The Evil Twin

Chapter 1

It was another one of those bleak, gloomy nights.I was sitting on the side railings of an old bridge staring at the calmness of the river below.I wondered if the river too, like me, concealed a wild storm beneath all the calmness. The cold breeze flew swiftly across me as my body cramped up a bit in desperate need of warmth.I remembered how I was deprived of warmth throughout my life. When I was a two-year-old crying with other kids in the orphanage, when the orphanage owner had thrashed me up for not cleaning the floor properly, when I had finally managed to escape from the orphanage but had to sleep on the street, all I craved for was warmth. I lifted myself off the railing, rummaged through all my pockets and finally found a cigarette, my alternative for warmth, and decided to head back home.

Just a block away from my home, I saw a guy running straight towards me. The street light above was flickering so I couldn't see his face properly.Initially, I didn't think he was running towards me.But after throwing a quick glance over my shoulders, I realized the road was deserted, and so it was me his fiery eyes were looking at. I didn't know this guy, but clearly, he was furious.As he came closer and closer, I could see his face more clearly, and I was bewildered by what I saw. This guy looked exactly like me except that he was poorly thin and pale.He seemed like an ill, disgusted version of me.But before I could ask him who he was and whether he knew me, he crashed a punch right into my face, and then into my rib cage, and he kept on trouncing me.A few blows later, I fell down on my back.I was in severe pain. I tried to retaliate initially, but he was too rampant to control and also, after a few more strong blows, there wasn't much left in me to stand up to him. Lying on the ground, I saw the street light still flickering.It hadn't given up to the darkness. And so wasn't I going to give up.

 Once I was on the floor, he put his legs to work.He kept on kicking me, and when he was done, he crouched next to me and told me that this is what I deserve for doing what I did to him." But I don't even know you.Who the hell are you? ", I screamed back at him."Who the hell am I?Huh? Okay, maybe this will help you remember me", and he pulled out a gun.I panicked." Wh..what ..is.. th..Listen, I sw..swear I don't know you. Maybe you are mistaking me for someone else. Please leave me ", I pleaded with tears in my eyes."Yeah, sure," he laughed sardonically and loaded the gun as he aimed it at me.I tried getting up, but my legs had been brutally battered. I had to do something.I couldn't just stay there lying while some guy took my life away just like that. I tried getting up again. This annoyed him. He kicked me back to the ground first and then he used the heavy metal gun to pound on my head. This was it.I started losing consciousness.

 My eyes started closing and opening involuntarily.I was trying hard to keep them open.I managed to somehow see what happened next, but only in flashes. So all that I saw was .. he was about to press the trigger when a guy wearing a capote suddenly emerged from an adjacent lane and stopped him, but I couldn't identify him as he had his back turned towards me....The capote guy took off his hood which left my assailant dumbfounded.. my assailant then pointed the gun at the capote guy.. finally, my assailant threw his gun and fell to his knees, covered his face with his palms. He clearly was distressed. A few moments later, the capote guy disappeared swiftly into the darkness. The flickering of the street light had now intensified.And with it, my heart rate also started escalating as I saw darkness spreading in all possible directions.The flickering light finally stopped after a while, and the darkness now managed to spread everywhere, even inside my eyes as they succumbed finally to the darkness, making me unconscious.And when I searched for light, all I could see was- total darkness!