When a strange woman had contacted her via email, telling her that it was vital that they met, Alison had just laughed and assumed it was a prank set up by the teenagers who lived three blocks away and liked to pick on the other families. She didn't even believe it when the woman supposedly sent her a picture of her face. Alison just laughed it off. I mean, anybody could use Photoshop, get rid of her fringe and make herself look a little tougher, right? They had probably just gotten a hold of one of her old photos. Maybe an ID photo.
But then the woman showed up at her house after nine PM, wearing some of the nicest – yet most practical – clothes she had ever seen, a police badge shining when she held it up to the light of the porch, and a steely look in a face that looked exactly like her.
"Detective Elizabeth Childs," she had said.
Alison had to let her in.
-0-
"You're the woman from the email."
"Yes. You never answered so I…track you down. Sorry about that," the Detective was saying as her eyes raked over the living room, avoiding Alison it seemed. "It was unethical of me to do that but I have to talk to you. You're the closest one to me-"
"What…what do you mean? There's more of us?"
The Detective sighed and finally looked at her, right into her eyes, mirroring the stare she was giving her and making Alison's blood run cold.
"Detective, please be honest with me."
"Beth. You can call me Beth."
"Well then…Beth. Please, tell me what's happening."
So Alison listened to a tale spun out of her wildest, most unimaginable crevices of her mind. Clones, human genetic experiments, being hunted down. She needed a glass of wine once it was said, but as she sat down next to the Detective…next to Beth, she felt almost a little bit safer.
"How many more of us?"
"There's another one, from San Francisco. Cosima Niehaus. I've contacted her but she hasn't answered yet. Did some background research on her and she's apparently moving to Minnesota for a PhD course, so maybe she just hasn't had the time yet. Once she does answer, we'll contact her and convince her to come up here to meet us."
"And what then?"
Beth shrugged, reaching out to grab Alison's hand, squeezing lightly. "We will survive, we will make it through. We'll have each other."
Alison nodded once, putting a hand up to her face in the way she always did when she was nervous. "I've never had a sister before."
"Well, now you have more than just one," Beth smiled at her, and Alison felt that maybe things wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have to face this disaster alone.