Mystery Master

Uncertainty

3

   Maybe it wasn't surprising that I was late to class. My cousin dropped me off, but still as I ran through campus with the bagel hanging out of mouth, I scrambled desperately to make it to class. Making matters worse, my whole body ached with every step I took. The bite marks, and bruises from my Mystery Man's fingertips were hidden by my clothes, and the addition of a silk scarf I borrowed from my cousin. I was only two minutes late as I climbed the stairs to my seat. Professor Adler was running late. It was terrible, I couldn't stop thinking about the Mystery Man. But luckily, it did take my mind off of Dr. Ethan Adler. I could sit in his class and take notes without thinking about him. So when he finally arrived, I didn't stare at him like some love sick teenager. He became as all professors had been to me before, a mouth piece of knowledge and nothing more. I felt like I had accomplished some sort of victory as I took out my notebook and quickly penned a handful of notes. It was bliss, but the bliss ended as by the end of the week.

That Friday, I found myself drawing frantic correlations between my Mystery Man and Dr. Adler. The lips, the body, the voice, the hair; it was all the same to me. However, a question lingered in my mind that made me doubt if it was him. Did I see him that way because it was what I wanted, or was it because that was how it really was?

That weekend I went to another party, and he had me again. In many ways it was a repeat of before. We sequestered ourselves off in a room all by ourselves and made love like animals.

On Monday, needless to say my neck looked like I had been mauled by a rabid animal...and I was almost certain my Mystery Man wasn't much of a mystery at all. It had to have been Dr. Adler. There was no way it couldn't not be him. And then a bomb went off, destroying all of my cocky certainty. It wasn't literal, but it was life shattering enough that maybe an actual bomb would have been less devastating.

We were taking notes on the most appropriate of subjects, courtly love. We started discussing the Romance of the Rose when there was a knock at the door, and yet instead of the person waiting politely, they walked in.

That man who so rudely burst into the room looked exactly like Dr. Adler. There wasn't a difference between them that I could see other than his clothes. He wore a black leather jacket and held a motor cycle helmet in his hand. The eyes were the same, the lips the same, the hair cut the same. The only other difference I picked up on was that this new man looked like he had been crying.

"There's been an accident. Mum..." he trailed off and sniffed. "Mum's dead," he croaked out in a hoarse voice as he wrapped his arms around Dr. Adler who stiffened with the contact and seemed for all intents and purposes generally angered.

"We'll continue this discussion next time I guess," he nodded, slamming a book shut. "Sophie," I froze as he said my name. "Can you close up the computer for me? I'll be in my office." They left after and the room emptied out quickly, leaving me to sit and stare at the projector. This is a problem. There were two of them. Two. Why did he have to be a twin? I tugged at my hair as I threw a mini fit in the empty room.

After a few minutes of composing myself, I shut down the computer and taking the flash drive out of the port I started off for his office. Part of me was suddenly confused, there was a twin. Was it Dr. Adler or his twin who had been going to the parties? Dr. Adler had the kind of position that people expected from those who went, but I didn't exactly have a prestigious position and I had been there, not once but twice now.

I lingered in the door way a moment before knocking on the door.

"Come in," one of them called. I opened the door and found them both on the couch, red eyed. "Ah, Sophie. Thank you. Umm... where are my manners," Dr. Adler pursed his lips. "This is my twin brother Evan."