In which Evelyn walks through a dream

"Mom?"

She froze when I said this.

"Mom!?" I repeated. Everyone in the room was looking between us confused.

Finally Hera spoke, looking concern, "this is Ender's assistant Penelope."

I shook my head slowly, "that's my mom's name. My dad called her Penny though."

My mom stood there looking confused, then she said, sounding slightly panicked, "I can't be your mother, I don't even have kids, or a husband or anything!"

"You look exactly like my mother though," I tilted my head slightly, but I couldn't unsee it.

I looked over to Hera who looked perplexed. Then to Steve and Alex who were standing together quietly, still linked to each other. When they saw me looking they both looked away. "We'll go upstairs while you three figure this out." Alex said quietly. Both her and Steve climbed the stairs tiredly.

"Is it possible there's been a mistake," Hera asked me gently, "in the moment you thought you saw your mother?"

I glanced at Penny again, "no, she looks the same as my mother. Her voice is similar too."

Hera's face fell slightly, something was bothering her, "what's wrong." I asked her, but she said nothing.

Penny shifted nervously, that's when I had an idea, "how much do you know about your boss?" I asked her.

She brightened up slightly, "he's head of security for Notch, transferred from some job in Canada. He had two kids." Her face fell, but the information made my head spin. My father transferred from Canada awhile ago. Was it possible? I looked at Penny again, there was only one conclusion. Ender was my father.

Two conflicting waves hit me. I had always missed my father on some level, and here he was. But also why had he designed an assistant to look like my mother, when my mother was out there in the world. She was still single, and they'd never officially divorced. He left her.

I looked up at Hera, "Ender is my father." I said, a brush of resentment in my voice.

Penny suddenly piped up, "that's impossible!" I noticed now that a few tears were running down her face, "Ender's children, two girls as far as I know, died last week." She looked like she had been trying to be helpful.

The world crashed around me then. Penny kept talking but her voice become harder to hear, extended in string that seemed to make no sense. Everything dimmed out in my vision, till it was all dark. I was dead. I had been dead for the last week. Mina was dead. That's why we had woken up here, not some dream after all. I felt something on my arm, though it no longer felt like it could work.

"Evelyn?" The voice was stringy but familiar. Shining white eyes looked into mine. I felt arms wrap around me carrying me up stairs. A door opened, some more voices. Surprise. Fear. Then a room, a soft bed then nothing. I gave out at last.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened my eyes again, it was morning. Then I remembered everything, tears instantly started to trickle down my cheeks.

"It's okay, everything will be okay." A voice nearby muttered, I felt a hand on my cheek.

"I'm dead," I finally chocked out. "I've never been real this whole time!"

Everything was blurred by my tears now. But I still couldn't mistake the glowing eyes.

"You are real," Hera said, "you've been here this whole time."

I shook my head, "no, I'm dead. Just let me stay here forever."

"You are real Evelyn, I have no idea what happened to you in your world, but here you are real." Hera said firmly, "you have a code. Your not a ghost or a dream."

I shook my head. I supposed I must have made Hera up too, a girlfriend for myself. How pathetic of me, and yet I loved her so much.

"Your not real," I muttered, "I must have made you up too."

Hera groaned slightly. "I can promise you I am my own person, I existed long before you got here."

"That's exactly what something I made up would say."

I watched Hera's face twist slightly, like I had wounded her.

But if this was not real, then how could I care.