Carrie was devastated. She’d just got back from a funeral, mourning the loss of her sister, Evelyn. She’d died suddenly while on holiday up north…

That’s why it was such a shock when she got into her bedroom, exhausted, to find her sister there, sleeping in her usual bed…

The woman shrieked, waking the sister up…

“Evelyn…!”

“Carrie, what’s up?”, Evelyn asked, confused. “You look surprised to see me…!”

Carrie was backing away from Evelyn, terrified.

“What’s wrong, kid?”, asked Evelyn, getting up and going to hug her.

“No… it can’t be… you’re dead!”, Carrie cried.

“What are you talking about? I’m right here…!”

“Then whose funeral have I just gone to…!”

Carrie showed Evelyn everything. The text messages, the letters, even the death certificate. Evelyn just got more and more confused, then very angry…

“Why the hell would they put you through that!”, she cried. “Telling you I was dead! We’ve only just got over losing mum and dad…”

There was a knock at the door.

“Carrie, it’s Sylvia. Are you ok? I heard a scream…?”

Before Carrie could stop her, Sylvia came in. She stopped dead, staring at Evelyn.

“Who the hell is this? I didn’t see her come in!”

“At least you can see her too, so I’m not going mad. This is… my sister, Evelyn…”, said Carrie. She then collapsed to the floor in a dead faint…

Sylvia only just caught her. She checked her, realised that she had only fainted, and carried her to her bed and put her there. She then turned back to the occupant sitting, in shock, on the other bed…

“You can’t be Evelyn, Carrie’s only just got back from her funeral”, said Sylvia. “So, who are you, and why are you torturing her?”

“I am Evelyn!”, Evelyn cried. “What’s all this crap about me having died? I’m right here!”

Sylvia accessed her tablet, then spun the screen so Evelyn could watch. She then showed her the recording of the funeral, that had been streamed online.

Evelyn’s jaw went slack. She then started crying.

“No! It can’t be true. That’s not me! I’m here…! Who’s doing this to me…?”

Sylvia held her as she cried…

Sylvia was straight on the phone to the hospital where Evelyn was supposed to have died.

“How did you prove ID?”, she asked, furious. “Whoever did it, you made one hell of a cock up. I’ve got Evelyn with me right now, and she’s furious!”

“Her sister ID’d the body; she made a special trip up here to confirm it, then rode back with her body. She said she owed it to her. Are you telling me that her own sister got it wrong?”

“I’m sending you a photograph”, said Sylvia, taking a quick snap of Evelyn. “Can you compare this against your records? Quickly, please!”

After a short pause, there was a gasp at the other end of the phone…

“The picture you sent us is Evelyn”, the doctor said. “But so is the woman who died…!”

Sylvia took Evelyn into hospital, to get her DNA checked against her sister. It matched as a ‘sibling’ match. Evelyn was Evelyn… or was she?

Carrie was still sure she’d buried her sister. All the evidence said she had. The evidence also said, however, that the woman standing alongside Sylvia was also her sister. What the hell…?

Things got even more confusing when her aunt Veronica, who had been on holiday overseas at the time of ‘Evelyn’s’ death, came to visit to see if Carrie was alright.

“Oh, hi, Evelyn”, she said, as soon as she entered the room. “Didn’t expect to see you here! I thought you were still on holiday up north.”

“That reminds me; Uncle Carl sends his regards…”

As soon as she used that phrase, a change came over Evelyn.

“Damn! Have I forgotten again?”, she said.

“Afraid so, love”, said her aunt.

“I’d better get going, then”, said Evelyn. She pulled on her coat, grabbed her bag and shot out the door.

Carrie came out of her bedroom just as she left.

“Where’s Evelyn off to?”, she asked.

“She’d forgotten a doctor’s appointment.”, said Veronica. “It’s going to be interesting when the Surgery calls up her records and finds a death certificate on file for her…!”

It wasn’t the doctors that ‘Evelyn’ was going to. It was her reprogramming centre. Aunt Veronica and Uncle Carl were very protective of Carrie; they knew damn well that if anything happened to her older sister Evelyn, she wouldn’t be able to cope, so they had put a contingency plan in place.

They had found a young prostitute on the streets, who exactly matched Evelyn’s build. They had seen that she really didn’t have a worthwhile life, as far as they were concerned, and she was an only child with no parents.

She had been ‘taken’ one night, drawn in by an offer of a big score…

The surgery had been invasive, as had been the other treatments. Her DNA was close enough, and part of the therapy had ‘adjusted’ it just enough to make her a match. The plastic surgery had matched her physical features. After being ‘completed’, she was taught everything about Evelyn whilst recovering.

She had then lived as Evelyn’s twin sister, being taught everything that the real Evelyn did subliminally.

Then had come the day that Carl and Veronica had dreaded. The real Evelyn had died while on holiday.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t get to her in time to replace her; they had had to let the funeral happen. The ‘replacement’ Evelyn was just left at home, for Carrie to find on her return. Carrie was expected to assume that the coroner and the hospital had made a mistake with the identification…

Evelyn was now in the ‘chair’ in her programming centre, being tested and updated. As part of the tests, they let her original personality momentarily resurface…

“Please, let me go!”, she wailed. “I just want to go home!”

“Don’t worry, love, you will”, said Carl, stroking her cheek. “Just not to where you thought you were going.”

‘Evelyn’, now tested and checked, was sent back to her flat, where Carrie and Veronica were still talking…