"Ad-Adam?" the twin sister of Adam's second wife stood in the silvery grace of the natural night lights, motionless except for her vocal organs. Her voice had lost its usual sparkle of maturity and womanly wisdom. "And... Who's that beside you?"
Eve Bouchie mirrored the same expression as her clone, too speechless to mutter any comments.
Only Adam was unaffected by the sudden encounter. As such, he boldly threw the tennis ball of conversation towards Catalina.
"Yes, Catalie. It's me," he took a step forward. "I'm Adam. Adam Jucas. I'm also Jack Jucas. I know this is a very troublesome situation right now, but please remain calm," he gestured using his hands to visually communicate with the afraid woman. "I'm sure you'll understand soon enough, once we've explained everything."
Catalina took a step backward.
Adam spread the palm of his left hand on Eve's shoulder, pushing her forward, gently.
"This here's Evelyn, your twin sister. You may or may not be acquainted with the conception behind Vicilia. But if you'd please listen..."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaah!" Catalie let out an agonized scream, loud enough for being audible across the entire building. She dived right into her apartment, shutting the door behind her as if she was being chased by inhumane monsters. Behind the door, sobbing noises and her hyperventilating gasps could be heard.
'What's wrong? What did I even do to scare her like that?'
He looked behind him to check. Eve quietly followed in the likeness of a young bird learning from her mentor.
Nothing visible with the naked eye.
'Hmm... Strange. I didn't predict this sort of reaction upon meeting Eve.'
His mind quickly relapsed to the main objective.
'Two doors remain. One leads to a certain Radiyana D., a woman bearing the same name as the wife I lost. Based on the cyclic nature of this experiment, Catalie was going to deliver this photograph,' he walked over to the spot where she had dropped it. 'Perhaps to another clone of mine behind unit 205.'
Steering himself around, he asked Eve to follow him as he quietly, carefully, attempted to break into 205.
The handlebar was locked from the other side.
"H-here ya go, Jack," Eve whispered, handing her lover a master key to every door in the building. "This'll work."
Adam didn't look behind him, but he could feel her lips curl into a wholesome smile of success as the shaft was thrust into door keyhole and twisted clockwise to initiate a tiny amplitude of a click
.
'That solves the minor part of the problem. The major one is already resting on the bed inside.'
"Let's go inside, Eve."
He walked over to the bed, pacing towards his placeholder twin. For a subconscious reason, Adam was elated with the thought of getting to meet a mirror version of himself. A real twin brother.
"Mr Jucas," he flipped the blankets over. "Sorry to wake y-"
His eyes were blinded by what he saw. His mind lost its buffer. He was so confused by the sight of the person on the bed that he himself felt like Eve's dose of amnesia.
"W-where am I?" Eve's frightened voice wafted in. "J-Jack? Are you there?"
She saw what he saw. But she didn't know what he knew, at the moment.
"OH MY GOSH!!! JAAAAACK!!! NOOOOO!!!!!" she sprinted forward to hug the man on the bed, ignoring the real one standing right by. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
She wailed.
YOU ARE READING
In The Wildest Dimensions
Mistero / ThrillerUnbeknownst to a detective on vacation, he falls down a staircase of disaster as his life begins to take form in the shape of desperation surrounded by guilt. Police work had been bothering him for a time beyond recognition. And now he is about to f...
