The Twinning Project (14 page)

The fence swung open, and the van drove up to the front door. Duke and Earl pulled me out and pushed me inside the building, then down a long dim corridor and into a little concrete cell. They unstrapped the straitjacket.

The door clanged shut.

The cell had a cot and a hole in the floor for a toilet. The window had bars on it, but it was too high to look out of, and I was too tired to try to jump up.

It was still daylight. I stretched out on the bed.

I wondered why I didn't feel scared anymore. I guess I thought it was a dream or a coma after all. Think about it: Two planets. Switching places with my imaginary twin. Going back in time, or at least sideways. You have to be crazy or unconscious. And the two Dr. Traums. Were they twins, too? Even the name sounded phony.

The cell door swung open and one of the Dr. Traums walked in.

“We'll move you to a more comfortable room,” he said, “as soon as you let us help you.” His voice was soft and friendly.

“What kind of help?”

“Tell me about the voices.”

“What voices?”

He sat down on the cot. “What do they tell you to do?”

“They say don't answer stupid questions.”

Dr. Traum smiled. “I can understand your being a little, um, miffed, about being dragged here. But it's for your own good.”

I kept my mouth shut.

“Eddie Tudor has always been a polite, hard- working, nice young man. But something happened recently to change you. I think it's the voices.”

I just stared into his green eyes. I thought I saw my reflection. I had the feeling there were cameras behind those green eyes.

I have to be careful
.
Anything he gets out of me could make trouble for my brother and my grandfather.

“What voices?” I said.

“Do you ever hear from your father?”

“My dad disappeared two years ago.”

“All the more reason to want to hear from him.”

“I never heard from him.”

“I believe you,” said Dr. Traum. “He'd be much too clever for that—and selfish, allowing you to believe he was dead.”

“You're saying he's
not
dead?”

He smiled. “Tell me, when did you first start imagining you had a twin brother?”

“What twin brother?”

“The one on another planet, the one you talked to in your backyard.”

“Where did you hear that?”

Dr. Traum smiled. “Typical Tom, the smart, bad one.” He leaned against the wall. “Have you talked to Eddie lately? Do you know where he is, if he's all right?”

“I'm Eddie.”

“Actually, Eddie will be here in a little while, and if you don't tell me what I want to know, then
he'll
tell me. And we won't need you anymore.”

I tried hard to keep my face still as a stone. I'd seen plenty of TV shows where bad guys used this kind of interrogation trick. But my mind was in high gear. Dad alive? Eddie coming here? Had they captured him, too?

“Eddie is concerned about you. He wants to help me help you.”

“If he's imaginary, how can he come here?”

“Eddie can come here because he's you, the other part of your personality. You'll imagine him here.”

He was trying to confuse me.

“I know this seems confusing.”

Was he reading my thoughts or was he trying to put thoughts in my head? “Maybe I'm imagining you,” I said.

He nodded and smiled more. “That's clever, Tom, just like your father.”

“What about my dad?”

“What about him?” said Dr. Traum.

“Did you know him?”

“If you let me help you, we could talk about your dad.”

Careful.
He's getting very tricky.

“Help me how?” I said.

“Help you become as terrific a boy as I know you can be. I want to help you get free from that story your mind created about a twin brother and aliens.”

Aliens.
Had I ever mentioned aliens to him? Had I talked about them to anyone besides Grandpa and Eddie?
Be very careful, Tom.

“What about aliens?”

Dr. Traum's smile disappeared. “Don't play with me, Thomas. We're going to have all of you very soon. No one will get hurt if you cooperate. Where's your father?”

“He disappeared two years ago.”

Dr. Traum's face got very cold. The green eyes glowed hot. “Don't lie to me, or I'll leave you in this place to rot. When did you last hear from your father?”

“Two years ago.”

“Not as human as he pretends to be, is he? For two years he let you think he was dead.”

My stomach turned over. “He
is
alive!”

Dr. Traum stalked out.

After the door slammed shut, I tore the sheet on the cot into three long strips, tied them together, and knotted one end. It took me a while to throw the knot around one of the bars and pull myself up to the window. I searched the sky for the blinking lights. It was hard hanging on to the bars. Nothing. I tried to throw my thoughts up there.

Hear me, Eddie! I'm in an insane asylum. I need help. Tell Grandpa the aliens got me. And they're coming after you. And Dad's alive!

After a while, I lost my grip and fell. I was cold and hungry and scared. It was hard to block out the constant noise of inmates screaming and banging their tin cups against the bars. I started to cry. I couldn't help myself.

There was a slot at the bottom of the cell door with a hinged flap, like a doggy door, and someone slid a tray in. A tuna fish sandwich, a tin cup of milk, and a dish of green Jell-O. I was hungry, but I didn't eat or drink anything. What if there were drugs in there—like a truth serum—to get me talking?

But I didn't know anything.

Eddie! Talk to me!

NEW YORK CITY

2011

 

E
DDIE
enjoyed the limo ride into Manhattan. A TV show was playing on a screen on the back seat. Amazing. There was a cabinet filled with candy, cookies, and bottles of soda and water. There were four different kinds of water. He couldn't remember water in fancy bottles on EarthTwo. You filled your canteen if you were going to need water on a hike or for a day of playing ball outside.

“You look pretty relaxed,” said Alessa. She and Britzky were sucking down water between cookies. “Want to practice?”

“Sure.”

Alessa opened her notebook. “The big question they sent is, Why did you start this campaign and what do you hope is the takeaway?”

“The takeaway?”

She sighed. “What people think about and do because of it.”

“Just shut down for a day and talk to each other.”

“And after that?” She sounded like one of those patient teachers talking to a special ed kid. She was trying to coach him. He realized how much he liked her, his first friend who was a girl.

Eddie shrugged. “I don't know.”

“You might say, If people start talking, maybe they'll get along better,” said Alessa. “It could lead to all kinds of good things. Like world peace.”

“Cool,” said Eddie.

Britzky said, “What if they show the YouTube clip of Tom greasing that dude in his other school? That's not world peace.”

Alessa raised her eyebrows at Britzky. “Good catch, Todd. Tom can say he's changed and that means we can all change. Don't mention the pills.”

“What pills?” said Eddie. He had forgotten about them.

Alessa stared at him. “OMG. You haven't forgotten them, too, have you? Are you still taking them?”

Whoops. “LOL.”

Alessa clapped her hands. “You're ready, Tom. This is going to be so fun.”

It was. It went by in a blur. Smiley young women hurried Eddie through the halls and into a room where an older woman powdered his face and combed his hair and then into a studio where a woman who looked like Alessa's mom sat facing him in a chair under hot lights. They were talking for a few minutes before Eddie realized that they were on television.

“People your age are supposed to be addicted to electronics,” said the woman. “So, Tom Canty, what was it that made you so different?”

“People at my school weren't talking to each other. They weren't working out their problems,” said Eddie.

“Was there one event that gave you this idea?”

“I was supposed to have a fight with this kid I didn't even know, and he didn't know me. He sent me texts challenging me. When we got face-to-face and started talking, we became friends.” Even as he said it, Eddie knew it wasn't exactly true, but the look on her face—she was loving it!—pushed him on. And wasn't this what Tom would say? “I think countries could do that.”

“‘Countries could do that.' Tom, that is such a profound statement.”

He didn't remember what else they talked about, but she hugged him, and so did all the smiley young women in the hallway. The lady who rubbed off his makeup gave him a kiss.

“Great job,” said Alessa.

Britzky was banging on his shoulder.

“Thanks for coaching me, guys. Couldn't have done it without you.”

Outside on the street, there were a dozen people asking for his autograph.

“Maybe you should be running for president of the country,” said Alessa.

“Do you have to be a certain age?” asked Britzky. “I know you have to be born in America.”

“I was born in America,” said Eddie.
Just on another planet.

NEARMONT, N.J.

2011

 

T
HE
limo dropped them off at school. The banner was hanging from the front door:
TECH OFF! DAY AT NEARMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL
.

“I wonder what Tom would think,” said Eddie before he realized he was talking out loud.

“The old Tom would have hated it,” said Alessa. “But you really like it, don't you?”

“Yeah.”

At lunch, kids and teachers came over to touch him and talk to him. The attention was almost as good as football, Eddie thought.

Mrs. Rupp smiled as he sat down in her class. “We might just have to add a date on the timeline for you, Thomas.”

Dr. Traum grabbed him on the way out of class and steered him into his office. “You made us all proud, Thomas. You were just so natural, so relaxed.” His big green eyes seemed to be glowing.

Watch out
.

“Was this Tech Off! Day all your idea?” Dr. Traum asked.

“Alessa thought it would help my campaign to be class president.”

Dr. Traum smiled. “Sounds like twenty-first-century politics to me. Although it does seem like such a change for you. You've always been such a wired, electronic- gadgets kind of guy.”

Eddie shrugged.

“A remarkable change. A few days ago, people would have said that Tom Canty was a disruptive, uncooperative, unhappy boy. And now he's a polite, hard-working, nice young man.”

“Isn't that a good thing?” Eddie stayed calm. He could tell from the way Dr. Traum leaned away from him while smiling that he was up to something. A quarterback is always studying his opponents' body language. It was like reading a linebacker about to attack.
Don't forget he called you Eddie yesterday.

“Of course. But any sudden change is a reason to wonder. Often it happens when someone . . . oh, for example, begins hearing voices. You may think they are, perhaps, aliens from some other planet, but they are from inside you.”

“Aliens?”

“Enjoy your day, Tom. Now back to class.”

It was a good day even if Dr. Traum had made him nervous. That must have been his plan.
He's trying to get me off my game
, Eddie thought
. Think of something else, something positive.

In gym, he had something great to think about—the basketball season! He worked out with some of the kids who would be on the team. That was really neat, being the only seventh-grader. He was much better than most of them. Some were flashier players, with no-look passes and fancy crossover dribbles, but Eddie had no trouble keeping up with them on breakaways and slashing through to the basket. They couldn't stop his jumper.

The guys were nice, and the coach winked and told him that he'd be getting a number soon. Eddie liked the idea of playing here, although he wished the uniforms weren't so long and baggy. He was going to miss those nice tight satiny shorts he wore on EarthTwo.

Keith was waiting for him at home with pizza and an ice cream cake. He'd seen
The Today Show.
“Great job,” he said.

They talked to Tom's mom on Keith's laptop computer. Her face appeared on the screen! She had seen
The Today Show
in Dallas. She thought he looked terrific, fit and muscular. And his hair looked shorter. Keith broke in to tell her that
The Ellen Show
had called. If they flew out to Los Angeles to do the show, they could meet up. It was jolly. Tom's mom was pretty and seemed nice.

They watched the Yankees game for a while. Eddie started nodding and Keith sent him up to bed, but he couldn't fall asleep. He began feeling cold, hungry, and scared. He burrowed under the covers, wishing Buddy was there with him.

He wondered if Tom was in trouble. He couldn't understand feeling so bad after such a great day.

He waited until he heard Keith come upstairs and close his bedroom door before he got dressed again and sneaked downstairs and out into the backyard. He looked for the blinking lights. Nothing.
Maybe you don't need them here
. He concentrated as hard as he could.
Can you hear me, Tom? What's going on? Are you okay?

He thought he heard Tom say something about being in an insane asylum . . . he needed help . . . tell Grandpa. But it sounded like a distant echo deep inside his head. The words rattled around. Maybe it was his imagination. Maybe it was those voices Dr. Traum was talking about.