Now I know this may seem Prince & the Pauper-ish, but that really isn't the point of the story. The point is cat-people! Yay! No, I don't know.R&R, folks!

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Sunlight beamed into Penny’s eyes. She stretched, pulling her arms behind her head. The rough, scratchy blanket was making her legs itch. She opened her eyes and sat up. The view was certainly not the usual. Penny blinked and rubbed her eyes.

“Where am I?” she whispered.

She was sitting on a narrow twin bed in a closet. The closet’s walls were wallpapered in a dingy olive green pattern. A beat up cheap-looking dresser was piled high with battered paperbacks. And there was something moving under the blanket. Penny leapt out of the bed, shrieking. An iguana crawled out onto the pillow. Penny backed up against the wall, trembling.

“What the hell is gong on?! She yelled.

She sank slowly to the ground, sobbing. The door flew open. A woman came running in.

“Bryony! Are you alright?” the woman asked.

Penny stared. Were those…cat ears? Two tawny triangles twitched atop the woman’s head. A horrible thought occurred to Penny. She raised her hands to the to top of her head. She felt a furry triangle on her head. Her other hand found the other one. She screamed again.

“Bryony, what’s wrong?!” the woman asked, scared.

The woman knelt down and put an arm around Penny’s shoulders. Penny slapped her arm away. She started crawling away on all fours.

“I am not Bryony! Wh-what have you done to me?”

“Nothing!” the woman said, mystified but concerned. “Who are you then?”

Penny wiped her nose on her hand. “Penny.”

She stopped crying and stood up. She was still freaked, but she’d get to the bottom of this.

“Let’s go to the kitchen and talk.” The lady said.

She opened the bedroom door.

“I’m Janice, by the way.” She stuck out her hand. Penny shook it. She almost said ‘nice to meet you’ but under the circumstances…she followed Janice out of the room. They went down a short hallway and into a living room. Janice turned into the kitchen. There was a round table shoved against a corner, and an aisle with the fridge, stove, sink, and counters. With that, the aisle had a space about a foot wide and 4 feet long.(1.3m for you Canadians, etc). Janice navigated down to the fridge.

“Have a seat. Coke?”

Penny nodded dumbly and sat down. Janice walked over to the table and handed Penny her can. She sat down and pulled the tab on her own.

“So. Let’s get to the bottom of this. Where’re you from?”

“I’m from Springfield, Missouri. Where am I now?”

“You’re in the town of Greenlawn, in the state of Chattika, in the Western States of America.”

Penny looked confused. Janice sighed.

“It’s as I thought then. There’s only one way you could look so much like my daughter and yet not be her. You’re her time twin.”

“What?” Penny asked, frowning.

“You’re from a parallel dimension. I know it sounds like Sci-Fi bullshit, but it’s true. I just don’t understand how you were switched.” Janice buried her face in her hands. “Ugh. What a mess.”

Penny actually had no trouble believing it. She always knew people had been hiding something from her. Even if they didn’t know it.

“There are two ways this could have happened. Technology, or magic.”

“Magic?” Penny asked, intrigued.

“Uh, human abilities with a perfectly reasonable, logical explanation, but with that explanation currently unknown.”

“Hmmm.” Penny looked thoughtful. She was probably dreaming of being a wizard or some such nonsense. Janice snorted. Penny looked up, and Janice coughed.

“Anyway, it’s probably that fookin’ scientist who found us out. He’s been wanting to get his grubby hands on us for a while. And he’s a pervert. Dr. Meevrow was a childhood friend of my husband. But when he found out what we were, “cat people” as the media delightfully calls us, he outed us. He took credit for “discovering” us. A new species. But it backfired. Under Western laws, as a rare, sentient species, we couldn’t be put under the microscope, or dissected. Terrorized. Made into freaks. It’s highly illegal, what he’s done.” Her mouth pursed. “

“If he’s the one that took her, that is. He does have equipment for it, at the university.” Seeing that Penny looked rather alarmed, Janice patted her on the shoulder.

“We’ll get you back home, dear.” Penny smiled weakly.