Charlotte sat down next to Lacey. Her face was cleaned up and her hair was in pigtails. Ella looked at Lacey. “How about you dear? Are you sure you don’t need a change?” Lacey nodded. “OK then,” Ella said and began putting plates on the table.
During dinner, Ella had the children talk about what they had done that day. The stew was tasty, but a little bland. After they were done, Ella rose to put the big pot back on the stove. Alastair gave Lacey a nudge and glanced towards the window. Outside, the rain had stopped and clouds had parted to show a rosy sky.
After dinner, Alastair, Charlotte and Lacey retreated to the attic. Charlotte lay on the floor, drawing, while Alastair and Lacey sat in the tent.
“OK,” Lacey said, “so the days really are repeating themselves.”
“Mm-hm.”
“And you keep forgetting your old life, little by little?”
Alastair nodded.
“Well, how quickly does it happen? I’m guessing you’ve been here the shortest.”
“Actually, George came after me. I think you lose yourself more quickly if you don’t resist and he just went along with it from day one. Almost like he was running away from something.”
“So that’s what you’ve been doing? Fighting it?”
Charlotte scowled at them. “Momma says ‘no fighting’,” she said solemnly.
“It’s OK Charlotte, we’re not fighting.”
“Um, ‘kay,” she said and returned to her drawing.
“So, how long have you been ‘enjoying’ this summer?” Lacey made air quotes.
“I don’t think ‘enjoying’ is the right word, and why were you doing that thing with your hands?”
“What do you me- Oh, the air quotes. They mean … Look, never mind that. How long?”
“I don’t know,” Alastair said. “Numbers, remember?”
“OK, let’s try something else then. Do you get older when you’re here?”
Alastair shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
“So what do you remember from before you came here. Do you remember who’s president?”
“I’m not sure. Kind of a goofy-looking guy. Really short name.”
“Bush?” Lacey suggested.
“Yeah, that’s it. Bush.”
“That means you’ve been here m-”
“And that other guy,” Alastair interrupted, “he’d fit right in here. He couldn’t spell either.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know how to do it now, but ‘potato’?”
“Oh my god. You meant Bush One. You’ve been here for…” Lacey paused longer than she normally would have had to , “…more than 25 years?”
Alastair just sat there, looking more and more uncertain. “I don’t know,” he mumbled.
For a few minutes, they just sat there. The only sound was the scratching sound of Charlotte’s crayons and the wind picking up outside.
“So how do we get out of here?” Lacey finally asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know if I ever knew. It’s like I’m trapped in a dark cellar.”
“Why don’t you just go back up the stairs?” Charlotte asked, putting down her crayons.
“It’s not really a cellar Charlotte,” Alastair said with a sigh.
“Hang on,” Lacey said. She grabbed Alastair’s arm. “How did you get here?
“I’m not sure,” he said hesitantly. “It’s all so fuzzy. It’s like it’s me, but not me. Like-”
“A mirror image,” they both said.
“What do you mean?” Alastair asked.
“We try what Charlotte suggested. We go out the way we came in. We’ll just have to hope that it works for all of us.”
“So where is this way out then?”
“Up the hill and into the woods,” Lacey said vaguely.
“That’s it? We’re never going to find it in the dark.”
“OK my little munchkins, it’s bedtime,” Ella’s voice called from downstairs.
“But mooooom…” Charlotte complained.
“Now now, tomorrow’s another day.”
“Okay,” she said dejectedly and headed for the stairs. Alastair and Lacey followed close behind.