A Conversation With Myself

This is a story I wrote and posted on my other blog a looooong time ago....so here it is on this blog!  Although now it is improved and actually spell checked....

I stood face to face with 'it.'  It was not me.  It couldn't be me!  I was standing right here!  In front of...it.  It looked at shocked as me.

"Who are you?"  It asked.

"Katie."  I heard my voice rise and crack.  "Who are you?"

"K-Katie...."  Its voice was identical to mine.

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen...."  It looked me up and down.  "How old are YOU?"

"Sixteen."  So it wasn't me.  Well...it was...but it wasn't.  I looked it up and down from the very top of its head, which was he same copper shade as mine, to its feet, which, as usual, were bare.  It was wearing the shirt I got on top of Pike's Peak that boasted, 'It's illegal to get this high in most states!"  Her blue eyes and slightly flushed face made me feel like I was looking in a mirror and I wondered if it felt the same.

Finally, it spoke again.  "Are you me?"

"I don't know...are you me?"

"I don't know.  Do you like cats?"

"Yeah.  Do you?"

"Yeah...."

"Do you know what the word 'acrophobia' means?"

"Yeah...it's a morbid fear of heights."

We stood there, staring at each other.  Neither one of us knowing what to say or do.  Would this change anything in the fabric of time?  Us meeting like this?  Finally, I cleared my throat,

"So, were you homeschooled 'til the start of your freshman year of highschool?"

Her face lit up like mine had done when I was in her place.  "Yes!  But don't ask which I prefer, because I like both of them and I don't think I could choose between them."

"I know.  I think I'm you.  And it's weird."

"It IS weird."  She shivered.  "So, you know where you are, right?  If you're...you know...from the future."

"I'm at Indy camp, right?"  Indy camp was a general church camp that people and families of all shapes and sizes attended once a year.  I'd been going since before I was born.

She nodded.  "Right after my first year at the Bible school."

"So....how long has camp been going on?"

"Just started.  You've been through this before...anything I should know?"

"You mean about camp?"

"Or in general over the year...."

"Well, concerning camp, be prepared to run and pound on a camper door; it might save a life.  And when one of your younger friends says something that sounds strange; listen to them.  But don't worry, there's fun to be had as well."  I wiggled my eyebrows mysteriously.

She laughed.  "How did you get here?"

I shrugged.  "Beats me!  But it's kind of cool seeing my past self."

"It's kind of cool seeing my future self!"

We laughed together.  When the laughter had subsided, she looked at me with a look of worried concern.  "What about my mom...and her boyfriend?"

Of course...I should have expected that.  "Well...."

"He's not her boyfriend anymore, is he?"

I shook my head.  "But, he gave you his hat and a ton of sharp objects, knives, a hatchet, a double headed axe...."

"Yeah....but we moved again, didn't we?"

I nodded.

"Do I like it?"

"You mostly stay in your room."

"What's my room like?"

I started grinning, "You tell me."

She grinned in return.  "Well, the walls are probably blue or green...bookshelves...my desk...my bunk bed/loft thingy...and I'm sure there's tons of stuff on the walls!"

All I did was smile.  She was very, very accurate.  But not completely.  Of course, she didn't need to know that.

"Do you have any words of wisdom for me?"

"Wisdom?  Me?!"

"Oh come on, we both know you're wiser than you act!"

I cleared my throat awkwardly.  "Maybe we feel like it sometimes...but honestly, Past Me, we really aren't all that wise or smart."

She sighed, "But we can pretend, can't we?"

"Sure, why not!"  I laughed.

"Well, do you?  In as little wisdom as you have, do you have any for me?"

I thought long and hard.  "Remember to look for the good in others...like for example, two people in your class...."

Her lip curled up.  "Are you talking about...?"

I laughed.  "Yes.  They're not all that bad though.  Remember your field trip?  The rope swing?  The way they were the only people in your class to push you?  I mean, yeah, your class is small...but still...."

She gave me a lopsided smile.  "I should say thanks sometime."

"You do eventually."

"More wisdom?"

"Um...Stay strong.  DON'T DATE.  Read your Bible.  Don't give up on God.  Do crazy stuff.  Keep your knives sharp, listen to--"

"Knives?  Do I kill someone?"

"No, but it's a good idea to keep your knives sharp."

She laughed.  "Niiiice."

"Do you have anything you want me to always remember?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded.  "Always remember the way you and Kayden always hung out and sword fought.  And never forget Zena.  Always remember what Corgan and Travis did for you.  And of course never forget how Gavyn practically rescued you from a creep at the end of the school year."

My brow furrowed as I had a sudden thought.  "Do you think this is a dream?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're both here randomly...And I have no idea how I'm here."

"Ugh, I hate stories where it was all a dream!"

"Oh me too!"

"It's just one of those--We're the same person, Katie, of course you hate it too!  DUH!"

We laughed together

"But what if it is a dream?"  I asked again.  "Who would wake up?  You or me?"

"Or both of us?"

"Oh dear...this is starting to seem like an episode of Doctor Who."

"An episode of what?"

"Doctor Who.  You'll understand it all in December.  One more word of 'wisdom.'  Make the most of your life.  You know, actually WRITE something.  In a NOTEBOOK."

"As you wish."  She curtsied.  "Katie."

"Yeah?"

Her face went blank and she called out again, "Katie."

"I'm here!"

"Katie."  Her voice sounded far away.

Even though my eyes were open, I felt them open.  I blinked twice and there was my mom.

"Katie, it's time to get up!"

I stared at her stupidly for a moment before blurting, "Seriously, Mom?  I was having a great heart to heart with myself!"  Then despite having just woken up, I fell back to sleep.

The End.