You are now Erika Warlett.
You run your fingers through your smoothly-combed hair and brush the dust off your cheerleading outfit. Beside you, Alex Martinez, your boyfriend and the Varsity football captain, sits on your queen bed with a plastic cup of beer in his hand.
"You look awesome, babe…" Alex checks you out as you bend over to put your pom-poms in your cheerleading bag. You'll need them for the big Homecoming Game against Centerscore High tonight.
Smiling, you stand back up. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for the game, Al? I'm pretty sure the star QB is supposed to play against the Loser Lizards tonight." You laugh at your own joke.
Alex nods, and then frowns. "Yeah…" he pauses. "But that means I'll have to leave you."
"Oh, Al…" You lean over your four-poster bed and gently kiss his sweet-smelling neck. "I'll see you at the game and at the dance later… But you really should leave now. My parents are almost home, and when they see you in my bed, they're gonna flip."
Alex smiles.
"All right, baby… I'll see you at the dance…" He kisses you and leaves your house in a flash, heeding your command. You sigh.
You finish packing up your equipment in your cheer bag and tie your hair into a high ponytail, securing it with a polka-dotted cheerleading bow. After locking your house door with a copper key, you walk out into the night a few paces toward Ferrier High, where the big game against Centerscore is about to begin.
Suddenly, a large hand grabs your back and knocks you in a dark alley.
Omigod! You think. What's happening?
You open your mouth to scream, but the hand slams it shut. You bite your tongue in the impact, and the coppery taste of blood fills your mouth.
"Hkkkkkk…" You try to cough up the blood, but the hand is blocking the opening of your mouth. "Nhhhhhh!" you struggle to scream.
"Shhhhh…" a voice whispers. "Don't be afraid… I'm here to protect you…" The voice is so familiar that it burns inside your ears.
But before you can react, a blade penetrates the skin in your throat.
The last thing you feel is your warm blood spewing down your neck, and the final sound you hear is the weapon clanging on the cold floor.
You are dead.
You are now Detective Mal Fallon.
You are woken by the sound of your BlackBerry violently ringing on your nightstand. Glancing around, you don't see Natara in the bed next to you. But a delicious smell wafting in from the other room tells you that she's in the other room, making breakfast and coffee.
Opening the messages in your phone, you see that there's an urgent one from Captain Yeong.
Be at the station with Natara in fifteen minutes. There's been a murder on Walker Avenue. Kai ID'ed the vic as Erika Warlett, a student at Ferrier High School.
"Another murder on Walker Avenue…?" You groan, shake your head, and look at digital clock sitting by your phone. It's 7:13. You grab your glasses off the table and slip them on your face just in time to see Katelyn, your six year-old daughter, angrily march into your bedroom.
"Daddy, guess what?" she frowns.
You jerk upward. "What's wrong, Katie?" you ask as you check for more messages. You look down and realize you're still in your white collared shirt and tan slacks from working late yesterday night, wrapping up the case of George Browns, the serial killer.
"Thomas took my new hairbows and HID THEM!" she stomps her foot. "But he's on his stupid baseball trip, so Mommy can't find them! Now she can't do my hair in braids like she promised!" Katie always trusts her gut feeling when she knew something was wrong. You think of yourself always doing the same as a detective.
"Maybe Thomas didn't take them… Er, maybe you lost them…" You try to explain to Katie. You can see a wild look in her green eyes. She has Natara's eyes, you repeat to yourself over and over. They're gorgeous, just like Nat's… Katie has soft blond hair though, taking the color from you in your childhood.
"You know what?" Katie stomps, and then flips her hair with her hand. "You're not being a big help." She marches off down the hall to catch the bus to school outside your San Francisco townhouse.
You get up and run a comb through your mildly-manageable hair and walk to the kitchen, where Natara is sliding Katie's pink polka-dotted lunchbox into her initial-embroidered backpack. "Mmmm…" Nat gives Katie a kiss on her cheek. "I can do your braids another day, sweetie. For now, go catch the bus with Elizabeth and her mom. Look, they're outside!" she points out the window to Katie's best friend and her mother, Karen.
"Okay…" Katie sadly strolls to the door and runs to Elizabeth and Karen. Nat gives the three of them a wave and closes the door as the schoolbus approaches the cul-de-sac and picks the students of Hollypine Elementary School up.
"Hey, Nat." You greet your wife with a soft kiss as you see her make her way to the kitchen.
"Good morning, sleepy." She laughs and pours you a mug of coffee. You sigh.
"Make that to-go. Captain just sent me a text message to be at the precinct in fifteen minutes. Somebody was murdered at Walker Avenue."
Nat looks at you. "Damn…the fourth murder this month…no wonder everyone is moving away from Walker. It's awful over there. But I'd be eager to solve the case and put the cold-blooded killer behind bars."
You shrug and pop a mint into your mouth. "You're right. Something over there doesn't seem right. I expect Captain's going to make us search for clues over there." You shudder.
"What's up, Mal? Something about you is…panicky today. You're usually eager to investigate dangerous places. So why are you nervous now?" Natara wonders as she clears up the plate of Katie's half-eaten waffles so flies don't get all over the kitchen while you're gone.
"I dunno…something about the fact that Captain mentioned the girl was a highschooler. I don't have very good memories of high school…" You sigh.
Nat smiles. "It's high school, Mal. It's not supposed to be paradise."
You shrug. "I guess so…" You watch as Nat slips on her coat.
"You ready to kick the killer's butt?" Natara winks.
You smile and nod. "Almost ready…" you say, and then give Natara a large kiss and grab your jacket. "Now I'm ready."
You step out.
You are now Data Analyst Amy Chen.
You look into the mirror by your lab desk at work and notice that a strand of hair on your head is out of place. You sigh and think about how different you've become since ten years ago, from nerd to…not. You still work at the lab, that's a plus, but ever since you started buying fashion magazines, you can't help but catch the latest trends and care about the way you look.
"Kai?" You look over at your fiancé and smear vanilla lip-gloss on your lips. "Does my hair look alright?" You try to comb through it with your French-manicured nails, but you don't want to mess it up even more…
Kai nods and looks into his empty cookie box. "Sure, Amy…I'd love to buy you champagne later and make out…" he sighs.
You sigh and look at him. "Kai, that's not what I asked." From the end of the hallway, you can see your old friends, Mal and Natara Fallon coming up the way. "By the way, shouldn't you be running the fingerprint analysis on the weapon used to kill Erika?"
Kai jolts upward. "Oh, right! I should probably go check on those results…" he rushes to the edge of the crime lab when Mal and Natara walk in.
"Hey, Amy…" Natara hangs up her coat in the crime lab coat hanger.
You give Natara a friendly wave. "Hi, guys. Captain filled you in on the case, right?" you say.
Natara nods. "High schooler, huh?"
You sigh and look at yourself in the mirror again. "Yup… Kai's getting the fingerprint results for the razorblade that the killer murdered Erika with… Can you believe the killer was stupid enough to leave the weapon at the crime scene?" You pop a piece of gum into your mouth and chew.
Natara shakes her head. "I don't know, Amy. Most killers won't be stupid enough to leave their weapons at the scene of the crime… I've just got a gut feeling that something here isn't right…" She stops herself. "Oh gosh… I sound like Mal, don't I?"
You laugh.
Mal smiles. "It must be all these years of being married to me…"
Natara sighs and looks over at Kai, who is picking at a wrapper on a granola bar. "So, do you have the results?"
Kai nods. "Yup," he walks over to you. "And our killer is Nicolette Reeves. Amy, baby, can you search her through our files?"
You nod and sit down in front of your computer. You can see your reflection in the screen and sigh. Another trip to the hair salon this week won't be a hassle. This will be my last trip this week, you promise yourself. The screen pops up, and your fingers type at a blazing speed. You stumble across Nicolette's blank file.
"She lives at 1039 Collier Lane," you tell Mal and Natara. "Kai and I are about to go back down to the crime scene to do further investigations on Erika's body. Do you mind going to Nicolette's and putting her in cuffs?"
Mal nods. "Sure…we'll be back soon…"
Natara still has a puzzled expression glued to her face. "I guess not…" she says. "And although I hate to admit it, something just doesn't feel right here…"
Mal and Natara walk out of the crime lab.
Kai walks up to you and places his arm around your hip. You let out a small groan that only you can hear. Earlier, you thought you were so in love with Kai but now, it seems like a faint memory. I love him, I love him, I love him… you try to drill that thought into your brain. It seems to work. You smile. "Let's go, Kai," you both step out of the crime lab and back to Captain to report that you're leaving to investigate.
And you remember.
You are now Amy Chen, age fifteen.
You walk through the halls of Chamber High School in your flowered blouse, Levi's, and brown loafers. Strolling past, you can see two of your best friends chatting by the water fountain- Sandy Lee and Janette Lawson. You wonder if they're talking about your new jeans or saying bad things behind your back like they used to do. You trust that they've stopped gossiping bad things behind your back.
Shrugging, you wander into the lunchroom, open your paper bag full of deviled eggs and salad, and sit down next to Eliza West, your study partner. "Hey, Liz…" you greet her.
She lifts her head up from a good book and smiles. "Hey, Amy. What are you reading this week?"
You shrug. "I don't know. I don't think I'm going to read this week…I have other things to worry about…" you look over at the table where the popular kids sit and see Sandy and Janette sitting down with Barbara, a new girl from their cheerleading team. You groan.
Liz looks at you like you're crazy. "You have to read a book this week, Amy!" she gasps. "Reading is an amazing pastime. I'm sure you love it, but you should really read something. I'm reading Treasure Island," Liz shows you the cover of her book.
You force a fake smile as you try to minimize your glare at the cheerleader table. "Um, I'm going to go get some relish…" you look down at your salad and sigh. You hate relish, but you walk up to the condiments table anyway and stop at the popular group to talk to Sandy.
"Hey, Sandy, are we still on for our sleepover on Friday?" you wonder.
Sandy flashes a white, toothy grin at you and flips her silky-smooth, wavy blond hair with her hand. "Of course, Ames…you're bringing the snacks and nail polish, right?" She gives you a little wave.
You nod excitedly. "Yup…"
Barbara looks up at you. "Hi, you must be Amy… I'm Barbara deStrisse…" she makes her name sound so beautiful. You nod.
"Yep, I'm Amy Chen. Are you coming to Sandy's sleepover this Friday?" You ask.
Barbara nods. "Yep…" she grins. Her smile is whiter than Sandy's. "I'll be there. Bring a sewing needle." She gives you a popular-girl styled wave with her hand and walks off with Sandy and Janette to get metal forks and napkins.
You smile and walk back to your table, where Liz has her long nose buried in the pages of Treasure Island. She doesn't notice you sit down and dig into your salad.
You feel so excited, so popular, so happy…
But that small voice inside your head is thinking: Why the hell does she want me to bring a needle to a sleepover?
You pay no attention to that voice whatsoever.