Wally watches as she delightedly stuffs her mouth with food. There are fleeting moments where he forgets that she isn’t Anna, but an alien creature that’s taken her place, wearing her body like a costume. He has to shake himself out of it, reminding himself that the real Anna is dead, that she’s never coming back. But it’s so painful knowing that he was completely oblivious while she suffered a violent, lonely death. Sometimes, he would rather give into the delusion that the Anna before him now, with her contented smile and stuffed cheeks, is real.

She swallows and begins to speak. It’s cruel just how much she looks and sounds like Anna. If he hadn’t caught her in the woods last night, he could never have guessed that his best friend had been replaced by a horrifying monster.

“I still think we should look into Lizzie,” she says. “I didn’t mention it before, but when I first saw her, I felt this burning hatred, like I wanted to rip her hair out then and there. Which was really weird, since I didn’t even know who she was at the time.”

That snaps Wally out of his stupor. “You mean like… you somehow felt Anna’s hatred for her?”

“I’m not sure, maybe. I have felt strange emotions out of nowhere before. Like the other day with Anna’s mom, I felt the urge to hug her and I had no idea why.”

That throws him off. Anna never struck Wally as particularly fond of her mother. But maybe that had just been a front, a surface-level frustration that still gave way to love. After all, you’d have to be pretty cold to completely hate your own mother.

All of this begged the question: was Anna still in there somewhere? The alien told him it had assimilated with Anna’s brain, and that she hadn’t been dead for long. If so, then could there be some way to bring her consciousness back? Could Anna regain control of her body? He would have to get rid of the parasite infesting her, but that was a small price to pay to give Anna a second chance at life.

Wally shakes his head, trying in vain to quash those idealistic thoughts. He knows he shouldn’t get his hopes up. They were too good to be true, and even if Anna could miraculously come back, he was no match for the monster in her body. Whether or not it had killed Anna, it could easily rip him to shreds in seconds, and he would be utterly helpless to stop it.

“Wally?” says the monster.

“Huh?” he responds, distracted from that gruesome thought. It starts to say something about Lizzie, but he doesn’t care to listen. The more he thinks about that thing in Anna’s body using her like a puppet, the more his fear and despair give way to seething rage. And then that rage boils over.

***

After freshening up, I headed down to the first floor of the dorm to meet Wally. He was standing by the exit, tapping his foot with his arms crossed. I took a deep breath and approached, forcing a smile. “Hey,” he said with a nod.

“Hi,” I replied. “Where did you want to eat?”

“I was thinking we could get takeout from this Indian place close by. My roommate is back from his classes, so we’ll have to eat in your room. That way we’ll have some privacy.”

“Sounds good,” I said. With that, Wally headed out the door, letting it close behind him. As I pushed it open again, I realized the small acts of kindness I’d taken for granted, like smiling whenever he saw me, or holding open a door. Trying not to dwell on the past, I jogged to catch up to Wally, who had already started walking away.

He acknowledged my presence with a brief side-glance, continuing his brisk pace. Because his strides were so much longer than mine, I had to speedwalk to keep up.

“So um… what are you thinking of ordering? I don’t know much about Indian cuisine.” Although this was true, I had mainly wanted to break the awkward silence growing between us.

“Actually, I already ordered the food. It should be ready right when we get there,” he replied without turning to look at me.

“Oh… okay,” I replied. The silence stretched on until we arrived at the restaurant. Wally led us through a side door designated for food pickups and checked a shelf lined with bags. Finding his order, he handed me two plastic bags which emanated the tantalizing scent of meat and spices. After paying and thanking the cashier, he left with me in tow.

Once outside, he held out his hands. “I can take those now,” he said flatly, but I was glad for even this scrap of kindness.

“That’s okay,” I said eagerly. “You paid for the food so this is the least I can do! Thanks, by the way, for buying me lunch... and now this. I’ll pay you back when I can.”

He shrugged, returning his arms to his sides. “It’s no big deal.”

Once we returned to Anna’s room, we took a seat on the floor, using napkins as makeshift placemats. Wally set out containers of food in front of us, explaining what each dish was. He took a container of rice and curry for himself, while I opted for tandoori chicken and garlic naan.

Wally ate slowly, occasionally giving me weird looks as I scarfed down my food. The mouthwatering aroma was hard to resist, but I made an effort to slow down when I noticed his disconcerted stares. Still, by the time I had finished off most of the chicken and several naans, he wasn’t even halfway finished with his meal.

“I should’ve noticed this sooner, but you really do eat a lot,” Wally said, picking at grains of rice with his fork.

I blushed. “Yeah, my cells have a higher energy demand than human cells. And they need a lot more protein, which is why I was doing… that in the woods yesterday.” I expected my mention of last night to make Wally uncomfortable, but he actually seemed intrigued by my unique biology.

Looking up from his plate, he asked, “Does it have to come from raw meat? Does eating normal food not do anything for you?”

I shook my head. “Any meat is fine, it’s just that the amount my body needs is so large that I ran out of money and had to resort to… desperate measures.” I neglected to mention the hunting instincts that accompanied my hunger. I was already enough of a monster in Wally’s eyes.

“Hmm…” Wally grunted, lapsing into silent thought.

Wanting to move the conversation away from my unusual appetite, I asked, “So you wanted to discuss finding Anna’s killer, right?”

“Ah, yeah. So far, we don’t know enough. We don’t really have any suspects, either. We’ll probably need to look into her vlogs, maybe get a list of IP addresses.”

I frowned at the prospect of sorting through that many people. After all, her videos had hundreds of cumulative views. Surely it was more likely to be someone Anna knew personally. “What about Lizzie… what was it… Petrov? You don’t think it could be her? I mean, she even bullied Anna in the past.”

Wally shook his head. “I’ve thought about that, but I don’t think it’s her. She was a bitch to Anna for sure, but I don’t think she would ever go that far. I don’t think she’d even be physically capable of it. Anna was small, but she was feisty. She could hold her own in a fight with someone like Lizzie.”

Recalling how sunken and tired Lizzie’s eyes were, how her pale skin was, and how scrawny and shaky her limbs were, I had to admit it was unlikely Lizzie could have taken Anna down on her own, even with the element of surprise working in her favor. But just because she didn’t jump Anna herself didn’t mean she wasn’t involved. “What if she had help?” I posited. “What if she hired someone to do it for her?”

Wally gave me a dubious look. “Like a hitman? That’s a real stretch. I mean, even if she wanted to, I doubt she could afford to hire someone. I asked around a little, and from what I’ve heard, she can barely afford to pay her drug dealer these days. And I can’t think of anyone else who hated Anna enough to want her dead.”

“Oh,” I replied despondently. Discouraged that my only lead had been shut down, I returned to scarfing down food in silence. Even the chicken’s delicious flavor provided little comfort.

After a few minutes, I decided to try one more time. Even with Wally’s assurances that Lizzie was innocent, I couldn’t shake the anger I felt whenever I pictured her face. That had to mean something. After swallowing and setting my food down, I reiterated my concerns. This time, I also told Wally about the inexplicable, intense rage I felt when I first saw Lizzie.

That definitely got Wally’s attention. “You mean like… you somehow felt Anna’s hatred for her?”

Though I didn’t voice it, I had the same thought. “I’m not sure, maybe. I have felt strange emotions out of nowhere before. Like the other day with Anna’s mom, I had this strange urge to hug her and I had no idea why.” I recalled the visceral emotion I had felt during my heartfelt conversation with Anna’s mother. It was strong, almost painfully so, making my chest feel tight yet warm. Something so raw and bittersweet… could that have been love?

It seemed farfetched, but maybe Anna’s most powerful emotional attachments were etched into her body. Perhaps, even after the last neurons fired in her brain, some deep-rooted connections remained and were preserved when I assimilated with her. If that was true, then another question arose: was Anna’s hatred of Lizzie due to years of bullying, or was it a deep resentment for the person who killed her?

I turned to Wally, wanting to share these ideas with him. He seemed dazed, lost in thought, like he was looking through me rather than at me. “Wally?” I asked nervously.

“Huh?” His eyes refocused on my face.

“Are you sure it’s not Lizzie? Maybe the—”

“Look, can you just drop it with Lizzie?!” I flinched as his sudden outburst cut me off, but he paid me no mind. “I told you, I already looked into it! You asked for my help, you wanted my insight, and there it is. And honestly, it’s pretty fucking suspicious that you keep pushing this narrative that the shriveled up shell of the girl who used to call Anna some mean names back in high school would straight up murder her in cold blood. Maybe you just want me to think it’s Lizzie so you can get away scot-fucking-free!” Wally was breathing heavily, his face bright red. Finished with his rant, he continued to shoot me a piercing glare.

I stood up, unable to hide my exasperation. With our significant height difference, it felt good to tower over him for once. “You still think I’m lying? If I was really Anna’s killer, I would’ve just offed you in the forest last night. Why take a chance letting you live?” I came off as more threatening than I intended, but there was no going back now.

Wally let out a vicious laugh and rose to his feet, once again looking down on me. “Oh yeah? Then why not finish the job now? Go ahead, I bet I’d taste real good.”

He was clearly trying to get a rise out of me, and it was working. I reached up and grabbed him by the collar, yanking him down so that his face was at my eye level as he yelped in surprise. “Don’t try to twist my words. I said if I was the killer, which I’m not. What do I have to do to get it through your thick skull that I’m not the enemy here?!”

He struggled to release himself from my grip, trying to pry my hands off of him, but I was much stronger. After giving up on breaking free, he stopped for a moment. Then, an unnerving smile crossed his face. “You want me to trust you? Then transform right here, right now, and let me film it. And if I ever get even the tiniest inkling that you’re lying to me, I’ll expose you for what you really are.”

I matched his smirk with one of my own. I knew how much he cared about Anna. If there was even the slightest chance I was telling the truth, there was no way he would leak such a video. And even if he did, who would believe it? I was sure even Wally knew it would be dismissed as doctored footage. No, he was just testing me, expecting me to refuse, to give him a reason to distrust me.

“Fine,” I said without hesitation, calling his bluff.

“Wait, really?” His smug look gave way to disbelief, confirming my suspicions. I let go of his collar, allowing him stand up straight again.

“I said fine. If this is what it takes to prove that I have nothing to hide, then so be it.” I walked over to Anna’s bed and sat down, trying to project confidence. “Get out your phone.”