Mimic [ON HOLD]

Chapter Five: Introduce

Breathing heavily, I collapsed onto a park bench and held my head in my hands. The pain in my head was blinding, pounding, and I needed it to stop.

"Stop, stop," I whispered to myself, ignoring all the strange looks from the people walking by. I remained hunched over for a few minutes and soon the pain subsided.

Sitting up, I looked myself over. I had a few new bracelets and I definitely wasn't wearing those socks in class. My hair seemed to be going back to its usual brown, and my skin was returning to normal too. I'd lost my headscarf somewhere in the confusion. If I was a bit shorter than average, that was probably fine. I stood up, shifting my backpack. What do I do now? I couldn't exactly waltz back into school after that exit. So I decided to take a little walk.

My creepy navigational senses told me that I was in Wellington Park, not that that really helped me find my way around anywhere. I strolled around, trying to avoid the other people (which wasn't hard, most people were at school or work), but occasionally walking by the odd picnicking family. Rotten morning aside, it was really a beautiful day for mid-April. I passed the Sir Wellington Memorial Fountain, and saw some ducks swimming. Behind me, a chipmunk scuttled by, getting awfully close to me.

Soon, I found a nice ledge on which to eat my lunch, overlooking the fountain and with no people in sight. I hopped up and unwrapped my sandwich. Chewing slowly, I examined a bit of graffiti on the concrete ledge. Suddenly, a chipmunk hopped up right next to me. I looked down in disbelief as it somehow expanded into a full-sized person.

"What did Micha put in this sandwich?" I wondered, as I watched a boy about my age with wavy chestnut-brown hair appear in front of me.

Without thinking, I shoved him. Hard. He toppled over, obviously having no balance or coordination. Some instinct that I didn't know I had but was exceedingly grateful for kicked in and I shoved my arm at his throat.

"Whoa! Stop! Okay, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you don't need training after all," he managed to splutter.

"Who are you?" I hissed, becoming more confused with every word out of this chipmunk guy's mouth. "And what was that?"

"Stop, please. I didn't mean to scare you. Geez, I highly regret scaring you."

Recovering my senses, I let him go. I stepped back, wondering what had come over me: beating up this chipmunk. Was this some kind of hallucination?

"Who are you?" I repeated, allowing my attacker to stand up and attempt to look dignified.

"Felix Cromwell. I saw you at school—"

"You saw me at school? And you stalked me all the way here? Pretending to be a chipmunk?"

Felix scratched his head. "Well, yes. But no. I had a reason."

"Which was..." I asked.

"To tell you who you are."

I stopped fuming out of the shock. He'd come to give me the one thing I needed: knowledge of my past. The least I could do was let him speak. "Go on."

"Oh. Wow," Felix said quietly. "I didn't think you'd actually believe me. I really should have waited until after school, and for my dad."

"Your dad?"

"Well, of course, he's the Ohio liaison."

"Liason for what?" I asked, feeling a little annoyed at this boy's confusing statements.

"For Mimics, of course," Felix said with satisfaction, sitting down on the ledge."

"What's a Mimic?" I asked cautiously, knowing it was probably a stupid question. Felix swivelled his head around and stared at me.