DTH Karyn sat in the food court of the mini-mall. She was getting fed up waiting for Jon. She was tapping her toes on the floor and her fingers on the table top. Athena and Prisoner Jon were sitting next to her. They seemed to be getting on quite well. They were mostly talking about the stone. Karyn wasn't really paying attention, she was more interested in keeping a look out for Jon.
She spotted Zoe first. She was wearing a knee length black dress. Karyn thought she looked quite nice in it. Behind her Jon and the other Karyn were walking side by side. They were talking and laughing with each other.
DTH Karyn went bright red with jealousy and anger. She practically exploded as the three of them reached the table. "It's been ages since I phoned. Where the hell have you been?" She demanded to know. She was so loud it pulled Athena and Prisoner Jon out of their conversation.
DTH Jon took a step backwards, surprised by the outburst. "I'm sorry Karyn." He pointed to the other Karyn. "We had a stop to make on the way."
"Another stop? Another stop? Do you think I've got nothing better to do than hang around here waiting here for you all day?" She gestured around the food court. Jon was about to apologise again but changed his mind. He held out a well worn shopping bag. Karyn took it from him. "What's this?"
"It's a change of clothes. I asked, " he pointed at the other Karyn, "Karyn if it was all right. She said yes, so we stopped off at her place on the way here." Karyn stared at him. "You were right I wasn't thinking earlier. I thought this was the least I could do." Jon said apologetically. Karyn's jealously and anger immediately turned to embarrassment.
"Oh, Jon I'm sorry. I should have trusted you more." Jon shrugged and looked round. He noticed a few people were looking at them. "What is it?" DTH Karyn asked.
"People are staring at us. There is two of you here and two of me. Two pairs of identical twins are going to attract attention. We should probably split up again."
DTH Karyn nodded. "I'll go get changed in the bathroom." She said as she got up. "Is the DTH charged?"
"Yes."
"Okay we can all meet up in front of the thrift shop and then we can hop." Jon nodded as Karyn turned around and headed to the bathroom.
Jon faced the rest of the group. "I'll catch up with you guys at the front door in a couple of minutes. Athena and Zoe try not to kill each other." Both girls rolled their eyes at him. Athena, Zoe and Prisoner Jon all started heading in the direction of the doors. Jon turned to the other Karyn. "I wanted to speak to you but not here."
Several minutes later Karyn and Jon entered the back room of the arcade. They walked up to the old game machine where the Jon from this world had gone missing.
Jon touched her hand. "I wanted to thank you before I said goodbye. Without your help things would have been much more difficult."
"After you spoke to your Karyn I can understand why you didn't want me along. We'd have probably end up constantly fighting over you." She said with a smile. "I guess I'm not as nice a person as I like to think I am." .
"Don't think of it as a personality flaw. You are a nice person. She has got on with other versions of herself. I guess sometimes meeting yourself works out, sometimes it doesn't. I honestly thought the Zoes would end up killing each other." They both laughed.
"I just wanted to feel useful. Being with you seemed like a good way of doing that."
"You can always help your Jon, you know."
"I've no idea where he is." She said. Jon looked at the machine.
"My intuition tells me this machine might be the answer. Why don't you try playing a game?" She shrugged and tilted her head from side to side indicating she would think about it. "Goodbye Karyn." Jon said just before he turned around and walked away. He felt the DTH vibrate just as he was entering the main arcade. He spun round to look at Karyn, there was no sign of her. She was gone. He smiled. He hoped she would find her Jon, wherever he was.
DTH Jon met up with everyone else near the doors of the mini-mall. "Oh there you are." Karyn said sarcastically as he approached. "I was about to send out the search party again." He was about to apologise yet again when she smiled. "I'm only joking." He smiled in return. "So do you have any ideas about what we are going to do with these three?" She asked pointing to the rest of the group.
"A few." Jon said as he pulled out the DTH and started programming it. He looked into Karyn's eyes. "Do you trust me?"
"Usually," she grinned, "always."
"We better find somewhere a bit more secluded to hop." He said. Karyn looked around at the busy mall entrance. People were constantly walking past them in both directions.
"You know what. Let's just go for it. It's not like we're planning on coming back here anyway. I don't know what is actually 'interesting' about this place." She said referring to the wish that had created this divergence.
Jon raised his spare hand. "It will certainly give people something to talk about. A group of teenagers mysteriously vanishing in the mall, that is pretty interesting." He said as everyone grasped his hand. He pressed a button on the DTH and they all vanished causing a tiny pop in the air around them.
