The Double

Short Story

I turn on the telly and flick over to the Simpsons, laughing at the simple comedy. The room service arrives and I wolf my food down faster than usual. I feel a cool breeze raise the hair on the back of my neck. The door out to the balcony is open and the thin curtains blow in the breeze. I get off the bed and go to shut the door. Although I pause before turning back to the room. Something's off. Maybe Sarah was right about something weird happening tonight. Normally I just shrug off her predictions but I just can't shake this feeling. I turn around slowly and breathe out a sigh of relief. Just then, the lights flicker on and then off and then on again. Suddenly I see myself like a reflection in a mirror, standing in my boxers without a shirt my muscled chest tense, my dark hair ruffled. There's sweat above my brow and my bright blue eyes are wild with fear. Then the reflection disappears. I wipe my brow expecting my hand to come away damp with sweat, yet there's nothing. I rub my eyes, confused and quite frankly scared as to what I had just witnessed. Waking from my dream-like state, I look around the hotel room that I'm staying in. It's a huge mess, plates and clothes everywhere. No wonder Mum kicked me out of the house for the weekend after I trashed the house from my 18th birthday party.

At the start of lunch at school, I hurry down the hall, dodging kids as they stand and talk to friends or try to get into their lockers. Lunchtime in high school is always hectic, the hallways and cafeteria especially. Instead of heading to the cafeteria, I take a right at the science lab towards the library. I wrench open the doors with a thud and hurry inside. Heads turn to meet my sudden entrance.

'Sarah!' I exclaim when I see her.

'Shhh.' The head librarian whispers, 'Logan, you must be quiet in here.'

I throw apologies over my shoulder as I head towards her.

'Way to make an entrance.' she says sarcastically.

'You were right.' I pant, slumping onto the floor next to her.

'Anything else you'd like to tell me I didn't already know.'

'Sarah, this is serious!' I complain running a hand through my hair. At this she turns towards me, her face serious.
'Shoot.'

'So you remember how yesterday when we were walking out of school, you said something doesn't feel right?' She nods but doesn't say anything, so I continue.
'Well, normally I just ignore that but last night something happened. The door to the balcony was open, even though I hadn't even touched the doors, so I went to close it. When I turned back, the lights flickered and then there I was, like a reflection in a mirror. It was only visible for a few moments before it disappeared leaving me wondering if I really did see it.

'Weird,' Sarah murmurs, whether to herself or to me, I'm not too sure.

I see the reflection again two days after the first time, and then three, and then four. Every time I see the reflection, well, just before I see it, the lights flicker. It only ever comes when I'm alone, though, and whenever someone else comes into the room it disappears. I think about trying to talk to it, but what if it talks back? Is it real or am I just crazy?

I grab Sarah around the waist and spin her around. She squeals and grips my shoulders tighter. We both laugh and I attempt to turn around faster, but my foot slips and we fall hard onto the ground. I raise myself up on my elbow to see if Sarah's okay, and to my surprise I find her lying on her stomach, her hair splayed over her face and she's shaking with silent laughter. I lean back onto the grass and start to laugh, but stop when the mysterious apparition suddenly appears in front of me. I sit up confused as it has never appeared to me when there is someone else around. It glances to the side and sees Sarah and then suddenly looks alarmed and disappears. I sit up and peer around, but it's nowhere. I hear a ringing from my pocket and with shaky hands, I fish out my phone. 

'Hey Logan. So I was just shopping and...' Mums voice comes through the speaker.

'Mum. I'm scared.' I say before she can continue. At this Sarah sits up and looks at me with eyes filled with concern and confusion.

'Logan whats up?' The concern in my Mums voice mirrors the look Sarah is giving me.

'I keep seeing this ghostlike image. It looks so much like me, it's kinda like my reflection but it doesn't just appear in a mirror. And I've seen it quite a few times now.' I explain shakily.

'This isn't a conversation I wanted to have over the phone.' She says.

'Mum, what is it?'

'That image that you see is...' She hesitates. 'Well... Umm... Ahh... When you were born there were two babies. Two identical twin boys, and one of them was you...'

I nearly drop my phone in surprise.

'What?'

I don't hear anything she's says after that.

A twin! I had a twin! A brother! What else hasn't my mum told me? What other dark family secrets is she hiding behind her warm smile. I feel an anger creep up inside me. Boiling, bubbling over like a pot left unattended on the stove. Just as I'm about to explode at my mother, the ghostly figure of the boy steps out from behind my favourite climbing tree. He looks exactly like me, everything exactly the same. Its my reflection again.

'Hello Logan, I thought I would never get to meet you,' he says with a smile all too close to mine. 'Living your whole life without meeting your other half is a bit cruel, don't you think?'