Note from Author.
**WARNING**
This story is a work of fiction and does CONTAIN ADULT & VIOLENT SITUATIONS. Some of the characters USE COARSE LANGUAGE. Please be aware of that before you read this story.
Due to the very generous nature of a couple of special people, my latest endeavor has been edited. As I said I'm not a professional, I like to do this for fun.
So I would like to thank Mr. Mike Regan, Mr. Evan Mayerle, and Mr. David White for taking their time to help me make this a better story.
Thanks guys.
*Author's note: Tabitha in Eric's timeline is about 3 and Sabrina is 22 in this time line and story Tabitha is 6 and Sabrina is 25. *
****Disclaimer****
All characters that appear in this story that have appeared or have been mentioned in "Sabrina On Line the comic strip" by Eric Schwartz are the copyright of E.S. Productions & Eric Schwartz and are used with his permission.
The characters Chris Foxx and Dexter are the copyright of Chris Yost and are used with his permission.
The Extinctioners is a comic produced by Shanda Fantasy Arts, and is Drawn and Written by Shawntee Howard. Legal rights are theirs respectfully.
Character Thomas Woolfe is the copyright of Michael Higgs.
The characters Max The Black Rabbit & Zig Zag are the copyright of Malcolm Earle and are used with his permission.
Other characters mentioned in this work of fiction are the creations, ideas and situations of the writer.
This story is based on Copyrighted characters and situations created by Mr. Eric Schwartz, Chris Yost and Malcolm Earle but is not intended to represent or be a part of the Sabrina On Line Universe Created and drawn by E.W.S. Or the Sabrina Online Story written by Chris Yost and Sabrina At Algonquin. Written and drawn by Malcolm Earle A.K.A Max The Black Rabbit.
Sincerely Mark White
Happy reading……and now on with the show.
Chapter 2 : Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is this with four feet and all?
Canada The Present: At a nearby computer store.
"My God! The resemblance is uncanny. I can't believe it. You could be my twin sister." Exclaimed the astonished Skunktaur.
Sabrina Johnston, having already had this experience once before, was finding it very uncomfortable this time round. "I've been through this before." She said to the Skunktaur.
"I don't understand." The Skunktaur shook her head and seemed confused.
"I have a twin sister, she looks exactly like me and you, it seems. Except for the extra pair of legs."
"You have a twin?" Said the Skunktaur in almost disbelief.
"Yeah, I guess I'd better introduce myself, my name is Sabrina Johnston." She put out her paw in greeting.
The Skunktaur gave it a shake. "Heather White, nice to meet you Sabrina."
Sabrina had a hard time believing what she was seeing. And took a closer look at Heather. "Ah, mind if I touch you, I'm finding it very strange seeing myself as a Taur. I've never envisioned myself as one, now it seems you're a reality."
"Sure go ahead, I get petted a lot. Mostly from kids who want to ride me. But as you can see my bottom half is not very big, just enough to keep me balanced. I swear if I didn't have my big tail I think I would fall over." She grinned.
Sabrina more or less petted the back of Heather, much like you do a dog. It felt too weird and she quickly stopped. "So, I take it your parents are Taurs as well?" She assumed so.
"No they're lions, I'm adopted. I don't know who my real parents were."
"Oh sorry to hear that."
"That's ok, my parents are very special people and they love me. That's all I'll ever need."
Sabrina smiled and nodded. "How long have you been here? I don't remember a computer store being here."
"Only a couple of weeks, I used to live out in British Columbia but a couple of friends here thought it would be cool if I came over. I had a small shop there so I just moved it here, much to the disappointment of a lot of my customers there. Plus my parents live around here so it was a good move. Helps me save a bit of money, while I look for a place to hang. You won't believe how many people get turned off the minute they see me."
"Really! I can't believe it."
"Oh believe it, I've had a lot of people get really upset just because of the fact I have four feet instead of two. Its strange, I really don't understand some people."
"Sorry to hear that but I have a few friends that will want to meet you for sure."
"Well send' em over I could use the business."
"Well that's what I was here for, do you have time to look at my old computer? I don't think its gonna be worth putting a whole lot of money into it. I want to get on the Internet and talk back and forth with my sister."
"Sure let's have a look." Heather turned around and went to the counter where Sabrina had set her computer. "Is this original inside?" She knew immediately what it was.
"Yeah, haven't really done much with it."
"Ok without even looking inside, I know what it is and it won't do what you want it to do. With a lot of tinkering, I could get it to do that but it would be extremely flaky. It's not worth it in my opinion, but that doesn't mean this computer's not worth anything. I'll give you a hundred dollars off towards a new system; because I know someone who can use this machine for some grunt work. Meaning it will be left on continually to do small tasks, there is a small market for machines like yours but you have to know people."
"That's what all of my friends said, it really wasn't worth fixing. Seems they were right."
"Did you have anything specific in mind?"
"I have a recommendation from a friend of mine." She presented Chris' list of wants and what to stay away from.
"This guy knows his computers." She looked at the list and was impressed.
"I saw your second system over there, it has some of the stuff on the list, plus a larger monitor. I like that, I'll bet it's nice to look at."
"Yup that's not a bad system. How much are you willing to spend?"
"Well I have enough to buy that second system, plus a bit more. Why?"
The phone rang and Heather excused herself and went to get it. From what Sabrina gathered it was a 'help me' question. It took her awhile to get it straightened out with the person on the other end but she handled the call really well. She was now sure that she would buy the computer here, not because Heather looked like her but she seemed to really know her stuff.
Heather returned, "Sorry about that, she's a very good customer but doesn't know a lot about computers."
"You handled that quite well." Sabrina said.
"I've got a lot of patience." She smiled. "Now back to your list, your friend really knows his computers as I said but I don't have some of these parts. I can get 'em if you really want but I can give you a list of equivalent parts that I do have. That way you can call your friend tell him what I have and he can tell you what he thinks sound fair. That sound good?"
"Yeah sounds great to me."
"Ok let's start with the monitor."
Heather went through almost all the computer; taking it apart and showing Sabrina the various things that made the computer work. Sabrina was totally impressed with Heather's knowledge and felt very confident in trusting her to get a good computer system for her. A few customers came in and Heather had to see to them first, but all in all she got a good lesson and a good final price.
"Ok now that price is for the replacements that I have here, you're getting a really good deal on the Sony monitor due to the fact that it's two years old."
"I'm not too sure about that." Sabrina said cautiously. "What about the warranty? Like you said, it's two years old."
Heather smiled, "It's never been out of the box so don't worry, I cover the original warranty which is 1 year parts and labour anyway. You have any problems, it comes to me, I get it fixed and you get it back. No money involved. I was really pissed back in BC when the guy who ordered it said he didn't want it anymore, said he found it cheaper somewhere else."
"That wasn't nice."
"No it wasn't but I got him back, his computer's operating system had a lot of bugs in after I got through with it. Weird stuff that it would take a tech to figure out, nothing harmful just annoying more or less. It pays to be on my good side." She laughed. "Oh, almost forgot, one second." She bounded off, more or less like a hop and disappeared into the back room.
Sabrina found she liked this version of herself more and more. She wondered if she had her sister's e-mail address with her. She checked her purse and found the list she had compiled with everyone's email. This was good, maybe Heather had access here and she could send off a message to Chris and Sabrina. It was either that or ask Max since he had internet connections. Heather came bouncing back and in her hand Sabrina noted some money.
"Here you go, that's if you're going to buy a computer here. I thought you might like your discount in cash. Saves you from taking the other computer home."
In her mind she was sure that this would be the place for her to buy the computer. She had the best explanation she had ever had on how a computer worked. Plus she was also getting a really good deal on a monitor. It didn't hurt either that Heather was her twin from the waist up.
"Ok, sounds good." Sabrina took the money and put it into her purse. "Ah, do you have Internet access here?"
"Sure do, why?"
"Any chance you could send a message for me."
"Hey you can do it yourself, come on over here and we'll set you up with one of those free e-mail accounts. They're slow to access but you can get mail for free." Heather went over to a computer she had running and typed in her password. "You can send e-mail anytime you want while I'm here Sabrina just come on in and ask. Not a problem there." She quickly set up the account and showed Sabrina how to use the mail program. Soon she was typing a letter to Sabrina.
"I'll just leave you to compose your letter in private, when you're all done and you're happy with the changes you make, just click on the send button. Tell whom ever you're writing to, to reply to the address that I wrote down, ok."
"Thanks Heather you have been really helpful. I wish there were more people like you in the world."
"I wish that to. Have fun and tell me when you're done."
Sabrina watched as Heather trotted away. She was still amazed at the sight. Seeing herself as a Taur, who could believe it, she hardly did. Sabrina is going to flip when she reads this letter she thought. She turned back to the monitor and began typing.
Present Day USA
"I'm home." Sabrina said as she entered Amy's apartment.
"Good, did you get the bottles Sabrina?" Said Amy as she rocked Timothy in her arms.
"Yup, your mom sent over a few other goodies as well. I was surprised she kept all your stuff."
"Remember we're squirrels we save everything." Sabrina laughed as she handed Amy the bag. "Thanks for going Sabrina. Timothy really is a handful. I would have gone but I couldn't find the time."
"It's ok, I understand, have you had any thoughts about dinner?"
"I thought maybe some spaghetti heavy on the meat, Thomas likes that."
"Sounds yummy, oh I might be going to see Chris in a couple of days. I'm just waiting for him to email me back."
"Ok, I'll start dinner, could you change Timothy for me?"
It wasn't something she really wanted to do, but then again she didn't want to make dinner either. "Sure, come on Timothy its time to get you nice and fresh." It didn't take too long and Timothy was back in his crib. "I put Timothy in his crib with his blanket, hope that's ok." She said as she returned to talk to Amy.
"Yes that's fine he should settle he's had a busy day."
"Ok I'm going to my room to check my email."
"Ok come when I call."
It didn't take long for the Amiga to fire up and she set it to dial out to her service provider. With the mail program active she told it to check for mail. It took a minute and returned 4 messages. The first two were spam; she deleted those right away. One was from Chris, the other was from her sister. The subject reading, "Hi Sis it's me, have I got news to tell you!", made her extremely curious, so she opened the letter and read.
Dear Sis,
I almost bought a computer today but I have to confirm stuff with your boyfriend first. However that isn't the big news, you won't believe who the seller was. A Skunktaur and she looks like us!
Sabrina sat there stunned at those last few words, she just couldn't believe that last sentence. A Skunktaur looking like her sister, impossible. She read on.
I know what you're thinking, I'm pulling your leg, nope it's the absolute truth. Her name is Heather White and she owns the computer store here. She gave me access to this computer today and I have a hotmail account where you can send a reply to. I'm coming back here tomorrow so we can get a picture taken together. She has a digital camera so we'll send you a pic real soon. I'm going to call you too, I'm sure you'll want to speak to me after reading this.
Love always,
your sister Sabrina.
Sabrina was stunned, A Skunktaur? This is unbelievable! She was about to turn off the computer when she realized that she still had a message from Chris. He didn't say much just that his schedule was clear and she was free to come down and see him. She logged off and went and sat in the kitchen. Amy saw her come in really quiet like and thought something must be up.
"Sabrina is anything wrong?"
"No, not really, just some very surprising news from my Sister."
"Oh, Sabrina got a computer that's great, now I'll never get you off that thing." Amy rolled her eyes knowing how true that statement was.
"Oh that's not it, she found a Skunktaur."
"Really, that's interesting, Taurs seem to be popping out of the wood work. I didn't think there was such a thing as a Skunktaur."
"Wait it gets even better, she looks like me."
Amy wasn't sure if she heard that right. "Did you say she looks like you?"
"Yeah like me and my Sister except she is a Taur." Sabrina didn't know what to think of this recent discovery. Her emotions were all in turmoil.
To Amy this seemed all too strange. "Sabrina this seems very strange! Do you think your Sister is playing a joke on you?"
"No, she said she would call tonight to tell me more about her. All I know is that she runs the computer store there and that her name is Heather White."
"Well that is strange news for sure Sabrina."
"Yeah, I think I'm going to call Chris and tell him about this. This has me a bit freaked out."
"Go ahead dinner won't be ready for a little while yet."
Sabrina went to go use the phone and saw Thomas come in. "Hi Thomas."
"Hi Sabrina, how are you today?"
"A little bewildered but otherwise fine." She picked up the receiver and began to dial Chris' work number.
Thomas thought Sabrina's reply was really odd but let it go. "Oh ok, is Amy in the kitchen?"
"Yup, we're having spaghetti for dinner."
"Thanks." Thomas walked by Sabrina to the kitchen, he was going to have to ask her what had Sabrina so bewildered.
The phone rang at the empty desk for quite awhile but soon a breathless fox answered the phone. "Yes, Chris Foxx speaking." He was panting to beat all.
"You're not going to have a heart attack, are you?" Said Sabrina with a big grin on her face.
"Very funny Sabrina." He said between breaths.
"Wanted to know if I should cancel, no good if you're in the hospital."
He laughed. "Must be important to call me here kitten, what's up?" She didn't call him too many times at work knowing that most of the time he was away from his desk anyway.
"I got a strange e-mail from Sabrina today."
"Oh she got a computer, that's great. I hope she got a good buy."
"She hasn't got one yet, but you may want to take a look in your mailbox when we hang up."
"Ok sure. So what was so strange about the email." His curiosity piqued.
"Sabrina has met someone strange, a Skunktaur."
"Wow! I didn't think there was such a thing. Is he/she nice?"
"It's a she and she looks like me."
"What!" He was sure he had heard her wrong. "Did you say that she looks like you?"
"Yup, that's what makes it so strange."
This was by far the strangest call he had ever gotten from Sabrina. "Kitten this has to be some sort of joke she's playing." It sounded like one that's for sure.
"That's what I thought but she's gonna call tonight to give me more details."
"Now that is strange. Did she give you any other information about her?"
"Only that she owns a computer store and that her name is Heather White."
"Wow, well I think it's kind of funny Sabrina, when I saw the two of you together I couldn't believe it. Now there is another like you and your sister, seems pretty strange to me."
"It's not funny Chris it's creepy if you ask me." Sabrina felt a shiver run down her spine.
Canada The Present.
Sabrina Johnston put her things on her couch and looked at all the boxes surrounding her. Only back one week and she had everything in boxes. Damn! She hated moving but, since the rent had almost quadrupled, she could no longer afford to live here. Same with a lot of folks. She had talked with a lawyer and he said the landlord was within his rights to raise the rent because he had not upped the rent in about 4 years. Sabrina thought about it and it was true. The landlord had made many improvements to the apartment building and this place was really cheap compared to a lot of other places. The notices had piled up in her absence and when she finally got through reading them her lease had run out and her things were scheduled to be moved out. The letter was concise and to the point. Basically it said move or else. So it was boxes and boxes for her. The phone rang and it startled her. She picked it up and spoke. "Hello."
"Hi honey, it's Mom."
"Hi Mom, how you doing?"
"Ok dear, as well as can be expected."
"That's good and Dad?" She didn't want to ask that question but she hadn't heard a thing from him since her mother had made her decision. The divorce was impending upon agreements they had to discuss.
"Your Dad is fine, I saw him today and he sends his love." She paused. "Honey I know this whole affair has been hard on you and the whole family but I just want to tell you I love you and none of this was your fault."
"I know Mom, I know." She had thought they could have patched things up but they were on two different ends of the stick. Plus there was Kathren, she liked her but she had a lot to do what happened to her Mom and Dad. She still didn't really know how she felt about the whole situation. But now wasn't the time or place to bring it up. "So Mom what's up?"
"Well I was wondering if you had a micro cassette player."
"Yeah, I used it in school to record lectures. Why?"
"I got a package today in the mail and the only things in it were two of those little cassettes. I don't have a player and I would like to know what's on them."
"Mom that sounds really weird, don't tell me there was no return address."
"There was no return address." Her mother said sheepishly.
Now that was creepy, it might be best if she phoned Sabrina first and then went to her Mother's. "Mom I'll come by later with it and we can listen to the tapes."
"Ok dear, I'll see you in a little while." She was about to hang up the phone when her daughter told her to wait. "Yes dear."
"You'll never believe what I saw today."
"After what we just went through you know better than to ask me questions like that. I give up now to save myself from embarrassment."
"Mom I saw a Skunktaur that looked just like me!" She exclaimed.
"What! No, you have to be kidding me."
"No Mom it's true, you will have to come to the computer store to see her."
"Dear, you didn't hit your head again did you?" What she was saying was a little more out of the ordinary.
"No Mom! Do you think you could get an extended lunch tomorrow? I would love for you to meet her; she is a year younger than I am. Her name is Heather and she is really nice."
"I guess I can, but I can't stay too long."
"Great you're going to be so surprised."
"Yes dear, ok I'll see you in a little while." She hung up the phone and thought that was a strange conversation. Hmm someone that looked like her daughter now that would be interesting. Skunks did have a tendency to have the same stripe pattern through generations. That was probably what's got her daughter in such a state; she would play along. It had been awhile since they had gone out to lunch anyway. She smiled and went back to making dinner.
The next phone call was to Sabrina, she dialed the long distance number and waited for it to ring a few times. Then a friendly voice answered the phone.
"Hello Thomas Wolfe speaking. How can I help you?"
"Oh, hello Thomas. It's Sabrina Johnston calling.
Her voice caught him off guard for a moment. "Oh hi Sabrina. This feels funny talking to you when I can see you in the kitchen."
"Yeah I can understand that. Have I caught you at a bad time? I can call back."
"No we were almost done with dinner; just one second and I'll get her for you." Thomas put the phone down gently and went and got Sabrina.
"Hello, Sis." Sabrina said as she picked up.
"Hi Sabrina, it's nice to hear your voice." Sabrina Johnston found it odd. It always sounded like she was talking to herself.
"Now what's this talk of a four footed clone of us?"
"It's true Sis, she looks just like we do! You couldn't tell the difference from the waist up."
"Come on you know how this sounds Sabrina, it's like one of those cheap fan-fictions you read on the net."
"I know but Mom and I are going there tomorrow, I'll get us all in the picture and you'll see. I know what I said sounds really ridiculous, but it's the truth."
Sabrina didn't mean to sound so disbelieving, but a Skunktaur? "I believe you Sis, it just sounds really creepy. To tell you the truth."
"Yeah I did triple takes when Heather showed up. I just turned around and almost wet my pants."
"It was the same way when I first saw you." Sabrina agreed, and it was true too. She almost had to clean her pants. "So what is she like?"
"She's really nice, knows a lot about computers. Opened one up for me and explained some of the major parts and how they work. First time anyone has done that, so I'm pretty sure that I will get my computer there. I just want Chris to ok what she has as different parts."
"I phoned him after I read your mail, did you send him a message as well?"
"Yeah with Heather's list, I was hoping to call him tonight. You think he'll be home later on."
"He should be."
"That's good. How's your Mom?"
"She's good, Mom and Dad took a weeks vacation after you left and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They hated to come back."
"I'll bet they did. After the action we put them through, it's no wonder."
"You'll have to tone down your next visit big time."
"Yeah I will. Max was glad to see me home, he wondered where the heck I had been for an entire month. He lost the letter I wrote him," sigh "poor guy. I've been making it up to him, we're going to catch an early show tomorrow. Seen that Extinctioners movie yet?"
"No but I'm going to see Chris in a couple of days and we may take it in. Give me a review if you can."
" Sure, will do. How is Chris doing?"
"He's doing great, all the guys in the office are really jealous that he got to meet Cheetaur. But they were thankful when he pulled out autographed calendars for them all."
"She was something else wasn't she? In a way I feel really sorry for her, being an odd ball in a society of bipeds."
"Yeah but she seems to make up for it in personality. She's heading back this way in a couple of months and she'll definitely be stopping by. Chris and I have an invitation with her at one of the fanciest restaurants here."
"That's great, I hope you have fun."
"I'm sure it will be an evening to remember."
Sabrina thought that she should get the next question over with. Her Sister had not been saying much about the subject. "How's your Mom making out?" Sabrina heard a sigh then her Sister began to speak.
"Well considering everything, it's gone pretty well. Mom has made her decision and she is going ahead with an impending divorce. Dad's been really good, I thought it was going to be a big problem but most things they have agreed upon. However they are disagreeing on one big obstacle, the house." She sighed into the phone and Sabrina really felt sorry for her. She wouldn't want her Mom and Dad to split. "Dad feels that Mom needs a new start in a new place. And that it would be better for her to put her money into something that would be hers. Not just giving it back to him."
"I can see his reasoning."
"Trouble is Mom loves the house, she doesn't want to move. But she has a plan. Kathren is going to buy the house, since they are living together now, it seems logical. Kathren likes the house too, so it was agreed upon. However Dad doesn't know this yet but he will soon. It probably won't thrill him too much."
"Doesn't sound like it would. You never really told me but does he like Kathren?" Sabrina had never really brought the subject up.
"That's a good question, not all that much; she intimidates too many people, especially my Dad. She can't help it, just look at her and you can see why. So he more or less tolerates her and he definitely can't see what Mom sees in her at all."
"Yeah, she is a powerhouse of muscle and other stuff." That other stuff was hard not to miss when it was stuck right on her chest.
Sabrina Johnston laughed at that for she knew what her Sister was referring to. "Oh you mean the chest cannons."
"Haaaaaa! Yeah, those!"
"Well I hate to burst your bubble but remember Kathren still has some growing to do and I doubt those attributes will get smaller."
"That I doubt. If you ever find a picture of Kathren's family, I want to see it."
"I'll ask her if she has one; she is very open to me."
"Great! Okay, I won't keep you. This will cost you a small fortune and you still have to call Chris."
"Ok thanks Sis, always thinking of me. I love you too. See you online, Heather is going to come and fix it up as soon as I move."
"Move?" This was new. "You didn't tell me you were moving."
"Yeah, had to; they quadrupled the rent and that's not good. On my small salary I can't afford to live here now."
"That wasn't nice of them to do that."
"It was inevitable; just looking at the place. It has been really fixed up in the last few years and the landlord kept the rent down. So it was only a matter of time."
"Do you have a new place?"
"Yeah it's a small, and I emphasize 'small', one bedroom apartment. Its got everything I need except room. But it's really within my budget; with it I'll be able to save money. Here I couldn't, even with the rent being so low. I was just living cheque to cheque."
"Well, that's good. Ok, you take care and call anytime."
"Will do Sis, later."
The phone went dead and immediately Sabrina missed hearing her Sisters voice. The time they had together had been way to short. How do you cram a lifetime into a couple of weeks? Her thoughts then changed to the four-footed clone, she wanted to see this Heather in person. A smile came to her face as she realized that she might be able to make that come true.