Hey Guys! I hope you like this!
Have you ever had an experience where you blinked, and suddenly you were in another life?
Penny Cooper was having one of those moments right now. She woke up disoriented, parked in front of an apartment building she'd never seen before in a neighborhood she didn't recognize.
"Huh?" She murmured tiredly, looking around, confused.
"We're here, Penny." Moist said, reaching across and opening her door for her. "You're registered, just tell them you're the new tenant, Cyd. They'll let you in." Penny looked at him, scared, as she stepped out of the car.
"You're not coming?" She asked, edginess creeping into her voice, as she turned to look into the car.
"Penny," Moist started, wearing an expression likened to telling a child their pet died. "I can't go with you, I can't even be in town any longer without giving away your position, you have to go alone." Moist started the car up, and reached across to grab the door handle. "Be safe Penny." Was the last thing he said before closing the door, and driving off.
Penny felt sick to her stomach. She was completely alone now. There was nothing like watching your only friend in the world drive off and leave you unaccompanied. Anger, hurt, sadness and nausea were fighting for dominance in her stomach, and Penny found herself running into the lobby, if only to keep from collapsing in shock on the sidewalk.
She managed to make it to a dull beige couch in the lobby, and focused on taking in everything about the room to distract herself until she could think straight.
The whole room followed a beige and teal theme, like a bad motel 6. The walls were papered with brown, naturalistic, textured paper, and a blue chair rail ran the perimeter of the room. The same blue lined the coffee table, and colored the chair cushions.
"Excuse me?" The teenager at the counter asked, popping a piece of gum. She had to be only sixteen, Penny imagined, and she looked almost like one of the people that had followed Captain Hammer around, except, instead of wearing Captain Hammer paraphernalia, what she was wearing promoted some kind of video game. "Can I help you? This isn't a public park y'know." She said, in the bored tone only a jaded teenager could possess.
"Yes, actually, " Now was as good of a time as ever, Penny had no idea when (she wouldn't let herself think if) Moist, or better yet, Billy, was going to be able to come get her. "I'm the new tenant-" What was the name Moist had given her? It was so unconventional. "Cyd." She remembered, praying that her hesitation wouldn't prompt any further questioning.
"Oh, Cyd Sherman." The bottle blonde drawled, snapping her gum again. "You're in number four-seven-two." The girl grabbed a key, and walked out from behind the counter. "Follow me."
She was silent all the way up the three flights of stairs, but she seemed to remember something when she stuck the key in the lock.
"You're not running any sort of- illegal trade through here, are you?" The girl asked, borderline interested.
"Excuse me?" Penny asked, shocked and confused.
"You know, lewd behavior and all that. The guy I talked to earlier seemed unreasonably urgent in getting you in here." Penny shook her head, violently blushing.
"Okay, okay. Just policy. I'm not judging anyone." The door opened, and Penny walked into the darkened apartment hesitantly.
"Oh, if you need anything, I'm Sara. But try not to need anything, 'kay?" Sara tossed the keys onto the coffee table, and shut the door before Penny could answer. Not that she was going to. She was too busy thinking about the sarcastic comment one of her friends would have made, if they were there.
The apartment was nice. It was certainly bigger then any other apartment she had lived in. It came pre-furnished, with a couch, a coffee table, a book case and a tv. It was all in the same beige and blue color palette of the lobby, Penny discovered when she turned on the light. Down the hall, or what was a semblance of a hall, was a full bathroom, and at the other end was a bedroom almost swallowed by the queen sized bed that sat in the middle. Penny fell onto the bed, not minding the lack of sheets, or pillows, or even a mattress cover, though lord knows what the mattress had seen.
She didn't sleep for a while, but instead, chose to lay on the mattress, just letting everything hit her in waves.
It was seven p.m. when Penny finally had the strength to get up again, almost twelve hours after she had been abandoned. She shuffled back into the main room, and noticed a manilla envelope lying on the table. She picked it up, and flipped it over to look for any sign of an address or anything.
Scrawled across the front, in a handwriting that was obviously male, was a name. It took Penny a second to realize that it was her name.
Cyd Sherman
She tore open the top, not having the patience to deal with the metal clasp, and dumped the stuffed envelope out on the table.
Document after document floated to the floor, some looking more official then others, along with a few cards, that clattered on the wood when they hit the table. Penny took a seat in one of the heavy dining room chairs, and started sorting through the pile. There were bank statements, insurance information, high school transcripts from a school she'd never heard of, and college transcripts of the same nature. A degree, like the one she'd left back in L.A. popped up, along with a drivers license, and a Social Security card.
Penny slowed down so she could read everything, intrigued by the detail that was put into the forging of these documents.
She knew they were forged, because although everything matched up with what she remembered, on every sheet of paper, where it should have said Penelope Elisabet Cooper, was filled in with Cyd Sherman.
So, let me know what you think! And if anyone is interested in beta-ing this story, I've discovered that I could use the help, more creatively then mechanically, but... If you're interested, send me a message!
~Belle