Czytaj książkę: «The Queen of the Two Moons»

© Sergey Redkin, 2024

ISBN 978-5-0064-7500-7

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Preface

It was December 2019, and I was planning to spend the New Year’s holidays with my family, not worrying about daily posts for my educational channel, where I share short lessons and tips for people who learn English. The news pundits were talking about a virus that could potentially be threatening but having experienced the SARS pandemic back in 2002 in Taiwan, I didn’t pay too much attention to it. What I was thinking about, though, was an idea to write a short story in the form of dialogues, divide it into small parts, and post them on my channel over the holidays, allowing people to learn a few new things. This way, I wouldn’t need to worry about creating new content during that time.

So, I set out to write a short story entirely composed of dialogues. To make it more exciting, I began with a murder, added a deadly virus, and ended with a cliffhanger. The story was posted, and people seemed to like it. Then, of course, COVID-19 happened, and we were all busy adjusting to the new reality.

Fast forward a couple of years. I stumbled upon an article about self-publishing and remembered the little story I’d written. I dusted off the Word file and decided to expand it, adding more details and self-publishing it as a standalone story. Thus, As Long as I’m With You was born. The idea was to create something both interesting and useful, so that people learning English would not only enjoy the story but also pick up new vocabulary and expressions, with the hope of cultivating a reading habit in English.

“Why stop there?” I asked myself. “A trilogy would be even better, because three is a good number,” I continued, building on my idea. “The more, the merrier,” I added, and so I sat down to write more.

That’s how The Perfect Match and The Two Moons were written and published. Soon, I was writing non-stop, and even completed the first draft of a novel (Hide-and-Seek), a psychological thriller in a different genre, which gave me an opportunity to hone my writing skills further.

I read the stories with some students in my Book Club and during online classes, receiving a lot of valuable feedback. As a result, I decided to revise the parts a bit and combine them into one novel with many useful references for language learners – and that’s how The Queen of the Two Moons came to be, the book you are now holding (or reading on your device).

I hope you will enjoy reading the story of one strong young woman, Lizzy, and learn many interesting words and expressions if you are studying English.

Sergey Redkin

October 11, 2024

“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” Maya Angelou

Part 1: As Long As I’m With You

Chapter 1: We’ll Figure This Out¹ (Present Time)

Lizzy could not believe what she was looking at. This was impossible². How could this happen? Only an hour ago, everything was fine. She thought she was one of the happiest women in the world. She had everything: a man who loved her, an excellent job, a bunch³ of friends, and a cute ocean wave green Mini Cooper. She couldn’t wait to wake up every morning and go spend her day working in a big international company as a logistics manager with a big smile on her face. And now… well, now she was not sure that her life would ever go back to what it was. No, come to think of it⁴, she was not sure that she had a life anymore. How did this all happen?

It all began this morning when he told her that he was leaving her. Things went downhill⁵ afterwards⁶.

“You what?” she asked, putting her phone down. Lizzy had been scrolling through some of her favorite influencers, looking for productive ways to give her already successful career another boost.

Having just done her morning yoga routine, she was sitting on a tall stool near the kitchen island in her sportswear. She was still on her first cup of the day as the words spilled from her mouth along with the coffee.

He was standing near an open window, still in his pajamas, hair disheveled⁷ from the night’s sleep. It was a bright day, and it looked as if he had a halo⁸ over his head. What irony!

“We can’t be together anymore,” he added and quickly looked out the window, turning his back to

her.

“What are you looking out of the window for?” She tried to stay cool. “Is your new girlfriend waiting for you out there?”

Staying cool did not seem like an option.

“I’m sorry, but we have to end it today,” he said looking at her.

“What do you mean today?! What? Do you already have a breakup plan⁹? Or did you decide¹⁰ just then, while drinking your coffee?” she asked, barely controlling herself and slowly realizing that it was not some sort of joke.

“Listen. We’ll figure this out. Believe me, it’s for the best,” he said.

“Are you being serious?¹¹” Slamming her cup down on the kitchen island, she suddenly¹² realized that she could throw it at him right about now¹³.

He opened his mouth …and at that precise moment something outside cracked¹⁴. He fell on the floor; his head was covered in blood. Then her phone started to ring.

***

She answered in zombie mode, still unable to process what had just happened.

“You’d better¹⁵ leave now,” a female voice said on the other end of the line. Somehow the voice sounded strangely familiar.

“Ah?” was all she could master, her eyes fixed on the motionless body on the floor.

“Go now or you’ll be lying next to him in a minute,” said the voice without a hint of compassion¹⁶. “Who are you?” Lizzy was almost screaming.

“Don’t believe anyone. Run!” The same coolness¹⁷. Then the line went dead.

She put the phone down on the kitchen island and eyed the kitchen. What was going on?

Click.

The brain started to work faster. Lizzy ran to him, still hoping it was a terrible prank¹⁸. Nope. This was blood on her floor. And this was one dead man. Her man. Well, her ex-man. She was checking his pulse and breathing, just in case¹⁹, when she heard someone running down the corridor outside her door. She jumped up.

***

The morning street felt strange. How could these people go about their business when her boyfriend was lying dead on the floor, right up there in their apartment? Where was she supposed to go now?²⁰ Somehow, calling the police did not seem like a clever idea. But why? She hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d just had a cup of coffee while her soon-to-be-proposing boyfriend was murdered in the process of breaking up with her. Should she call the police after all²¹? Perhaps she should.

She checked her pockets, but… Oh no! She’d left her phone on the kitchen island. All her contacts.

She didn’t remember any numbers by heart²². Who could? Were there still payphones these days? Whom should she call even if she found one?

“Don’t scream,” came the same cold voice from the call, but… behind her. She stopped in disbelief²³.

“Keep walking.” A slight shove on her back.

She complied²⁴. A decision triggered²⁵ by her survival mechanism²⁶ rather than her brain. “Who are you?” she asked quietly.

“In a minute,” the stranger said. “Turn right here.” Another nudge to her back.

They stepped into a quiet alley where most of the benches were occupied with elderly people and mothers rocking their baby strollers²⁷.

“Here’s good,” the stranger said when they reached an empty bench. “Sit down.” “May I turn around?” she asked, sitting down.

“If you want,” the stranger said. She did.

Perhaps, it was not a good comparison, but what Lizzy saw shocked her almost as much as the death of her boyfriend.

***

She was looking at herself. Well, she was looking at a young woman who looked exactly like her, as if they were identical twins in different outfits. The same mouth shape, the same celestial nose²⁸. Her straight hair was shorter than Lizzy’s shoulder length curls. The stranger was wearing a plain dark blue hoodie, a pair of black jeans, and, what looked like, Dr. Martens black leather boots.

“Yes, I know,” the stranger said. “It took quite some time for me to wrap my head around this²⁹too!”

“Are you…?” she began.

“You?” the stranger finished. “Yes. I’m you.” “From the future?” Lizzy asked in bewilderment³⁰. “Not really,” the woman said. “I’m your copy.” “My copy?”

“Yes. Some of us have copies, but they never tell us that,” Lizzy’s copy said as if it was common knowledge³¹.

“Who are they?”

“They.” The other woman shrugged³². “The ones who want to control us. And now they are trying to erase³³ us for some reason.”

What?!

“I haven’t done anything illegal. What is happening?” Lizzy asked in a wavering voice. “Listen, we don’t have much time, so let’s get the hell out of here first and then we can properly catch up³⁴,” Lizzy’s copy said, looking around. “But I don’t understand…” she started.

“No talk. Let’s go,” the other she said quickly and stood up.

The stranger extended³⁵ her hand, another cracking sound somewhere in a distance, and… the copy’s head exploded³⁶ like a watermelon.

***

Two dead people in one morning might seem like nothing on the global scale of things but seeing your boyfriend and your copy, whatever that meant, getting shot in front of you could make anyone go insane³⁷.

Is that what it was?

Was Lizzy going crazy and was seeing things that weren’t there? Nope. The moms in the alley were all screaming, and the grandmas were trying to run away. There was definitely a shooting just now.

The cracking sound. Was she the next target?

The twin woman had said that they were trying to erase them. Another click. Lizzy’s brain started to work again.

It took her a couple of minutes to get into the endless stream³⁸ of people hurrying to their work. She stopped by the curb³⁹ to catch her breath when a car tire screeched⁴⁰ next to her, and the passenger door opened.

“Get in, quick,” the driver yelled.

What next?

Will it ever end?

Why does this voice sound so familiar?

“Come on, Lizzy. We don’t have much time!” He sounded agitated⁴¹. He knew her name!

***

Lizzy gaped⁴² at him. It was him. Her Mark. But how could that be?

“I know,” he said without taking his eyes off the road. “It took me awhile to understand this, but I’m not who you think I am.”

It dawned on her⁴³. “You’re his copy.” He nodded.

She got into the car.

She couldn’t stop looking at him. This man looked exactly like Mark, the boyfriend who was supposed to propose Lizzy soon. They both had round faces and blue eyes. Only his hair was combed in a different way, to the right side, and he wasn’t wearing pajamas, but a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. The man’s skin was tanned as if he had spent a lot of time under the sun. Mark was not a big of fan of sunbathing and preferred to stay inside. Also, the stranger was wearing a rather chunky⁴⁴ diver’s watch with a steel bracelet on his right hand, unlike her boyfriend who wore his dress watch on a leather strap on the left hand. She remembered that because she had given him that watch as a birthday present. It was only a few days ago. It was expensive and it had taken her a while to choose it in the department store that was near her office.

“He was trying to make you leave the apartment this morning. To save you,” he said. “He just needed a bit more time.”

What?! How does he know about what happened at my home?

“We found him first and told him everything,” he said. “He thought we were from the future,” he added with a sad smile.

He kept quiet for a while. Only the sound of the accelerating⁴⁵ engine filled the air.

Lizzy felt that the numbness which her body had gone into to protect her from the shock of losing Mark and watching the assassination of the woman who was supposed to be her copy was slowly melting away and the intense mix of emotions and feelings she had never experienced was about to overwhelm her.

“He was adamant⁴⁶ to keep you out of it,” he said finally, breaking the silence. She felt tears running down her cheeks and his face became blurry⁴⁷.

“How do you… did you know my boyfriend?” she asked. “We just met Mark yesterday,” he said after a pause.

He watched her for a moment.

“Listen, we both lost important people today,” he continued. “I know this is all messed up⁴⁸, but we need to stay together. At least for a while to get to the bottom of it⁴⁹.”

She couldn’t see and hear him anymore. Grief finally broke through the barrier of shock. He took her hand and quietly said: “Don’t worry, Lizzy. We’ll figure this out.”

Then he took a ramp to merge onto the highway out of the city.

Chapter 2: Lizzy’s Diary (Present Time)

I guess the most difficult thing in this crazy story is to accept the reality of it and get used to wearing Beth, my twin copy, clothes. The latter isn’t a big problem because we were the same size, and she had good taste. I have six more days before the jump, and I must put all my memories together while they’re still fresh and painful. Yes, pain. I don’t know if I’ll feel it after the jump. It connects me to the past. My past. My life seems to be so long ago. Will I still be me if I lose it?

In any case, I’d better start my diary from the beginning.

I was in the car with Marco – my Mark’s copy – and my life disappeared⁵⁰ in the rearview mirror⁵¹. When we put a couple of hundred miles between us and New York, he started to slow down. I had no more tears in me and was just staring out of the window thoughtlessly⁵².

The car stopped.

“Here’s where we’ll meet him,” Marсo said. “Who?”

“The man who knows the answers,” he said and opened the door. “Are you coming?” “How do you know that man?” I asked Marco when we got out of the car.

“You told me about him. I mean, Beth. She found him a while ago or he found her. I’m not sure how that happened. In any case, he told us to bring her copy – you – to him. To save you.”

“To do what?”

“Apparently⁵³, someone didn’t want that meeting to happen.” “To do what?!”

“That’s what you and I are going to find out because Lizzie didn’t live long enough to explain that to you and I think he’ll do a better job,” Marco said, looking around. “It should be somewhere close.”

I looked around as well. We were close to a mountain.

“There’s nothing here,” I stated the obvious⁵⁴. “Aren’t these the Adirondack Mountains?”

I knew that because our company had arranged a corporate retreat in this area a year ago. It was a good outing. We had a lot of fun hiking, canoeing, and checking out waterfalls.

“Not sure what they’re called here, but we call them the Algonquian Hills in my world. This is where we came to your world. There’s supposed to be a cave here,” Marco said looking intently⁵⁵ in the direction of the mountain. He added: “Oh, I think I see it.”

It took a while to get to the place where we were going, which turned out to be an entrance of the cave. I had not seen it on the company’s retreat. It was big enough for both of us to walk without touching the ceiling. Marco had a couple of flashlights with him. He gave me one, switched his on and led the way. We walked in and went ahead for a hundred meters or so. It was chilly and a bit eerie inside. I shivered.

I began, “How are we supposed to—”

That’s when I saw a big sea green⁵⁶ flash of light ahead of us that turned into a big pulsating greenish-yellow ball just like bright northern lights. Weirdly⁵⁷, there was no sound. The ball started to open, like some kind of a portal, and a male silhouette⁵⁸ walked right out of it.

It lasted a few seconds and then the ball was gone, but the man remained⁵⁹. He approached⁶⁰ us. He was in his sixties, with a short gray beard and long hair, wearing khaki pants and a dark green turtleneck sweater⁶¹. He seemed nervous, but he was smiling.

“Marco, Lizzy,” the man said as if he knew us well.

So, naturally, I fainted⁶² because a human being can take only a certain amount of drama and science fiction in one day without losing consciousness⁶³.

***

I had a dream that I saw my mom. She was smiling and nodding as if she understood my situation. I wanted to get closer to her and ask her what I should do, but when I opened my mouth, I came to my senses.

First, I heard some soft voices. There were two men whispering⁶⁴. I tried to open my eyes. It wasn’t easy because they were swollen⁶⁵. I was thirsty⁶⁶ and I was lying on something soft.

“Ahem⁶⁷?” I cleared my throat.

“Oh, good.” I heard Marco say. “She’s awake.” I heard him walking over to me.

“Lizzy,” Marco said, taking my hand. “How are you?” “Thirsty,” I said with an effort.

“Listen,” he continued. “This is Peter.”

I opened my eyes and saw the man from the big ball of light. He was smiling and now looked vaguely⁶⁸ familiar for some reason. He waved at me. I looked at Marco. “He’s your dad, Lizzy,” Marco said.

I’ve never really met my father – or I should say that I don’t remember him. I knew almost nothing about the man except seeing a few pictures of him that my mom kept. Back then, he appeared to be a well-built smart-looking handsome young man in late twenties with short dark hair. I remember that he was smiling in those photos. My mom told me that he was a good man, but he had to be someplace away from the family. I think she made that up. In fact, she never gave me a proper explanation, and, as a little girl, I used to imagine him to be a great explorer blazing a trail⁶⁹ in some jungle. Other relatives told me that he disappeared when I was a year old.

When I got older that mental portrait of my father slowly faded away⁷⁰, and I didn’t think much about him. Of course, I was wondering if I was like him from time to time⁷¹. I am sure I had a lot of daddy-isn’t-home issues which I had to deal with, but I was pretty sure that I turned out to be relatively unscarred⁷². My mom and I were best friends, and it seemed to me that we didn’t need a man in the house to complete⁷³ the picture.

My mom died two years ago of cancer. On her deathbed, she told me one thing: “I hope you meet your father one day. I can feel he’s still alive.”

At the time I thought it was a very strange thing to say, perhaps it was the cancer talking.

And now there he was, smiling again. My estranged⁷⁴ dad. Did I feel anything at that moment? I can’t say that I did.

“Hello, Lizzy,” he said.

“Hello,” I said, feeling a bit awkward⁷⁵, not knowing how to address him⁷⁶. He nodded and looked at Marco.

“We don’t have much time, Marco,” he said.

“Right,” Marco said and looked at me. “Listen, there’s a lot you need to know. You need to eat something first to gain your strength though.”

“What do I need my strength for?” I asked.

“Well,” Marco started, and looked at Peter and then back at me. “I guess there’s no other way to say it⁷⁷.”

“Say what?” I asked a bit nervously.

“We’re going to travel to another world,” he said.

***

I spent the next couples of days on an emotional roller-coaster, starting the day with crying over my dead boyfriend and whatever plans I could have been making with him, then trying to persuade Peter and Marco to go to the police to let them handle the matter and then going into a numb stupor later in the day.

Peter and Marco, who was also mourning his loss, were very patient with me. They let me be whenever I wanted to be alone and kept me company when I needed someone to talk to.

Once I pulled myself together, I noticed how well Peter had organized our little camping spot. There were three tents for each of us and food supplies.

***

When I mentioned that I imagined my dad “exploring the world,” it turned out⁷⁸ that it wasn’t too far from the truth. We didn’t have much time to talk about it, but he gave me a quick summary⁷⁹ of the past thirty years.

On the third day, when I could think relatively clearly and there were longer breaks between my crying, I asked Peter to tell me more of his story.

In a nutshell⁸⁰, and I know how crazy it will sound, Peter found a portal to another world in one of the caves he was exploring for some construction project he was working on at the time. He saw the green light. He got closer to check what it was, tripped and fell inside the ball of light. When he got out on the other side, he didn’t realize that he was in a different place at first. He thought it was just a pit⁸¹ that he fell into. When he got out of the cave, though, he noticed that there were two moons in the sky. That gave him a clue⁸² that he was either hallucinating⁸³ or was in someplace else entirely. “Someplace else” was a major understatement⁸⁴ in his case.

“That was the day when I disappeared from your life,” he said.

Peter later learned that these portals were openings that were created by crisscrossing⁸⁵ of mingling⁸⁶ lines of magnetic force from our worlds. He didn’t know why it was happening and it took him years to figure out the frequency⁸⁷ and locations to be able jump back and forth⁸⁸.

When he got to that place in his story, I wanted to ask him why he didn’t come back and look for us, but he answered that himself: “Unfortunately⁸⁹, it took me too long to understand how they work and before I could jump for the first time, I was already deep in the mission. Most of the portals were closely watched by the people I had to avoid⁹⁰.”

“The same people who tried to kill me?” I asked.

He nodded. “It’s actually one person.” And before I could ask another question, he added: “I know you want some answers and I’ll tell you everything when the time comes, but back then… I couldn’t risk your lives by showing up at your doorstep. It was killing me, but it was the right thing to do.”

I was not so sure about that, but I wasn’t a little girl anymore and could deal with that for the moment. As Peter was telling me his story, however, I couldn’t help but notice that there were traces of that smart- looking young man I saw in the old photos in this old man whom I had to get reacquainted⁹¹ with.

What about that other world?

Well, according to Peter, it is a copy of our planet, except for the two moons. When I asked him how far it was, he smiled and said that it was not the distance I needed to know but the dimension. The place was in a parallel universe. Essentially, it was the world where everything was happening simultaneously with our planet. The evolution of species, the wars, the religions, the languages, the music and even the countries were almost identical, except for slight deviation in the names. It was mindboggling and too science fiction for me to accept as reality. How was it even possible?

It’s funny how Mark and I sometimes had playful arguments about those multiverse theories after watching some superhero movie. I thought they were complete nonsense. Something scientists made up to make us feel that we were not alone in this universe. He thought they were real. As it turned out, Mark was right on the money⁹².

When I thought about that the funny part did not seem so funny anymore and I broke into tears. Peter had to stop his story for the day.

The next day, after breakfast that I made myself eat to feel stronger, he continued.

The other world is a dying copy of our planet. The people in that world are dying from a virus they can’t find a remedy⁹³ for. There are not many healthy people left there, but there is a man who knows how to fix it. Well, sort of. His name is Dolion Aeneus and mysteriously he did not have his own copy on Earth.

I felt that I already knew the answer to my question, but I had to ask anyway, “Is that the man who killed Mark and Beth.”

“Yes,” Peter said.

Dolion discovered the portals between our worlds long before Peter. He saw our world and found out that we were immune to the disease his people were perishing⁹⁴ from. He started to control the portals and decided to replicate⁹⁵ us to populate his world. Why not create a vaccine to save people, you might ask? Well, if you create new people, who are designed to your liking, you become… God.