I woke up not much later to the excited chatter of my family. I went to the landing and looked down. Taylor had a huge chowder stain all over her shirt, and she stormed upstairs. The boys were roughly pushed out of the way.

Without acknowledging me, she stomped into the bathroom and started to run the water for a shower. I went downstairs, where the boys had started to watch a show. “What happened to her?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Thomas told me, “but she was looking outside and then her clam chowder spilled all over. We left right away. What did you have for dinner?”

“Dad said he would get some chowder for me. Did he?”

“No, we left right after Taylor spilled her food.”

“Oh. I guess I’d better rustle up something to eat from the Pantry of Horror.”

I know I described our home briefly when I entered Carmen’s house, but I’ll run you through it again. Imagine an average house. Not huge, not super small. Cheap vinyl siding, two car garage full of stuff. Inside, imagine walls of various colors and lots of health food. Mom and Tanner have several food sensitivities. Consequently, our home is filled with healthy, tasteless food. I’m not complaining about the fresh fruit and veggies that linger, I’m protesting the cardboard-flavored packaged substitutes for regular food. You want pancakes? Here, have some gluten-free pumpkin pancake mix. You want Pop-tarts? Have some gluten-free, soy-free toaster waffles. You want milk to go with your waffles? Have some unsweetened coconut milk.

Nothing sounded good. Nothing ever did. I ate an orange, cleaned up, and went back to bed. I found Taylor lounging on my bean bag. “Get out of my room!”

“No, this is my room.”

“Taylor, get out. I’m going to bed.”

“Too bad. That’s what I was going to do.”

I started stripping the sheets off the bed. “Well, I’m changing the sheets so that your germs aren’t in it.”

“We have the same germs, stupid.”

“Hey - that was uncalled for. I didn’t insult you.”

“Excuse me for stating the truth.”

I wanted to kick her down the stairs at this point. “Taylor, I’m so done dealing with you. Leave me alone. I cannot wait four days for you to leave.”

“I could say the same.”

“I’m not leaving, you are. Now get out of my room.”

“Fine, then.”

“Wait; could you help me with the sheets first?” I hated to ask her for help, but my hatred of changing sheets was greater at the moment.

“I suppose.” She helped me get the fitted sheet properly on the mattress, then left the room with her book. I could finally relax now that she’d left. I read for a while, then turned out my light.

I dreamt many dreams that night, none of which I remember. I think one of them was about the Taylors, but I’m not sure. I woke up around 4 am, and couldn’t sleep. My mind, turning in circles, kept me up.

Later, I’d be glad I was awake: I heard someone creep toward the bathroom across the hall from me. I automatically assumed it was Taylor, and got out of bed as quietly as I could. She closed the door and turned on the light. I stood right next to the door, eavesdropping. Why had she come all the way upstairs to this bathroom, when the one downstairs worked perfectly fine? My tired mind couldn’t wrap around it.

Oh! The portal was in there! I opened the door as soon as I realized it, and closed it behind me. “What are you doing? The portal isn’t going to work!”

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She held a ceramic soap holder in her right hand, and pointed at the door with the other. “Get out of here!”

I tried to disarm her. “Put it down. Trying to strand yourself here isn’t going to endear you to my family.”

She sneered and pretended to throw the holder at the mirror. I reached, having little room, and barely managed to grab it from her. I set it on the counter far away from her and grabbed her wrists to restrain her. “Mom!” I yelled. Thomas arrived first, and helped me wrestle Taylor to the hallway carpet.

Mom came and asked us a few questions. After determining what happened, she took a pillow from the couch and an extra blanket and told Taylor that she would be sleeping in Mom’s room from now on, to avoid this happening again.

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I went back to bed with my heart racing. Could Taylor hate me even more, now that she’s being punished? What would she do to me? What would I do if I were in her situation?

I would dislike her more, but I wouldn’t hurt them. Of course, in Taylor’s demented state of mind, who knew what she would decide to do? I would just have to avoid her, or stay with a parent for most of the day - something I’m not looking forward to.

Avoiding her was exactly what I spent the rest of my day doing. I mostly stayed in my room, venturing out only for hastily eaten meals. I’m not sure what Taylor and my brothers did all day, but it sure was quiet.

The next few days were identical to the first. Me hiding out all day, being bored to death in my room. Something very odd happened on the morning of the fourth day, however. The day just started off weird: Thomas woke me up early, fear in his eyes. “They’re coming.”

In the dim light, I mistook him for Torrin. “Torrin? What are you doing here? I thought no one could come through the portals!”

“Who’s this Torrin?” Thomas asked teasingly.

“Shut up. What do you mean, ‘They’re coming’? Don’t wake me up like that. You have no idea what I’ve been through, and that really freaked me out.”

He laughed and returned back to his room. “You don’t have to freak out! I was just joking.”

“Well, don’t do it again.” It took me forever to fall asleep after that. Every time the floor creaked, I would open my eyes and check it out. Once, I even said out loud, “Thomas, go back to bed,” when no one was actually there. At last, I succumbed to the weights that hung from my eyelids. The past few months had been especially draining to me, and I really needed to relax.

At the back of my mind, I knew that however hard I tried, I’d never be the same. My ordeal had opened my eyes to just how far people will go to be happy, and made me realize that my other selves and I were not so different, once you get down to it.

The morning of the fourth day finally arrived with the birds screaming their heads off, as usual. Mom made sure Taylor had eaten breakfast, then we gathered in the bathroom to send her off. Dad ceremoniously sat on the tank of the toilet as he pressed the etched button. I had earlier explained how the portals were acting up, and so how Taylor needed to go through as soon as it opened. The shimmer noise crackled and the portal flickered. I certainly wouldn’t want to go through, and Taylor looked like she was having doubts. Mom looked worried, but she helped Taylor climb onto the counter anyway. “Goodbye, honey,” she said, and a tear trickled down her cheek.

“Bye,” I said, suddenly lighthearted. I didn’t want her to leave on a bad note. We all echoed our goodbyes and she slipped through right before it closed. We saw a brief glimpse of her on the other side, and then it returned to its default mirror state.

Dad donned an apron and safety glasses and ushered all of us out. He then took his hammer and smashed the glass. Shards glittered all the way to the floor. I watched him break it once, twice, more, then left.

“Good riddance,” I said loudly.

“Taylor!” Mom scolded. “That’s rude.”

“It’s not like she can hear me, or she’ll ever know what I said.”

“That’s rude. Go to your room.”

It’s not like I’ve been in my room nonstop for the past few days, Mom. Thanks. I shut my door, sat on my bed and started to read.

Mom came in around twenty minutes later and sat on my bed. She told me to put my book down, and I reluctantly obeyed. “How have you been? You’ve been hiding for the past few days; why is that?”

“You heard my story, right? Do you really think that I would want to spend more time than I have to with the person who dragged me into the mess that I had to escape from?”

“Well, no.”

This never happened. Mom, actually agreeing with my feelings? Odd. I pressed on anyway. “She threatened the leader Taylor and I with a Taser! She’s evil, and I’m glad that she’s gone.”

“Taylor, that’s a terrible way to feel about her.” Okay, this is a bit more like Mom. I had started to get worried there. “I’m still not a hundred percent sure how all this interdimensional stuff works, but she still is you after all.”

“Just a lot more unpleasant to be around. Not like being with me is a bed of roses or anything, though.” Mom chuckled with me.

“So what really happened in that correctional facility?”

“It was terrible, Mom.” I told her all about it, skipping over the parts that made me look terrible, like the parts about me lying to my friends. I didn’t want her to think worse of me than she probably already did, for my mean comments.

“I’m sorry, honey. You know, when your father from another dimension showed up and told us that he wanted to install a portal, I said no. I said that I didn’t want a ‘door to other dimensions’ in my house. No way. But your dad went with it. If another ‘me’ showed up and told me that, I guess I would agree. In the end, they won out. I suppose your misadventure is partly my fault.”

“No, Mom, don’t say that. It’s her fault, not yours. And mine, too, for not struggling more or yelling to you or something.” I thought about Cassidy. If you really thought about it, it’s her fault that I went through all this. She is the one who hit the evil Taylor’s family and killed them. I’m not blaming her or anything… Okay, I guess I am a little. And the rest of the problem lies with Taylor and her bad attitude after the death of her family.

I saw Mom nodding and wondered what she had agreed to, then realized that I’d been thinking out loud. “I guess still waters run deep in your case, Taylor. Why don’t we go downstairs now? I have all your schoolwork that you missed while you were gone. The other Taylor had been busy catching up on it before she left. I don’t know how much she has done, though.”

“She got what she wished for,” I smiled. “Good job, saddling her with schoolwork. Maybe she was glad to leave. And you were wrong - I didn’t miss it.”

“Maybe I should let you have the week off,” she mused. “After all, you really need a break.”

“Sounds great.”