“I just don’t think it’s real, that’s all,” Anna said, as she pulled a pillow from the bed and threw it on the floor.

“What do you have to lose Ann?” Theodore said, as he slipped inside the covers.

“The kids, my business, this life.” She slipped under the covers as well.

“But according to the Doctor, this whole thing is fake,” he said with a sigh.

“Did you just call your kids fake?”

Theodore sensed a fight coming so he paused for thought.

“OK, let’s let this go. Here,” he produced some aspirins from his bedside cabinet, “I still have some from when I had my headaches.”

“Thanks,” she said, looking over at him sadly as he tucked himself in and turned away from her.

Theodore closed his eyes and lay still, waiting for the sandman. His thoughts were rampant: he was pondering a way to convince Anna to go through with this.

“Theo, I remember my grandma,” she said, her head lolling.

“Nana P?” Theodore asked in a hazy quarter-slumber yawn.

“No,” she sighed, “Grannie Josie. She was a blast, she used to make peach pies with fresh juicy peaches from her farm in KZN, and we used to visit every school holiday.”

“Was this before she died of diabetes when you were 12?”

“That’s the thing. I used to think that, but now my memory says she’s still alive and calls every Sunday to check if I went to church.”

Theodore opened his eyes abruptly, turned and met her eyes.

“What are you saying?”

She just stared at him.

“The Doctor said that would happen,” he said, sitting up.

“Yes, and I’m so conflicted, I don’t want to lose the kids and everything we’ve invested in, imagine if we’re wrong about this, we’d be thrown in a loony bin and lose everything we’ve worked for!” she said in a single, panicked breath.

Theodore paused. “I don’t believe he’s wrong. I love our kids and this perfect life of ours but if it’s fake, why are we doing this? Think about it, we could have the real thing. The Doctor said this is all based on calculation, meaning we could still have our Alan, Aggie and Auggie in reality.”

“OK, we’ll try, but if we’re wrong, you’d better have a plan to get us out of the mess we’ll be in,” she said in a low voice.

“I will most definitely try,” Theodore said, smiling.

“Don’t try, babe, do,” she said sternly.

A bang at the door woke Theodore up. He looked at Anna, who was fast asleep. He reached under their bed for their steel baseball bat and crept towards the kitchen. He pulled the door hard, clenched his bat, and with a roar he was ready to swing.

“Wait, wait!” Dr Van Kraff ducked and yelled, “I need your help, Mr Fitzgerald! May I enter?”

“Dr Van Kraff?” Theodore asked baffled, “What are you doing here at 3 in the morning?”

“Mr Fitzgerald, while I would love to humour your queries, we are in a pickle right now and time is of the essence,” he said, standing up straight and wiping the sweat off of his brow.

“Sure, come in,” Theodore said lowering his bat, still shaken.

Dr Van Kraff shot in and went straight towards the living room. He was carrying a briefcase. Theodore followed, dazed as ever.

Dr Van Kraff set up in the living room, put his briefcase on the coffee table and opened it. Inside were a bunch of pipes with needles on the ends, and a laptop. The Doctor started typing on it viciously.

“Where is your wife, Mr Fitzgerald?” Dr Van Kraff asked, without looking at Theodore.

“Huh?”

“Your wife, Mr Fitzgerald, where is she?” he reiterated, still busy typing.

“She’s sleeping,” Theodore said, sighing and leaning on the door frame.

“Get her,” Dr Van Kraff said coldly.

“Why?”

“Now, Mr Fitzgerald!”

“OK, fine!” Theodore said, startled.

“What’s going on?” Anna asked, still a bit drowsy, as she entered the room.

“Have a seat please, both of you,” Dr Van Kraff said. He was holding a pipe in each hand.

“What’s going on, Doc?” Theodore said, uneasy, as they sat on the sofa. “What are you going to do with those?”

“Momentarily, Mr Fitzgerald.” He sat on the coffee table. “While my cloaking device worked perfectly on other alien coms, sadly I hadn’t anticipated that there are other agents of the aliens around us and I’m embarrassed to say we have been discovered and reported accordingly. If we do not act now, we’ll be brainwashed by sunrise.”

“What do you mean other agents?” Anna asked the Doctor, who only looked at her regrettably.

“What does he mean, Theo?” Anna asked, grabbing his hands.

“He means our kids are…” he said avoiding her eyes.

“What?” she asked, tearing up.

“They’re agents of the aliens,” he said, sighing and closing his eyes.

Dr Van Kraff stood up as Theodore was explaining. He swung open the hallway door as hard as he could. The kids were standing there, startled and still.

Tell us: What do you think will happen next?