After reading the reviews for the last chapter, I have gained much-needed confidence and faith in this story. Thanks a lot, guys. Enjoy this new chapter.

Chapter Two

Lisa couldn't actually remember much after she went outside her house – the tension at that moment was too great for her to recall the minuscule details. But she knew she must have at least closed the front door, because she was leaning against it, breathing heavily. Not that Lisa was going to concern herself over something like that. What mattered much more was that she had just stepped outside her home by herself for the first time in years.

And boy, did she feel wonderful.

But, now what? Where could she go? Springfield may have been Lisa's oyster right then, but she hadn't really decided where she would actually go for her midnight walk. That, and so much time had passed by since Lisa started locking herself in the house that she was certain many aspects of her home town had changed – buildings may have been demolished or built, people may have moved away or died, the environment may have changed... Anything could have happened in the new Springfield Lisa had just entered. But there was only one way to find out. And at that moment, Lisa decided where she wanted to go for her walk.

To the nuclear power plant.

It was an incredibly strange choice, especially for someone who was once so environmentally conscious like her. Not to mention that it was a bit of a journey on foot, if the amount of time it took to get to the plant via car was any indication. But the Simpson was feeling adamant at that moment. She had a feeling that the plant would be the place that had changed the least since her time in isolation. Her father was still miraculously working there (still in entry position) after all these years, and she still regularly heard gossip from there by him. Speaking of the plant... Was Mr. Burns still alive? How old would he be, anyway? No, don't start with the questions so soon... Keep the speculation away for now.

Her mind now sorted onto a path, Lisa took another deep breath and began to walk away from her house. It was still snowing outside, but she could now truly feel the icy wind slicing against the skin on her face. It was an unpleasant sensation, but Lisa didn't really care. She wanted to go to the power plant at that moment, and nothing was going to stop her.

As she walked down Evergreen Terrace, Lisa began to wonder about her old neighbours – the Flanders', the Wiggums, the Powers'... There were many more people, but because she had not seen them for a very long time, Lisa was struggling to remember who exactly had lived on her street. The three families she had thought of were the ones that popped up in her head first. Unknowingly, the Simpson was also beginning to recall her past – the thing she had locked away in her mind for so long. Not that she really knew at the time.

When Lisa finally left Evergreen Terrace to enter a new street nearby, she was greeted with a bus stop down the pavement – with a small figure happening to be standing near it, obscured by a dark shadow from a nearby streetlight."Someone else is out tonight?" Lisa thought aloud, surprised at seeing another human being outside in the snow. But initially not too concerned about the other person, she carried on walking, listening to the sound of her shoes crunching the snow below as she planned to just go by him or her without question.

But as she approached the bus stop, the person's features became much more clear – and Lisa's eyes widened in shock.

The person looked like a doppelgänger of her younger, eight-year old self.

Startled, the Simpson had to rub her eyes in case she was seeing things. But when she looked towards the person again, she had disappeared completely; like she was a ghost. Becoming heavily confused, Lisa stood frozen in fear – what on earth had just happened? Before, there was a girl who looked so much like her when she was younger standing at the bus stop, but now, she had just disappeared, like she was never there. Her head beginning to hurt from the confusion, Lisa put her hand to her temple. "Am I going crazy?" she thought aloud again, knowing that no-one else was outside at that moment to hear her. Then, she began to laugh quietly and jokingly.

"Ha ha ha... Maybe it's the air, or something," she concluded. "I haven't really breathed fresh air for a long time." Gaining courage once again, Lisa left the bus stop and carried on with her journey towards the nuclear power plant.

She didn't know how long she had been outside for. It was probably past one in the morning now, but time wasn't of Lisa's importance. She had her mission to complete. As she continued to explore Springfield, Lisa found herself going past an old, familiar place – the Kwik-E-Mart. All lights were blaring inside the store, indicating that it was open. From first glance, it still looked like the same 24-hour store she used to know – maybe Apu was still running it, too. She couldn't see him at the register, but Lisa didn't really want him to recognise her through the windows – she might end up in serious trouble with her parents if he saw her. Actually, that was a certainty. Have they realised she's gone missing yet? Or are they still asleep? Either way, the Simpson had only just realised she would be in massive trouble after her little adventure.

Trying to hurry past the Kwik-E-Mart, Lisa briefly glanced across the other side of the road, and saw a sight that made her heart skip a beat - the same girl she'd seen at the bus stop was walking down the street in the same direction as her.

Everything seemed to slow down for Lisa at that moment. It couldn't be – she had disappeared in front of her at the bus stop! Was this lookalike following – no, stalking her or something? It was impossible, insane; everything that was happening right now was insane. Or maybe it was Lisa herself who was going insane...

The Simpson had to let her head fall down to comprehend everything. When she looked across the road again, she couldn't find the girl – again. She had disappeared, like last time. At that point, Lisa was starting to question her sanity. Twice, she had seen a doppelgänger of her younger self, and twice, she had mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Was it really some kind of weird side-effect from going outside for the first time in years? Or was she actually beginning to lose her mind...?

Fear and panic were now starting to grow deep in Lisa's heart. In a sudden rush of adrenaline, she began to run as fast as she could in the snow, managing to get away from the Kwik-E-Mart. The snow was now falling harder, with larger snowflakes beginning to stick to the earth and structures. As Lisa carried on doing her best to run, all sorts of thoughts were running through her mind. Why is this happening to me?! She exclaimed mentally. All I wanted to do was go outside... but now I'm starting to see things that aren't there! The panic inside her wouldn't fade away as she continued to run through the snow-covered town of Springfield, extremely frightened of seeing the doppelgänger once again.

Lisa only stopped running when she ran out of breath to carry on. Leaning her hand against the wall of a brick building, the Simpson recovered her normal breathing patterns, but was still very scared of what was going on – however, she felt a glimmer of hope. "Maybe I've lost her..." she thought aloud, referring to the doppelgänger. After waiting for a while, just to be sure she had lost the mysterious girl completely, Lisa stepped out onto the streets of Springfield once again.

In her surge of panic, Lisa had taken random turns in order to lose the doppelgänger. Thus, she had ended up in a part of town she wasn't that well-acquainted with. Beginning to feel cold and lonely, Lisa wrapped herself tight in her clothes as she tried to figure out where exactly in Springfield she was. She couldn't recognise the buildings here... What area was this? Oh, hang on. It's starting to come back. Following her memory, Lisa took a turn and discovered the place she used to attend frequently – Springfield Elementary School.

The building didn't seem to look any different from when she left all those years ago. Maybe her old teachers were still working there, too. Probably not, though. Lots of things could have happened there after she left. Continuing to stare at her old school, an ache of nostalgia started to overcome Lisa. Sure, it wasn't the best place for her to receive an education back then, but the school was a strong reminder of a time when she wasn't depressed, when she wasn't a shut-in, when she was willing to remember the past. Tears were starting to form in Lisa's eyes from the recollection of the more happier memories in her life – was she finally acknowledging her past properly? Sniffing, she dried them with the sleeve of her coat.

That was when she saw her on the school roof.

It was the doppelgänger, directly staring at Lisa.

The Simpson's mouth went agape in horror – she couldn't have found her here! No way! She thought she'd lost her! And how did she manage to climb on the roof, anyway? There were so many questions rushing through Lisa's mind that she had to speak out now – she had to confront the doppelgänger.

"Who are you?" Lisa called out towards the girl, more scared than she was before but unwilling to back down. "Why are you following me? Why do you look so much like me when I was younger? Please tell me!"

The girl merely stared at Lisa back. The snow carried on falling blindly as the tension between the two only increased. After a brief silence, Lisa became irritated.

"Tell me!" Lisa shouted at her. "Answer my questions!" The girl continued to ignore her. Couldn't she actually speak at all, making her mute? Was she just a ghost that happened to be haunting Lisa? Or was she really going crazy...?

Seemingly uninterested anymore, the girl turned around and walked away on the roof, out of Lisa's view. Still desperate for answers, the Simpson ran to the side of the school and tried to see through the chainlink fence that surrounded the playground. However, there were no lights on at all, rendering it impossible to see life moving over the fence. Lisa sighed and cursed herself - the doppelgänger had disappeared thrice now. It would be too dangerous to break into the school just to search for someone who had the possibility of not even being an actual human. Accepting defeat, Lisa carried on with her quest towards the power plant – if she could even get there now. She didn't even know if she was going the right way. Starting to feel the cold reach her bones, the Simpson felt like breaking down and crying – she was now lost and someone was following her every move.

She should have called it quits right then. Yet she continued to walk further through Springfield...

I apologize if the story is starting to feel rushed and/or weird. At heart, I wanted this to be a psychological story, hence the strangeness. And sadly, yes, things are going to get worse for Lisa.

I'm certain the reviews for this chapter will be interesting...