SNAP! and the Alter Ego Dimension by Ann Hite Kemp Read Free Book Online Page B

adoration. Was he thinking she was cute? Even with her horrid pimple and all? He held out his hand towards her. As she took it she felt a tingling running through her body. It made her blush, like the time when Wayne had taken her hand the first time. A time that now seemed so long ago. There was something in Ulrich’s touch that made her stomach flutter. Despite hunger, thirst and fear, Tammy smiled. A shy, coy and feminine smile.
    Then she thought of home and the smile vanished. She felt so guilty.
Wayne, mum, Wayne
. . .
    Wayne!
Had he came around the house looking for the stuff she was supposed to print for him? Was her alter ego there with him now or was that evil woman still stuck in this dimension? Did Wayne even know she was missing? But, more importantly, did her mother know she’s missing? Poor mum would be worried sick.
    Ulrich pulled her up and she stood close to him.
    “Thanks,” she said.
    He held her hand a little longer than was necessary, and he was still looking into her eyes as Tammy’s gaze shifted from their hands up to his face.
    “That we had to meet here . . . ” he whispered. “Tammy from South Africa.”
    Tammy blushed even more. She could feel the warmth in her cheeks. She felt real heat for the first time since coming to this cold place. Suddenly she wanted them to stand this close to each other with her hand in his for all time.
    “I’ll walk in front,” Etsu suggested, bringing Tammy back to reality, back to the dire trouble they were in. This wasn’t the place for romance. This was going to be a fight for survival.
    “Hiroshi will walk at the back with the sword. He will protect us. You see something, you shout,” Etsu said and started to walk.
    Tammy walked next to Etsu and Ulrich was by Hiroshi. They walked purposefully, hoping to find something useful. It felt as if there was no limit to the grayness. It went on and on and on. Tammy felt as if her legs were moving, but she was staying in the same spot. She looked over her shoulder. No, they had definitely moved, because she couldn’t see her window or Ulrich’s wall anymore.
    “Are you sure we’re walking forward, Etsu?” Tammy asked.
    “Yes, even if it doesn’t look so. We will come to place where pieces of rooms are. Hiroshi and I had put it together to make room where we sleep. We take turns to sleep.”
    While Etsu was still talking, a huge structure loomed into view. It appeared to be pieces of walls pushed next to each other to form angles. Walls that differed from each other because they were copied from different rooms in different homes. Different sizes, but all square, rectangular or very slightly curved. Tammy noticed the structure overall was a lighter gray than the surrounding grayness. She presumed it must be the backsides of the walls that came here with other people. The backsides of the walls had a sameness of color; could it be because they had not been reflected in the computer monitors?
    “This is outside of the ‘room’ that we had put together,” Etsu said, confirming Tammy’s assumption.
    They advanced towards the gray walls and turned right. There was a gray door with a gray doorknob that was attached to a piece of gray wall. It was similar to the piece of wall that came with Ulrich.
    Etsu turned the knob, pushed the door open and peered inside.
    “Nobody inside,” she said and walked in.
    Everybody followed her.
    Inside the structure everything was as colorful as Tammy supposed it had been in the original rooms. There were walls of white, yellow and light green. There were two beds; a small modern desk with a laptop; a television set; windows with drawn curtains; windows with blinds; cupboards; a steel filing cabinet and a sofa. Against some of the walls were posters, pictures from magazines and even one painting. One of the walls even had a piece of ceiling attached to it.
    Tammy saw that everything was arranged in a sort of hexagonal shape. She guessed it must have been made from pieces of