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I shivered as I walked through the old, damp, abandoned building, clutching the piece of paper my friends gave to me.
I was in the final level of the clue hunt. The ‘treasure’ was supposed to be somewhere in the creepy building and I was determined to find it.
I brought the piece of paper I held up to eye level and studied the hand drawn map. From the place I stood, I was supposed to go straight down and then left. And from there I was left to search.
After I walked down past the living room and turned left, I saw myself facing a hallway with rows of dirty, cobwebbed doors to my left and right.
“So the search begins,” I muttered to myself as I walked to the first door. I tried the handle and the door squeaked open.
It was a bedroom. I figured all of them were bedrooms. I opened up dusty drawers and wardrobes, glanced around filthy, insect infested bathrooms and looked under the unmade beds of many rooms. I didn't find anything that seemed like a treasure.
It was the last room on the left. Unlike the other ones, the room was eerily dark. The windows were closed and the curtains were shut tight.
In the middle of the room, a lage, shapeless object covered with a tarp stood ominously. There was no bed or furniture.
I strolled over and circled the object carefully, making sure not to touch anything. But my curiosity got the best of me and I found myself taking the tarp off in the end.
I gasped and dropped the tarp on the floor when I saw the object that was under it. A large, desktop computer like object stood in the middle of the room. It radiated ‘sciency-sciency’ and I stood closer to inspect it. It was dusty as expected but it didn't look so much like the desktop computer I thought it was at first.
I'd never seen anything like it before. There were many different buttons on it and there was a lever sticking out of one side.
After a moment of thought, I decided to push buttons. Bad idea, I knew but I'd been searching for clues for hours and in the end, I got nothing so this was the equivalent of the treasure.
I decided to play with it. I pushed buttons, tapped on whatever I could and flipped the lever finally. The only thing I got was whirring and clicking sounds. When I was done exploring the machine, I decided to leave.
I didn't get the prize of the clue hunt but at least I got a weird machine to play with, I thought as I began to walk out of the door.
I jolted immediately and then my head started to hurt. It was for a short while though but still. It was strange.
I shrugged it off and walked out after taking one last glance of the machine. Once I stepped outside, my mouth dropped open.
People were literally flying instead of walking, buildings like skyscrapers were now made of screens instead of glass. Even other buildings besides those were made of weird materials I'd never thought I'd see on buildings.
The city had changed yet it was recognizable...
I called out my friends' name and no one answered. Weird looking people passed me by without a second glance. I tried my best to ignore them and not freak out as I walked past.
Until I saw a girl walk out of a building.
She was laughing with some other people and they were walking towards my direction.
As they came closer, I realized to my horror that this girl looked so much like me.
Same hair colour, body shape, eyes, skin colour…
But how was that?
I didn't think before I did it. Her friends left her and stopped at a shop nearby. She was walking towards my direction and as she got closer I got ready.
Once she walked by me I yanked her and she yelped as she collided with me. We were sprawled on the ground for a few seconds before she got up and started to run.
