I never knew Chris all that well. He was a work friend at best. But I knew where he lived, and that was all the information that I needed.
I went over to his place and knocked. No response at first. Didn’t really know what I was expecting, in all honesty. But I stayed put in my pursuit for answers, continuously pounding on his door. I mean, wasn’t it kind of peculiar that he conveniently quit on the night that the break-in took place?
I must’ve stood outside his door for about 20 minutes. Logic would dictate that he simply wasn’t home, and I was beginning to believe that. Until I heard a noise on the other side. Sounded like somebody accidentally knocking over a pair of shoes. This motherfucker was silently staring at me through the peephole.
“Chris, open the damn door.” I said, in a borderline threatening tone. Still no explicit response. He wasn’t doing a great job of concealing the fact that he clearly knew something about what had happened. And then he slipped a piece of paper under my door. In messily scribbled writing, this is what it read:
”Can’t tell you anything. He’ll know.”
Okay. I thought to myself. That doesn't sound good. I tried knocking for a few more minutes before his neighbors started poking their heads out. I decided to leave before somebody called the cops on me, but I was not planning on dropping this.
I ran the facts through my head as I walked back home. He’ll know. I didn’t want to admit it, but those words greatly concerned me. Who the hell is he?
I stewed on these thoughts as I made my way up to my apartment. But when I got there, I realized that I may have fucked up big-time.
My lock was busted and my door was half-open. Call me a pussy, but I dialed 911 immediately. The cops came over in a reasonable amount of time and began the investigation. All in all, the only thing that was taken were 50 bucks cash that I kept in my drawer. That’s what they put on the official report, after all.
But that wasn't all to the story. There was something else that was missing. The device. In retrospect, the fact that I took it in the first place was a dumbass move on my part. No shit it was going to have some kind of tracking system in it. I didn’t even know what the hell it was.
This posed a conundrum for me, of course. It was presumably the mystery man that had broken in. He knows where I live. He also tried murdering somebody who looked just like me. Safe to say, I was probably in danger.
The cops said that they would station a vehicle outside my apartment complex in order to keep an eye on me for the night. I wasn’t really sure how effective that was going to be, but it couldn’t hurt, I suppose. But I still didn't sleep. That night, there was a knock on my door at around 2AM. I nearly shit my pants, but then I heard “Police! Open up!” Coming from the hall.
I looked through the peephole and it was indeed the two cops that had been assigned to wait outside my building.
One of them chuckled when I opened the door. “How the hell’d you do it?” He said to me.
“How’d I do what?” I asked in confusion. He simply scoffed and then abruptly cuffed me. Although tired as hell, I still relentlessly questioned them about what the fuck they actually thought I did. It was only until I’d waited for half an hour in an interrogation room when a detective came in and gave me the answer.
Apparently, I’d entered the building that I worked in, knocked the new night guard unconscious, and broken into one of the upper-floor rooms. They also showed me the proof. Security footage of exactly what they’d described happening.
A person in a stereotypical burglar outfit waltzed in just as the new guard was locking the door for the night. They got into a fight. The mystery man won, but not before the guard managed to rip his ski mask off. The split-seconds that displayed his exposed face yielded all the evidence that they could ever need. It was me. Again? The footage then tracked him all the way up to the 6th floor, where he entered a room. Guess which one that was. He was also carrying a bag with him the whole time, and it really wasn’t a mystery regarding what was in it either. The last recorded footage caught him running out of a fire exit.
I couldn’t even begin to attempt to answer the detective’s questions. I know I didn’t do it. Well… you know what I mean. I just kept trying to analyze what kind of situation this put me in.
If the mystery man that I’d first seen was also me… then that means there had been at least two copies of me out there. And they were trying to kill each other. Then the situation with Chris made more sense. Maybe one of my copies had threatened him. The answer has to be in that device.
“Hello?” The detective barked at me. “You listening to me, Mr. Case?”
No. I wasn’t.
He sighed. “Look, we’re just trying to figure things out. What was the plan here?”
I reciprocated a sigh. “I don’t fucking know.”
That entire conversation understandably produced zero conclusions. The detective stepped out and left me alone with my thoughts once again. But no matter how I framed this situation, it was always inexplicable. Beyond my comprehension.
I sat in shocked silence for about 15 more minutes before the rabbit hole was dug deeper. I started hearing commotion out in the hallway. And then gunshots. The detective suddenly rushed back into the room, looking confused as hell once he saw me.
“How the fuck…” Is all that he managed to get out.
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
He just shook his head, before coming over and pulling me up, all while I was still in cuffs. “We gotta get you out of here.” He started directing me towards a back exit while some kind of hell was going in the background. At this point, gunshots were going off left and right. We were just about out the door when I saw a bullet go through his skull. I made it out just before him, so I didn’t suffer the same fate. But I saw who had done it.
It was my copy, staring blankly at me and standing at the other end of the hall. He fired off a few more shots at me, but they were stopped by the door. Fueled by perplexed adrenaline, I simply started running. I wasn’t really sure where I was going, so I just ducked into a nearby forested area. Once there, I hid myself in some bushes. I stayed there until sunrise, and luckily, my copy never found me.
I heard police sirens all night. There was bound to be a lot of explaining to do if they ever caught me. However, I’m sure they’ll be just as confused as I am once they view the security tapes inside the police station.
Once I convinced myself that the coast was clear, I got up and tried figuring out where I was. It was an excruciating process trying not to be seen by anybody (given that I still had handcuffs on), but I eventually managed to find my way. I went to somebody who I knew could help me out in this situation. My friend Jack.
Now, Jack was a drug dealer, and before you judge me for being friends with a drug dealer, let me preface it by saying that he only sold weed and cocaine. And he’s never killed anybody before. (I’m pretty sure of that). It was about a three hour walk from the city to his farmhouse, but I eventually made it, finally getting the damn cuffs off in the process.
He asked questions, of course. Questions that I could not answer. Right after shoveling some food down my throat and smoking a joint to calm me down, I went on the internet and looked for any news coverage about the incident. I can’t estimate how many cops were killed, but it seemed like there were a lot, so this should’ve been a big story.
But… there was nothing. At first, I found a few detailing some vague incident near the location of the police station, but after a few refreshes, they’d disappeared. Somebody was trying to hide this. I can’t speculate what’s really going on here, but maybe they know something that I don’t. It’s probably better for me that my face isn’t plastered across every TV screen in every local diner, but this also begs even more questions. I’ll try and explain the situation to Jack later. Maybe he’ll believe me. Maybe he’ll think I’m a fucking loon.
But as for right now... I don't see a ton of options. My copy's probably searching for me right now.
---
Credits
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