“The people…some of them aren’t real.”
I looked across the table at Kent, trying to keep my own face neutral as I studied his. He looked bad. Exhausted, but also kind of cracked out, like he used to get that last year of college, but a hundred times worse. Back then, the worst he would do is get hyper and maybe a little reckless. Now? He’d disappeared for two weeks and came back looking like a hobo junkie, all restless eyes and a nervous twitch in his upper lip. He met my gaze, his mouth shifting briefly like he smelled something bad. I wasn’t sure how to respond to his crazy talk, but it was clear I needed to say something, so I decided to go with the obvious.
“What the fuck are you talking about, man?”
He gave me a ghastly grin and then nodded as he absently swirled a fry through some ketchup. Kent looked like he hadn’t eaten much since he went missing, but he was still only picking at his food. Maybe he was just dehydrated though—he’d gone through three glasses of water since we’d come to the restaurant just a few minutes earlier.
“I…I started noticing it last month, yeah? One day I was on the bus I always take to and from work. I usually like the aisle seats, but that day it was pretty full, so I got stuck in a window seat next to this big fat guy that smelled like a philly cheesesteak, and not in a good way. So I just leaned close to the glass and tried to keep focused on looking out the window. Just staring really. So it took a few minutes for me to first see it. Or at least realize I was seeing it.”
I frowned at him. “Seeing what?”
Kent shook his head slowly. “I kept seeing the same dude. Like, we were going up Third Street, and the bus stopped at an intersection, and I saw this guy drinking a cup of coffee or whatever. He was draining the cup and then throwing it in the trashcan next to him. I don’t know why I focused on him in the first place. Maybe it was him leaning back to get the last of the coffee? Like he was really thirsty.
“I mean, he didn’t look special. He was dressed in a grey suit and had an overcoat on, but there’s a ton of corporate stuff on that street, so you see executive types all the time. Anyway, we left him behind when the light turned green, and I just kept staring out the window. A few minutes went by. The bus made it like five blocks and was coming up on the turn onto Brick Street. Suddenly something caught my eye. It was that same dude with the coffee, except this time he was sitting down at one of those outdoor cafes. We didn’t stop this time, but the bus was going really slow, so I still got like a good ten seconds to see him, and once I noticed him, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.” When he paused long enough for me to interject, I took advantage of it.
“Dude, that’s not a big deal. There are tons of people that look alike, especially when their dressed up and you’re seeing them from a distance. That’s all it was. A coincidence.”
Kent was already shaking his head. “No. I looked at him closely, and my eyes are good. It wasn’t someone that looked like him. It was the same guy.”
I shrugged. “Maybe he just caught up with you and sat down at the café then. You said you were moving slow.”
“Not that slow, and not slow during that whole five blocks. Just some of the time. He would have had to run in a suit and overcoat faster than the city bus for five blocks and manage to get sat down before we could pass.” Rubbing his face, he went on. “Still, I thought the same thing at first. Looking for a logical conclusion, right?” He let out a breath as he met my eyes again. “The thing was, this guy had food and a drink. He’d clearly been eating for a few minutes—likely since before I’d even passed the first guy.”
“Well, then it has to be different people, right?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Or at least not in the way you mean.”
I gave a smile I didn’t feel. This was looking more and more like Kent either had new mental issues or had gotten into some bad drugs. Either way, I didn’t know how much longer I was going to be comfortable with keeping my promise. He’d made me swear to not tell anyone where he was after he waylaid me outside my office, and at the time I’d just been happy to see him and have a chance to make sure he was okay. But he wasn’t okay, not if he believed this stuff. And why would he tell it to me if he didn’t?
“Okay, so what do you mean by that? You’re being very cryptic.”
Leaning forward, his voice trembled a little when he spoke next. “Once you see it, you can’t stop seeing it. It’s like noticing cars that are like yours after you first get it.” Kent swallowed and lowered his head to his hands. “I saw that same guy a third time as I got off at my stop. Now I knew something was going on. This was a good five miles from the café.
“I ran home and locked the door, convinced that this guy, or him and his twins, were after me. I didn’t understand any of it, but it terrified me. It took two days of peeping out the window before I would even go outside again. When I did, the coast seemed clear. No sign of that guy anywhere.”
I heard a bitter laugh from behind Kent’s hands. “But then I noticed the woman. I saw her walking into work that morning. Only noticed her because she was kinda hot for an older lady. Then when I went to lunch, I saw her again. Maybe she worked nearby or something. Again, no big deal, right?
“Except…I walked over the taco place and saw her standing outside looking at her phone. There was no way she could have beaten me there. It was a straight shot, and except for that bank building being in the way, I could have literally looked back and seen where I saw her two minutes earlier.” Looking up, Kent waved over the waitress and asked for more water before turning back to me. “I went on in the restaurant. Asked for a table where I could see out the front window. The woman was out there a couple of more minutes and then she got in a taxi and left without a backwards glance my way. I…I tried to let it go. Just eat lunch and not dwell on it, because I know how I am when I get fixated on something. By the time I headed back to work, I was still thinking about it, but I wasn’t so freaked out anymore.”
I nodded. “That’s good. You do better when you can redirect that focus. How are you doing with your medi…”
Kent slammed a hand down between us, making his plate jump slightly. “No! You’re not listening. Just listen and quit trying to…to talk me down from whatever roof you think I’m on, okay?” Frowning, I nodded, and after a moment he continued.
I left work late that afternoon, and there was no sign of the woman outside this time. I’d missed my usual bus, but after a few minutes I grabbed one that would take me fairly close to my regular stop. I couldn’t wait to be home. I was less freaked out than I’d been at lunch, but I could still feel myself close to the edge of…something. Whatever it was, I just wanted to back away slowly and get back to normal.
But then I saw the man again. Again he was draining his cup of coffee or whatever, identically to how he’d done it before when I’d seen him. Except he was down the street a little bit, so when he threw his cup away, it landed at the edge of the sidewalk instead of going into a trash can.
You need to hear and understand what I’m saying. He…he was doing the exact same things as the first time. But his location was…off or whatever. He tried to throw it away like before, but the trash can wasn’t there—it was still down the street where it’d been before. But he…he didn’t seem to know the difference.
It’s like a video game, right? You’ve got these non-player characters that are moving around, mimicking real people living real lives in this game world. But they aren’t real. They aren’t really thinking or living at all. It’s all just programmed routines they do based on certain triggers. And if the world glitches or their AI gets fucked up, they start doing things that are…off.
After I saw the guy again, I knew I had to do something. Either I’d stumbled onto something huge or I really was crazy, and the not knowing which was true was worse than any fear I had from the strange shit I was seeing. So I got off at the next bus stop and backtracked until I found the guy again. He was just down the street from where I’d seen him throw down the cup, walking along like he had nowhere in particular to be.
So I followed him.
“What the…you followed someone?” I lowered my voice as I leaned forward slightly. “You…you haven’t hurt anyone have you?”
He raised his eyebrows. “No…you’re not listening. You need to…”
I cut him off. “What I need to do is go piss. When I get back, let’s head to my car and keep talking about all of this. Okay?”
Kent just smiled and nodded. Looking away, I slid out of the booth and headed in the direction of the restroom sign. I did need to pee, but I also just needed a break to catch my breath and think through my options.
I could go ahead and call someone—probably Kent’s mom, as she was the most freaked out by him dropping off the map recently. I could try to shut down his crazy bullshit and make him understand that he was sick and needed help, but that ran the risk of him just leaving again. No, maybe I was better off just hearing him out. I might understand more if I did, and he might be more willing to listen to my opinion if I listened to the whole bizarre…
My phone buzzed in my pants and I let out a small yelp. Fuck, I was jumpy. I guess his story was getting to me more than I realized. Digging my phone out, I glanced at the name on the screen.
Kent
“What’s up? I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Alan?”
I felt my face drawing into a frown as I leaned against the bathroom wall. “Yeah?” His tone was weird. And he sounded different somehow, though I couldn’t quite place it.
“Did you just tell me you’d be out in a minute?”
“Um, yeah. I just need to take a quick piss. I told you that.”
“Alan, where are you?”
“The bathroom, jackass. Think I went to piss in the kitchen?”
His voice was louder and more agitated now. “No no, where are you. What place are you at?”
I felt the skin begin to prickle on my arms. “At the diner near my office. Roger’s Diner. I just left you like literally a minute ago, man. Look, are you actually confused or are you just fu…”
“You need to get out of there. Right now.” The fear in Kent’s voice killed any idea that he was playing a joke.
“Ooookay. Are you waiting out front or what?”
“Alan, I’m not there. I’m not even in the city right now. Whoever…or whatever is there with you, it’s not me.”
“Dude, this isn’t funny. I’m going to come out and we’re going to have a serious talk about what needs to happen next, okay?” I could already hear him saying something else, but I ended the call and left the bathroom.
The table we’d been sitting at was empty now, and I didn’t see any sign of Kent through the windows lining the wall. Shit, I hoped I hadn’t lost him again. Grabbing the ticket, I carried it up to the register where a young woman took it and began hitting buttons. I kept looking around for some sign of Kent while she rang me up, and I was so distracted it took me a moment to register she was even talking to me.
“Sorry, what was that?”
The girl blushed slightly and giggled. “I said ‘So was it a staring contest or true love?’”
Blinking, I frowned at her. “I don’t understand.”
She grinned as she gestured back to the table we’d been sitting at. “Me and the cook have a bet why ya’ll were doing like that for so long. He says you’re just in young love. Me? I think it was a staring contest.” Her blush deepened slightly. “Told him I think you like girls instead.”
I stared at her blankly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
It was her turn to frown. “Not making fun or nothing. Just…well, we both saw how y’all were sitting there quiet, just staring at each other for the longest time, not saying a word.”
I felt my heart begin to hammer in my chest even as my throat seemed to constrict down to a hole the size of a pin. “No…no we didn’t.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah you did. Aside from ordering food and your friend asking for more drinks every few minutes, neither of y’all talked for the last half hour. Just looked at each other.” The girl handed me my change with an apologetic look. “I wasn’t trying to be nosy or nothing. It was just weird is all.”
I stuffed the money into my pocket woodenly as I turned to go, but then I stopped and looked back at her. “Did you see where that other guy went?” In a deeper part of my mind, I realized I was now asking so I could avoid him rather than find him, but I ignored that detail for the moment. For now, the fear growing fat in my belly was more pressing than anything else.
She shrugged. “Sorry. I saw you get up and head to the back, but when I looked over to the table the next time, he was just gone.”
Nodding, I headed outside, looking carefully in every direction before heading to my car. There was no sign of Kent anywhere, and I told myself I was being silly, but I still couldn’t resist jogging to my car and locking the door as soon as I got in. There was a flash of panic as I realized I hadn’t checked the back seat, but when I looked back, it was empty. The relief I felt was palpable, and it made what I was about to do even harder.
Pulling out my phone, I called Kent back.
The first couple of tries I didn’t get anything other than his full mailbox. It wasn’t until I was on the freeway that I heard his panicked voice on the far end of the line.
“Alan? Are you okay? The fucking service here goes in and out. I’ve been trying to get through since we got cut off.”
“I’m fine. But why did you leave? What’s all this about?”
A brief pause and then in a calmer voice, Kent replied. “Alan, I know this sounds like a joke or something to you. Or you think I’m crazy…crazier. But I wasn’t with you today. I haven’t seen you in weeks.”
I felt anger bubbling in my chest, fed by my growing fear and uncertainty. “Bullshit. We just ate lunch and talked. Then I go to the bathroom, you call me and then you fucking ghost. Why are you doing this?”
“What did I say?”
“What?”
“When we talked just now, what did we talk about?”
“Look, man. This is getting really fucking…”
“Please, just humor me. I’m not messing with you.”
Sighing, I glanced up at where I was headed. I’d starting going home without even thinking about it. I considered turning around and heading back to work, but I didn’t see the point. I needed to deal with this Kent thing now if possible, both for his safety and my peace of mind. “Okay, you were telling me about seeing a man, the same man, over and over. But like in ways that it was impossible for it to be the same man. Then the same thing happened with a woman. Then again with the first guy, but now…”
“Now he was missing the trashcan?”
I grimaced. “Oh, so you are just fucking with me. Great.”
“No, Alan! No. I know that stuff you just said because it happened to me. All of it. But I haven’t told anyone about it. And I swear to God, I didn’t talk to you today except on the phone a few minutes ago and now.”
Ignoring the clenching pain in my stomach, I got over in the exit lane. “Okay. Fine. So what’s going on? None of this makes sense and your family’s freaking out and…”
“You haven’t told my family about this have you?”
“It just happened! Plus, you asked me not to.”
“Alan, that wasn’t…”
“Yeah, your fucking NPC or whatever. But you’re going to meet me and talk, okay? And by the end of it, you’re either going to convince me or I’m going to convince you. Either that or I’ll hang up and call your mom or sister right now.”
“No! No, I don’t want them involved in…whatever this is. I’ll meet you. Tomorrow afternoon? At your house?”
“Why not today?”
Another pause and then. “Because I’m two hours away and I need time to check things out here and there before I meet. I’ve taken to being real careful whenever I go out. It’s not just me noticing them. They’ve noticed me too. See you then, buddy.”
I went to say more, but he’d already hung up. I turned into my driveway and parked, sitting in my car for a moment as I went back over my lunch at the diner. That had been Kent, right? It had to be. And that girl…she was just lying for some reason. We talked plenty the whole time we were there. Didn’t we?
I got out and headed for the door, the chill in my stomach working its way up my spine. Kent had issues, sure, but he’d never been a joker or a liar, and he’d never been delusional either. And he’d sounded really upset on the phone…though if he was crazy, maybe he really would be upset.
Feeling a sense of something coming up behind me, I whirled around, pulse suddenly pounding. There was nothing there, of course. Just more of me being scared of nothing, jumping at shadows cast by my poor, sick friend.
Turning back, I stepped inside and the door closed behind me.
“Everything it told you…it’s just like I’d have said it. That’s what happened.” Kent was keyed up now, his hands splayed wide as he punctuated his words. This was more like the Kent I knew—high-strung, but not strung-out. Looking tired, but not like a homeless drug addict. And yet he was still swearing he hadn’t met me the day before. Deciding to just go with it for the time being, I asked him if he’d really followed the coffee man.
His eyes went wide. “Oh yeah. I followed him. He went into an old office over on Harris Street and didn’t come back out for like three hours. And in that time? Another two of him had gone in too.”
I sucked in a breath. “So you’re saying you literally saw three of the same person go into the same building? And you were watching it the whole time?”
Kent nodded as he drank some from the glass of water I’d offered when he arrived. “Yep and yep.”
“Maybe they were leaving out the back and circling around?”
He smirked. “A good theory, except that the other two came just a few minutes after the first one and arrived at almost the exact same time. I saw one go in less than a minute after the other.” When he saw I had no further argument for the time being, he went on. “That was just the start. I gave up on work or seeing other people. I needed to figure this out, one way or the other, as the way I looked at it, whether it was real or I was just crazy, I didn’t want to risk putting someone else in harm’s way. So I spent the next few days driving around looking for more of…whatever they are.”
“At the diner you called them NPCs. Like in a game.” Puffing out a breath, I corrected myself. “Or not you, but the other you. The thing that looks like you.” When he still looked irritated, I tried changing the subject. “Do you think there’s more than one of you?”
Kent shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not by now.” He leaned forward, and his face grew paler as he went on. “I’ve been in that building now. Just a couple of days after I saw the men go in. They…I almost got caught a couple of times, but they have trouble noticing things while they’re still apart.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Apart?”
“Yeah. They don’t stay in multiples forever I don’t think, or at least some of them don’t. It’s like they go out, learn about the world some or whatever it is their doing, and then they come together. Melt together into one version.” He wiped at his mouth with a shaking hand. “I saw it happen once. It was so awful. It didn’t even make sense looking at it. But when it was done, that one version acted more normal. I followed it for a day after that, and it didn’t have any weird lapses the way the others ones do.” Kent gave me a weak smile. “I would have continued following it for longer, but that night, as it was leaving a supermarket, it turned and stared at me from across the parking lot. Just stared at me and smiled.”
Kent’s lips thinned to a line. “That’s when I left town. I thought I was a bit safer after that, but then on Saturday one of them came in the motel room where I was staying. I didn’t wake up at first, just when it climbed on the bed with me. I felt it, or I heard the springs squeak.” He shook his head. “Either way, I’d taken to sleeping with a knife. I stabbed it twice and rolled off the bed. It came after me, though it was moving slow. I got to my feet and kept stabbing it until it stopped moving at all.
“It wasn’t until I was done…um, it wasn’t until I was done that I realized there was no blood. It was just…black leaves. Most of them dried up and crumbling, though a few were softer and wet with some yellow snot or whatever. I turned on the light to get a better look, but by the time I turned back, it was all drying up and puffing away.” He rubbed his eyes. “Like it had never been there at all.”
I stood up and went into the kitchen to refill our glasses, trying to sound casual. “So…are you sure that’s what happened?” I gave a soft laugh. “No chance you killed a real guy and just think it was one of these things, right?” I could hear the tension in his voice when he answered.
“I honestly wish I had. I know that sounds terrible, and I wouldn’t want to hurt anybody, but at least it would mean I was crazy and none of this is real. But…it is. You seeing my NPC proves it. It has my memories. My personality. Either they’re getting better at mimicking real people or…I don’t know. I don’t know if those other NPCs were real people they copied or ones they made up.”
I handed him back his glass as I drank from my own. “But…look, I’m not trying to say you’re crazy or wrong. But why would they go about it like this? If this is…what? Aliens? Monsters? Devil robots? Whatever it is, why would they let multiple versions of the same person out at once? Particularly when they act all fucked up and weird?”
Kent nodded. “I wondered that too, at least at first. But watching them for a few days, I think I figured it out. They do it because they can. People don’t notice. They don’t see the doubles or the odd behavior. I don’t know how or why no one sees it, or why I do. Maybe it’s because of my bad wiring. Or because they’re trying to copy me too.” He gave a hollow laugh. “I do feel like I’m weirdly connected to them now. Like yesterday. The only reason I called you when you were at the diner was because I had this sudden, really strong feeling of having just talked to you. I tried to brush it off, but when I couldn’t, I worried it meant you were in danger.” He sat down his glass. “Turns out I was right.”
“But why? Why are they doing this?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. To replace us? Infiltrate us? Who knows.” Kent stared off for a moment, his expression bleak. “I can tell you that I’ve never seen them talk to each other. No visible signs of communication at all.” Shaking his head, he looked up at me. “Maybe they’re controlled by something else. Puppets. Hell, maybe they don’t even know they aren’t the real thing.”
I nodded. “Yeah , it’s hard to say for sure, but I think I can show you something that will shed a little light on it.”
Kent raised his eyebrows. “Really? What is it?”
I gave him a smile I didn’t feel. “It’s not something I can easily explain. Better than you see it. It’s in the guest room.” I started to head down the hall, but stopped when I saw how slow he was to follow. “Come on. Let me show you. It’s really something.”
His face unreadable, he nodded and rose, walking behind me until we reached the closed door. I gestured for him open it, but he hesitated, looking at me.
“You go ahead.”
Sniffing softly, I reached forward and turned the knob, pushing the door open wide. I could hear a sharp intake of breath behind me as Kent saw what was in the room. Lines and ribbons of dried, torn meat that had once been a man. Blood turned to powder and a face that…but for the shrunken sockets and the peeled back lips, would have looked just like mine.
I felt the knife go into my side, but I was ready for it. Grabbing Kent’s wrist, I twisted hard as I felt a hard pop beneath my fingers. He cried out in pain even as he began to punch me with his free arm. Another twist and he sank to the ground with a squeal of pain that caused me to wince. Crouching down next to him, I grabbed his throat tightly, trying to be as gentle as the situation allowed.
“We know we’re not them. And yet we don’t know. It’s like being in a dream that you know is a dream but you don’t like the knowing, so you make yourself forget when you can.” I stroked the side of his head as he glared at me with a mixture of hatred and fear. He could still breathe, but just barely, and the fight was out of him now. “We don’t hate you. Not at all. We love you very much.” I felt my vision blur a bit and blinked my eyes clear. Reaching down, I pulled out the knife. When I raised my hand, a pair of withered black leaves were stuck there from the wound. “But this thing that drives us, that makes us…it doesn’t care about you at all. It’s very smart and selfish. And it won’t stop growing.”
I could feel Kent’s fear continuing to build. I was only making it worse. Terrorizing him further and dragging out the inevitable. Sobbing a little, I squeezed tightly and felt his spine give way. A moment more of pain and horror in his eyes, and then he was at peace. Cradling his body, I cried softly for some time before I drank in what his remains had to offer.
I know there’s another Kent out there. A Kent like I’m an Alan. I understand the logic that, despite the strangeness of it all, in time I’ll come to fill Alan’s life completely, and that part of that will be by accepting this other version of my best friend Kent. And all will continue until all is done.
I’ll burn these dried up husks of old Alan and Kent after nightfall. It won’t take long, and then there will be no proof of these others, these originals. Perhaps then it will be even easier to stay in the dream that I am this man, pretending that I was given this life rather than having taken it from another.
Or maybe I can hold onto some of this pain, this guilt. Maybe I don’t have to fade into a dreaming phantom only existing to serve the thing I come from. If I can only hold onto this desperately fading sense of loss and love and shame, maybe I can become something more.
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