THE MOMENT
Olivia sighed with relief as soon as she walked in the door. Something about her home still felt off; but, it was a minor discomfort that she could deal with. Not at all like the world outside her house. Olivia had no idea what to think, but the thought that she was crazy crossed her mind more than once as she headed home.
Her morning started off strange with minor details being different than she remembered. She woke up feeling better than she had in years. Her mind was clear-headed and she looked half a decade younger in the mirror. Her shampoo was in a different bottle and her drawers were arranged in a different way. Nothing that slowed her down, but things that were definitely noticeable. Then, she left the house to try and get to work.
Olivia noted that her I.D. was slightly different, but the different name distracted her from the other details. She did not work at the elementary school she thought she did. When she presented her I.D., they helpfully pointed out that it was for a place called Sharp Development. She'd had enough trouble finding the school in a slightly different place that she did not feel like chasing down a company she'd never heard of. Olivia returned early to what she was starting to realize wasn't her house.
"I'm glad I found you," Olivia heard a voice as she relaxed against the closed door. She looked up and saw herself seated in her living room. She'd never had that perspective of herself before, but she recognized the body sitting on the leather recliner. "Or I guess I could say I'm glad I found me," she added with a smile.
"What's going on?" Olivia asked. "How'd you get into my house?" She reached down and made sure the door was unlocked in case she had to escape. The woman sitting on her couch shook her head and sighed.
"I learned a lesson about not experimenting on myself," she said. "And, I got into my house. I accidentally switched our bodies; but, don't worry. I can fix it."
"You switched our bodies?" Olivia asked. She looked down at her firm body then back at the older version of her. "Who are you?"
"I'm you from a different universe. Well, this universe," she said and gestured at the house around them. "So, I guess it's better said that you're me from a different universe. We use the term, Zero. You're my Zero and I'm yours."
"Alternate universes are real?" Olivia asked in awe. "Can I see?"
"Sure," the older woman said. "I'll be happy to arrange a tour. But, I am going to need my body back."
"Aww," the disappointment was reflexive. Now that Olivia's day was more or less explained, a tiny part of her hoped she did not have to surrender the younger body.
"Well, I do want my body back; but, you're not obligated to return to this one."
"Really?" Olivia asked. "How?"
"Sharp Development can project human consciousness to an alternate universe. Giving you a new body is cake. But, it's not free," the older woman said.
"Though, it's not just a younger you. You can design a new life for yourself. Be who and what you want to be. You're not even limited to a human body."
"Yes, please!" Olivia finally left the door and approached the seated woman. "What do I have to do?" The woman smiled and turned slightly to a lamp table next to the recliner. She opened the drawer and pulled out a red clipboard with a white form on it.
"Sign your soul over to Sharp Development," she said. Olivia was reaching for the clipboard, but pulled her hand away.
"My soul?" she asked. The older version of her nodded.
"It's not a big deal. The company already owns my soul and 600 thousand other versions of us."
"Six...hundred...thousand?" Olivia asked. "How many of us are there?" The older woman shrugged.
"At least a million, but it's hard to say. There are infinite Earths out there, but we don't exist on every Earth.
"I can't be wrong 600 thousand times," Olivia chuckled while she signed her name on the form. "What now?"
"Now you go to sleep," the woman said.
"Wha-" Olivia began to ask what she meant; but she was frozen still with her mouth open mid-sentence.
"Thank you, Janet," the older Olivia said. A black cat with a red patch of fur shaped like a skull hopped up on the arm of the recliner. It sat on its haunches and wrapped its tail around its paws.
"Are you really going to keep this act up 400 thousand more times?" The older woman shrugged and stood to approach Olivia's time-locked body.
"It'll be worth it when I'm Unique," she said. She lifted Olivia off the couch and began dragging her towards the basement. "Besides, I think all this practice is making me better at acting. This one wasn't suspicious at all."