Mary Kate grabbed her bag and ran out of the cab, just as Tim and Vanessa had predicted, her skirt fluttering,
right into the arms of...herself?
"Easy there, honey. Were those two girls friends of yours?"
Just as he said that, Tim and Vanessa turned a right corner, and disappeared into the crowd.
"N-no. They were vampires! At least one of them was. The other one, the younger one, put a spell on me and
turned me into this here little girl."
The doppelganger chucked, and then rubbed the hair on top of Mary Kate's scalp.
"What? You don't believe me?"
The former grown man couldn't believe how high pitched and whiny his voice sounded.
"Kid, if I believed you, half the population of this town would either be the living undead, aliens, or
demonically possessed wizards. Now c'mon, lets go home. I'm beat."
Mary Kate could attest to that. Staying in a car all day does kind of make you out of shape and easily tired.
Going into the front side passengers door, she put on her seat belt and put her fingers through her hair.
Never in her life had she kept it long like this.
Why was she going with this man? Sure, he looked identical to him(or at least how he used to be), but for all
she knew, he was another monster just waiting to ruin her day even further. Pulling the I.D card from the
back, Mary Kate saw a picture of the man, and his basic information such as his height, age and when he first
got his drivers licence. His name was Grant Shannon. Grant Shannon. That was her real name. Her real identity,
somehow mentally blocked from her memory. That was who she was.
So who was this identical stranger?
"They didn't get my good side" smiled Grant, suddenly closing the drivers side door behind him.
Mary Kate smiled benignly. It was she who got this lousy picture taken, six months ago at the DMV. Not this
impostor. But for now, all she could do was wait. She couldn't just run away or whatever. Not in this frail
body.
On the ride back home, Mary Kate(the real Grant) and Not-Grant talked about how Mary Kate did at school today,
how her grades were doing, and other things like that. Not-Grant revealed himself as her father in an offhand
comment. The guy didn't seem to have any clue what was really going on or that the real Grant Shannon didn't
have a teenage daughter who went to St. Francis'. Or for that matter, that his little girl was really a man!
When they did get back home, MK/Grant had to bite his tongue and not call his new mom(actually his wife) by
her first name, and not to disparage her cooking. A burly man might have been able to get away with it, but
Ashleigh did not take most critics lightly. Especially not kids who's palette wasn't developed yet. MK found
her new room, which had previously been an office that he never used, become a more or less typical teenage
girls room. It was almost stereotypical, with some stuffed animals from her childhood standing guard by her
bed on a big bookcase, and a vanity mirror off to the right. Her laptop was pink, which made Mary Kate groan
in frustration.
That night, Mary Kate's dreams were spent in pure terror, waiting for that demon girl and the vampire woman to
be seen floating above his window waiting to torment him even further, perhaps changing him into something
even more ridiculous. Thankfully, nothing outside the ordinary happened.
The next day at school, Grant was surprised to find how ordinary the inside of St. Francis' was. He had always
wondered what the inside of this school looked like ever since his sister had gone here for high school over
twenty years ago. It wasn't as mysterious, nor filled with the dirty, exploitation film secrets that you here
about so often occurring at girls schools as he was led to believe. Definitely no Lillian Hellman's "The
Children's Hour" going on.
The classes were surprisingly easy for Mary Katherine/Grant, who was no scholar but still well read enough to
get by a tenth grade curriculum. During lunch, he sat down with other girls from his class. From what he could
make out, Mary Kate was somewhat of an outsider. When she told about her encounter with a vampire in as clear
and non-excitable way as she could, she got this response:
"Oh please" sighed Colleen, rolling her eyes. "Remember that time when you told everyone that you were
possessed by the demon Etrigan? The penguins laughed their asses off behind your back for weeks!"
"Or what about when you thought you had discovered a "kill people" notebook, like in that cartoon?" added
Penelope.
"Or how about when you tried to argue with Ms. Finster that Marconi was really an alien since a human being
couldn't possibly have invented the radio" pointed out Edie with disdain.
"Or when you said that your parents were Freemasons."
"Or when you lied about getting abducted by lizard people."
"Or when you ran away and tried to get yourself shanghai'd because you read too many pirate books. Gosh, grow
up Mary Kate. We're young adults now, and if you continue to make up fantastical stories, one day you'll end
up in a-". But Amanda was cut off, her screaming at the bizarre sight in front of her totally instinctual.