When Two Paths Cross

It’s been said that college is supposed to be the best time of your life. That the choices you make and the times you have in college will follow you forever. That the friends you make here, you’ll keep forever. Well I’ve been here for almost a year, and I can say without a hesitation that it’s all a bunch of crap. My best friend is this statue I’m standing in front of right now. I’ve taken several night walks to this statue. It’s a beautiful bronze angel with five pillars behind her. I come out here and just stare at it; sometimes I even come out here to pray. Not that I pray to the statue, but I enjoy the symbolism of standing in front of an angel and talking to God. But tonight I was talking to myself. I knew it was going to be a rough night when I started my walk. All kinds of thoughts were running through my head. Thoughts of failure, loneliness, death and purpose, among a mountain of other thoughts I couldn’t decipher. I know it seems strange, a nineteen year old thinking about death as much as I do, but that’s what happens when you get run over by a car and almost die. It’s been rough; the few friends I had made in the beginning of the year had left after Christmas. It was late March now and there were a couple people I talked to, but no one I could really call a friend. This is just one of the many times I’ve wished things could be different; I could be more popular and just be better in general. All-in-all, I don’t like who I am, and I often wonder if there’s another me in another dimension somewhere who had the life I wish I had.................................................................................................................................................

It’s been said that college is supposed to be the best time of your life. That the choices you make and the times you have in college follow you forever. The one thing you never hear about college is the possibility of being too popular. I know, it sounds crazy, right? But as I stand here in front of this angel statue, that’s exactly what it feels like. Sometimes I just feel so surrounded all the time, and lately I’ve just wished I could be more alone. I really have nothing to complain about. I have tons of friends, an amazing girlfriend, I work the desk at my residence hall, I’m president of Hall Council, I keep active with soccer and I still manage to get all my homework done a couple days before it’s due. What am I complaining about? With all I have going for me, I still feel empty. I guess I could just be overwhelmed, but sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I had made different choices. This is the third night in a row I’ve taken the walk out to this statue. Sarah’s been getting worried about me, but I keep telling her it’s nothing. I often wonder if there’s another me in another dimension somewhere who had the life I wish I had.................................................................................................................................................

There are times when the planets align and people fear the end of the world. Granted, this has happened maybe once or twice in the history of humans. There is, however, a moment even more rare than the aligning of the planets, and that is when two people with the same genetic codes, standing at the same place but in different dimensions, think the same thought. This moment has only happened once, to two nineteen year old college students standing in front of an angel statue in Indiana. This moment caused a “tear” beyond time and space. Both Jons stood there looking at the statue, as if waiting for an answer to their problems. They got their answer in the form of a dark sort of “doorway” right in front of the statue. Neither one gave much thought to

what it was or why it was there. They both simply walked into it and the darkness that lay beyond.

This was a place between worlds. The only light that was visible came from the “doorways” and several faint, distant stars in the sky. It seemed like they were in space, or it looked that way at least. But they could walk along an invisible floor. It was more of a gliding step than a walk. They both headed for the only other thing in this place, each other. And when they finally got within a foot of each other, it seemed like they were just looking into a mirror. With one big exception, one Jon bared the scars of an accident a year ago, where the other didn’t.

The unscarred Jon spoke first, “What happened to your neck?”“A tracheotomy. I was run over by a car after practice for our Show Choir’s

variety show last year. I guess that didn’t happen to you?”“No, I’m pretty sure I would remember being hit by a car. Who hit you anyway?”“Keigan.”“Keigan, my ex-girlfriend Keigan?” Unscarred Jon laughed, “Well that explains

why she hit you?”Now it was the other Jon’s turn to laugh. “Ex-girlfriend? Keigan? I think we’ve

been living two completely different lives.”And as soon as those words left his mouth, a thought crystallized in both of their

heads. They both knew what they needed to do, and said so at the same time: “We have to switch places!” Quick as a flash, they ran to the opposite “doorway” without thinking to tell the other about their life, both thinking they could make it on their own.

Jon ran through the other “doorway” and out into the cold Indiana night air. He looked around, looking for something that was obviously different in this world…but there was nothing changed. The angel statue with the five pillars was still there, as were all the buildings and cars that were surrounding him when he left.

Maybe it was just a dream, he thought. Then Jon laughed, It had to be a dream. That’s just not possible. I obviously need some sleep. Jon started the ten-or-so minute walk back to his residence hall. Thinking about what had just happened and looking around, still hoping that he would find something different to prove that he really did cross space and time, but everything was still the same, the streetlights, the Bell Tower, the signs, everything down to the last flower.

Finally convinced that the whole thing had just been a dream, Jon swiped his ID card into the scanner to unlock the glass double doors to his hall.................................................................................................................................................

I looked at the front desk before reaching for the door to the stairs. Reid was talking to some girl who looked pretty worked up about something. By the time I got the door open she yelled, “Where the hell have you been?!” I looked to see who she was yelling at…it was me. She ran at me, threw her arms around me and said, “I’ve been worried sick! You didn’t tell anyone where you were going!”

“I, uh, just went for a walk. I wasn’t aware I had to announce when I was leaving the building,” I replied. “Who are you even?”

She laughed, “What do you mean who am I? I’m your girlfriend, silly!” Without giving me time to respond, she looked at me and screamed, “What happened to your neck?!”

“Uhh…” my brain rapidly searched for a believable excuse, “I tripped and fell and my neck landed on a rock?” I said, with some hesitation; it was a pretty lame story, but it was the best I could do.

She cupped her left hand on my neck and brushed over my scar with her thumb. “Aww, well are you okay baby?”

“Yeah,” I said, “I’ll be fine. I just need some sleep.”“Well, I’ll tell you what,” she leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I’m gonna go

up to my room and change, then I’ll come down to your room in fifteen minutes and we can…relax.” She looked me in the eyes, smiling as that last word left her lips. Without saying another word, she slipped past me and started running up the stairs.

I walked up to the desk to talk to Reid, “Who was that?” I asked, pointing behind me.

Reid just laughed, the same as the girl did, “You must’ve hit your head when you tripped. That was Sarah, your girlfriend. You met her on that white water rafting trip last summer, remember?”

I looked at him and gave a fake laugh, “Oh yeah, I remember. Guess I’m just not feeling like myself tonight. Thanks, Reid.”

As I turned to walk away he started to say something. “Jon, do you have any idea how much I envy you? You have everything going for you.”

I turned back around and gave him a real laugh this time, “And what exactly do I have going for me?”

“Where do I begin? It just seems like everything’s gone right for you since we started this year. First that Opening Committee Member of the Year award, then Hall Council President, your job here at the desk, your girlfriend who’s perfect for you, you have a 4.0 GPA, what’s missing?!”

I thought about it, “I suppose you’re right Reid. Good Night.”Without waiting for a response, I quickly headed to my room on the third floor. It

was then I realized I have no way of knowing if that was still my room, but it was all I had to go on. I started to think about all the things Reid said, and I only knew two to be true: the Committee member of the year award, and my job at the desk. I had no memory of a white water trip; I was in the hospital last summer, recovering from my accident. And I certainly didn’t have a 4.0 GPA. As for being president of Hall Council, I lost that election in August. What I thought was even funnier was that Reid said he was envious of me. In my world, it’s the other way around. With the exception of a girlfriend who believed a rock made this scar on my neck, everything here seemed perfect. Everything I’ve ever wanted I had now. I guess that whole other dimension thing wasn’t so crazy after all; it had really worked.

I was at my door before I knew it and was glad to see my name on several different styled door decorations. I did what I always do and turn the doorknob before I unlock it, to see if my roommate was in the room; he wasn’t. So I pulled my lanyard, with my key attached, out of my pocket, hoping it would work. To my surprise, it did. I pushed my door open and was not at all prepared for what was inside. There was no one else, no room for anyone else, I should say. The room was just as small as mine, about ten feet by fifteen, but when you have one person living in it instead of two, there’s plenty of space. This scarless Jon did a good job of making a lot of space out of a little. The two twin beds were pushed together in the corner left of the door. He must have

known he was getting a single room because the navy blue bed sheets fit over both bed perfectly. The two desks were in a row right beside the bed, followed by a fancy standing lamp in the corner. There were two small dressers with a nice sized TV—about 19 inches wide, flat screen—on top, in front of the only window in the room. Another fancy standing lamp in the other corner, and the two large wardrobes were right beside each other on my right. I walked into the center of the room and noticed a futon on the other side of the bed, facing the TV, and a big Ohio State University rug. It was good to see that even in this world I was a true Buckeye. I looked around the room and was shocked at the several posters in the room of bikini-clad girls and the occasional car; that just wasn’t my style. I had almost lost faith in this other me when I looked above the bed, and there it was, the same Back to the Future movie poster I had. It was nice to see he still had a little nerd in him.

Pushing the door shut behind me, I jumped on the bed and in one motion, scooped up the remote and turned the TV to channel six. I had made it back in just enough time to watch LOST. I jumped off the bed and opened the refrigerator. Looking through all the drink choices, I grabbed a root beer. As I pulled the bottle of Stewart’s out, I noticed some other bottles behind it, some alcohol bottles. I shut the door without much thought. “So, I’m a drinker here,” I said to no one. Finding nothing really wrong with it, I sat down on the futon, getting ready for LOST. As soon as I got comfortable there was a knock on my door. I had forgotten that Sarah said she was coming over.

I got up, unlocked the door and opened it to find Sarah standing there, her hands on the sides of the doorway and her right foot crossed over her left. She had on a completely different outfit, a red tank top with gray short shorts that really showed off her legs. I was finally starting to take in how attractive she was. She was tan, but not too tan, with dark blonde hair that came down to just below her shoulders. She had deep blue eyes and an amazing smile. I was surprised a guy like me was able to get a girl like her. Then I realized, a guy like me didn’t get a girl like her. She was the girlfriend of this other, cooler, version of me.

“Well, are you just going to stand there or let me in?” she asked, pushing her way around me, not waiting for an answer. I shut the door behind me as she walked to the center of the room, looked at the TV and laughed. “Since when do you watch LOST? I thought you said it was stupid?”

“I was bored and caught some episodes online. It’s really not that bad,” I said, sitting on the futon. Honestly, it was my favorite show and in its last season; I had never missed an episode. But obviously this other Jon didn’t share my taste in TV shows.

She just looked at me funny, “And the root beer? I thought that was just to hide the alcohol?” Sarah walked over to the door, locked it, then grabbed a bottle out of the fridge. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were a completely different person.” She gave a big laugh and sat down beside me, opening her beer and taking a drink. I gave a half-hearted laugh to keep her mind at ease.

Sarah laid down, putting her head in my lap. “So, are we really just going to sit here and watch TV all night? Usually when you say ‘I just need some sleep’ it means you wanna have a little fun. I didn’t realize you actually wanted to do nothing tonight. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed. It’s been over a week since the last time we did it, you know?”

I had just taken a drink and choked on my root beer as soon as she said that. “Umm, sorry if I gave you the wrong idea. I just haven’t been feeling like myself lately.” That was the second time I had used that excuse tonight.

“Well maybe I can help you feel like yourself again.” She smiled, put her right hand around my neck, pulled me down to her and kissed me. Wanting to embrace this new life I had wanted for so long, I kissed her back. After what was probably thirty seconds, she pulled away and laughed, “Wow, you must really need some sleep. You’re off your game tonight.” And with that, she got up from the futon and turned off the TV. “Come on,” she said, “bed-time.” She gave me a sly smile, to make sure I knew she was half-joking. Sarah closed the blinds, then walked over to turn the lights off. The room was now bathed in the feint blue-green glow of the digital clock beside the bed. I could see Sarah’s silhouette climb under the covers. She was moving around, I assume trying to get settled. Then out of nowhere, she throws something at me. I grabbed it out of the air and brought it close to my face, my eyes not yet adjusted to this darkness. It was her clothes; she had thrown her tank-top and shorts at me.

Oh my gosh, I thought to myself, I have another guy’s girlfriend in his bed, and for all I know, she’s naked. I can’t just get into bed with her. I may have a new life, but I still have morals….Then again, I am her boyfriend, just a little different version. I have the same name, the same DNA.

No sooner had I finished that thought than Sarah said, “Come on, Jon. If you don’t come to bed soon, I might actually fall asleep.” I kicked my shoes off and started to get into the bed. “You’re not sleeping in your clothes, are you? I thought you hated that?”

“Oh,” I replied. Not wanting to draw anymore attention to my differences than I already had, I took off my shirt, shorts and socks. Feeling strange just standing there in my boxers, I slipped into bed. “Happy?” I asked, smiling at her.

“Yes,” she smiled back and pulled the covers over her head. Taking a deep breath, I followed her under.................................................................................................................................................

I looked at the front desk before reaching for the door to the stairs. Reid was working the front desk and there was a girl with her back to me talking to him. I did a double-take. Is that Sarah? I thought to myself. Deciding to surprise her, I snuck up behind her, put my arms around her waist and rested my head on her left shoulder. At this point Reid was giving me a look that was a combination of “what-the-hell” and “this-is-hilarious.” After a quick glance to my right, I jumped backwards. “You’re not Sarah…”

“Sarah who?” the girl asked, “Sarah, the RA Sarah? Cause I look nothing like her, you do realize that?”

“No, Sarah, my girlfriend Sarah.”Reid and the girl started laughing, kind of like I was making a joke. The girl said,

“When did you get a girlfriend, Jon?”Before I had the chance to answer, Reid got a weird look on his face. “Jon, what

happened to your scar? It’s gone!”Then it hit me, that whole thing at the statue, meeting that other me, changing

places, it was all real! I had really transcended space and time. But now I was a little

worried. I was in completely new territory, with no idea of this character’s history. But this is where I shine. Time to show off my acting skills.

“Oh, yeah, that cream I’ve been putting on it finally worked. It just took about six months, but now you can’t even tell it was ever there.”

“Well, I’m glad that worked out for you,” the girl said. She then turned to Reid, “I’m gonna go up to my room and work on homework. Come on up when you get done working.” The girl turned and left the desk, out of the first set of glass double doors towards the elevators.

I moved right in front of the desk and leaned on it to talk to Reid. “So, where’s Sarah?” I asked him. Granted, one of the points of coming to this new world was to get away from her, I knew from sci-fi movies that I needed a familiar constant. That way, if things had changed too much, my brain wouldn’t explode. I was confident that Sarah was my constant.

“Well,” he replied, “she’s on duty tonight so she should be somewhere in the building.”

“No, not that Sarah,” I was getting frustrated with everyone assuming the RA and not my girlfriend. “Sarah Wilson, have you seen her come back from her workout class yet?”

“Who’s Sarah Wilson?” he looked confused.“She’s lived here all year, worked Opening Committee?”“Jon, I’m Hall Council President, I know pretty much everyone who lives here,

and there’s never been a Sarah Wilson here.”I was confused, even if my history here was different, how would that affect

Sarah’s history? Unless….something different happened on the white-water trip. “Reid, did I ever tell you about my white-water trip last summer?”

He looked at me funny, “I thought you spent the summer in the hospital?” “Right, that’s why I never mentioned it, because it never happened.” So I never

met Sarah. I never convinced her to come to college here. I never saved her from drowning…. “Well then who lives in room 815?”

“Carmen,” he replied, “why?”“Who’s Carmen?” I had no memory of her from my world.“Jon, have you lost your mind? Carmen was the girl you had your arms around,

my girlfriend.”Out of nowhere I got hit with a massive headache. Too much was different. I

wasn’t president, my girlfriend had never existed here, but this was what I had asked for. But I couldn’t help but wonder….

“Jon, are you okay? You look like you’re in pain.”Without a response, I quickly headed to my room on the third floor. It was then I

realized I had no idea if that was still my room, but it as all I had to go on. Not paying attention to the door decorations, I pulled my lanyard with my key attached out of my pocket, hoping it would work. To my surprise, the door was already unlocked. This other me already seemed irresponsible, if he couldn’t lock his door when going for a walk. I pushed my door open and was not at all prepared for what was inside.

The beds were separated, and there was a laptop on each of the two desks. Either Jon was rich enough to have two different laptops….or he had a roommate. I let out a large sigh of disappointment. I did everything in my power to keep from getting a

roommate; I went so far as to buy a single room. Having someone else living in your room is just too much of a hassle. It’s especially awkward when you have a girl over. That’s why I don’t have a roommate; it’s kind of a mood killer to have to ask them to leave.

I shut and locked the door then headed straight for the fridge. I needed something strong to drink. To my disappointment the fridge was nearly bare except for a chocolate milk, a Hawaiian Punch, and a couple bottles of water. “You’re kidding me,” I said aloud, “he doesn’t have any alcohol?” I shut the fridge and jumped on the bed, which was a little lower than what I was used to. I still had a little headache, but on the right side the bed sheets were the same and he still had the Back to the Future movie poster above the bed. Other than that, everything was different. His laptop was a PC, while mine back home was a Mac. Small difference, I know, but I was sure he would get a Mac after our old laptop deleted all the pictures from high school. Unless….that didn’t happen to him! I bolted up from the bed and snapped the laptop open. I did a quick file search for folders named “high school.” Right then, hundreds of pictures came up. I was so happy I was almost in tears. Then I started looking through them and realized, “They’re not my pictures. These aren’t my memories.”

My head had started hurting again when I got a text from a number that wasn’t in my phone. I guess Jon and I have the same phone number, just different contact lists. Hey, I’m out of the shower if you wanted to come up and hang out before we leave. Well, this Jon may not have a girlfriend, but it sounds like he has some fun. The only problem is I don’t know who texted me! So I had no choice but to send back, Who is this? After only three seconds I got back, Are you kidding? It’s Meagan.

Okay, I could work with this. I knew who Meagan was, she worked for the Hall Director just like I did. Shutting my eyes I tried to remember a spreadsheet that I typed her information into a while ago. Thank goodness I have a photographic memory. She lives in 610. I shut the laptop and left my room, headed to the sixth floor.

As I walked up the stairs, I scrolled through my contact list in my phone and I came across Sarah’s name. All I wanted to do was to text or call her, but I decided that now wasn’t the time. I had made it up to Meagan’s room and knocked on her door. I had no idea what I was going to talk to her about, considering we had never really carried on a conversation. From behind the door she yelled, “Come in!” I turned the doorknob and made a point to scan the room and infer as much as I could before I opened my mouth. She had several posters of The Beatles and Megan Fox, along with a poster for Twilight, gag. Her DVD collection was limited to the complete series of Friends along with the first season of Glee, and there was tape left on the wall implying that she had already started the process of taking things down and taking them home, as we only had a little over a month of classes left. There was also a lot of pink in her room. Everything on the bed and various other items in the room were different shades of pink. She had a single room, and her layout was almost the same as mine, both beds pushed together. There was a desk between the two cabinets and I assumed a couch or futon on the far side of the bed. ‘Alright,’ I thought, ‘I can make due with this.’

“You ready to go?” she asked, hopping up from the futon. I was caught off guard by her looks; it occurred to me that I had never really looked at her before. At first glance, one might consider her “plain,” brown hair, brown eyes. She was about average in height and was wearing a maroonish dress that stopped several inches above her knees

and really showed off her body. It was hard to explain, but there was just something about her that made me take notice. “Jon, are you okay?” she asked with a quizzical look, having just finished a text on her iPhone, which also had a pink cover.

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. It’s just….wow, you look good.”She laughed, “I doubt it, but thanks. Anyway, are you ready to go?”“Go where?” I asked.“Out. You said you were free tonight and offered to drive, remember?”“Oh, so no drinking for me then?”She laughed again, “Well, I suppose one shot wouldn’t hurt. You were fine after

two last time. Now let’s go!” With that we left her room and went out to the parking lot to her car. I took the keys and hopped into the driver’s seat.

I looked at her with a half-smile, “Where to?”................................................................................................................................................

I looked over at the clock; it was 12:30am. Sarah had fallen asleep in my arms a while ago and promptly turned away a couple minutes later. I supposed she wasn’t the cuddling type. Not that it really bugged me. The thing that actually did bug me was the fact that Sarah snored. It was somewhere between a kitten’s purr and a lion’s roar. Honestly, I don’t know how Jon put up with it. Getting out of bed, I put my clothes back on and decided to go for a walk. Living on the third floor was difficult because I faced a choice: walk down three flights of stairs, or walk up three and take the elevator down, as the elevator only went to floors one and six. I usually made the obvious choice of just walking, but for some reason my gut was telling me to use the elevators tonight, and I usually listen to my gut.

Quietly as possible, I snuck out of my room without waking Sleeping Beauty. The hall was still full of people coming from and going to parties and hanging out in each other’s rooms playing Xbox. I was always more of a Playstation 3 man myself, which is why I never really hung out in anyone else’s room. Walking through the madness of the hallway, I headed to the stairs and walked up to the sixth floor. I turned the corner to the elevators and saw that the doors were getting ready to close on one of them. Channeling my inner Indiana Jones, I ran through the closing doors just in time, cutting it close enough to make the girl in there with me scream. I turned around to see who it was, then I shouted, “Meagan!” I was so happy to see her I threw my arms around her and hugged her.

She slowly pushed me away. “Umm…Jon…what’s with the hugs? We’ve barely ever said two words to each other.”

“Of course we haven’t…” I quietly mumbled to myself.I could tell she had already been out for the night because it didn’t seem to bug

her much that someone who was practically a stranger had just hugged her. She probably came up to her room because she forgot something, and she was headed out again.

My thoughts were interrupted by a comment from Meagan, “So, your girlfriend finally let you off your leash?” She gave me a sly smile, just in case I couldn’t tell that she didn’t get along with Sarah.

“Well,” I replied, “she’s asleep right now. She doesn’t exactly know I’m out.”“Ooo, aren’t you the little rebel?” she laughed. “Careful, she might was up and

go on a rampage if she doesn’t know where you are. Especially if she finds out you’re

hanging out with me.” The doors to the elevator opened, and I followed Meagan out to her car which was parked on the street, “I assume you’re coming to Carter’s with us?”

I could see my room from where I was standing and thought about my new life. Maybe I was rushing into things. This was a completely different life, and I hadn’t taken any time to adjust to the differences. Out of nowhere I got hit with a massive headache. I looked at Meagan and finally realized just how different things were here. My best friend barely even knew who I was. I tried to get into the mindset of this new world. Sarah is my girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. But that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to have female friends and hang out with them, right? “Are you coming or not, Jon?” Meagan asked, standing with the car door open.

“Yeah,” I replied, moving to the driver’s side, “but I’m driving.” I got in the car and noticed it was already running. Meagan quickly walked over to the passenger’s side and slid in.

A voice came from the backseat, “Meagan, why is a stranger driving your car?” Just from the voice I knew it was Meagan’s friend Sarah. Turning around in my seat, I saw Sarah and her roommate Jenn in the back of the car. Judging by the smell, none of the three of them should have been driving.

Everyone in this car was pretty much my only friends in my world, but they didn’t even know me here. “Hi, I’m Jon.” With that, I turned back around and started driving to the little hot dog cart that was a favorite of college students out after midnight.

Jenn spoke, “Well, Mr. Jon, what makes you qualified to drive this vehicle?”‘Other than the fact that I’ve done it several times before?’ I thought to myself.Meagan answered for me, “It’s all good, Jenn. Jon works with me; I know he’s

reliable. Plus I happen to know that he drives his bitch of a girlfriend around when she gets drunk every weekend.” She looked at me, “No offense.”

Since I had just met my girlfriend today, I could honestly say, “None taken.”Meagan’s Sarah piped up, “Aww, he has a girlfriend? Too bad, he’s kinda cute.”

I gave a little laugh as I pulled into a parking space.Trying to be witty I said, “All ashore who’s going ashore.”The other three just looked at me. As she was opening the door, Sarah said,

“Okay, you’re not that cute.”We all started laughing as I thought, ‘Now there’s the Sarah I know.’ The four of

us started walking away, the laughter drowned out by the *beep beep* confirming that the car was locked.................................................................................................................................................

I heard the familiar *beep beep* letting me know that Meagan’s car was locked, and the two of us crossed the street heading back to her room. After we had left earlier, Meagan had me go pick up Sarah and Jenn, who are apparently pretty good friends of mine. Conversation was a little awkward for me though considering I was just meeting them for the first time. However, them being drunk the majority of the night, they did most of the talking. The night ended with me guiding Jenn and Sarah up to their room, making sure they didn’t fall or something on their way up. I was a little sad that I had to sit on the sidelines all night and watch, but it was nothing new. I usually had to stop drinking when I noticed my Sarah was too far gone to drive.

“Jon?” Meagan said, snapping me back to reality.“Yeah?”

“Can you stay in my room tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”“Sure,” I could tell Meagan had some demons haunting her, and my curiosity had

been sparked. Maybe by spending the night in her room she’d open up, or maybe she already has opened up to the other me. Or…maybe I’ll get lucky tonight. I smiled to myself, but the smile vanished as quickly as it came when I thought about Sarah, my Sarah back home. And then my not-smile turned into a scowl once I realized that he was with her. Another man had his hands on my girlfriend, and she had no idea it wasn’t me. Now my face was in a frown, realizing that this was the life I wanted, a life away from that relationship. And for all I knew, I was stuck here.

From my left I heard Meagan snorting as we walked into the big building that housed the residence halls. When I looked at her I noticed that she was snorting from laughing so hard. “What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Your face,” she said between laughs, “you just went through like fifty emotions in point two seconds.”

“Alright, Meagan, I think it’s past your bedtime.”We reached the double doors to our hall, and I dug my ID card out of my pocket

to unlock them. Meagan took my card and ran for the elevators, which only opened when you swiped your card through a scanner. Arms crossed, I stood there softly laughing as she tried to run the card through the scanner on the wall and kept missing. “Here, let me,” I said as I walked up and reached for the card.

Meagan pulled her hand away from me. “I can do it!” With a deep breath, she slowly swiped the card through the scanner and the elevator doors slid open. She looked me in the eyes, smiled and said, “See, told ya I could do it.”

I guided her into the metal box and pressed the button for the sixth floor. It was lucky Meagan lived on the sixth floor, as the elevators only stopped at one and six, which I always found frustrating. There was no way she would’ve been able to walk up six flights of stairs in her state. We walked down the hall and stopped in front of her door. She was just staring at me. “Well?” she asked.

“Well what?” I replied. No sooner had the words left my lips than I knew what she was ‘well’ing me about. “Oh, I have the keys, don’t I?” As I was pulling the large mass of keys from my pocket, my eyes caught Meagan’s hand moving for the keys. Since I saw it coming, I raised the hand with the keys above her head, so she couldn’t reach them. Meagan jumped up, missed, and landed unsteadily. I reached out and grabbed her arms to keep her from falling. When she got her balance back she had her arms crossed and was frowning at me. I just laughed as I unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Welcome home,” I said smiling. She pushed her way past me and shut the door behind her. “Hey!” I exclaimed, “what are you doing?”

“Changing!”“Oh,” I replied. My back against the wall, I slid down, taking a seat on the floor.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I went through my contact list again, until once more I came across Sarah’s name. I couldn’t stand it any longer; I had to talk to her again. My thumb slowly pressed the green “call” button as I brought the phone up to my ear. My heart was racing as the phone kept ringing. I kept hoping after every ring she’d pick up. After six rings her voicemail kicked in, “Hey guys, it’s Sarah. Sorry I can’t answer right now. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you. Thanks!” I quickly pressed the “end

call” button as I heard Meagan open the door. There was no point in leaving a voicemail anyway, she wouldn’t know who I was.

“Who were you calling?” Meagan asked, looking down at me.“An old friend,” I quietly replied, getting up and talking into her room. The TV

was playing an episode of Friends, so I sat down on the futon to watch. I could feel Meagan’s eyes staring at me, as if something was wrong. While pretending to watch TV, my mind couldn’t help but think about Sarah; I was dying to know how she was doing. I hardly even noticed Meagan walk right in my line of sight. Before my brain could register what was going on, Meagan was leaning down to kiss me. Never being one to turn down a kiss, I leaned in too.

After a few seconds of no lip contact I opened my eyes and saw Meagan standing above me glaring at me. “Alright,” she said, “who are you and what the hell have you done with Jon?”

“What are you talking about? I am Jon.”“Not my Jon,” she replied, “I may be drunk, but I know my Jon, and you’re not

my Jon. My Jon would’ve asked why I was kissing him before he kissed me back. Besides, did you think I wouldn’t notice your scars being gone? Now, I’m going to ask you one more time: Who are you and what the hell did you do with my Jon?”

I smiled at her, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”She crossed her arms across her chest and said, “Try me.”Laughing I said, “Fine. I’m Jon from another dimension. A rift opened in time

and space, and your Jon and I switched places. He’s living my life, and I’m living his.”Meagan tilted her head to the side, simply said, “Okay,” and climbed into her bed

and laid down.“That’s it?” I said in disbelief, turning my back on the TV to look at Meagan.

“You just believe that big pile of crazy like it’s the law?”“No,” she replied, “I don’t always believe the law, underage drinking you know.”

She winked at me. “But, your story explains everything, and you really wouldn’t have a reason to lie to me. Plus I’m drunk. Now, are you going to get into bed or not?”

This threw me completely off guard. I just kind of stared at her, not knowing what to say. “Umm,” I started, “is this something you and Jon do on a regular basis?”

“Well no,” she smiled, “never, in fact. But you’re not Jon, remember?”“You make a compelling argument,” I replied while sliding under the covers

beside her.Meagan turned on her side, propped her head on her hand and looked at me. “So,

this other dimension you’re from, is there another Meagan there?”“Uhh, well, yeah there is.”“What’s she like?”I thought for a second, “The thing is, I really don’t know her, but from the couple

times I’ve seen her, I don’t think there’s much difference.”She looked disappointed, “Oh, so nothing’s ever happened between you two?”“Nah, I’ve had a girlfriend the whole time I’ve known Meagan. And those two

really don’t get along, which is why I’ve never really taken the time to talk to Meagan. Don’t want to upset the girlfriend, you know.”

“Huh, okay,” with that she rolled over and pulled the covers up to her chin. “Just so you know,” she said, “I’m not the cuddling type.”

Not quite sure what came over me, I gave a little laugh, leaned over to Meagan, kissed her on the forehead and said, “Goodnight, Meagan.” I then followed suit by turning over, pulling the covers up, and going to sleep. All-in-all, this was one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time.................................................................................................................................................

After dropping Sarah and Jenn back at their room, I pulled into the parking lot next to our residence hall with Meagan half asleep in the passenger’s seat. Parking in the closest spot, I put my hand on Meagan’s shoulder to wake her up. She slowly opened her eyes and said, “You know your girlfriend’s going to throw a fit when she smells my scent on you right?”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to take a shower before I head back to my room then,” I said, getting out and locking the door.

“Or,” Meagan replied, holding on to my arm as we crossed the street, “you could just spend the night in my room.”

Smiling I said, “Umm, how exactly would that get rid of your ‘scent’?”Entering the elevator doors she smiled back, “It won’t, but it’ll give you more

time away from The Bitch. Either way, you’re going to be ‘in trouble.’” She gave a little laugh as she said the last sentence.

“What do you have against her?” I asked, unlocking Meagan’s door with the keys I had in my pocket.

“It’s complicated,” she said, leading me into her room. “Face the door while I change please.”

“And if I don’t?”She shrugged, “Doesn’t matter to me, but fair warning, I’m not wearing any

underwear,” giving me a little wink with the last word.Turning my back on Meagan, and staring at the Beatles poster on the back of her

door, I started to think about my situation. Ever since I got to know Meagan, my Meagan anyway, I had always kind of had a thing for her, but I kept it quiet because I knew I’d never have a chance with her. But here she was basically throwing herself at me, granted, she was drunk and I do have morals; I could never do anything with her in this state. Besides, I have a girlfriend now. This new life wasn’t working out so well for me. “I’m sorry, Meagan. I have to go.” Without looking back at her I opened the door and headed for the third floor bathroom. At this time of night there were very few people roaming around the halls. Walking past the two rows of sinks, I saw someone passed out on the floor but ignored him; this was nothing new in college. My only focus was getting to the showers. Shutting the curtain to the stall I had just stepped into, I turned on the water and let it rain down on me with my clothes still on.

After what felt like ten minutes of standing under the ice cold shower head with soaking wet clothes, I decided it was finally time to turn off the water. I chalked the headache up to showering with my clothes on and pushed the door open to leave the bathroom. As soon as I entered the hall, the door to Paul’s, my Resident Assistant’s, room opened and he walked out. Paul wasn’t your typical college guy. He actually had some brains and was mature. He looked about the same as me, tall and skinnyish, only his hair was much lighter than mine. Two years older than me, Paul knew a lot and could always answer pretty much every question I had. Paul and I had a great connection and bonded over music and playing guitar. The only thing was, that was my Paul. It was

obvious that this Paul was exactly the same, but I had no idea what sort of connection he had with the Jon from this world. Looking at me, then back to his door as he locked it, he said, “It’s not raining out there, is it?”

“No,” I replied, “no it’s not.” And without looking back I walked down the hall to my room, water sloshing in my socks and shoes. Without thinking about Sarah still being asleep, I opened the door with no particular quietness. I noticed her turn over in my bed and began quietly changing into some dry clothes.

While drying my hair off with a towel, I heard her say, “And where have you been?”

“Umm,” I started, pulling on a pair of gym shorts, “I took a shower.”“At this time of night?” She retorted, now sitting up in bed looking worried.

“You went out, didn’t you? You’re cheating on me, aren’t you?!” Her voice getting louder and more desperate with each word.

“I’m not cheating on you, calm down.”“Well then where were you, huh?” Her voice was so loud now I was afraid she’d

wake the whole building. Then again, maybe it just seemed so loud because I was the one “in trouble.”

“Relax,” I started, saying these next couple words without thinking, “I was just out with Meagan and her friends.” As soon as I said her name I got a very intense headache and everything went white, like someone was shining a flashlight directly in my eyes. For a brief second I was laying beside Meagan in her bed and kissing her goodnight. Then the light hit again and I was back in my room, on my knees, hands covering my eyes. “What the hell?” I said out loud as I stood back up.

“I said,” came Sarah’s voice, “you had better have a damn good reason for going out with her while I was here in your bed asleep! Are you even listening to me?!”

“What?” I said, still clutching my head from the headache. “Oh, uhh, yeah. You’re completely right.”

She just started at me and huffed. Then without a word, I watched Sarah as she got out of bed and left in her underwear, slamming the door behind her. “You forgot your clothes…” I quietly said after she left, looking at the pile of clothes on the floor that she had thrown at me just a few hours ago.

Amazingly, I didn’t really care that she had just left, I was more focused on that whole white light thing. As I stepped over the pile of wet clothes I had just taken off, I wondered what it meant. Was it a vision of the future, or something more complicated? After the night I’d just had, I supposed anything was possible.................................................................................................................................................

Upon hearing a rooster crow followed by upbeat 1960s British Pop music that I immediately recognized as “Good Morning, Good Morning” by the Beatles, I reluctantly opened my eyes to see Meagan standing in front of her mirror in a pair of faded blue jeans and a grey zip-up jacket. My eyes had caught her just in time to see her pulling her brown hair into a ponytail. “Are you always this chipper in the morning, or is it cause you got to sleep in the same bed as me last night?” I asked, sitting up in bed.

She looked at me smiling, “Who’s Sarah?”“How do you know about her?” I didn’t have access to a mirror, but I could feel

the shock on my face. Since I didn’t have anything to drink last night, I remembered

everything perfectly, and I knew I didn’t mention her name to Meagan, so how did she know?

“It’s hard not to know about her,” she said, sitting down on the bed beside me, “you woke me up in the middle of the night screaming her name. So I took your phone when I woke up and looked her up on the Internet. You need to see this.” She handed me her laptop, and I hesitantly opened it. There was no way I could’ve predicted what Meagan had found. The first thing I noticed was Sarah’s smiling face to the side of the article, which I realized was one of her Senior pictures. But then my eyes caught the title, “Teen drowns on a dangerous white water course.”

I was speechless. All I could do was stare at the screen until Meagan took the laptop back and slowly shut it. “That was your girlfriend, wasn’t it?” She asked, after giving me a few moments.

“I was supposed to be on that trip. It was a prize from my Senior Prom’s All Night Party. I was the one who saved her from drowning, and she decided to come to college with me. But obviously this Jon didn’t go on that trip. That’s why Sarah’s not here; she doesn’t exist.” There was a pit in my stomach; it’s hard to go on knowing someone isn’t alive because you weren’t there to save them.

“Look,” Meagan started, “I’m not really good with this sort of thing. Normally I’d suggest drinking, but seeing as it’s 8:00 in the morning and you have class in an hour, I don’t think that would be a good idea. Hug?” Sitting beside me on the bed, she held her arms open wide, and I did the same. We both just sat there for what felt like forever, each resting our chin on the other’s shoulder. Meagan finally broke the embrace saying, “Go to your room, get dressed, and go to class. It’s Friday, we’ll go out tonight.”

“Last night wasn’t Friday,” I said smiling.“You don’t have to come if you don’t want,” she retorted, packing her things into

her black and pink book bag and throwing it over her shoulder. “Now go.”“Yeah, yeah, I’m goin’,” I replied as I climbed out of Meagan’s bed and put my

shoes on. She was holding the door open for me when I looked up from my laces, and she shut and locked it as she followed me out.

“I assume my Jon’s classes are the same as yours?” Meagan asked me as we walked down the hall.

“Criminal Justice at 9 on Fridays, if the whole schedule isn’t right at least that one class is. I’ll be fine; I’m sure he keeps his schedule someone on his desk.”

“Alright, good luck,” she said as she climbed into the elevator, “I’ll text you when I’m out of classes for the day.” With that the elevator doors closed, and I walked down the stairs to the showers on my floor. It seemed strange how calm Meagan was with this while interdimensional switch. Then again, I’m still putting my money on the fact that this is all in my head. But for now all I can do is just go with it. Either way, my only option now was to shower, get to class, and pray we don’t have a test today.

As I was walking back from a particularly uninteresting Criminal Justice class, Meagan sent me a text telling me to meet her at one of the offices in the Physics department. Turning on the spot, because the Physics building was on the other end of campus, I bumped into a girl and accidentally knocked her books all over the sidewalk. We both bent down to pick up her things, and when we were getting up, my eyes met hers. “Sarah?!” I shouted, mouth hanging open.

After just a few seconds, she disappeared right in front of my eyes. Before she vanished, I swore I saw her mouth my name too. I ran through the crowd and didn’t stop until I was at the Physics building. Something inside me told me that Meagan would be the only one who would listen or even care about what I had just seen. My eyes quickly scanned the room numbers as I jogged by them, until I came to the room number Meagan gave me. The nameplate outside the room read: “Dr. Tim Gossett, Professor of Particle Physics.” No sooner had I knocked on the door than a voice replied, “Come in.”

Turning the handle I walked into a medium-sized office filled with the humming of computers. Sitting behind his desk was a man I assumed to be Dr. Gossett. It was hard to tell because he was sitting down, but he seemed to be about average height, with round glasses, a mustache and streaks of grey in his hair. He was too busy furiously typing away on his computer to notice me.

Meagan, leaning on the wall behind him, said, “Well it’s about time.”“Sorry, I got, uh, held up.”Dr. Gossett got up from his desk and walked over to where I was standing.

Stretching out my arm to shake his hand, I was greeted with a device that went wild when he pointed it at me. “What is that thing?” I asked him.

“An antimatter detector,” he replied, eyes not leaving the device.“That’s funny,” I said, tossing my bag in the corner, “cause it looks like you made

it out of an old walkman.”“Uh, well, that’s because it is made out of an old walkman. Budget cuts, you

know. And colleges usually seem to favor their sports teams over their Physics departments,” he replied, walking back to his desk and typing furiously again.

“Jon, this is Dr. Tim,” Meagan piped up, “I Googled dimension switching and string theory came up. Dr. Tim specializes in string theory, so I thought it’d be worth paying him a visit. Turns out it was a really good idea.”

Dr. Tim cut in, “I have good and bad news. The good news is that I never thought I’d actually live long enough to see someone from another dimension, which you really are by the way. You’ve got antimatter all over you, as does the statue where you crossed over.”

“And the bad news?” Meagan and I asked simultaneously.“The bad news,” he replied while pointing at a chart on his computer screen, “is

that there seems to be an invisible ‘cube’ around the statue that seems to be creating a vacuum that’s taking in antimatter from our world and ‘spitting’ out completely different antimatter from another world.”

“Which means what exactly?” I asked.“Well, this isn’t an exact science, you know. As far as I know this has never

happened before. But,” he did some quick typing on the keyboard, “after some quick calculations, it looks like if we can’t find a way to reverse it soon, then, well I honestly don’t know what will happen. It’s possible nothing will happen; it’s also possible that our world will completely unravel, I have no idea.”

“How long do we have?” Meagan asked.“Like I said, I have no idea. It could be hours, days, years, or eons. I’ll do some

more research and see what I can figure out. And I’ll see if I can convince anyone that we’re not crazy.”

Meagan and I picked up our things and left the Physics building. “Alright,” Meagan started, “I still have more classes today, so come to my room around seven and we’ll head out for the night.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said, as I crossed one side of the street and Meagan crossed the other side. When I got back to my room I remembered that I had a roommate now and decided I didn’t want to spend the rest of the afternoon in my room. After searching under the bed, and through the drawers, I finally found a gym bag and packed it with a pair of swim trunks and a couple towels. The swimming pool was right across the street from my residence hall, so I decided to go swim a couple laps to relieve the stress. And I had hoped a long swim would also get rid of the horrible headache I had been dealing with since we left Dr. Tim’s office.

Seeing that it was getting close to six, I decided to get out of the pool and go grab a quick shower before I had to head up to Meagan’s room. A couple minutes after seven I knocked on Meagan’s door, “It’s unlocked,” came the reply from be hind the door. I turned the handle and walked in on Meagan checking herself out in the mirror to make sure she was good to go for tonight. Walking over and taking a seat on her futon, I watched Meagan as she finished getting ready and came to sit down beside me. “What?” she asked.

“As much as I hate to say it,” I replied after a few silent seconds, “I think I miss Sarah.”

“Well, do you know how to get back to your dimension?”“No idea,” I said turning to the TV, “I guess we didn’t really think this through

that well.”“Come on,” she said, picking up her keys, “it’s time to go. Let’s see if we can

take your mind off things tonight.” Standing up from the futon, I sighed and followed Meagan out as she locked the door behind me. We walked down the hall in silence, heading to the parking lot where we left her car last night.................................................................................................................................................

After hitting the snooze button four times I finally decided to just turn my alarm off. There was no harm in missing one class, and after the night I had I wanted nothing more than to lay in bed all day. But I knew the world wouldn’t let me do that, and my suspicions were confirmed when my cell phone went off just as I was getting back to sleep. It was a text from Meagan asking me to meet her outside the café in the bookstore. I replied saying I’d be there in a few minutes. Reluctantly I pulled myself out of bed, got dressed, threw some gel in my hair to keep it from sticking up like it always did in the mornings, and made my way to the little cozy area outside of the bookstore.

As I walked up the stairs and past the piano to the cozy seating area outside the café, I saw Meagan sitting at a little two person table, and I realized something I should have realized a long time ago. I didn’t want a new life or new friends; I wanted Meagan. And this was my chance. It was like I was meeting her for the first time again, only this time I could actually try to win her over. I knew everything my Meagan liked, and from what I can tell, this Meagan is exactly the same. Of course, there was still the little problem of Sarah, but all I’d have to do is break up with her; she was getting on my nerves anyway.

No sooner had I sat down than Meagan started in, “Look, I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to scare you off, and I hope you can forgive me.” I was only half-listening to her, because the other half of my mind was working on something spectacular to win her over, and my wheels were turning faster than ever. In my world, Meagan and I watched Glee together every week, and she absolutely loved their version of Lionel Richie’s “Hello.” Having taken eight years of music classes in school, I knew how to read music and I had a general idea of how to play piano. So naturally, I decided to learn “Hello” on piano, not knowing when it would come in handy. But I knew without a doubt that this was the perfect time. I stood up, grabbed her hand, and said, “Follow me.” She gave me a look back that obviously meant, “What the hell?”

I had always wondered why there was a piano up against the window in a room where people ate and talked, but as I led Meagan toward the piano I knew the reason: for idiots to make large, public, romantic gestures like I was about to do. As I sat down on the piano bench and Meagan leaned on the piano lid, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was just a text thought, so I could answer it later. My fingers took their place on the cold white keys; I looked Meagan in the eyes and started to sing. It had been several weeks since I had played, and my brain was working full power to make sure I hit every note.

By the time I had finished playing, Meagan was smiling and the room around me burst into applause. I hadn’t even realized that other people were paying attention; I was too absorbed in the moment. Meagan’s face turned bright red, and she nodded toward the door, indicating she wanted to take this conversation outside. After my little display it was clear that we had become the center of attention.

As soon as we found an empty table outside and sat down, Meagan wasted no time in asking, “How did you know I liked that song?”

“Lucky guess,” I replied, smiling.“You seem…different,” Meagan said, looking me in the eyes, “Before last night,

you would’ve barely said ‘Hi’ to me in the hallway, but now you’re singing me love songs in public? And what’s with that scar on your neck? Who are you?”

“You don’t believe people can change?”“Of course I do, but there’s a difference between change and a complete reversal

overnight.”We sat in silence for a few seconds, me trying to think what to say next.

However, the silence didn’t last for long. The silence was broken by a voice I had only heard a few times in my short time here, but it was a voice that stuck out. “Jon Hike!! What?! The?! Hell?!” I covered my face in my hand, trying to pretend I wasn’t there. But when I moved my hand, my worst fears had been realized; Sarah was standing over the table with her arms crossed, and I had never seen such a look of disgust on a woman’s face before. “Why did you not answer my text?! It was life or death!! More importantly, what are you doing here with her?!”

“Umm, Sarah,” I started, noticing Meagan was getting ready to open her mouth, “this isn’t the best time, but it’s now or never. I think we should break up.”

“What!?!” came the shrill cry. People were starting to stare again. “You’re leaving me for this slut?!”

Meagan was too quick for me this time, “Well maybe if you weren’t such a self-centered, controlling little –”

“Ladies!” I cut in, before this turned into a fist fight, “Meagan, let me talk to Sarah alone, and then I’ll meet you in my room after.”

“Sure,” she said, getting up from her seat, “I’ll just skip all my classes and wait in my room for you to get done with Miss Priss here.”

“Really?” I asked.“No. But come up around seven. I’ll be done with my classes by then and getting

ready to go out tonight. We can talk then, and you’re more than welcome to come with.” Without even looking at Sarah, Meagan picked up her book bag and headed to her next class.

“Sit down, Sarah” I said, motioning to Meagan’s empty seat.“Who are you?” she asked, “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”Choosing to ignore her I asked the most important question on my mind, “What

was so ‘life or death’?”“Why do you care?” she replied, “You just dumped me.”“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to do it publicly, but you didn’t really leave me

with much of a choice. Besides, together or not you’re really freaked out about something, and I have a feeling I’m the only one who’ll listen.”

“What’s the supposed to mean?” she asked.“Never mind,” I said, “tell me what happened.”She took a deep breath and began her story, “Okay, so I was walking past the bus

stop outside the theater when this guy appeared out of nowhere and knocked all my books out of my hands. When I looked up, it was you! And you yelled my name, like you were surprised to see me. Then you started to fade in and out, like you were a holograph.”

“A hologram?” I asked.“Yeah, whatever,” she replied. “Anyway, that’s it. Oh, and the whole time there

was a weird feeling in my stomach, like I was on the top of a roller coaster. So I text you freaking out, trying to find out where you are, and I find out you completely ignored me to hang out with her!”

“Sarah, did I have the scar on my neck?”“No, which I thought was weird. One minute you have a strange scar on your

neck, the next you don’t, and now you do again! How do you explain that?”“Well,” I thought for a second, “it sounds like either you crossed over, or Jon

crossed over. And from the feeling you described, I’d say you were the one who crossed over. Which I can’t imagine is a good thing.” Sarah stared at me blankly, mouth hanging open. It was obvious she was incredibly confused by what I had just said. “Well,” I started, standing up, “it’s been wonderful getting to know you, but I think it’s time we go our separate ways.”

Turning my back on her and walking away, she yelled after me, “You’ll be back! That slut will get bored with you in no time and you’ll come crawling back!!”

I spent the rest of the afternoon laying on my bed watching random things on TV. It was rough; there was hardly ever anything on daytime television. This gave me a lot of time to think. What was bothering me wasn’t the Sarah/Meagan situation, I was fully convinced I did the right thing there; it was the things Sarah told me at the table. If she had crossed over to the other dimension, what was stopping other people from doing the

same? But from what I could tell, almost everything in this world is the same as mine. So if other people were crossing over they probably wouldn’t even know. Which would explain why Sarah visibly appeared and disappeared in the other world, she didn’t have another body to go into; she was an anomaly.

With that thought, everything made sense. People weren’t just crossing over, our worlds were colliding. Eventually they would become one. My head started hurting as the next thought hit: What would happen when the worlds combined and there were two completely different Jons?

My phone vibrated in my hand, waking me up from my nap. It was a text from Meagan saying, “Are you coming up or not?” The clock on my dresser told me it was seven-ten. Replying, “Be right up,” I strung up from my bed, turned off my TV, and made my way to the sixth floor.

Coming to Meagan’s door, I knocked lightly two times and was met with an, “It’s unlocked!” I turned the handle and walked in on Meagan checking herself out in the mirror to make sure she was good to go for tonight. Walking over and taking a seat on her futon, I watched Meagan as she finished getting ready and came to sit down beside me. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I replied, “I just never noticed how beautiful you are.”“I know,” she said, laughing. “So, did you get everything squared away with the

ex?”“Yeah.”“Good. Now are you going to explain this sudden change in personality?”“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I said, turning to the TV.Meagan crossed her arms across her chest, “Try me.”“Fine. I’m Jon from another dimension. A rift opened in time and space, and

your Jon and I switched places. He’s living my life now, and I’m living his.”She laughed, “Well you better hope he doesn’t come back, cause you’ve done a

hell of a job wrecking his life.”“Don’t worry, we don’t know how to switch back if we wanted to, so you’re stuck

with me.”“That’s not such a bad thing, “Meagan said, “I like you. You’re actually smart.”“So, you actually believe everything I just told you?”“It’s unusual, I’ll admit. But it makes sense; you do seem like a completely

different Jon.”“Well, not completely different,” I said with a smirk, “I still have my ravishing

good looks.”She smiled, leaving toward me, “Yes, you do.” Before I knew what was

happening, Meagan kissed me. Any other time I would’ve stopped and asked what was going on, but this wasn’t my Meagan, and this was something I had wanted for a long time. Out of nowhere Meagan put her hand on my chest and pushed me away. “No,” she said, “no tongue. I don’t do tongue. It’s gross.”

Laughing I simply said, “Fine.” I closed my eyes, leaning in for another kiss, and ended up falling on my face on the futon.

When I opened my eyes, Meagan was standing up, putting her jacket on. “Come on,” she said, picking up her keys, “it’s time to go.” Standing up from the futon, I sighed

and followed Meagan out as she locked her door. As we walked down to her car, something miraculous happened, Meagan held my hand. For the first time in a long time, I was truly happy. ………………………………………………………………………………………………

When Meagan and Jon walked through the door of Meagan’s friend’s house a couple streets down, they were greeted by a roomful of people dancing and talking in the midst of loud music. Meagan spotted Jenn sitting on the couch texting, and grabbed Jon’s arm to lead him through the crowd.

Jon watched as Meagan sat down and starting telling Jenn all about her day. All of the sudden, Jon got a major headache and put his hand up to his forehead. “Are you okay?” Meagan asked.

“Yeah,” Jon replied, “I’m just gonna go get a drink.” He headed toward the kitchen to pour himself a drink but was forced to stop. His vision became blurred and head dizzy. Jon just couldn’t take it anymore; the pain was too unbearable. He ended up passing out right in the middle of the floor.

For the second time that week, each Jon found himself looking at his double. Only this time, there was a third person there: Sarah. The three were once again standing on an invisible floor in the space between worlds. “What happened?! Where are we?! And why are there two of you?!” Sarah shrieked.

“Sarah!” exclaimed the scarless Jon. He ran over and embraced her. While Jon hugged Sarah, and Sarah still freaked out, the other Jon started to

explain. “Well, it looks like our worlds combined.”Scarless chimed in, “And a lot quicker than we thought.”Sarah looked dumbfounded as Scarless stepped back from her, “Okay, I’m going

to pretend that makes sense. It still doesn’t explain what I’m doing here!!”“We’re anomalies. Your Jon and I are two completely different people, so our

minds can’t just meld together, and as for you, you’re dead in my world.” Jon replied.“So,” Sarah took several moments to collect her thoughts, “does that mean we’re

dead?”Both Jons looked to where Sarah was standing, behind her was a single

“doorway” where two stood the last time their paths crossed. Scarless spoke this time, “There’s only one doorway, but it’s open. So it’s safe to say that you, Sarah, could just walk back through, but as for us, only one of us can go back.”

“But how are we going to decide who goes back?” the other Jon asked.“I’m not going anywhere without my Jon!” Sarah yelled. The three stood in silence for several minutes, apparently having reached a

stalemate. There was no way to decide who would go back and who would stay here. No one knew what staying here would mean, so all of them were afraid to be the one who had to do it. Then Scarless had a thought. “Meagan,” he said out loud.

“Oh come on!” Sarah yelled, “Not you too!”“No, I mean, Meagan really likes Jon. And if we’re the two who go back, she

won’t get to have him. But if we stay, we’ll have each other,” Scarless said taking Sarah’s hand, “and that’s really all I need.” Sarah smiled and the two shared a quick kiss.

“You two are just going to sacrifice yourselves for me and Meagan?” Jon asked.

“In a nutshell, and you better go before we change our minds,” Scarless laughed, “Sarah needs me, and you and Meagan need each other.”

“Thanks,” was all Jon could muster as he and Scarless Jon shook hands and half hugged, “and good luck.” With that, Jon turned his back on the couple and made his last trip through the doorway.

Jon slowly opened his eyes, and realized he was on his back staring at the ceiling with everyone in the house standing over him. Meagan and Jenn were the closest two, and Jon heard Meagan breathe a large sigh of relief when Jon opened his eyes. “Are you okay?” she asked, “You just kind of passed out.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling much better now,” Jon replied, sitting up. Seeing that there was really nothing to worry about, everyone but Meagan and Jenn slowly went back to their partying. The two that were left helped Jon up and took him to the couch.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Meagan asked.“That depends,” Jon replied, “will you be my girlfriend?”Meagan stared at him, “Seriously? Are you using your passing out as a pick up

line?”“Yes,” he replied.“Then I guess you leave me with no choice,” Meagan said with a smile, “I’d love

to call you my boyfriend.”“It’s about freaking time!” Jenn said, “Several of us have been taking bets on how

long it would take you two to get together. Looks like I just made some spending money.”

“Well,” Meagan said, “looks like there’s only one thing left to do.”“What?” Jon asked.“Celebrate,” Meagan said leaning over and kissing Jon on the cheek. This was

the life Jon had wanted from the beginning, and he was never going to wish it away again.