CHAPTER 2 - DOPPLEGANGERS AND DQA
The hallways were empty, seeing as though every student was either at lunch or in class. I followed the guy for a long while. Finally, he led me out to the stands by the football field. He sat down and I assumed he wanted me to do the same. It was then that I got my first look at him.
I have to admit... he was hot, with a capital H. He appeared to be about my age and had brown hair - a bit shaggy - that hung from his head, stopping about an inch from his shoulders. His eyes were bright blue - like, seriously blue - and he had a worried look on his face.
"What's going on?" I asked, looking directly at the stranger. "Who are you?"
He smiled, but didn't really look happy. "Zane. Zane Taylor. And I'm here because I need your help."
Okay, first off, nothing good ever comes of "I need your help". It's always the same. The person agrees, then goes off on some wild-goose-chase, doing who-knows-what for a stranger.
"M-my help?" I said, taken back. "Why would you need my help? I don't even know you."
"No, you don't. But - uh - I know you. Well, sort of. I know Carter."
I tried not to look like a lost child, but obviously I'm no actor. I had no clue what was going on, and I think Zane caught onto that. "Who's Carter?" I asked, more confused than I had ever been in my life. "You mentioned her back at the table. Who is it?"
Zane gave me a look that only meant one thing. Duh! I think he expected me to know who this Carter person was, but truth be told, I had no idea if Carter was even a boy or a girl, much less who it was.
"Carter," he repeated. "Carter Cambridge."
I continued to stare.
"You - you don't know anything?"
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Noone says I don't know anything and gets away with it. Especually some strange guy. "I don't know anything? I don't know anything?" I repeated louder. "I know lots of stuff, thank you very much."
"I mean about your Doppleganger," he clarified.
Now, if I thought I was confused before, I was wrong. Doppleganger? What the heck was that? "I'm sorry?"
Zane hung his head. "Oi, this is worse than I thought. You don't even know - I stumble across the one origional in the world who doesn't know what a Doppleganger is. This is just perfect."
"Sorry," I said, wondering what he was talking about.
"Well," he said, looking at me. "I supose I should explain things a bit. Can be confusing."
"You're telling me."
He smiled. "Alright then, let's get to it, shall we? A Doppleganger is a duplicate of a person. Sometimes, they look like real people, mine does and so does yours, and other times, they look like ghosts or spirits of some kind. A Doppleganger can only be seen by an origional."
"What's that?"
"Well," he laughed, "that's us. You and me, we're origionals. What it means is that we have Dopplegangers. Get it?"
"I think so," I said with a furrowed brow.
"Good, so what that means is that only an origional - like us - can see Dopplegangers. I can see yours, mine, and anyone else's. As can you. However, that other girl you were with - uh -"
"Beth," i told him. "Beth Kane, my best friend."
"Right, well, she's not an origional, and therefore, can't see our Dopplegangers."
That made sense. No wonder my Mom had always thought I was imagining things! She wasn't an origional, and therefore couldn't see my Doppleganger. Neither could Beth, or anyone else I'd mentioned it to for that matter. So, I wasn't going crazy, or seeing things, or imagining things. I was seeing my Doppleganger, not imagining her.
"So," I began, wondering where to start. "This Carter - she's my Doppleganger then?"
"Yeah," he said. "Looks just like you too, except -"
"She's a bit eccentric?" I guessed.
He narrowed his eyes. "Then you have seen her?"
"Of course," I mused. "My Mother thought I was going crazy, and I was starting to believe her. She sent me to Dr. Cave - he's a therapist designed to help troubled kids."
"Your Mom thought you were seeing things? Imagining Carter?"
"Yup."
I could tell he was thinking hard; his brow was furrowed and his mouth line was thin.
"What's Yours named?"
He glanced up at me. "My Doppleganger? Mason Bryce. Actually, that's kind of why I'm here. Mason and Carter, they're good friends. Actually, they're partners."
"Partners? For what?"
He hesitated a moment, but apparently he thought I should know. "DQA: Doppleganger Quest Administration. See, Dopplegangers are just like us. Other than the fact that they can only be seen by origionals, they are, for all intents and perposes, real. They have feelings, they can get hurt, they lead real lives. Mason and Carter are apart of DQA. Basically, they're a super secret branch of the military.
"Connor O'Bryan, the head of America's Military Defenses, is an origional. So, he and his Doppleganger developed DQA. What this does, is it allows Dopplegangers to lead quests. Since they can't be seen by anyone other than origionals, it's much safer than sending regular people. Some, like Mason and Carter, get very important - very secretive - quests."
Wow, so they were like real people. I had to admit it was cool. "So, then what's this got to do with me? Other than the fact that Carter knows Mason. Why do you need my help?"
"Three weeks ago, they were sent on a very secret quest. I can't get O'Bryan to tell me anything about it. All I know, is that it was top-secret. Noone there even knows that they've been sent on a quest. The point is... Three weeks ago, they left. They were keeping contact regularly, I'm told, until last week."
"What happened?"
He shook his head. "Noone knows. They lost all contact, and haven't seen a thing since last week. It's like they disappeared off the face of the earth."
I wasn't sure what to think. "They didn't - they didn't die, did they?"
Again, he shook his head. "No, they can't. I mean - their life force is connected to their origional. Once their origional dies, they become normal people. They're no longer Dopplegangers, see? Then, they live their life, until they die too."
"So, then what's happened to them?"
"I'm not sure, but it can't be anything good. That's why they need us. You and I are the origionals. Origionals are known to have strong conections with their Dopplegangers. If anyone can find them, we can."
