Unknown

Chapter Eighteen

As Randy was telling his story to Dr. Adams, Dr. Gray opened the door to Alex’s padded room. Alex was sitting in the floor while wearing a straight jacket.

Alex looked up at Dr. Gray as he walked in before saying, “This straight jacket isn’t necessary.”

“I thought that about two weeks ago and when I had it removed, you put two bullets in your abdomen,” Dr. Gray said. “It was really short of a miracle that you even survived.”

“So Michelle was right.”

“Who is Michelle?”

Alex shook his head before saying, “She’s no one important. Doctor, there’s probably nothing I can say that would convince you that I won’t attempt to commit suicide. However, I will say though that I’m not the same Alex who had attempted suicide.”

“What do you mean?”

“You won’t believe me.”

“If you don’t tell me then you are not even giving me a chance to believe you.”

“All right. I will tell you everything.” Alex told Dr. Gray what had happened from the beginning to end.

As the days passed, the psychiatrists didn’t know what to make of the story that was told to them. The parents to Alex’s group were even called in.

Thursday, November 11, at 9:00 A.M., the parents were sitting in a conference room with the doctors and were told of the story.

After hearing the entire story Nicholas O’Brien said, “I’m also at a loss at what to make of the story, but there were some facts in Alex and Doug’s part of the story that I never told anyone.”

“What kind of facts, Mr. O’Brien?” Dr. Gray asked.

“When I was injured on the job and had to go to the hospital, a nurse was about to give me a shot that I was allergic to. However, before the nurse injected me with it she asked me if I was allergic to any medicine. When she asked, she asked me as if it was an afterthought. I can still remember the look on the nurse’s face when I told her what medicines that I was allergic to.”

“So the nurse almost gave you a shot that you were allergic to?” Dr. Adams asked.

“As I said, the nurse asked me only as an afterthought, and my mind wasn’t on that either, so yes if other realities are real, I might’ve been given that shot. And also like my sons’ story goes, I had taken out a life insurance policy and made Beverly the beneficiary.”

“Did Alex or Doug know any of that?” Dr. Gray asked.

“I was the only one who knew about any of it.”

After Nicholas spoke his piece, Cindy’s mother said, “Eighteen years ago, I came extremely close to going to an abortion clinic when I found out that I was pregnant with Cory.”

With a surprised expression across his face, Cindy’s father uttered, “What?!”

“We were separated and I didn’t want you to think that I was trying to get you to come back by saying that I was pregnant.”

“What stopped you from having an abortion?” Cindy’s dad asked.

“My mom told me as I was leaning towards an abortion that she had an abortion when I was about five years old. Having that abortion caused her to not be able to have any more kids. I saw the regret of that decision in my mom’s eyes, and I didn’t want that to be me in twenty years.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”

“I didn’t feel it was important enough to tell you.”

“Okay, obviously there are facts in your sons’ and daughters’ stories that are true to a degree, but for them to trade realities with their other selves from another reality sounds more like a science fiction story,” Dr. Tyson, the leading doctor, said.

“My sons knew about Avery Larson and his sister Melissa,” Beverly said. “They never met those two people before, and the story of how Avery and I would have gotten together if the reality of Nick dying would have come true does fit.”

“Dr. Gray, I believe my sons’ story and I would like them released,” Nick said.

“Mr. O’Brien, at this point in time, I don’t see that to be a wise move.”

“I don’t care. I want Doug and Alex released,” Nick said.

The parents of the others spoke up and said the same thing about their kids.

“Other than Alex, the others never displayed any dangerous tendencies towards themselves or towards others, so I have no problems with releasing them,” Dr. Tyson said. “I do have a problem with…”

Nick interrupted with, “I want Alex released also.”

“I really don’t see that as a wise decision,” Dr. Gray said.

“It is my final decision on this and if you don’t release Alex, I will be contacting a lawyer.”

Dr. Tyson sighed before saying, “Okay, Mr. O’Brien. Alex will be released; however, I strongly suggest that Alex… and even the others be placed in an out patient therapy treatment. My recommendation is for them to go to therapy at least once a week for the next eight weeks.”

“We’ll agree to that,” Beverly said. Beverly looked at Nick. “Right, honey.”

“Them going to therapy sounds like a reasonable suggestion and an alternative to staying here.”

“Okay, give me about two hours to get the paper work in order and all of your sons and daughters will be released.”

11:35 A.M., outside near the entrance of the facility, Alex, Doug, Randy, Kenny, Ben, Cindy and Brandy were gathering for the first time in days as their parents were signing the papers.

Alex saw Doug and Randy walking up to him and when they stepped up, Doug asked, “So, bro? Are you mad at us for forcing you to return with us?”

Alex shook his head before saying, “Actually, I’m slowly returning to my former self. I mean I would have been okay if I was living my life in the other reality, but I am finding myself with my old opinions again… oh and my attraction to women is back.”

Brandy grinned before asking, “Are you certain about that?”

Alex grinned while saying, “I’m certain. In fact, there’s a beautiful nurse in there who I am definitely attracted to.” Alex pointed to a spot on the right side of his lip. “The nurse I’m talking about has a dark freckle right about here.”

“I saw her too and she is pretty,” Kenny agreed.

“Well, it sounds like you’re returning to normal,” Doug said.

“Alex, I heard that the other Alex attempted suicide while she was living your life,” Cindy said.

“That’s true,” Alex said. “I have half healed bullet wounds just below my rib cage. According to Dr. Gray, the other Alex came very close at committing suicide.”

“What would’ve happened to you if the other Alex had committed suicide?” Ben asked. “Would you have jumped along with us?”

Randy was the one to say, “No. Alex wouldn’t have jumped with us.”

“How can you be sure?” Brandy asked.

“Using the term Alternate Reality Traveler… or ART for someone who swaps realities, the only way an ART can swap realities is if the person traveling exists in both realities. In Alex’s case where he is a man in this reality and a woman in the other reality; the moment when Alex was conceived, the exact egg was fertilized in both realities, but by different sperm. The same would be true with all of us in other realities as well.”

“So there’s a reality out there that I wasn’t able to jump along with you guys, isn’t there?” Alex asked Randy.

Randy looked at Alex for a long moment before answering his question.

Sunday, November 7, at 9:02 A.M., in the reality Alpha 0.0.0.1.0.5.0, at Harvard’s library, Doug and the others were standing between the bookshelves and out of sight from the entrance. When Alex and Cindy walked in, Cindy pointed towards the bookshelf that held the mythology books before nervously saying, “I got this book from over there.”

Cindy saw that Alex was giving her a curious look before Alex said, “Let’s see if we can find the book.” After taking a couple of steps towards the shelf, Alex noticed how nervous Cindy was acting. “Are you all right, Cindy?”

In a snappy reply Cindy said, “Of course. Things couldn’t be better. Randy’s remote is supposed to be ready today and all of us can return to our home reality.” Alex abruptly stopped. Cindy stopped and looked at Alex. “Is there anything wrong?”

“You wouldn’t be looking for a specific book knowing that you’ll be returning to your own reality.”

As Alex was looking over the room, Cindy nervously asked, “What do you mean?”

Alex looked at Cindy before saying, “You made a good attempt, but I’m staying here.”

As Alex was turning to leave, Cindy grabbed Alex before crying out, “Doug, help! Alex knows!”

As Doug and the others rushed to help stop Alex from leaving, the librarian also walked towards Alex and Cindy to investigate the commotion.

Alex was just about to break free when Doug and Kenny ran up and grabbed hold of her.

“Alex, you’re not going anywhere so settle down,” Doug quickly said.

The librarian stepped up and demanded to know, “What’s going on here? Why are you holding this young lady?”

“This young lady is my sister, Alex, and she’s a kleptomaniac,” Doug said.

Alex gave Doug a surprised looked before blurting out, “What?!”

Cindy held up the mythology book that she had while saying, “I found this book in her possession and if you check your records, this book was reported missing yesterday.”

“And Alex was making such progress at getting better these last few months,” Doug added.

The librarian took the book before saying, “Hold her until I can check my records.”

As the librarian was walking away Alex said, “You guys are my friends and I can’t believe that even one of you would sink so low as to resort to this.”

Randy pulled out the remote that was preset to an address that he thought to be the correct one before saying, “Because you are our friend is why we resorted to this.”

“The book was actually checked out by my roommate, and I was returning it for her,” Brandy said. “We just told the librarian what we did so he would walk far enough away from us.”

“It’s time to go home,” Randy said.

Alex watched Randy’s thumb as he pressed the remote.

Seconds after Randy pressed the button, Alex watched her brother and friends as they fell to the floor unconscious.

Alex gave her friends curious and confused looks while saying barely above a whisper, “Okay; now this is weird.”

The librarian saw Alex’s friends fainting and rushed back over to them. As he rushed up he worriedly asked, “What’s going on? What happened to them?”

Alex confusingly stared at the librarian and searched her thoughts for a believable response before responding with, “What do you mean what happened? You didn’t feel that?”

With a confused expression across his face, the librarian quickly asked, “Feel what?”

“Some kind of shock wave came through here; perhaps a sonic boom.”

The librarian gave Alex a skeptical look before saying, “Young lady, if there was a sonic boom, windows would be broken out.”

“Well, some kind of wave came through here because I almost fainted from it myself.”

“I didn’t feel a thing.”

“Yeah, that’s weird that you were the only one who didn’t feel it. You don’t have any inner ear defects, do you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with my inner ear,” the librarian insisted.

“Well, I was born with a slight inner ear defect and I was thinking that my defect was what kept me from fainting.”

“Well, I don’t have any inner ear defects,” the librarian repeated.

“Are you sure? Have you ever been tested?”

“This discussion is over. And I’m going to call nine-one-one.”

Alex gave the librarian a concerned look before uttering, “No; don’t do that… not yet anyway. They should wake up any second now.”

Alex saw Trudy and Miles rushing in as the librarian was backing away. Just before he turned to walk away he said, “I’m calling nine-one-one.”

Alex looked at the librarian and slightly cringed. She then turned towards Trudy and Miles.

As Trudy and Miles stepped up, Trudy gave Alex an inquisitive stare before asking, “Alex, do you know what happened?”

“Something’s not right. Randy was standing right next to me when he pressed the remote. I’m glad that I didn’t, but I should have switched realities with them.”

“So you are the Alex who was here for the past two weeks?” Trudy asked.

“I am. Oh and I told the librarian that I felt some kind of shock wave come through at the point they fainted as an explanation as to why they fainted. He doesn’t believe me, so I need you and Miles to help me convince him.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Miles said.

“Yeah, same here,” Trudy said. She then saw Doug stirring and pointed. “Alex, look.”

Alex turned to look and saw Doug moving. Doug opened his eyes and when he saw Alex, he quickly sat up and delightfully blurted out, “Alex, is it really you?”

As Doug was quickly getting on his feet, Alex said, “Yes… and no.”

Doug glanced at Trudy and then at Miles. As he scanned the room he sullenly said, “I’m dreaming. This isn’t real.”

“Doug, you’re not dreaming,” Alex said.

Doug looked at Alex before saying, “Then I entered the twilight zone again.”

“You never entered the twilight zone… well, not exactly anyway,” Alex said.

“You talk as if you know what’s going on.”

“I do.”

“How could you? I mean, you were just as confused as I was just before….”

Alex gave Doug a curious look before asking, “Just before what?”

Doug said barely above a whisper, “Just before you committed suicide.”

A stunned expression came across Alex’s face just before she looked at Trudy while saying, “That must have been why I didn’t switch. The me in my reality is dead.”

Doug gave Alex a confused look before asking, “What are you talking about?”

“Doug, I am Alex, but I’m not the same Alex you know.”

“Again what are you talking about?”

“Multiple realities exist and my friends and I were switched with the us of your reality. Except for me, the two realities should be corrected.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Doug, Alex is telling you the truth,” Trudy confirmed.

“How? How can what you say be possible?”

Alex looked down at Randy and saw that he, Brandy and Ben were stirring. She then pointed to Randy before saying, “In my reality that man is my best friend since childhood. He is also the most brilliant scientist Harvard has seen in a long time. Unfortunately, his theories were so far ahead of the professors that the professors saw him as a joke. He built a device that was supposed to have opened up a wormhole so he could travel into other realities.”

Brandy and Ben opened their eyes and as they looked up, Doug said, “There was no wormhole.”

“Yeah, that was where his theory went awry.”

Ben sat up and looked around before uttering, “Oh God, not again!”

Brandy also sat up before saying, “We’re back at Harvard.”

Alex saw the others moving around just as she was saying, “I will explain what had happened once everyone is back on his or her feet.”

Doug saw the librarian walking up and as everyone was getting back on his or her feet, Alex turned to see what Doug was looking at.

The librarian stepped up and informed everyone, “An ambulance is on its way.”

“We don’t need an ambulance,” Alex said before giving Doug a look as if for him to play along. “My friends had blacked out because of a shock wave that came through here.”

“Again, there was no shock wave; sonic boom or a wave of any kind,” the librarian strongly insisted.

“Are you telling me that you didn’t feel that?” Doug asked.

“God, I was walking down the stairwell and I almost fainted from it,” Miles said.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not buying it, and I hope you don’t think that the paramedics will buy it also,” the librarian told them.

Trudy glanced at Alex before asking, “Buy what?”

With a confused expression across his face, the librarian answered, “Buy your guys’ excuse as to why these six fainted.”

Trudy looked at Doug and the others before asking, “Did anyone in here faint or blackout?”

Doug looked at the librarian before saying, “I don’t know of anyone who fainted.”

“I saw you and your friends faint,” the librarian insisted.

“And who will the paramedics and the police believe?” Miles asked. “You or the nine of us?”

“Okay, I don’t know what’s going on, but obviously I will be looking like a fool when the paramedics get here,” the librarian angrily hissed. “I can’t do anything about this incident; however, you nine consider yourselves warned. I will be watching each one of you from this point forward.” The librarian turned and walked away.

“Okay, would someone like to tell me as to what is really going on?” Randy quickly asked. “The last thing I remember was being in a mental institution for supposedly having delusions.”

“So was I,” Kenny, Ben, Brandy and Cindy proclaimed.

“All of you were institutionalized?” Alex quickly and incredulously questioned.

“We were,” Randy confirmed. “The doctors there were trying to convince me that I knew each and everyone of you. And I was in a Mexican jail just before waking up in this room the first time.”

“I heard that you committed suicide,” Brandy told Alex.

“You were also changed into a man somehow,” Cindy added.

“Multiple realities exist, and two of the realities, your reality and mine, were crossed,” Alex explained.

“Are you saying that you don’t belong to this reality?” Kenny asked.

“The Alex who belongs to this reality committed suicide in my reality, and therefore I was unable to switch back along with everyone else.”

“How was the reality crossed?” Randy asked.

“Randy, in my reality, you were the one who had caused this,” Alex answered.

Kenny gestured towards Randy while angrily demanding to know, “This man caused it?”

“Obviously this Randy didn’t do it,” Miles told him. “He was in a Mexican jail cell for breaking and entering.”

Randy gave Miles a curious look as Alex said, “Kenny, the Randy from my reality loved science and he’s destined to be a great scientist…”

“In other words the Randy from your reality was showing off,” Kenny interrupted with.

“Not exactly,” Alex told him. “Prof. Blumberg was giving Randy F’s for his alternate reality theory research papers. Randy decided that he was going to prove to the Professor and everyone that his papers weren’t science fiction nonsense. So he shut himself up in his rented house, and created a remote that he thought that would open a wormhole into an alternate reality. Obviously it didn’t work how he thought it would. In my reality, each one of us was with Randy when he tested his remote.”

Ben looked down and saw the remote on the floor. He then pointed to it while asking, “Is this the remote that caused all of this?”

“The remote would stay in its own reality, so that remote is the remote that Randy had to re-create to fix the crossed reality,” Alex said.

Kenny stepped up to the remote and crushed it. As an afterthought he looked at Alex while saying, “I hope you didn’t have a problem with me doing that.”

An amused grin came across Alex’s face just before Alex shook her head while saying, “I had planned to do that myself. You just beat me to it.”

“Hey, Red, how did I get out of that Mexican jail?” Randy asked.

“Randy, my name is Alex and I’ll tell everyone everything. But can I do it on the way to the cafeteria? I’m actually starving.”

Doug gestured for her to walk before saying, “After you.”

As everyone left the library they saw paramedics entering the building. They ignored the paramedics as they continued to walk away.

While walking to the cafeteria, Alex explained to Randy and the others as to how she knew who Randy was and how she knew to look for Randy in Mexico City. Alex even mentioned to Doug about Michelle’s involvement and that Michelle has knowledge of the crossed reality. Everyone was walking up to the end of the food line in the cafeteria when Alex was finishing the story on how everyone was able to get to Mexico and on how Randy was released from the Mexican jail.

Once Alex’s explanation was finished, Doug tapped Alex on her shoulder before asking, “Okay, who is Nicholas O’Brien?”

“He is our biological father,” Alex said.

Doug, with a shock expression across his face, quickly demanded to know, “What are you talking about?”

“In this reality, a month before mom knew that she was pregnant with us, Nicholas O’Brien had died from a severe allergic reaction to an injection that he was given. Mom then met Avery. Two days later and in front of Avery, a doctor tells mom that she’s pregnant. You know the rest better than I do.”

“I can’t believe that, that was kept from us… I mean, the Alex who belongs here and me.”

“They actually had no intentions in telling you or Alex. Mom and… well, I guess dad to me now, had acted as though Doug and I had literally resurrected the dead when we brought up the name Nicholas Christopher O’Brien. In fact, when Doug and I were busted for being in St. Louis, we had told mom and dad that we were there looking for Nicholas. That was when Mom told us how he died.”

“Trudy, how long have you known about this crossed reality?” Doug asked.

“Pretty much from the beginning,” Trudy said.

“The day after the switch, Trudy and Miles were insisting that I go to the doctor for severe memory loss. So it was either go to the doctor or take my chance and tell them the truth. As you already know, I told them the truth and after telling them, they helped me out so no one else would think that I was having severe memory loss. That and I have been reading Alex’s diaries every chance I got.”

Kenny was behind Alex by three people and as they were moving through the food line he angrily grumbled, “At least you knew what was happening to you and you also knew what to do to fit in. We were oblivious of the whole thing.”

Alex stopped and jerked around to look at Kenny before she defensively shot back, “Including the Randy who created the remote, there were fourteen victims here.”

Doug and Miles stepped between Alex and Kenny just as Doug quickly uttered, “Time out! Kenny, I do believe that the Randy who created the remote didn’t know that we would all switch as we did. So any more accusations towards Alex, you will have to deal with me.”

“I wasn’t accusing Alex of anything,” Kenny quickly proclaimed.

“So that wasn’t hostility towards me that I heard?” Alex questioned.

“Alex, I’m upset over the situation and not with you,” Kenny assured her. “So I’m sorry if I sounded hostile towards you.”

Alex nodded before saying, “I’m sorry too.” Alex then faced forward and continued to step through the line.

A short time later, as everyone was walking towards the table with his or her meal, Cindy asked, “Alex, since you weren’t able to switch back, can you adjust to being in this reality?”

Trudy chuckled before saying, “She’s already adjusted to this reality.”

Alex, while slightly annoyed, looked at Trudy before sarcastically saying, “That didn’t make me sound bad at all.”

“Alex, that isn’t bad,” Trudy assured her as they stepped up to the table. As everyone was placing his or her tray on the table Trudy continued to say, “As I told you before, I believe as to how fast you had been assimilated into this reality, was this reality correcting itself.”

As everyone was taking his or her seat, Doug said, “A few days before the second switch, I felt myself adjusting to my new… to the other reality.”

“I was too,” Randy said.

Cindy had readied a bite to eat, but before she took it, she asked, “So, Alex, are you okay with living your life as a woman?”

Doug, Ben and Cindy noticed the slight grin that Alex had given Miles before she answered with, “I’m okay with living my life this way.”

When Miles returned Alex’s grin, Doug casually asked, “So, Alex, how long have you and Miles been a couple?”

Alex gave Doug a ‘caught red handed’ look before she finally answered with, “Only two days. I knew I was being assimilated into this reality just before I was even here a whole week. I tried to resist it, but my feelings for Miles dramatically grew each day until resisting didn’t make any sense anymore.”

“And Alex is a woman with woman’s desires,” Miles added.

“I’m not judging either one of you,” Doug assured them.

“Alex, even though this reality had assimilated you as you and Trudy put it, you still tried to return to your reality with the others?” Randy asked.

Everyone saw that Alex’s expression was as if she didn’t want to answer, and after taking a deep breath, she finally said, “Doug and the others didn’t give me the chance to decide what to do. They tricked me into being in the library without even trying to convince me to be there on my own.”

Doug grinned before saying, “That’s exactly what I would’ve done.”

Alex smiled at Doug before taking a bite of food. After Alex swallowed the bite she said, “Doug, when we get back in St. Louis, I’m going to need your help to fit in.”

“I’ll help you where I can,” Doug said.

Alex grinned before saying, “Thanks.”

When Doug nodded, Ben said, “Alex, I was at work when the first switch happened. Do I still have a job?”

“I honestly don’t know. Ben… the other Ben never said how he handled things when he was in Atlanta.”

“Ben, what kept you from going to Harvard when the Ben in the other reality did?” Cindy asked.

“The Ben in the other reality won the scholarship, and I didn’t,” Ben said. “And I would love to know what he did differently to get it.”

“You may not have done anything differently,” Alex told him. “For each crossroad event that a person comes to in his or her life, that event will spawn multiple realities.”

“An interesting theory you have,” Randy said.

Alex, while pleasantly grinning, looked at Randy before saying, “The theory isn’t mine; it’s yours.”

“So even in another reality, you would’ve switched along with the others?” Cindy questioned.

“I believe so,” Alex said. Alex then saw that Brandy was just sitting there without joining the conversation. “Brandy, why are you so quiet?”

“I’m just listening to what you have to say,” Brandy said. “After I get done eating I’m going to attempt to get my life back to normal.”

“Brandy, I know you and the other Alex weren’t friends, but in my reality everyone at this table… except for Trudy and Miles who I didn’t even know until I came here, have been friends and study partners since our freshman year. I would like it if all of us can be friends.”

“I didn’t like Alex because she was an arrogant and a fastidious person,” Brandy proclaimed. “You, I don’t even know.”

“I know all of Alex’s shortcomings, Brandy. In fact, I’m the one who inherited her reputation, but what you need to realize is that Alex had a good heart. She never meant to alienate herself the way she did.”

“I can only take your word for that. As for us being friends, it’s not going to happen right away.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to.”

“Good.”

“Oh, I do owe you a good sum of money, and I will pay you back.”

“Why do you owe me money?”

“Yours and the other Brandy’s realities were basically identical. The other Brandy was able to get into your bank account. She gave Doug and me the money to get to St. Louis to look for Randy.”

“The money given to you was in an effort to fix the two realities, right?”

“It was. Randy was the only one who could correct them, so we needed to find him.”

“Then you don’t have to pay me back.”

Alex pleasantly grinned before saying, “Thanks; that’s sweet of you.” She then took another bite of food.

“You’re welcome.”

“Alex, if each crossroad event would spawn multiple realities, then would there be a reality where there's another alternate group of you and your friends who didn’t correct things, but disrupted yet another reality?” Randy asked.

Alex looked at Randy and thought for a second before saying, “I don’t know for sure, but I would say ‘yes’.”

Sunday, November 7, at 9:02 A.M., in the reality Alpha 0.0.0.1.0.1.2, at Harvard’s library, Doug and the others were standing between the bookshelves and out of sight from the entrance. When Alex and Cindy walked in, Cindy pointed towards the bookshelf that held the mythology books before nervously saying, “I got this book from over there.”