This is based on A World of Difference, an episode of The Twilight Zone that I highly recommend.

April 16th, 2021

Izzy and I just teleported to the North Pole. Yes, the North Pole. You see, the Y Universe is what is known as a Soulmate AU. Every single person who lives here has someone specific they're destined to end up together with. Karli and Sasha, The Purple Heart Pain and nobody, Anthony and not getting comments. The list goes on. Here at the North Pole, there's an underground cave somewhere that has every single person listed on the wall next to their soulmate, or special one, or better half, or significant other, whatever you wanna call it. Izzy wants to find out who hers is, so here we are.

We would've just teleported straight into the cave instead, but it's psychic-proof. The only way to get to it is to dig holes in the snow where you think the entrance to it might be and hope you get lucky. There's always the possibility that the cave was last visited recently enough that the hole's still there, but I bet it's gotten covered up by snow by now. That's just how the North Pole be, unfortunately.

Now that we're here, it's time to start digging! "You look over there and I'll look over there," Izzy says to me while pointing to her left and then her right. "Or, if you prefer, we can do it the other way around," she says.

"No, the way you said is fine," I say while shaking my head. Izzy then heads off on her own and I do the same in the other direction.

Actually, there's something else I better do first. I'm looking at my phone to see if it still works and it doesn't seem to be getting a... A... Why can't I remember what it's called? That thing you need to get in order for your telephone to work. Why did I just call it that? And... Uhh... What's my phone number?

"CUT!" I suddenly hear someone shout. Naturally, I turn around to where it came from and... What the?! I'm suddenly on a movie set somehow. The snow on the ground is suddenly fake, there's an entire film crew looking at me, and I'm indoors now. This... This is... This may as well happen. This is the Y Universe we're talking about, after all.

Although, maybe it isn't anymore. Maybe I've entered an alternate reality where I'm a character played by an actress. I guess I technically already knew I was, but I mean a live action one instead of an animated one. "Karen, get off the stage! Don't you know it's time for your lunch break?!" the director shouts at me. I guess the actress who plays me in this world isn't named Leah Mei Gold. Odd. Unless maybe the director's just insulting me. But speaking of him, the thing he's sitting next to that I think is the camera doesn't look much different from the one I've seen The Purple Heart Pain use. That tells me I'm still in 2021, so at least I didn't also travel through time. I wasn't expecting to, but it's still good to have confirmation.

I expect to be back in my world by the end of the day. I've just gotta play along with whatever the heck this is for a while and everything should be back to normal before I know it. In fact, I just got a great idea. "May I take a look at the script?" I ask the director after walking over to him. He hands me the script and I see the title of the movie is Chang of Heart. But I guess it's actually a TV show because it also says it's the fourth episode of the seventh season. Anyway, the idea I came up with is to look through this and see how it says the episode ends. That way, we'll know who Izzy's special one is and we won't have to waste our time looking for the cave!

Let's see. The last page says Izzy and I find her name in the cave and gasp without it appearing on-screen. Then it cuts to the actors that play us asking the viewer to vote for who Izzy's special one should be. That's no help! Nobody ever votes in those. They shouldn't even bother putting a poll up.

I guess now, since I've suddenly noticed I'm hungry even though I ate before we left, there's nothing left to do but eat some lunch and wait to return to my world. I keep thinking to call it the real world but that's not what it is. Let's go see what there is to eat. After walking around a bit, I've quickly found Izzy. I mean the actress who plays her, I guess. She's eating something with garlic on it, so I better be careful around her while we eat.

Or... Wait. Maybe I don't. This Karen person is most likely a human instead of a vampire. That begs the question. Did I simply switch universes with her and she's now in mine or did I completely become her? If it's that second thing, that would technically make it okay to eat garlic because I'm not a vampire anymore. It also means I won't like the taste of blood. That's just wrong. I've always wondered what garlic tastes like, but I'm gonna play it safe.

"Why are you just standing there, Karen?" the Izzy lookalike asks me.

Should I tell her? This universe is probably a lot less nuts than the Y Universe, so she won't take this as well as I have. I probably shouldn't tell her. But you know what? I think I will! What harm could it do? I'm just gonna make sure I've got all the facts right first. "You and I are actresses who play characters named Sid and Izzy on a TV show, right?" I ask her, hoping she'll tell me her name while she answers.

"Yeah," she answers. She said it slowly, so I can tell she thinks I'm being strange. "Why would you ask me a question you already know the answer to?" asks the Izzy-looking person I still don't know the name of.

"Because, and this is gonna sound crazy, I'm not Karen. I'm actually Sid. I somehow came here to this world and took Karen's place," I explain to her. "I'm sorry to blurt all this out on you, but will you please tell me your name?" I ask.

After a brief pause, she says "You've clearly been working too much." That's a strange name. Just kidding. I don't shame anyone's choice of names for their kids. "I'm gonna go tell my daddy to let you have some time off," she says, surprising me.

"He can do that?" I ask. "Also, seriously, please tell me your name," I continue.

"I'm Alice. And my daddy's the boss at this TV network. That's the only reason I'm on the show. You know all that!" she explains. She sounds angry. I wonder if maybe she doesn't want the job. She's walking off to go talk to her father now.

"Wait!" I shout, getting her to turn back around to face me. "Just one more question. Who do you hope ends up being Izzy's soulmate?" I ask Alice. Great idea, huh? I know Alice and Izzy don't have to agree on this, or anything else for that matter, but it's something.

"I already told you I don't care!" Alice shouts at me before storming off.

Well, so much for exploring this alternate universe. I might lose my only way to get home if Alice is gonna tell her dad to give me... Err... Karen time off. I don't know anything about how any of this works, so I can't do anything that's even the tiniest bit risky. It might only let me go back if I'm on that set, so I have to get back to it before they take it down. It's a shame I can't stay here longer because I'd like to meet the actors who play the other people I know. I'm especially curious if Robbie is played by a real robot or if he's just CGI.

I've returned to the stage and I'm avoiding eye contact with the uhh... I don't know what to call it. The place where the film crew is. The part of the stage where there's no wall. I've got my back turned to that thing. Since I don't know the terminology, maybe that means I'm transitioning back to the Y Universe now. If I was really Karen before, she probably would've known what to call it.

Burr! It suddenly got way colder.

Hmm. Do I dare turn around? I guess I don't have a choice.

I've turned around and I'm not on a stage anymore! I've taken off a glove to feel the snow and it's real again! I'm back!

Better tell Izzy about what happened so she can let me know if anything happened while I was gone. "Attention, Izzy. Come in, Izzy," I say in my head, hoping she's listening with her psychic powers.

"Are you Sid again?" I hear her say.

"Yeah, it's me," I let her know.

"Thank goodness!" Izzy exclaims. "You must've gotten mind controlled or something because you kept claiming you were an actress named Karen for the last few minutes. You were freaking out and screaming your head off about it," she explains to me. Now that she mentions it, my throat hurts.

"You're gonna love the explanation I have for all that," I say to Izzy while giggling a little. "But I've got a question for you first. Did you find the cave?" I ask.

"I sure did!" Izzy answers with excitement. "My S.O. is someone named Question Mark Question Mark Question Mark!" she reveals. Like I said, not gonna judge.