"So. Is it a boy?" He asks as he raises an eyebrow at me.

I sigh then shake my head no. "It's not a boy, Tad. Though now that you mentioned it I do wish that this guy Dan, would take a flying leap into the nearest large body of water," I say as he pours himself another glass of beer.

I sigh then shake my head no. "It's not a boy, Tad. Though now that you mentioned it I do wish that this guy Dan, would take a flying leap into the nearest large body of water," I say as I pour myself another glass of beer.

Tad nods his head slightly. "Don't like him much do you?" He enquires as he pours himself another glass of beer as well.

I rub my face and looking up at ceiling I sigh softly. "It's now that..." I pause for a moment then let out another sigh before rubbing the back of my neck. "Just forget it. It's to damn complicated." I finally answer after staying quiet for a few minutes.

Tad just nods his head and stays quiet for a while. I down my beer and pouring myself a another glass when my cousin Ben, who's only a year younger then myself, walks over to our table with a soda in his hand then sits down on my right. We sit and talk for a while and by my tenth beer I'm beginning to come out of my funk that I was in and start to loosen up for a bit. We begin to start to talk about what we have said when telemarketers have called our house.

My added southern accent has my cousin rolling around in his chair. I have to catch him twice in order for him to stay in his chair and so he doesn't fall out of his chair and end up hitting the floor hard.

I'm about to tell him about my idea to get rid of Jehovah's Witnesses that come to our door which involves a strap on, gold foil and fishing line when my other cousin Sabrina, who's a few months younger then myself, comes over to the table and sits down in front of me.

She smiles at me then at Ben and Tad before looking at me again. "So. How are you doing, Jack?" She asks as she leans her elbows on the table looking at me.

I shrug my shoulders looking down into my glass feeling depressed again for some reason. "Aight, I suppose," I say soberly.

She raps her knuckles again the table and grins widely. "Well hey. We've got a bet going about you," she says with a twinkle in her eyes.

I raise an eyebrow at her suspiciously. "And?" I ask smelling a challenge waiting for me. "What's it about?"

Sabrina smiles even wider. "Well, Andrew says that you probably can't remember how to play the guitar," she says as she raises an eyebrow as well. "So the bet is whether or not you can still play anymore."

I give her a look then put my chin on my open palm and nod my head slightly. "Oh really. That's the bet is it?" I ask as I scratch the side of my nose. "Okay. You go take that bet," I say as I get up out of my chair and stride over to where the band is set up.

I beacon for the lead guitarist to come over to me and whisper into his ear. He smiles at me then hands me his guitar. I put the strap over my head and shoulder then turn around towards the band as I step up onto the slightly risen floor that acts as a stage and adjust the guitar around my neck.

"Okay. We're going to play a song by Sir Elton John. You all know Candle In The Wind right? Not the old one, but the Tribute to Princess Diana. Ya'll do know that one right?" I ask as I watch them all nod their heads. "Okay. Lets go then," I say as I turn around and play a couple of rifts on the guitar testing the tuning of the guitar.

I make a few adjustments before nodding my head to the band to begin. We being to play the opening rifts and I surprise them all by stepping up to the mic and begin to sing the lyrics to the song.

"Goodbye England's Rose. May you ever grow in out hearts. You were the grace that placed itself where lives where town apart. You called out to our country, And you whispered to those in pain. Now you belong to heave, And the stars spell out your name."

As I sing I see in my minds eye like a slide show going through my head different things that Alex and I had done. I can see myself and her laughing over things that we had done. It goes from there to us running around the streets laughing deeply as others race after us, trying to get me to stop, but I just run beside Alex smirking at her lopsidedly.

"And your footsteps will always fall here, Along England’s greenest hills; Your candle's burned out long before Your legend ever will."

The scene in my head switches to us standing on a grassy hill, swaying slowly to the music that's coming up towards us from the wedding reception below up then from us dancing to us walking away hand in hand away from the hill.

"Loveliness we've lost These empty days without your smile. This torch we'll always carry for our nation's golden child. And even though we try, the truth brings us to tears; All our words can not express The joy you brought to us through the years."

I can hear myself screaming as I watch Alex fall down onto the ground and see myself running over towards her and cradling her head in my arms as I smooth out her hair and feeling the blade once again enter my back as I try to hold her off the ground so that she wont get all wet.

"Goodbye England's Rose, From a country lost without your soul, Who'll miss the wings of your compassion More than you'll ever know."

I hear the whispers of 'I love you, Sela' and feel her lips on my own then I blink my eyes and look around as I finish the song that I am singing.

"It seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the; Never fading with the sunset When the rain sets in. And your footsteps will always fall here, Along England's greenest hills; Your candles burned out long before, your legend ever will."

After we finish playing and the room erupts into applause and cheers while I walk off the stage and hand the guitar back to the guy who let me borrow it.

"Dude! That was wicked. Where did you learn to play like that?" He asks as taking the guitar back.

I grin slightly then shrug. "Taught myself really. Nothing to it. Just have to practice alot that's all," I say with a grin as I walk back towards my seat receiving back pounding praise from my uncles and teary eyes praise from my aunts.

Finally, though my seat is only a short ways away, after what seemed like thirty minutes I get back to where I was sitting. I sit down and pour myself a glass of beer then lean back against the back rest of my seat. I smile at my uncle fondly then stare at the wall for a while, fighting back my tears of sorrow.

I jump and reach for my blade that is no long there when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn my head to see Tad looking at me with understanding in his eyes.

"It's hard I know, but just remember that if things are meant to be things will get better in time," he says as he pats my shoulder then gets up and leans while I just stare at an empty seat that he had once sat in letting the tears flow freely down my cheeks.

Tad must've seen the look of sadness in my eyes because he leans over and hugs me before looking at everyone else. "Welllllll, I hate to be a party crasher, but I need to get on home. My beacons to me all the way over here," he says with a grin as he gets up.

Max, Marion and Kate stand up as well. "Yeah, we need to go as well," Marion says as she yawns loudly.

I stand up with them and walk them out of the house, making my way slowly while feeling the exhaustion hit me full force. I blink my eyes rapidly feeling like I need tooth picks while I stand watching everyone get into their cars. I wave goodbye to Tad as he heads out and before Kate gets into her car with Max and Marion in it, she kisses my cheek and tells me that she'll see me tomorrow morning. I smile back at her and wave goodbye to them then make my way slowly into the house. I yawn once more and rub my eyes which by now are starting to water due to the need for sleep.

I look up at my dad comes over to me and wraps an arm around me then begins to steer me towards the steps up to my room. "What are you doing? I can walk ya's know," I say as I frown then wave good night to mom.

Dad just grins widely. "Yes, I know this, but you look like you might fall asleep half way up the stairs so I'm gonna help ya'll up to your room and get you to bed," he says as he helps me up the steps.

Feeling to exhausted to argue that much I just allow him to help me up the steps and into my room where I flop down on my bed and close my eyes. Mumbling a good night to dad I roll over and curl up in my blankets and fall fast asleep in my cloths.

"What to wear? What to wear?" I mumble to myself as I go through my shirts pulling ones out that I think would be good to wear for the day.

I whistle to myself softly as I go through the cloths that I had laid on top of my dresser, only to hang almost all of them back up in the closet before finally settling on my long sleeved blue silk shirt. I nod slightly at the shirt before hanging it up on the door knob of my closet and closing the other door.

I walk over to my stereo and turn it on tuning into the local radio station. I walk around my room moving my fingers over the neck of an imaginary guitar as I jam to the music that's blaring through the speakers. I chuckle to myself and roll my eyes while I walk over to my dresser and pull open the top draw then pull out a pair of black socks and a pair of checked hunter green and navy blue boxers. I toss them over onto my bed then crotch down and rifle through the third drawer of my dresser that holds my pants. Finally I settle on a pair of black baggy cargo pants which in turn I toss over onto the bed.

I then dance my way over to the bed with my silk shirt draped over my shoulder before stripping out of my cloths that I had worn yesterday and had fallen asleep in the night before. After I toss my cloths into the laundry hamper that's sitting beside my closet I grab my towel from it's hook and wrap it around my waist before picking up my cloths from the bed then I raise an eyebrow and shrug then throw them back down onto the bed before dancing my way out of the room only to stop at the door and roll my eyes once again. I then chuckle to myself and with a shake of my head I head for the upstairs bathroom, humming to myself while I walk into the bathroom and close the door behind me with a soft click.

Ten minutes later I step out of the shower and grab my towel in order to dry off my body. Once I'm done drying off I rewrap the towel around my waist, comb my hair and put deodorant on before leaving the bathroom and go back into my room to get dressed. I walk into the room to the blaring music coming from the speakers and hear my favourite song on the radio. I sing as I pull my socks, boxers and pants on. Then I stop and look at the bra that's sitting on my bed and raise an eyebrow at it before looking down at my chest and poke at my boobs that are only a size A cup.

"I swear if it wasn't for that fact that I lack a certain part of the male anatomy I would be a man," I mutter to myself as I forgo the bra and slide the silk shirt over my shoulders, after getting my arms into the sleeves which was as fiasco since my shoulder seems to be hurting for some odd reason, feeling the smooth, cool fabric gliding against my skin as my muscles shift and bunch while I button up my shirt. I go over to my dresser and put some cologne on, then I twirl around and imitate one of Michael Jackson's dance moves, then chuckling to myself I stumble over to my desk slightly dizzy and boot up my computer. I flop down in the chair, watching the Operating Systems logo load onto my screen before Beethoven's 5th Symphony plays through the speakers of my computer as the boot up wav.

I'm logging into my hotmail account after about three times of trying to log onto the internet when there's a knock on my door.

"Come on in," I say as I type in my password not looking up from the keyboard when I hear the door opens.

I blink feeling something not right with the presence of this person or the sound of their footsteps.

'Push away from the desk,' a voice inside my head says just as I feel the air whoosh towards me I kick away from the desk at the last minute and I watch a dagger embed into the wood of my desk.

The momentum of the push had wheeled me back against the other side of the room and I thank the gods that I had talked my parents into getting me the chair with wheels on it last year.

I look up and grab one of the daggers I have hanging up on the wall and pull it out of it's sheath and black another blow to my head from my assailant. I look up and right before me is Kate.

My eyes grow wide in shock." What the hell?" I yell as I push her off of me and stand up from my chair and move away from this woman whom I really didn't have the foggiest idea why she was attacking me.

"HEY! I haven't cheated on you ya know. There's no reason for this!" I exclaim as I circle this crazed woman as she gets up and doesn't say anything then comes at me again.

She slashes my right shoulder, in which I counter by ducking left then I duck right when she reverses her attack to my left shoulder, but before she can attack me again, I duck and roll under her defences and come back up only to punch her in the temple knocking her out before she can being another attack on me.

I watch as she slumps to the floor then I walk over to her and kick the dagger away from her hand then I frown slightly as I look at her before squatting down beside her.

I run my fingers through my hair. "Well who ever you are, you are definitely not Alex. She would've known how to counter that move or at least get out of it. I mean she did teach me it, so how could she not know?" I mumble to myself as I pull the impostors shirt up only to reveal smooth skin where a scar from the bullet that went through her shoulder blade should've been.

I blink rapidly. "Well son of a bitch. Either there is a one hell've a plastic surgeon out there that I do not know about or I've just found proof that you are definitely not Alex," I say as I sit down on the floor cross legged after pulling her shirt down.

While I sit there on the floor beside her I tap my leather bracelet that covers a tattoo on the inside of my wrist on my right hand.

I slap myself on the forehead as I remember the tattoo's we both received while drunk. We didn't even remember where we got them, but there was a note beside us saying to cover it with the leather bracelets that were left right beside us. Shaking my head at the obvious give away I should've noticed when I had first met her.

"Gods. I can be so dense sometimes," I say to myself as I take my dagger and cut off the bracelet. I drop my dagger when I see nothing on the inside of her left wrist.

"Okayyyyyyyy. I do believe I have definite proof here that you are not Alex. Now the question is who are you exactly?" I ask myself as I lean my head back and fall over when I see Marion and Max standing in my door way.

I grin sheepishly and wiggle my fingers at t hem from my position on the floor. "Hullo, ya'll," I say as Marion comes over and grabs my hand and helps me up from the floor.

"What in the hell happened here?" Max asks as he looks to the laid out Alex impostor and back to me.

I let out a sigh then point towards the woman on the floor. "All I know is that this isn't the woman I thought she was and that she attacked me for some insane reason," I say as I throw my hands into the air then slap them against my legs as I pull my desk chair back over to the desk and sit down hard in it then lean my elbows on my knees and my chin in my open palm.

"Well how do you know that this woman isn't who you thought she was?" Marion asks me in a soft voice.

I look up at her and give her a look from nodding my head towards the woman. "There's suppose to be a tattoo on the inside of her left wrist, but there isn't," I say as I lean my head back and stare up at the ceiling.

And you're sure about this?" Marion asks as I look away from the ceiling and give her a look that I know says "duh".

"Yes. I'm sure, Marion," I say as I pull off my leather bracelet and show her my tattoo. "It's suppose to look like this. There are some differences, but other wise it's exactly like this one. This woman doesn't have it," I explain as Marion and Max come closer for a better look.

I put the leather strip back around my wrist then stand up and pace around the room then I stop and sigh before walking back over to my desk and pull out my cigarettes from the top drawer of my desk. I look at them sort of dreading the effect they have on me now, but I don't really care at the moment. I tap one out and light it, taking only a small drag from it so not to give myself a coughing fit. I lean back against my desk looking at Marion and Max.

I tap my fingers against the desk, my cigarette dangling from my lips as I think. "There's something I'm not seeing here. What could it be?" I ask myself as I stare at the wall. "Why would someone go to the trouble of making a duplicate, Alex. How would they even know what she looks like? FUCK!" I exclaim as I hit my hand against the wood.

I hear a cough and look towards Marion and Max who are giving me a pointed look. I look from one to the other and shake my head. "NO WAY! He wouldn't know what she would look like now. Hell he doesn't even know what she looked like then. I mean I'm the only one that has a picture," I say as I frown then think while taking another small drag of my cigarette.

"What if someone told him what she looked like, Jack?" Max asks as he runs his fingers through his hair while looking at me.

I shake my head. "Naw that can't be.......WAIT! There was an article in the paper about her and there was a picture. Aww shit. How could I have missed that? That means she told him where I was living and told him about the party. It all makes sense now. Jesus Christ! I'm such a moron sometimes," I exclaim as I put my cigarette out. "Why do these things always fucking happen to me?" I ask the ceiling as I move over to the laid out woman. "We need to tie her up before she wakes up. What we need right now is answers and quick," I say as I look around the room then go over to my chest that I had gotton from my grandmother and rifle through it.

I start tossing things around as I look. "So. What are ya'll doing here any ways?" I ask as I raise an eyebrow as I look through the chest.

"Kate or whoever she is. Forgot her purse and she said something about going to the store after the get together with your family and since Max and I wanted to go to the movies then shopping at the mall we thought that we'd run if over here before we..." Marion stops talking then looks at Max. "Hey, Max. When we were looking at the photos in the living room do you remember seeing a picture that had another person in it that looked like Kate, but the person looked like some guy and Kate said it was her twin brother. I wonder..." she says as I look up at her to see her scratch her jaw.

I furrow my eyebrows as I stand up with some rope that I had once used to hang up my punching bag from the ceiling in my old room and walk over to the laid out woman on the floor. "You're saying that there might be two of them?" I ask as I begin to tie up the woman and then I move her into a sitting position leaning her against the wall as I tie her hands and feet together.

I turn around to face Marion as she nods her head. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying here, Jack. Is it possible that this twin could actually be the real Alex?" She asks as she leans against the wall next to the door.

I shrug slightly. "I don't know. I would have to see the picture, but it's very likely. After al this woman is about the exact copy of Alex no cosmetic surgery could've done that there's no possible way and not in that short of time, but the only thing that who ever set this up, was that I knew what was under the leather bracelet. They however did not because they got the other tattoo's right," I say as I hold up the woman’s hand put mine against hers and show them the yin yang symbol that is completed when our hands are together and look at them with raised eyebrows.

I stand up and walk over to the closet and open the door. "By any chance did this woman say where her twin was?" I ask as I pull out my shoulder holster and slip it on over my shirt before turning around and staring at Max and Marion tapping my sock covered foot against the floor.

She snaps her fingers. "The twin is suppose to live in an apartment on the main drag in town," she says as she runs her fingers through her hair.

I roll my eyes and chuckle as I walk over to the woman once more. "Oh that's works. Oh yes, but we're forgetting something here. It's called WE DON'T even know the twins name and there are about how many apartments on the main street of Elkader?" I ask as I shake my head slight then motion to Max. " Can you give me a hand here? We're going to take her up to the hidden room," I say and he gives me a strange look. I just smirk at him. "Just follow me."

I pick the woman up by her shoulders and Max grabs her legs and we walk, with me in the lead, over to the my closet. I reach behind me and slide it open then I step inside. Max snorts with laughter and I look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" I ask as I feel around for the door knob on the wall that opens up the door to the secret room upstairs that's actually the attic, but it's my attic.

"This is your so called secret room?" He asks still laughing.

I shake my head then my hands touches the door knob and I turn it then kick the door open with the side of my foot. "Nope, but this is," I say with a grin as I slowly walk up the steps after motioning for Marion to follow us.

We slowly make our way up the stairs, when we get to the door I open it and walk over to the chair where Max and I deposit the woman before Max and Marion look around the room in shock.

Marion lets out a low whistle. "Wow. This is way cool," she says as she looks around the room.

I grin as I walk over to a chair and sit down slightly out of breath and feeling a little exhausted from it all. "Yeah, I know. My grandmother had this installed before she died. Dad thinks she knew she was going to pass on and did it so I had some place to hang out without my mother bugging me, because at the time my mom was being real bitch to me," I says as I lean over and grab my combat boots that I had left beside the chair the last time I was up here with my dad and put them on.

I lean my head back against the chair and yawn softly before closing my eyes for a minute in order to get myself situated then I open them and run my fingers through my hair sighing softly. "So what do ya'll purpose we do now?" I ask as I look from Marion to Max and back again.

Marion shrugs her shoulder before replying. "Well we could look up this woman's last name in the phone book and see if there is anyone with her last name living downtown."

I smirk and nod my head then reach into the drawer of the lamp table that holds a phone and pull out a phone book. "Good thinking, Marion," I say as I flip through the book looking up Kate's last name. "Ah HA!" I exclaim as I point to the listing. "There's only one person by her last name that lives on Main Street," I say as I look up at Marion and Max who walk over to me with raised eyebrows.

"WELL! What's the name?" Marion asks as she looks down at the phone book. "Cassandra Vantrous. Okay, that doesn't sound like a mans name, Jack," Marion says with a shake of her head.

I look up from the phone book and at Marion. "Yeah, but what if, Kate, was lying?" I pause in between the words dramatically then do a bum bum bummm and we all laugh. "And actually her twin is a woman with short hair and baggy cloths?" I ask as I pull out a piece of paper and a pen then write down the address before putting the phone book back into the drawer and the piece of paper into my back pocket of my jeans.

"Okay, so, what do we do know?" Max asks as he leans against the pool table crossing his arms.

I stand up from the chair and look at the woman. "Well, she's going to be out for a while, so I suggest we should go and talk to this Cassandra person," I say as I walk over to the hidden door that leads back down to my room.

"Is it really wise to leave her alone?" Max asks as I turn around in time to see him jerk a thumb in Kate's direction.

I nod my head. "Yeah, it's cool. The doors lock from the outside. The only reason why this door was unlocked was because I forgot to lock it and this entire room is sound proof. So she can yell till she's blue in the face and no one will even know she's here," I say with a chuckle as I walk down the steps.

I stop at the bottom and wait for Max and Marion to come through the door before I walk back up stairs to lock the door to the room then I walk back down the steps, close the door, hide it and lock it then I walk I walk out of the closet and close the doors behind me.

I grin at Marion and Max. "Come on lets get going. Where's yer jackets?" I ask as I grab my black leather jacket and put it on.

"We didn't wear jackets," Max says as he falls into step beside me as I walk out of my room and downstairs.

I stop on the steps and look at him. "What do you mean you didn't wear a jacket? This is Iowa. The air has to be bitterly cold out there," I says I walk down the last of the steps.

"Nope. More like fifty degrees outside. Compliments of El Nino," Marion says with a chuckle as she walks down the rest of the steps and stops right beside me.

I roll my eyes and mutter something intelligible then walk out of the house and towards my car, only to notice that Marion and Max are indeed right. It's a nice fifty degrees outside. I just shake my head and get into my car waiting for Max and Marion to get in before starting up the car and backing out of the drive way then down the road towards town.

I'm driving down the road when I feel back lean over the seat. "Where are we going?" He asks as I turn a left heading down the street towards Tads house.

I watch the road as I pull up towards Tads. "We're going to stop here. I figure that if we can get alot more information about the family before we find out why exactly I was being attacked today. So, lets go," I state as I get out of the car and walk up towards the front door.

I stand in front of it waiting for Max and Marion to catch up to me then I walk through the door. "Yo! Tad! You home?" I yell as I walk through the foyer.

"Yeah! I'm in the study, Jack!" Comes a muffled yell in the direction of the hall where the study is located.

I motion for Max and Marion to follow me as I walk down the hall and through the large oaken door. Inside Tad is sitting in a large high backed black leather desk chair, he looks up at me when I walk into the room.

"Hey, Jack. I thought you had a family thing today and Kate was going with you?" Tads asks as he gets up from his chair then motions for us all to take a seat.

I take a seat in a chair that's right in front of him as does Max and Marion then Tad sits back down. "Yeah, well. That's why I'm here. I need some information about Kate's family," I say as I lean back in the chair fixing Tad with a serious stare.

He raises an eyebrow then looks from me to Max and Marion then back again before leaning his arms against the desk. "What's going on here?" He asks as he leans forward fixing me with a stare of his own.

I sigh softly then go begin to tell him what happened this morning with Max and Marion filling in with what they know. When we finish our story Tad just looks at us with a shocked expression on his face.

I tap my fingers against the arm of the chair. "Do you see why I need the information now?" I ask as I run my fingers through my hair.

Tad shakes his head then gives me a weird look. "Okay this is strange. I'm not gonna pretend I understand either, but I will help you get down to the bottom of this. What are your plans for today?" He asks as he begins to flip through a black book he has on his desk.

I cross my arms over my chest and look at him. "Well we were going to go to this apartment and find out who lives there and whether or not I can get some information out of them," I say as I look towards Max and Marion who both nods their heads.

Tad nods his head as well. "Aight, but I want you to have some protection with you. I know. I know. You can take care of yourself, but I would feel better if you did," he says as he picks up the phone.

I stand up and put my hand on his and make him put the phone back down. "Wait a minute. I get to pick who I take with me. This is my problem there for I'm in charge of it and I pick Marion and Max to come with me," I say as I turn around and look towards them. "That is if you except."

Max and Marion look at each other then back at me and smile. "We except," they say at the same time.

"Alright then. You'll need something if you are to help my Niece," he says as I turn to look at him as he gets up out of his chair and walks over to a safe that's behind a picture.

I watch him while he spins the dial then opens up the safe and reaches into it before pulling something out of it. He hands a holster to Max then to Marion. "Here. You're gonna need these," he says as Max pulls out a gun that has the Steffano family crest on it then puts it back and nods his head.

"Alright. Be back in about five hours and I'll more then likely have the information by then," Tad says as he walks over to me and hugs me. "Be careful," he whispers and I nod my head before taking a step back then Max, Marion and myself walk out of his office and out of the house.

We get into the car and I start it up then pull out of the drive way and make our way over to the apartments on the main drag of town. I drive around looking for a parking space which I finally find after about three laps around the block. I pull in then take a deep breath before shutting the car off. We get out of the car and walk up to the door to apartments.

Once we're inside I notice that Marion is squirming. I raise an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong?" I ask as I lean against the door staring at her trying not to laugh at her discomfort.

She continues to squirm. "This holster is cutting into my shoulders!" She exclaims and I can't help, but chuckle at her.

I nod my head and continue to chuckle. "Did you adjust it before strapping it on?" I ask as I push off the door and walk over to her.

Marion looks at me with a surprised expression. "You can adjust it?" She asks while slapping at the scoffing Max who looks like he's about ready to fall on the floor and roll around laughing.

I laugh and shake my head. "Yes, Marion, you can adjust it. Take your flannel off and I'll adjust it for you," I says as I tuck my tank top, that's under my silk shirt, into my pants then I walk over to her as she takes her flannel off and I work at the buckles to adjust the straps for her.

I take a step back and grin at her. "Better?" I ask as I fold my arms over my chest.

She nods her head and smiles. "Yeah, much better. Thanks alot, Jack," she says as we head up the steps to the apartments.

I grin then let out a sigh as we get to the top landing and look around for apartment number two zero four after looking at the apartment number that I had written down on the piece of paper that I had taken out of my back pocket.

We find the apartment at the end of the hall and I take a very deep breath and feel someone pat me on the back. I look back and see Marion giving me a thumbs up and smiling. I grin back then knock on the door.

Behind the door I can here footsteps and mumbling, then I hear locks being undone before the door opens and there standing before me, is an older yet very similar, version of Alex who is now looking at me from within her apartment. Before I can say anything the words that I have been longing, yet not really knowing that I was longing for them, since leaving her room three years ago are uttered.

The woman looks at me with a surprised look on her face. "Oh MY Goddess! Sela you're finally here."

To be Continued in Part 7

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