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Chapter 5 by SG SG

Who's your favorite character? I like Alice.

I think we all do.

Alice stared at the Alices milling around on the sidewalks as she made her way to her downtown office. She smiled and waved at the garage attendant, a friendly kid named Alice. He looked like he belonged in high school. Her eyes traced the familiar curve of his generous chest down to his slim hips.

Alice slammed on the brakes. He didn't look like a young man, he looked like every other person! Did that mean-

Her train of thought was interrupted when the driver behind her blasted their horn. It was Alice, of course; yesterday she could have been a 80 year-old bodybuilder, a tech CEO, or a school teacher. Alice pulled into a parking space and exhaled. She had been holding her breath without realizing it.


She was only slightly calmer when she walked into work. Alice greeted her with the usual creepy leer, even though their bodies were identical. She sat down at her computer, but for some reason her password wasn't working. She stepped out into the hallway and walked to the next office over.

"Knock knock," she said. Alice was sitting at her desk, looking uncharacteristically bewildered. "Are you having trouble logging in?"

Alice shook her head as though coming out of a trance. "...hm? Oh, yeah. I guess so."

"Are you ok?" Alice asked tentatively. Alice had seemed out of sorts this morning too. She wondered if it had something to do with the big announcement.

"I think so," Alice replied. "I just... I'm supposed to be a web designer, right?"

"I'm pretty sure that's what it says on your paychecks," Alice replied.

"But I don't know the first thing about web design!" she said. "I wouldn't even know how to start! I'm trained in HR administration, not web design. But I am a web designer, right?"

"Yeah," Alice said. "You're working on that redesign for the law firm, right?"

"I thought so," the confused woman replied. "But when I try to remember what I was doing, I just draw a blank. It's like... I'm not the same person as I was yesterday, as crazy as that sounds."

Alice thought to poor Alice, who was so upset that she wasn't a guy who wanted to start a podcast. "It doesn't sound that crazy to me. Have you checked the news this morning?"

"Are you talking about President Sutherland's live meltdown in the press conference? I mean, that's crazy, but what does it have to do with me?"

"Well," Alice said, "she didn't seem very presidential, did she? It seemed like she didn't have any experience with public speaking at all."

"Why would she?" Alice said. "She's the same as us... which is why I don't know how to design a landing page?"

Alice nodded and her doppelganger continued. "But that would mean- oh my God, am I not really Alice Sutherland? Is nobody Alice Sutherland?"

Instead of replying, Alice leaned against the wall and waited. Alice blinked and looked around, as though just waking up. She spotted Alice and greeted her.

"Oh, hey Alice! I'm sorry, I must have zoned out. Did you say you were having trouble with your login?"

Oh my.

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