Chapter Six

Dante came back to her, holding a cup in his hands. Since morning when they'd clashed, she got herself busy.

God knew, she was panicking. This was a whole new experience for her. She'd never acted before, never pretended to be someone else. Maxine had her life planned out already. Since she graduated from high school, she was put on the wait list in the college she wanted to attend and while she waited for her admission into college, she juggled part time jobs and ran errands for Maxine. Her life was pretty much boring until she decided to take a bold step and ditch her family. Up till now, she didn't know what possessed her to do what she did that day.

As she watched her brother's doppelganger approach her, she thought, maybe she was evolving into a totally different person. She hadn't yelled at anyone the way she did today, she couldn't even remember the last time she bore out her heart to someone. The way she and Dante clashed heatedly, first thing in the morning, fascinated the hell out of her.

Still, the thought of her, seated and waiting for a guy she barely knew to come and teach her how to impersonate someone else was laughable.

She thought again, what did Agnes have in store for her when she sent her to this world?

"Hey" Dante called her. She was so lost in thought, she didn't know when he came closer to her. He handed her the cup he held.

"Hi" she forced a smile, "I'm ready" she wished that she felt the confidence that she injected in her voice.

"Before I begin" Dante sat across her  "I need a detailed explanation of how you got here on cue. And why you look just like my sister"

She inhaled. As crazy as this was, she understood everything.

"I am from an alternate universe" she began

"I haven't heard of that before " he interjected

"it's like earth, a totally different earth. We've got human beings and animals and life..."

She trailed off.  "You're Pete in my world---"

"You've made that clear already. Now, tell me how you got here" she understood that he had an icy personality. They hadn't exactly gotten along since she arrived here, so she was going to tolerate him cutting her off anyhow.

"Okay, where do I start...." She began "it was a Friday, a normal, typical day, I woke up, left the house early for my morning shift at my work place, I worked and got off work by 5:00 PM---"

"What type of work?" He asked

"I worked at a huge shop so all I did was to welcome customers with a smile on my face and sell stuff to them" she said

"The 'stuff' you sold doesn't have a name?"

She breathed sharply, she felt like she was being cross examined by him

"You know, groceries for cooking, stationaries, utensils, literally everything needed at home"

She stared at him, he looked confused

"Stationaries? Utensils?" He asked "what are those?"

She gaped "you don't know what stationaries are?"

"Nope"

"Papers? Pens and pencils? everything concerning writing?"

"I've never seen such things before"

"Humour me!" She stared at him in disbelief

"Okay, Davina. What happened after you got off work"

Somehow, she liked the way he said her name.  "I went home and met my mom and siblings. Typical of Maxine, my mom, to send me on multiple errands" she looked down as she said this, she disliked the fact that she still missed her mom even after the maltreatment she received.

"I returned from the errands at night and I was famished. My mom didn't acknowledge the fact that I worked for her, my siblings lazed around and I was totally insignificant to them...." She trailed off. She could feel moisture in her eyes. She didn't want to break down in front of this hunky who sat in front of her.

"I figured my mom didn't leave any food for me and it pissed me off. My siblings were goading me non stop. I lost my cool then" she paused to look up at Dante. Though his eyes held a glint of suspicion, he seemed interested in her story.

"You can imagine what I did. The impulsive decision I took that led me here. That moment, I was so furious at my mom that I had to leave. I left home in the middle of the night"

Dante's eyes widened

"It was stupid of me, but all I knew was that I didn't want to spend another second with someone who didn't give a damn about me"

"As I wandered aimlessly on the road, I met this lady and she invited me to her house. I was so foolish to think that she was my last minute saviour. I told her what happened to me and in the midst of my whining, I told her that I wanted to be in a world where people loved and cared about me"

She stopped to glance up at Dante again. His eyes held an emotion she couldn't read.

"That was how it all unfolded. She told me that she was a witch and I jokingly told her to prove it, and she sent me here."

She fell silent, waiting for him to speak.

"How did you feel when you saw yourself here?" He asked

She gulped. She didn't expect that question. No one has asked her how she felt before.

"Shocked at first, I hated Agnes, I thought she played a fast one on me, but then I saw y'all and everything looked real"

He stared at her. In fact, they both stared at eachother. She realised that she had no reason to stare at him like that, so she averted her gaze. She suddenly found interest in the texture of the floor because what could she do? She felt awkward. She just told her sob story to a guy who looked like her brother and she barely knew.

When a little time passed, she looked at him, to know the reason for the sudden silence but caught him still staring at her face like it was a mystery he wanted to unravel.

"Um--" she began awkwardly "why are you staring at me like that?"

"You look way more prettier than my sister" he replied