"So who is he?"

"I don't know."

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know."

"How do we get the real Calvin back?"

"I don't know."

"Are you telling me we'll have to manage with this weird new British Calvin for the rest of our lives?"

"I never made any such statement."

"But how did this happen? Just by letting Calvin take a small venture into his own mind? How could that small trip have scrambled his neuropaths?"

"I haven't the faintest idea."

"So then what will we do? Just wait and watch?"

"I don't know."

"You don't think he'll try to strangle me in my sleep, do you?"

"Well if that's what it would take to shut you up I'd gladly assist him."

"Hmph, aren't you comforting?"

"Could you just stay quiet for some time?"

"But what are we supposed to tell his parents? And everybody at his school?"

"I don't know."

"Isn't there any way to get Calvin back? There must be something we can do? Can't we-"

"For god's sake, Hobbes, how many times will I have to say this? I- don't- know!" Manny whispered angrily.

"Okay, okay… sheesh," Hobbes muttered.

He shifted and settled in a more comfortable position behind the bush they were using to hide.

Around a dozen feet away stood Calvin- or the new, strange Calvin. He was leaning against a tree and quietly observing the street and its surroundings.

"Why exactly are we hiding from him?" Hobbes asked.

Manny shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't like being around him. He's so weird and unpleasant. You know, with his thick British accent and the demeaning way he talks to us.

"And he calls me stripes," Hobbes muttered.

"Yes that too. Plus, he changed his hairstyle!"

"Ugh. Calvin would have hated that hair."

The British Calvin's hair was now sleek and neatly combed. The wild spiky-ness which so characterized the old Calvin was gone. It made them fully comprehend the fact that this was not the friend they knew.

"I still don't get one thing," Manny muttered, his brows furrowed the way they always were when he was deep in thought. "Why is he pretending to be Calvin?"

Hobbes looked at him.

"You know, all morning he's been trying to be like Calvin- the old Calvin- ever since he recognized you as Hobbes. Technically, since his memories and his personality are completely different, he shouldn't remember anything about the old Calvin. It's surprising he even remembered you. This all goes against my theory."

Hobbes nodded. "You're right. It's like he's some… some impostor."

He tilted his head as if an idea had come to him.

"You don't suppose…" he said slowly.

"What?" Manny asked.

"Well you see it all the time in comics and movies and TV," Hobbes said. "The ones where the main guy has an evil side inside him, an evil alter ego hidden deep in his mind who suddenly takes control."

Manny raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to say that…?"

"Yes."

"So that guy standing next to the tree could really be-"

"Yes."

Manny watched the new Calvin. The way he stood, the way he folded his arms and observed the world around him with narrowed eyes like a hawk waiting to strike- his very posture felt so different, so alien from the real Calvin.

A few days ago, he would've denounced Hobbes's theory as pure fiction. Today, however…

"You're sure about this, Hobbes?" he asked.

"It looks like the only explanation," Hobbes shrugged.

"Alright, then." Manny's jaw hardened. "Looks like there's only one way to find out."


"Hey Calvin!"

Calvin gave a start and looked around. He saw Hobbes walking up to him, grinning.

"Oh, hey stri-Hobbes," he nodded. "Err, how's it going, mate?"

"Oh, it's going great… mate," Hobbes said, still grinning.

For a few moments they just stood awkwardly, looking at each other. Then Hobbes cleared his throat and hurried on.

"So, let's go then."

"Err, where?" Calvin asked.

"You remember, Manny's place," Hobbes said.

"Who?"

"Manny. Your friend, Manny."

"Oh, that kid, right."

"We were planning to have a get together at his home today. You know, a small party."

"We were?"

"Yup, it was your idea."

"It was? Oh, right, sure it was." Calvin coughed. "Thing is Hobbes, I don't feel like going. I've got loads to do."

Hobbes folded his arms. "Like?"

"Well, you know, stand around and watch the sky and… the birds… and…."

"Sorry, buddy, you're coming." Hobbes grabbed Calvin's arm and began pulling him forward.

"Okay, okay, blimey, you don't have to pull me!" he grumbled. "I'm coming."

Muttering to himself, he fell in besides Hobbes and walked with him down the street. For a couple of minutes they said nothing, just walked.

Then Calvin asked, "So what are you gonna have at this get-together, eh?"

"Oh, um," Hobbes said. "All types of games and food. It'll be fun!"

"Honestly, it had better," Calvin muttered.

"Don't worry. You'll love it!" Hobbes grinned, giving him a friendly pat on the back. "It was your idea after all."

"Yes… my idea."

Soon they turned into Manny's street and were at his home. As they walked up the path, Calvin looked up at the house suspiciously.

"So who else is here?" he asked.

"Just you, me and good old Manny," Hobbes grinned. "Three old friends having fun, fun and fun!"

Calvin looked at him. "You seem a bit nervous."

"It's because of the anticipation for the fun we're going to have," Hobbes said, his grin becoming even more strained than it was before. "Fun, fun and fun!"

"Yes, you told me. Fun, fun and fun."

Hobbes pushed open the door and walked in.

"Hmm, entering somebody's home without ringing the doorbell," Calvin said. "Isn't that trespassing?"

"Don't worry, Manny's expecting us," Hobbes reassured him.

"Alright, never had a problem with breaking the rules before," Calvin shrugged and followed. "Heh, from where I come from, I would-" He stopped abruptly and shut his mouth.

Hobbes's eyes flicked sideways to look at Calvin. Then he shut the door and led the way up the stairs, showing no sign that he had heard him. They reached the landing and walked to where the attic's string was hanging. Hobbes pulled it and stepped back to let the ladder come down.

"It's up there, you say," Calvin said doubtfully, peering up. "Seems pretty dark and quiet for a place promising fun, fun and fun."

"Oh, just go up," Hobbes said encouragingly. "The fun is waiting right up there!"

"If you say so, stripes."

"Hobbes."

"Err, yeah, Hobbes."

Calvin started climbing up the ladder. He paused halfway and looked up, hesitating. The dark, square trapdoor looked foreboding and uninviting.

"Come on, move," Hobbes said and grabbed the lower rungs. "I'm coming up too. We're here, Manny!" he called loudly.

Calvin sighed and continued. "I hope this won't be as boring as it sounds," he muttered. "Bloody get together."

He reached the trap hole and, gripping the edges of the floor, hauled himself up.

"Okay, let's see what we go here." He stood up and looked around.

Dust, cobwebs, boxes, crates, piles of junk and a lonely table at the only uncluttered end of the room. That was what he saw.

"Bloody hell, you call this fun?" Calvin groaned. "Really Hobbes, this is more than disappoint-"

"GET HIM!"

With a cry, Manny rushed out from the junk piles and threw himself at Calvin.

Calvin instinctively settled into a defensive stance. His right hand came up, fist tight, ready to land a punch on Manny's chin.

Then Hobbes tackled him from behind, his arms wrapping tight around his stomach, sending him stumbling. Manny crashed into the duo and their combined weight drove Calvin down.

"What- the-bloody-hell!" Calvin swore, struggling under their bulk.

"Pin him down, Hobbes!" Manny cried.

"I got him!"

Grunting from exertion, Calvin bared his teeth in a grin. "Now the fun begins," he said.

His muscles tensed and, in one flexible move, he twisted out of their grip. Before they even realized what happened, his leg lashed out and the heel of his shoe sank into the Manny's stomach, who fell back with a grunt.

Hobbes jumped at him again, snarling. Calvin fell back with the tiger's weight upon him. But he kicked up his legs, sending Hobbes flying right over him.

Calvin scrambled to his feet and dashed for the trapdoor.

But Manny's own foot lashed out this time and he tripped, crashing face down.

"Get the trapdoor, Hobbes!" Manny said, launching himself at Calvin and attempting to pin him down.

He saw Hobbes rush past them out of the corner of his eye but focused on Calvin, who was struggling with all the rage of a mad bull. He pulled his arm behind his back, twisting it as hard as he could.

"Gaack!" Calvin cried out in pain. "You're really asking for a sucker punch, mate!" he hissed.

"All I'm asking for is what you've done with my friend!" Manny growled, jamming his knee harder into Calvin's backbone.

With an almighty shove and a grunt, Calvin tossed Manny off of his back. He swung around and threw himself at him, hands outstretched, face contorted in a snarl.

The two boys rolled around on the floor, kicking, biting, scratching, both fighting with all the energy they could summon. But after a while, it wasn't hard to see who was having the upper hand.

"Hobbes, where are you?" Manny cried.

He had lost all sense of direction and his own whereabouts as he desperately focused on the fight.

"Uh, here."

"Help me!"

"You seem to be handling things pretty well."

"You think?"

"I do."

"Do something, you dolt!"

"Sheesh, you're sound more like Calvin than that guy is. If you say so."

The next moment- "DUCK!"

Manny instinctively launched himself away from Calvin, both to evade another jaw-cracking punch as well as in response to the warning.

A sharp-edged wooden photo frame came flying into the side of Calvin's head.

"OW!"Calvin staggered back, one hand clapped to his temple.

The frame was swiftly followed by block of wood and an old battery. One hit him square in the chest. The other struck the bridge of his nose.

"What the hell?" Calvin roared. He looked around wildly and his watering eyes focused on Hobbes standing in the middle of the trash piles, holding two more broken but heavy-looking objects he had picked up from his surroundings.

"Time to put this stuff to use, I say," Hobbes grinned evilly.

A multitude of broken implements, rusty tools, old toys, disused kitchen appliances, light bulbs, empty bottles and god knows what else was being hurled in quick succession at the poor Calvin.

He cried out, trying to fend off and dodge the lethal assault, but many of the objects met their mark.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU KEEP IN THIS PLACE?" he roared after both a sewing machine and a metal tool box still full of its contents knocked the air out of his lungs.

"Nice aiming, Hobbes," Manny commented, who had moved out of harm's way as quickly as he could.

"Why thank you, Manny," Hobbes said, still hurling object after object with grim efficiency. "I had a lot of practice playing baseball with Calvin- the real Calvin. I suppose we should also thank your parents for being such wasteful human beings."

"I suppose we should. You know," Manny said, smiling at the flailing figure of Calvin. "This is quite entertaining."

"I know, I could this all day," Hobbes grinned.

"No, you won't!" Calvin snarled.

His hand reached out and caught the next projectile- a cracked light bulb- and flung it back at Hobbes.

"EEK!" Hobbes ducked.

The bulb missed narrowly and smashed against the wall. But the minor distraction was all Calvin needed.

With a growl, he flung himself forward and charged at Hobbes who fumbled for the nearest object to throw. But he was too slow.

Calvin hit him with all the force of a charging bull, not stopping his until he had driven Hobbes all the way up against the wall. And then his hands were clawing at the tiger's throat- again.

"No!" Hobbes gasped. "Oh come on, that's not fair!"

He grasped at Calvin's hands, trying to push them away.

"This time I'm gonnna break every single bone in your neck!" Calvin snarled and there was something in his tone which told Hobbes that he meant it.

He struggled with all his might but the hands drew closer and closer to his pale, exposed throat.

He remembered their cold, heartless grip, how he had choked with those same hands throttling him. It struck him that, whoever this person was, those hands still belonged to his own best friend- and now they were going to kill him.

THUD!

A resounding dull crack cut the air. Calvin stiffened, his snarl of rage still frozen on his face. Then he collapsed.

Behind him stood Manny, holding a dusty, enormous tome: his mother's old medical textbook.

"Calvin was right," he said with a grim smile. "This is like an assault weapon." He tossed the book away. "Man, what a day."

"Fun, fun, fun," Hobbes muttered, feeling his throat tenderly. Never had it felt so exposed. "Thanks for that, Manny."

"Always a pleasure. Now let's tie this little fellow up. I found some rope in the trash piles. It's still reasonably strong."

Hobbes dragged Calvin unceremoniously to the table while Manny fetched the rope. With practiced hands, he first tied Calvin's legs, then his hands, and finally, his neck to the attic table. Each time he finished with a neat knot.

"I never knew you could tie knots," Hobbes said.

"Read how to do it from a book," Manny said, inspecting the tightness of the rope. "It's amazing how much you can learn from books." He got up. "Right, I think it's time to find out who our little British chap really is."

"And what happened to the real Calvin," Hobbes agreed.

They stood there grimly, like executioners waiting to take the prisoner to the gallows, or a judge ready to pronounce his sentence, waiting for their quarry to wake.

Five minutes passed.

Then ten.

Then another five minutes.

"He's not going to wake up anytime soon, is he?" Hobbes said at last.

"Must've hit him a bit too hard," Manny muttered. "I hope he didn't suffer a concussion."

Manny went down to get a glass of water. When he came back up he wasted no time and splashed the glass's contents full in Calvin's face.

He finally stirred and a groan escaped his lips.

"Hello, nice to see you're awake," Hobbes said.

"What the bloody…" Calvin muttered, his eyes squinting, unfocused.

They finally centered on the boy and tiger standing in front him.

"You!" he said angrily and tried to move but the ropes held him. "How did you tie me up? I was- Ah, that bloody kid must've sneaked up behind my back. That's cheating, mate!"

"We're not here to talk about that, mate," Manny said, folding his arms. "We're here to ask you some questions."

"Yes," Hobbes said in as grim a voice as he could manage, also folding his arms. "We're here to ask you some questions."

"Such as?" Calvin said.

"What did you with Calvin?" The words came as quick as a gunshot. "The real Calvin."

"Yeah," Hobbes nodded vigorously. "What did you do with the real Calvin?"

"And who are you?" Manny added.

"Exactly, who are you?"

"And what if I say that I am the real Calvin?" Calvin said, narrowing his eyes.

"Heh, you think we're going to believe that?" Manny said.

"Yeah, you think we're really gonna believe that?" Hobbes scoffed.

"And why can you not?"

"I can name more than a dozen reasons," Manny said.

"Yeah, more than a dozen," Hobbes said.

"In fact, if I gave the entire list right now, we'd be old men by the time I'm done."

"Indeed, we'd be old men by the time he's done," Hobbes nodded.

Manny looked at Hobbes. "Hobbes," he said.

"Yes, Manfred."

"If you don't have any original contributions to make to the conversation then can you please shut up?"

"Oh, okay. Sorry."

"Right, then," Manny turned back to Calvin. "Where were we? Something about you not being Calvin, I believe."

"What makes you think I'm not Calvin?" Calvin challenged.

"Like I said, the reasons are endless."

"Name a few."

"Well, let's see," Manny said.

"The way you've combed and oiled your hair," Hobbes said. "Calvin never ever uses a comb and he absolutely abhors hair oil."

"An original contribution at last," Manny nodded. "And how you did not recognize us when you first woke up after your experiment."

"And your British accent. Calvin could never do a British accent."

"The way you fought us. You were fighting with skill, which I don't recall Calvin ever having in areas of self defense."

"Yeah, or he wouldn't have to pay up to Moe everyday to avoid having his head smashed into the wall."

"And the small detail of you having to ask your way around your own house even though you've lived almost your entire life there."

"The fact that you refused to watch T.V when I asked you in the morning even though your favorite program was on."

"Good one, Hobbes. Calvin never compromises on his TV habits."

"Also, how you ate the vegetable broth your mom cooked for lunch even though you absolutely detest vegetables."

"And, to name one more, how you didn't-"

"Alright, alright!" Calvin groaned. "Blimey, so I just changed a bit."

"A bit?" Hobbes said angrily. "A bit! Whoever you are, bud, you are not my friend! And I want to know what you've done with him! I want Calvin back!"

For a while, there was silence. Complete silence. Hobbes and Manny said nothing and watched the boy who sat in front of them, the boy who claimed to be their best friend.

He was still and his eyes were lowered, as if studying his fingers. But when he looked up, they were dark and hostile.

"You'll never get him back," he said quietly.

"Looks like we broke you at last," Manny said.

"You'll never get him back," he repeated. "He's gone. He's trapped. He's nothing more than a shadow, withering away."

Manny knelt down on one knee, studying the boy's face. It stared back, boring into his eyes. It took sheer willpower for him to not flinch from the cold vehemence with which he gazed at him.

"Who are you?" Manny asked.