The Other Me: The Story of Addison Membrane
Aura's Notes: Sooo, I've been writing random murder stories for my friends to figure out at school (I swear, I'm not a dark person!) and I've become kinda good at it. I've also become a huge fan of Detective Conan, for all of you awesome people who know what that awesome anime is and it's all about murders and problem solving. Addy was a previous character of mine and so he needs a spin-off because he's just that super sexy awesome: so here's a dark, twisted, back story for you all! If you enjoy my Music de la Paranormal, I think you'll enjoy this or vise virsa. Also, I may change the story's name since I can't think of a good one right now that fits it perfectly, but if it is changed, I'll be sure to tell you.
So, without further ado, here's the first ever chapter of my new psych thriller The Other Me: The Story of Addison Membrane!~
- Chapter 1 -
The Meeting
Even at home, at school, around town, he was running. He was running from his fate, his pains, and his lies. His lies were eating away at him, deceiving him, scaring him. And his fears… had just begun…
"We were all born original… Sadly… many of us die a copy." –Unknown
Prologue
Slash, slash. The sound of killing was music to his ears to all the people who've done him wrong; to all the people who've torn his heart in half. He couldn't be caught! No one would listen to him – no one could listen to him! He was like a ghost in everyone's eyes: nonexistent! He was just a fake, a clone, a copy! No one could ever truly love him; everyone he's met has rejected him and left him in the dust, alone and helpless. He's been fighting his whole life for acceptance, but it was all just fruitless attempts! He might as well get revenge while he has a body to do it with. His heart had literally been ripped out of him; his soul had been taken before he had time to use it. After all, he will die soon.
I mean, how would you react if you knew your expiration date… ever since you were born?
Dib was a sophomore by now at a normal high school in his "normal" town. You know how in horror movies that the plot actually begins (especially with the paranormal) at the beginning of home ownership or at the start or end of one's life or even after a certain trigger event? This is not the case. The middle of the school year had just begun when this story takes place. This tragedy came out of the blue, out of nowhere; no trigger, no curse, no warning.
The over achiever, as many people called him, was in 7th period Spanish 2, preparing to end his Spanish essay project, of which he did alone, of course. He stood at the front of the room, his six foot height intimidating to his classmates. He was without his hair scythe now with gelled up spiky black hair replacing, claiming it was "too out of style". Coming upon his last sentence, Dib cleared his throat.
"Usted ve la historia detrás de la flor del amor es simple, de verdad. Para el amor… un plan." (You see, the history behind the flower of love is simple, really. For love… a plan.)
"¡Muy bueno, Dib! (Very good, Dib!)" the teacher exclaimed. She was a bubbly young woman with blonde hair always pulled back in a loose ponytail. Her hobby was exercising, so she only wore spandex under armor and tight button-up shirts. The boys at school didn't mind the odd combination; she was already asked out to prom several times. "¡Por favor, tome una pegentina! (Please, take a sticker!)" Profe. Sinclair handed Dib the sticker sheet. Stickers were used for extra credit in this class, like in his previous Spanish 1 year.
His classmates stared at him in awe, not only for his long, but carefully written assignment, but for his credits; Dib has at least forty stickers while the rest of his class combined only has half that amount. Also, Dib was, simply put, the man. He was like the jock, the hottie, the loved one. Now, now, this can't possibly be the same nerdy paranormal addict we all grew up with as a child, but people change. High school gave him a chance to redeem himself from his horrid mishaps and embarrassments in grade school.
Giving a final and prestigious bow, Dib returned to his desk at the far back of the room, by the windows of the 3rd floor. His friend, William MacArthur, another sophomore, nudged him in the side and winked. It was like "Good job!" in jock language because saying it would be too nice. Rule 1: Inflicting damage to a friend is used as a compliment.
The bell rang throughout the halls and blasted into the rooms. Students threw up their papers and binders in glee for Friday: the weekend a safe haven for sleeping in, watching movies, and sleeping in. Dib smirked and bro-fisted William, or as everyone calls Will.
"Yo, Membrane! What are you doing this weekend?" Will questioned, walking beside Dib out into the crowded halls.
Dib turned around and began walking backwards, aware that no one would have the guts to walk into him; he was boss. "Not much, I have a weekend planned with my main girl Maddie!"
"Sounds fun, bro! Sarah and I are going down to her parent's lake cottage on Lake Eerie or something. I don't know; all I know is that I can't listen to her while all I can think about is kissing those ruby red lips!"
Dib delivered a high five into his friend's already outstretched hand. "Halleluiah!" After another quick exchange, the two went their separate ways, Dib's of which calls for bumping into a girl at her locker. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Dib whipped around in order to apologize directly, but found he was confronted with an old friend of his. "Maddie! Are we still on for this weekend?"
"What are you talking about?" she seethed through her braced teeth. "I don't recall making plans with you."
He smiled casually and leaned against the locker next to hers. "Oh come on! It's the weekend! Aren't friends supposed to kick back and chill for the weekend? We are friends, are we not?"
"Dib, I'm your only friend." Maddie sighed, taking out a book from her locker and slipping it into her plaid backpack. "I mean, I'm the first friend you really ever made, so don't push it with me."
"What did I do now?" Dib snapped back defensively. "What's wrong?"
Maddie angrily slammed her fist against her locker and jabbed her finger into his chest because she wasn't tall enough to reach his head. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me is that the second you walked through those school doors on the first day of freshman year you've been an entirely different person! You've thrown yourself into a bowl of frikken lies to be popular and left me behind like the dirt you roll around in, you low-life dickwad!"
Dib winced and backed away, wide-eyed. He bit his lip, looking down at his only true friend that's been with him since the start, and that start, that start is Jr. High where he was bullied unconditionally. She was the new girl who took a liking to him and took him home to wrap him up and put ice on his head. She was the one that stood up for him every day and one day, back in 8th grade, he promised to make it up to her some way or another. And now… now she's glaring at him in disgrace and disgust.
Yeah, Dib's really fucked up his life from time to time. But in all, he does to cover up the hurt of his home life. No, he wasn't abused or abandoned, nothing bad, honestly. His dad never paid much mind to him and is so uncaring as to simply be eating dinner with Dib and his sister, Gaz, for the first in years to say inconspicuously that Dib was merely a clone of the Professor himself. That stung. Or maybe it was when he never showed support for Dib's successes. Not even a mere "Good job" on a graded paper. Yeah, that sucks after awhile. What about using him as a test subject from time to time? That may be pushing it. Then, having the excuse be: "But you're the future of mankind! Your biological engineering is superb! Your extra chromosomes, your adaptability, your DNA design is all just beautiful!"
In his daze, Maddie was already halfway down the hall, her backpack slung over her slender shoulders. Her short dark brown hair bounced with each step away from her anger – her anger being Dib of course – and her short but sturdy height speed walking to get away. In the sudden realization, Dib rushed after her, holding back his foul tongue until he knew it was his time to speak.
"I know you're there," Maddie hissed.
Dib tried to put a smile on, but it was as awkward looking as ever. "I still don't know how you do that. I mean, I didn't make a sound!"
She stopped in her tracks and stared down at the ground. "Of course, the best of warriors can feel their enemies." Suddenly, her fist was inches away from a right hook into Dib's stomach. Maddie was fast to make up for her size and although she's never taken martial arts or self defense classes, she could very well handle herself if in trouble.
"Look, I'm sorry about the past two years," Dib trailed off, his eyes drifting everywhere and anywhere but at Maddie. "I know I've been a dick-!"
"A dick? Try bastard," she seethed, crossing her arms. Maddie never cussed, but when you cross her line… well, they say good luck trying to get out.
Dib was dumbfounded by her behavior, though he knew his actions weren't much better. "I just wanted to say that you're absolutely right; I have been a really bad person to you, to say the least. I know it won't fix things automatically, but I'd love it if you come over tonight and watch some movies with me. It's not like my dad wouldn't say no. Come on… what do you say?"
The girl hesitated, her breaths long and deep. The wait causing an unnerving tension around Dib, the air so thick it was pins and needles to him. Finally, Maddie opened her mouth as in to speak, but no words came out. Instead, she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled Dib along towards the stairwell.
"I get to choose the movies this time."
"Now, I bet you're all wondering about Dib's alien fiend, his foe, his enemy. ZIM will play a factor soon enough. He's part of the show; the key; the masterpiece! He's a pawn to a murderer's knight; a minor chore; a victim. He was left behind, so in all, he's fair game. No one said this game was a fair one, though; quite the opposite really." The boy laughed. "I was never one fond of rules."
The two were in Dib's living room relaxing on the couch and watching X-Files. Dib only felt safe watching or talking about anything dealing with the paranormal with a select few; one of which was Maddie. This was the episode "Eve", one of Dib's favorites, really. In the episode, there were two seemingly normal girls who lived on opposite sides of the US, whose fathers were supposedly killed by aliens. Also to add is that the girls look exactly alike and are the same age. As the story goes on, it shows that the girls are part of an elaborate experiment to generate living clones called Adam for the boys and Eve for the girls. The girls go homicidal on Moulder and Scully, like they did to their fathers. The clones were, as most people would say, "harder, better, faster, stronger" than most humans. They were evil and out for blood. This, oddly enough, would soon unravel to become Dib's life.
He gulped and looked over at Maddie. They were best friends, and best friends can tell each other everything, right? As such, Dib recalls perfectly when Maddie told him of her first period. There was something he needed to tell her; a fact that bothered him wherever he went.
"Maddie," Dib said flatly. "Would you still be my friend if I told you… that I was a clone?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever," she replied.
"No, seriously; I'm my dad's clone! You know, like biologically-created-in-a-test-tube cloned!"
Maddie's eyes grew wide and she turned to him, fear stricken. "A-a clone…?"
Dib frowned. "Ever wondered where my mom was?"
The two just stared in silence. Dib tapped his long fingers nervously on his lap. After a few long and grueling minutes, Dib finally spoke once more. "I…"
"Sure."
Dib perked his head up, dumbfounded. "What'd you say?"
"I said 'Sure.'" Maddie yawned. "It doesn't matter to me much. It's not like I'm gonna run away in fear; I should've done that years ago."
Dib assumed that what she said was a good thing. The two returned their attention back to the movie and quickly removed the awkwardness between them.
Later that night, after Maddie had went home, he was confronted by his dad while in the kitchen easting his favorite strawberry-banana yogurt. The two just exchanged one fast glance and continued on with their night. However, Dib noticed that his dad seemed noticeably jittery. Could it have been an experiment gone wrong? Bad news from the lab quarters on the other side of town? Messed up formulas and chemicals? His dad wasn't the type to mess up, especially when it comes to science. If there was a problem in the lab downstairs, it would be a first to Dib. He didn't want to ask his father, but curiosity drove him to it.
"Anything wrong, dad?" Dib hissed on the last word. He was just that man's creation; he didn't deserve to be called dad.
"Nothing, son," Prof. Membrane answered, as if forced to. "It's the rainy weather."
Dib refused to speak to him again for he knew that he already lied in this conversation once. He knew something was wrong, but his dad was afraid to admit it, which was just his stubborn personality shining through.
It was late, anyways, and Dib just wanted to go to bed after the long day he had. He lugged upstairs and collapsed on his bed, mumbling inaudible words into it. Soon after, he changed into different clothes and turned off the lights. Slipping into bed, Dib removed his glasses and set them on the bed stand next to him. It was quite a day, really, and Dib was both mentally and physically exhausted.
It was around midnight and pouring down rain. There was a lack of cars and buses running with a lack of late shift workers walking around with their umbrellas in this peaceful town. This night was just like the night 10 years ago, where he was left to rot out on the streets. He was thrown out on his own with no moral values or knowledge of life. He had to defend for himself… since he was 6! You may ask, "What happened in his first 6 years?" Well, don't expect him to answer – he doesn't even know himself! It's hard to answer a question like that when you're born 6.
He was running, sweat dripping down his face. His heart was pounding so hard it was about to burst out of his chest. It was pouring down rain, causing slippery puddles to cause him to fall and get caught. That was just the least of his worries. Getting caught wasn't an answer; it can't happen because if it did, it meant death.
Dib bolted upright in bed, broken out in sweat, gasping for breath. He reached over and turned on the light, sighing in relief. "It… was only just a dream…"
"Not exactly," a voice responded. The voice was much like his own, but a little less deep.
Dib stared wide-eyed at a boy standing at the end of his bed, looking over him. He looked just like Dib, save a few attributes: he had white haired strands hanging over his face, but still had spiky raven hair just like Dib; he was crisp and clean despite just coming out from the rain; and his eyes were a blood red.
"Who are you!" Dib shouted angrily. "How'd you get in here!"
"Why ask for answers that you already know?" the look-alike asked mockingly, smirking. "Isn't it obvious? I'm you."
Dib bolted up out of bed, sweat beading down his face and his heart racing. He quickly turned on the light, but no one was in his room; there was no sign of life or creepy look-alikes. Dib breathed a sigh of relief.
"God… both of them… were just dreams… I…" He was too shaken up to finish his sentence. The sound of the rain was never so calming yet frightening in his life. The dream didn't make any sense at all; Dib didn't have a twin brother, just a younger sister named Gaz. His dad wouldn't have hidden something so big from him. Could it just be a stress dream? A stress dream created from hiding his life from the rest of the world?
Dib stood up and stumbled into the bathroom across the upstairs hall and washed his face, the cool water offering some comfort. His breaths were long and deep, trying to ease his nervous mind. Why now? Why tonight? All he wanted was a nice night of sleep and peace. He kept convincing himself this was just a once in a life-time thing and that he needs his sleep.
He returned back to his room and tried laying fast to sleep, tossing and turning. Eventually, his eyes slowly shut themselves and he drifted back into sleep.
That morning, he woke up normally, trying to forget all that happened the night before. He went downstairs, turned on the TV, made himself some toast, and began eating at the coffee table. The local news was on and was talking about stock prices and the economy; basically, all things that bore Dib to death. He wasn't one for politics and took a sudden interest in medicine. Oddly enough, the paranormal investigator career thing never pleased him ever since he entered high school, and that was the believable.
All of a sudden, the reporters began talking about breaking news of a slaughter that occurred in downtown. Two members of the gang White House were found dead in an alley by stab wounds. Many speculated that it was just a mere gang fight, but there was one eye witness that said otherwise. The eyewitness was a member of another gang who was simply chilling on an outside metal staircase of an apartment building when the fight broke out.
And the murderer he described sounded just like Dib.
Aurthor's Notes: Yes, no, maybe? All stories can begin dry, so don't blame me. If you've read my other stories, you know if they begin like this, they get sexier right away. So, I'm hoping that you all enjoyed it and that you check back when I get the next chapter out.
Please Review! I'd love to know what you people think! {Thanks for Reading!}