doppelgänger

andy

^dennis (an old picture of andy)

"So do I have to adopt him?"

"Well, he's your child," Athina answered, smiling. The lines around her mouth moved out and slightly upward, indicating a smile. Andy didn't see a smile on that blank, boring face.

"He's not my kid! I'm telling you --"

Andy stopped when he saw a kid across the room, facing away from him and instead, an older female employee who was... harassing him.

Andy was about to get up when the woman directed him toward Andy by shoving his head forward, but he stayed sitting as the woman stepped away when the kid demanded, "hands off!"

She gave him one last shove towards Andy, and the kid looked around at him, brushing his side-swept, black hair out of his face, only causing the bangs to fall back into his one eye. Andy could've sworn his heart almost stopped beating when he met eyes with the boy. He was a carbon copy, a mirror image of the teenage version of Andy.

His icy blue eyes matched Andy's exactly. He was dressed in all black, a t-shirt, jeans and untied Converse. Even the laces of the shoes were black.

He had two snake bite lip piercings, just like the ones Andy had as a teenager. Every feature, facial and physical, was almost exactly the same as Andy's. His ears were a little smaller and his nose was the slightest but longer, but that was it.

Andy thought he was dreaming.

It seemed the kid was thinking the same thing as they stared at each other, Andy's mouth hanging open in shock.

"This is Dennis. He's fifteen years old."

Dennis continued to stare at Andy, but Andy was unable to read his expression. He looked angry and emotionless on the outside, but Andy knew he wasn't really. Andy had been there too.

When Andy and Dennis were finally able to tear their matching sets of eyes away from each other's, Andy sighed and stood, looking at Athina at the desk. "Alright. I'll pay now."

The computer was so old, and the place itself was so old they didn't even have a machine to slide Andy's credit card through, so Athina had to type it in number by number. When it was finally put in and all parts of the information Andy gave Athina went through, Nike led them to the front door, handing Andy one single cardboard packaged box.

"What's this?" Andy asked, inspecting the box, half beat-up by who knew what. It was fairly light. It didn't seem as though there was much in it.

"His belongings. Just some personal items. His toothbrush, comb, iPod and earbuds... oh, and some eyeliner and eyeshadow you left behind," Nike said, handing Dennis a short, black eyeliner pencil and two cheap, plastic eyeshadow pots that looked like they were from the drugstore, and the contents had almost been emptied out.

Dennis snatched the makeup away from her and shoved it in the pocket of his skinny jeans, giving Nike a dirty look from under his side-swept bangs in the process.

"Thanks," Andy said for him.

"Oh, make sure you keep him isolated in your home for the first few days. He has social anxiety and can sometimes act... different around new people."

"Got it."

Nike paused for a minute, thinking. "Well, um..."

"Bye," Andy finished. He gave her a small smile and took one last glance at her.

Closing the door behind him and running down the rickety, wooden stairs, he stopped in his tracks and looked behind him from the bottom.

"Coming?" he asked Dennis.

Dennis looked at him and followed hesitantly.

It was all so much for Andy to understand and process, but he took it as well as he could and just hoped for the best. He would figure it all out eventually.