I walked with Kayla back to our room. Once we got there we immediately opened the folders Laura Jackson 19 Raised in the Pacific Bubble. Ran away at the age of 18 with Sandra Delson, Luisa Fellows, Trent Wilson, and Carl Triply. Parents are deceased, May and Greg Jackson. Lived with her aunt Stacy for a year before leaving... The file went on and on. I learned that my favorite food was NutraStix, I was allergic to bees and hydrangea, my best friend was Sandra Delson, that sort of thing. Gradually I got a feel to who Laura Jackson was, she was quiet, shy, sweet, and not very outspoken. I skimmed through it to make sure there was nothing I was missing, and then I saw it. 1 month pregnant by Trent Wilson
I looked over at Kayla whose hair was rapidly changing from blue, to red, and at one point multicolor. I looked over her shoulder. Luisa Fellows 19 Raised in pacific bubble. Has one older sister Erica (deceased). Half German half French... At this point Kayla no longer looked like Kayla. Her hair had become long and blonde, and her skin had a light dusting of freckles across her nose. I was now sitting next to Luisa Fellows. Parents are Monique (deceased) and Gustaf Fellows. Mother and sister dead by plane crash. After a few minutes Kayla finished reading. She looked up at me. "Name?" "Laura Jackson." "Age?" "19." "Family?" "Deceased." We sat there, until I finally said what we were both thinking. "Were they real people?" "I don't know." Suddenly Dara opened the door. "Last creature immersion guys, it's a double so we can say goodbye to everybody." Kayla and I followed her out the door. Great... I thought to myself, All I needed was to be told how worthless I am by Ivy... But then I realized something, I could find my parents... I walled into the Vampire habitat, determined to find my father (I had deduced that my father was a Vampire because Vampire women were to maternal to keep their parenthood a secret). Nix immediately ran up to me. "Is it true this is the last time I'll see you?" "Yes it is." She looked up at me. "Can't I trade you with Ivy?" I laughed. "Unfortunately not, but there is something you can do." She looked at me excitedly. "What is it?" "Can you get all the male vampires into the center?" She smiled. "Of course I can! But why?" "You'll see." Within an hour all the men old enough to be my Dad were in the center. I scanned through the crowd, but nobody really looked like me. Nix sat by me, looking curious. "Need any help?" "Can you look through the crowd and tell me who looks the most like me?" "Of course." And in a flash she was gone. "Zoë, what is the meaning of this?" I looked up and gasped. The high cheekbones, almost glowing pale skin, how had I not seen it before? And at that moment I knew one thing for sure, the Chief was my father.
Chief looked at me funny. "Why are you staring at me?" I jumped up and hugged him. "Daddy!" Chief looked surprised. "Excuse me?" I looked at him. "You didn't know?" "Well I do now." I walked out of the Vampire habitat. It was hard to believe I'd been in there for over three hours. I walked over to the mermaid habitat, now I would discover my mom. I quickly changed into my bikini, yeah I wear bikinis, and dived in. Immediately I was surrounded by dozens of merpeople, all of them hugging me and cheering. "What is all this?" One of them smiled. "It's your last day here, we want it to go out with a bang!" I swam over to Coral, the chieftess. "But all I really want is to meet my mom." She smiled kindly at me. "Honey, you already have." I walked out of the tank, grinning from ear to ear. I saw Xavier and waved him over. I saw that he to was smiling broadly. "What's got you so happy?" He laughed. "I found my parents! It was Shota and Marrow!" "Marrow?" "Demons give morbid names. So what about you?" I spent the next few minutes or so explaining what happened, Xavier listened intently. "Thats great! So I'll see you in Mrs Dubose office?" Oh crap, I completely forgot we had a meeting. "Totally!" "See you then!" It wasn't till after he left that I realized I'd been wearing my teeny weeny bikini the whole time I'd been talking to him. I walked into Mrs Dubose office late. She smiled her crocodile smile. "Please sit Miss Zoë." I sat it a seat next to Kayla and Benoit. "I trust you all figured out who you're parents were?" We all nodded. "Good. And you all read your files?" I suddenly remembered what the file had said. 1 month pregnant "Excuse me?" Kayla said cautiously, "Were any of these people real?" Mrs Dubose laughed. "Why of course dear! But unfortunately there was a gas leak... All that is in those files were from autopsy reports and mental scans. But the stories are genuine." "Was there really a gas leak?" Dara said defiantly, "I can't imagine 5 people who happen to look exactly like us would all just fall dead." "Well they might have had a little help. But it was completely worth it." "I don't think they would agree." She shot me a nasty look and continued. "Now the transformation." She clapped her hands and ten men in black appeared from behind the curtains. "Take them away!" "Wait what are they doing?" She smiled her crocodile smile again. "They're just going to make you like your alias, in every way." 1 month pregnant Pregnant
"It's uncanny..." "It's almost as if..." "No... It's a coincidence." "Wait..." "... No" "... What?..." "..." I woke up in a hospital bed. I saw Dara on my left and Kayla on my right, Xavier and Benoit were on the other side of the room. A nurse rushed over to me. "Good, you're awake." "Where am I?" She wrote something on her clipboard. "You're in recovery!" "Recovery from what?" "Your physical silly! We had to make sure every part of you was in perfect order, and we needed tissue samples from every organ." "You didn't change anything?" "Only minor changes were made." And with that she walked off to check on Dara. Minor changes? Within a week the makeover process had started, as I gradually was made to become Laura Jackson. While most physical changes could be made with a MorphRing others weren't so simple. My hair was plastered, cut, hacked and maimed until it was unrecognizable. Within a week Mrs Dubose was right, Dara, Benoit, Kayla, Xavier and Zoë didn't exist.
I stepped into Mrs Dubose office for the last time, late again. I looked at the others, all were very different. "Ah thank you for joining us Miss Jackson." I almost told her my name was Zoë, but Zoë doesn't exist anymore. "I would like to introduce you to your best friends." She walked behind Kayla. Her hair was platinum blonde and her eyes were a piercing green. "This is Luisa Fellows, you have all known her for over three years." She then stepped behind Dara. Dara's hair was a dirty blonde and she had the sunken look of somebody who doesn't eat much. "This is Sandra Delson, best friend of Laura Jackson and recovering anorexic." Now she was behind me. She played with my now straight black hair, admiring the fact that my streaks were gone. "This is Laura Jackson, I'm sure she'll have LOTS to tell you." Now she was behind Benoit, eyeing his new buzz cut "This is Carl Triply, he speaks virtually no English." But if he's Carl then... I looked over at Xavier who Mrs Dubose was now standing behind. "And finally we have Trent Wilson, oh the things he doesn't know!" She laughed wickedly and turned to face us. "You have 3 hotel rooms in Old York at The Maxim, under the name Greggs." "What about our pets?" She smiled at me. "I can assure you our kennel is top notch." It was the last time in my room. My instructions were to change and get out. I looked over sadly at DeathBite and Taxi, both were sitting silently looking at me and Kayla. I looked at her. "I think they know." "How?" "I'm not sure, but I think they do." I looked back at DeathBite, she was my best friend, I couldn't just leave her and Taxi here. "They're coming with us." And with that I grabbed DeathBite and put her in my bag. Kayla quickly followed suit with Taxi. "Should we be doing this?" I glared at Kayla. "If you want to leave Taxi here be my guest." Kayla didn't talk after that. We stepped out of the MergePod. I looked up to see the real night sky for the first time in my life. "Wow." I breathed as we walked inside. I walked with the others to the front desk. A cheery woman smiled at us. "Hello! Welcome to The Maxim. Do you have reservations?" Xavier smiled at her. "Greggs, two rooms." "Yes of course." The woman handed them to us. "Laura! There you are!" I turned around to see Gina Valei running towards me.
"I didn't think you were coming! How are you?" I looked over at the others and did the only think I could think of, I puked on Gina Valei's shoes. I know, smooth. Xavier ran over. "Bad NutraStix, past expiration date." And with that he ushered me into the elevator with the others. "What was that?" "I got nervous?" The five of us stood there in silence, until a metallic voice rang out: "One hundred and fiftieth floor" We all stepped out and were faced with a new dilemma, what room we were supposed to go to. In the end Dara, Kayla, and Benoit were in one room and Xavier and i were in the other. I opened my suitcase and DeathBite leaped out. "What's she doing here?" "I couldn't leave her behind you know?" "Actually I do." He unzipped his suitcase and his dog jumped out. I laughed, but it was immediately replaced with a scowl after my communicator started buzzing. "What is it?" I could hear Mrs Duboses voice on the other end. "Are you checked in?" "Yes." "How are your pets?" "How did you-" "Did you think we didn't notice, honestly? That's pathetic." I remained silent. "Did you meet Gina?" "Wha-" "It's a simple question." "Yes." "Good, stage one is complete." "Wait-" And with that she was gone.