glasses. Eleanor held out the tray awkwardly.

"D-dinner," she stuttered, refusing to look Jeanette in the eye. Jeanette took the tray, and Eleanor hurried back downstairs. The bespectacled Chipette set the tray down on her bedside table, then closed the door again. She looked over the food selection for today: meatloaf, string beans, mashed potatoes…nothing interested her.

Jeanette flopped back down onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. Her blank expression didn't change. Inside, however, she was in a tornado of wild thoughts. It had been two months since Theodore died. Two months. That's 62 days. That's 1,488 hours. For 1,488 hours, Jeanette had been dealing with this tragedy. To some, they would be surprised to know that SHE would be affected like this and not Eleanor. Though it was true that Eleanor had been terribly affected by the youngest chipmunk's death, something else about the death had affected Jeanette.

You're such a somber girl.

Jeanette groaned inwardly. Without looking toward the source of the voice, she replied to it.

"What do you want now?"

You know what I want.

"I refused your offer already, and the answer is still no."

You cannot hide from me for long, Jeanette Miller.

"I'm not hiding. I told you, I won't do your bidding."

You are making a mistake, Jeanette Miller. You cannot fight me.

"…I can try."

Your fierce determination is rarely seen. I want it. Why do you continue to deny me?

Jeanette rolled over to face the black-furred Chipette staring back at her. Besides the fur, it was like she was looking into a mirror. The ebony Chipette had the same green eyes, the same messy bun, and the same figure even, but there was something in her emerald eyes that ruined the image completely. Jeanette narrowed her eyes at the duplicate in her midst.

"I won't give in to you. I know what you are. I refuse to let you hurt anyone else."

The clone smiled slightly. It was nothing like the warm smile Jeanette gave; this smile was cold, no emotion showing in it at all.

I will get what I want, Jeanette Miller.

With that, the strange entity lunged at Jeanette, seeping into her body through her very pores. Jeanette wanted to scream, but she had no control over her body anymore. Involuntarily, she knocked the tray of now-cold food to the floor, sending the meal everywhere. Jeanette pushed at the boundaries of her mind, trying to fight back, but he counterfeit self confined her to a small space, binding and gagging her. She watched helplessly through her mind's eye as her body opened the window and escaped into the evening.

It's happening again…