Clone Wars: Chapter 1

Fiction by Drew Glitch –

Chapter 1

“Ok, bye, Mom!” I called out after the silver convertible that was pulling out of the driveway.

“Dinner is in the fridge! And, Jenna, no boys!” yelled my mother sticking her head out the window. I stood in the doorway waving to my mother until the car was sufficiently out of view. With a sigh, I walked across the marble floor towards the kitchen, letting the front door shut behind me. I waited just a few minutes to make sure my mother wasn’t going to return for a forgotten toothbrush or tampon before I whipped my phone out of my pocket and dialed.

“Hey, Molly! Yeah, she’s gone,” I giggled into the phone.

“And you’re sure she’s not coming back?” the girl on the other end murmured.

“Yes, absolutely. Her flight leaves in twenty minutes, so if she comes back now, she’ll miss it.” I tucked a curl of my black hair behind my ear and waited for an answer.

“Ok, fine. I’ll be right over.”

“Great!” I cheered. Hanging up the phone, I kicked it into high gear. I straightened up the blue throw pillows nestled into the brown couch, organized the many shades and flavors of shampoo lining the shower, used a bobby pin to pop open the wine cooler and pristinely placed two glasses, half full of expensive red wine. My mother was sure to notice that it was gone, but better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right? Soon enough, the doorbell rang and standing there was Molly. Her honey blonde hair was draped gently over her shoulder and her crystal blue eyes popped against her sun-kissed skin. She looked beautiful.

“You look, uh, you look-”

“Thanks,” she cut me off, brushing past me and into the kitchen. She sat upon a barstool at the island in the center of the kitchen and picked up the wine glass set out for her. I joined her at the stool next to her and raised my own glass. “To business trips,” she smirked.

“To business trips,” I replied, taking a sip.

“So, when does your mom get back?”

“Two days,” I mused, falling deep into her eyes. Her tight red dress matched perfectly in hue to her lipstick. “Clearly she made an effort, which means she’s into me…”  I thought.

“So, is anyone else coming?” she took another long sip of her wine.

“No, uh, just you,” I stuttered, tapping my glass with my finger tips. Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the house. Molly jumped off of her stool and clutched my arm. It wasn’t a wine glass that broke.

I set my glass down on the counter in front of me and starting walking towards the origin of the sound. Molly still clung tightly to me as we tip toed forward. Gingerly, I pushed opened the door to my mother’s office and looked in. It almost felt like I was in a horror movie and I was yelling to myself, Don’t go in there you stupid bitch! And yet there I was, stepping through towards the sound.

“Jenna-” Molly whimpered slightly.

“Hello!” I called out. “I called the cops they’re on their way!” I made my way to the dead fireplace and grabbed one of the metal pokers. Whoever was in here, they must’ve left the house.

“Jenna. There’s no broken glass,” Molly said letting go of me and looking around the room.

“What?” I gasped slightly looking down. She was right, whatever broke had definitely come from here, but there was no glass anywhere. Molly and I both searched around the room looking for any sign that someone had been here, but the room was spotless.

“Jenna! Look!” Molly called out. She was standing in front of a bookcase with a red book in her hand titled Close. Inside there was a small red button. Molly shot me a puzzled look before slowly lowering her finger onto the button. My heart raced as she got closer and closer to pushing it, I had no clue what pressing that button may do, or might release. Finally, she pressed it down and with a gentle ‘click’ nothing happened. She pressed it again and still nothing.

“Wait, it says ‘close!’ There has to be another book that says open, right?” I said, scanning both bookshelves, but there was nothing.

“Maybe it isn’t a book.” Molly set down Close and began scanning the room. With a gasp she zipped to the far corner and picked up a cigar box. On the side in gold letters it said “Open”. She opened it and pressed the small green button inside. The room began to creak and shift as the bookshelf behind me moved out of the way and revealed a secret tunnel.

“What the hell?” I sighed, moving towards the darkness in front of me. I crept in with Molly close behind me.

“It’s way too dark in there to see.” Molly stopped.

“We’ll just have to brave the darkness, trudge ahead at our own peril and hope that-” I was cut off when the lights turned on all around me.

“Or we could just flip the switch,” Molly laughed.

“Yeah, that too…” I said, awkwardly shuffling forth down the tunnel. Soon the narrow cement walkway widened into a giant space the size of an airplane hanger. In front of me was a large console with multiple monitors and keyboards, like the Batcomputer™. I approached it and began typing, trying my best to turn everything on.

“Jenna.”

“What was my mom doing down here?” I murmured as the monitor finally started to turn on.

“Jenna, look.” Molly sounded scared, but I was too focused on the monitor to look up.

“Project Footmen? What in the world is that?” I continued reading the bright blue text in front of me.

“Jenna, Goddamnit look!” Molly screeched finally pulling my attention away from the screen.

“What-” I started looking over the lab. Finally, I noticed what made Molly so scared. Rows and rows of tubes filled the large space and inside each and every one of them was a girl. And they all looked exactly the same. “Is that?”

“It’s you, Jenna.” Molly clung onto me again, “They’re all you.”