Chapter 11
Dollhouse
Art Room
Tru walks slowly toward the Art Room where her twin sister Echo is seated comfortably on a cushion, fully indulged in her artwork. Feeling as if looking at her own reflection in an alternate reality, a face that is hauntingly familiar, Tru gulps in hesitance, not quite sure what to say. How will she communicate with someone so close to her, yet so distant? How can they share blood, looks and mystical wonders, but not one single memory?
Echo lifts her head up toward Tru noticing her slow advances. "Good day!" She says with a smile.
"I don't know about that!" Says Tru sadly as she sits on a cushion next to Echo. Their eyes focused on each other in awe. All sounds around them diminish. The rest of the world seems to disappear.
Having gone through a mind wipe herself on day one, if only for a few minutes before the day rewound, Tru can't help but recognize just how vulnerable her sister looks. Like a little child who is always innocent and trusting, observing the world without any of the emotions, attitudes or previous assumptions that grown-ups have; things that are caused by our attachments, needs, fears and guilt. She is aware of the heavy burden to be the logical all-wise sister, and fears that this one-sided conversation between her and her other half would go in vain.
"I don't know what I'm doing here or how I got to this point." Tru starts talking. "You can call it fate, or coincidence… All I know is that I woke up this morning with a mission… and now it seems that it was only a small step forward to a larger, far more complex mission that is beyond my calling, and probably beyond my reach. I don't know what to say to you. I don't even know how to connect to a doll… an empty shell… a ghost of my sister radiating this… this sense of helplessness…"
"You can't fight a ghost." Remembers Echo.
"No… but I can save one." Replies Tru. "You and me… we're unique… we belong together."
"Why?" Echo wonders.
"Because… we're two of a kind."
"Are you me?" Asks Echo.
Eyebrows raised, Tru's concerns for having a fruitful ten minute conversation with her sister escalates. "No!" She answers in a low voice.
A look of innocent wonder overtakes Echo's facial expressions compared to Tru's concerns. "Am I me?" She asks.
Not sure how to answer that, "Not exactly…" says Tru.
"But, you look so much like me. Are you one of them?"
Intrigued by the question, Tru asks "Who?"
"The people they put in my head?"
Surprised with the answer, "No… I'm Tru." She says.
"True?"
"Yes."
"Does that mean I'm fake?"
"No! No… You're not fake… you're real… primitive maybe, but very real… just like me. Tru is just my name."
"My name is Echo."
Tru pauses a little to take a breath, and then she says, "Nice to meet you, Echo!" before her voice chokes and tears start filling up in her eyes. "I'm looking forward to meet who you used to be. I want to know everything about you… her. What she majored in, how she lived her life, if she had any pets… hobbies, favorite movie, favorite food…"
"I like broccoli… and Yoga." Says Echo.
"That's what they taught you here. What I want to know is what you taught yourself out there."
Still a little distracted and intrigued by the great resemblance, Echo feels the urge to understand more. "Did Topher make me look like you?"
"No…" Tru says then sighs and explains, "God did."
"God? Is he here too?"
Tru lets out a much needed laugh that forces a tear to trickle down her cheek, realizing how hard it is to talk abstracts to a mind that is lost in a state of oblivion. Echo notices the tear, not quite sure how to react. "You're sad." She says.
"I am." Says Tru. "I'm sad to see you here when I know you should be home. You're… you're stronger than this… better than this."
"I try to be my best."
"Well, I'm afraid it's not good enough." Tru's voice angrily takes a higher pitch. Then she takes another deep breath and pulls herself back together after noticing an uneasy look on Echo's face. "I'm sorry, I just…" Still not sure what to say, Tru takes out her wallet from her purse and flips it open to show Echo some pictures. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
"Look… this is a picture of me and my sister Meredith. You're my sister too, Echo."
"She doesn't look like us." Says Echo.
"That's because you and I are twins. You know what that means?"
"Like beds?"
Tru smiles. "It means we were born together on the same day. That's why we look alike." Tru says while flipping to another picture.
"And this here is our brother Harrison."
"I remember him. I have a picture of him too!" reveals Echo.
Tru is shocked. "What? How?"
Echo shows Tru her painting. "He took me away yesterday. But I haven't seen him today."
Tru stares closely at the painting, noticing what appears to be a blond guy with a Mickey Mouse Hat, wearing the same colors Harrison was wearing on day one. She already knows that her brother did see Echo on day one, but is amazed that Echo remembers that incident. Noticing sparks of memory from her sister, Tru tries to investigate more. "Echo, do you remember where Harrison took you yesterday?"
"He said he wanted to take me home."
"I wish he did!" Says Tru to herself. Eager to dig more and find out just how aware Echo is of the rewind and if it affects her in any way, Tru asks, "This is going to sound weird… but do you ever feel like you're experiencing a déjà vu?
"Déjà who?"
"Déjà vu… it means seeing something happen and feeling that it had happened before; like you're experiencing something twice. I mean, do you sometimes feel like you're living the same day all over again, like this day for example?"
"Sometimes the people in my head do. They feel like they know what's going to happen before it happens… and sometimes this happens to me too… in here…"
Realizing how wrong she was to think of Echo as an empty shell, and how disorienting it can be for someone who is expected to be in a mindless state, Tru asks with great concern, "Have you talked to anyone about this feeling that you get… how you know about things before they happen?"
"I tried… they say I'm broken. But I know I'm not broken!"
The words hang in midair for a moment, bigger and louder than what Tru could fathom. She was obviously mistaken and a little fast to judge. Echo is not just an empty vessel for persona downloads… she is aware. Tru reaches out her hand and touches her sister's. "No… You're not broken… You're definitely not broken." She confirms.
"I try to be my best…. even if it's not good enough." Echo explains.
Realizing how her previous outburst had affected Echo, Tru quickly tries to comfort her, "You know what… your best is always good enough. I believe that now. And your very best is still to come."
Echo smiles in relief.
"Tru…" Jack's voice calls her from behind. She turns her head to face him. "It's time." He says slowly with apparent sorrow in his eyes. Next to him stands Echo's handler, Boyd, whose life has been on the line today and the reason for this coincidental meeting between the separated twins.
Tru stands up to leave, but Echo quickly follows and gives her the painting.
So overcome by the thrill of emotions and the sudden rush of adrenaline, Tru hugs Echo forcefully and without hesitance. An instant that leaves both sisters feeling shut off from the rest of the world and connected to nothing except the language of their souls. A language so harmoniously eloquent that it travels beyond the mind's cluttered ramblings, landing straight into the silence of the heart. Tru feels Echo's puzzlement. Echo feels Tru's frustration. No words; only rushing heartbeats. A union experienced only 24 years ago when they both shared a womb.
They break the embrace and face each other. Both sad. Both crying.
"I will be seeing you again… very soon." Tru promises.
"In a déjà vu?"
Tru smiles and wipes a tear off Echo's face. "Hopefully in reality. And when I do, I'm gonna get you outa here."
"Where will we go?"
"Home."
