Doppelganger Chapter 1
I stood at the corner of the street with my hands resting in my pockets. Even though the sun was high in the sky, the wind sent a quick shiver up my spine. I wore my usual white hoodie and dark pants, knowing all too well that I needed to keep my appearance as unrecognizable as possible. I learned that the hard way...
'The poor person didn't even know it was coming.' I sighed in remembrance.
The ends of my hair were tossed around by the wind, moving any which way like a puppet being controlled by its puppeteer. My bangs covered my eyes, casting a shadow as I lowered my head.
'I...I wish I could just live a normal life. Like all these people walking around me.'
My eyes shifted around watching the people continue with their average day. Men and women were walking through the downtown area; some were window shopping, others speeding to work and trying to avoid running into someone as they hurried along. A group of children ran across the crosswalk once the light turned green; they obviously wanted to reach the toy store according to their shouts of joy about some new toy they wanted. As they neared me, their running slowed and eventually stopped when they stood in front of me. I turned my head over to them, and they flinched, breaking their stares at me. Their faces became pale and they averted their gazes when they recognized my face from the rumors they heard. They hastily ran off towards their previous destination, eager to get away from me. My head fell, and my gaze turned towards the sidewalk in front of me.
'The usual...'I closed my eyes.
I bit my lip in frustration but shortly afterwards heard a noise and felt something touch my shoulder. A single digit tapped on my shoulder, surprising me.
'Could it be...HIM? In public?'
I turned around towards the person trying to get my attention. It wasn't who I thought it would be. Instead of HIM it was a girl around my age. She had brown hair that fell just passed her shoulders and sea blue eyes that shone brightly in the light. I stared at her in shock. She, in turn, retracted her finger from my shoulder and held her hand in her other in front of her chest. She smiled at me.
'It looks like a genuine smile, so what does this girl want? Does she know me?' I thought to myself furrowing my brow.
"Hello there." She waved her hand with a simple swipe. "Sorry to bug you, but could you possibly help me?" She asked continuing to smile.
After staring at her silently for a few, I shook my head yes, and she perked up. I watched her as she turned her bag around, still holding it on her shoulder as she started digging through it.
"So... What do you need MY help for?" I asked as I emphasized my, trying to shake her to realization.
"Well," She said still fumbling in her bag and not catching on to my hinting. "I just arrived here you see, and it seems that I have become hopelessly lost. Ah ha!" She announced happily as she held up her find: a folded sheet of paper. "So, I was wondering if you could possibly help me get back on track." She finished closing her eyes as she smiled. She unfolded the paper revealing a map.
'Ah. So that's why she is talking to me. She's new here, so of course she wouldn't know about me.' I thought to myself.
"So mister! Where exactly am I?" She chuckled nervously, awaiting my response.
'Well I guess she just wants directions, that can't hurt anything, right? No, it can and will! But it's just a simple conversation... Yes, it's simple, but simple enough to set HIM off! Remember the last person that spoke to you? Yeah, but this girl seems so normal and innocent... You know that doesn't matter, and anyway that innocence will get her killed!'
As I had an internal battle in my mind, the girl tilted her head in confusion and interest.
"Hey. Are you all right? Hey! Duuuude!" She said raising her voice the more she didn't get a response from me.
She began to wave her hand in front of my face, and I snapped out of my trance. I blinked and stared at her while she looked back worried.
"Are you ok?" She asked lowering her head to look at my face and raising a brow.
"Y-yeah... Sorry about that. You said you needed directions?" I asked her as I grabbed on to her map, trying to change the subject. 'You moron! What are you doing?!'
Ignoring my superego, I held the map out in front of my face and found where our current location was. She came around behind me, standing on her tiptoes so she could catch a glance at the map while I gave her directions.
"We are here." I said as I pointed to a spot on the map.
She turned her head in thought, her hair shifting in the breeze. Some fluttered in my face and lightly grazed my cheek.
'So soft... Wait, what am I thinking?' I thought trying to mentally set myself straight.
"Hmm. Well I need to get to First St." She said reaching her hand towards the map. "Do you know where that is? I'm pretty sure it has to be somewhere in this general area." She said as her open hand circled above the entire map.
'Well that narrows down the options.' I thought sweat dropping. 'But, she smells really good... What are you thinking again?! Stop! Focus.'
"Well there is a First St. with a bunch of apartment complexes in that area..." I offered shifting my eyes towards her. "But it's really shifty there-"
Then I realized just how close she was to me.
'Uhhh. She is so close!'
My face was inches away from her cheek; I could easily have hit her if she was any closer to me, or even worse… kissed her. I began blushing from the intimacy but she didn't seem to notice as she was still focusing on the map. I turned my face quickly when she finally looked my way in realization.
"Yeah. That's the place!" She grinned at me happily and pointed her finger at me, moving it up and down as if she was poking the air and trying to figure things. "Now, just how to get there..." Her voice trailed off as she turned her attention back to the map, she wrapped her pointer finger and thumb around her chin as she thought.
"I-it's around a mile away from here." I stammered out.
"Really?" She seemed happy. "Yes! That means I wasn't completely off track!" She clutched her fist in joy. "I'm awesome!"
I chuckled at her bubbly attitude and gave her a small smile.
'Heh heh. She's weird, but still kinda cute... Er- what?' My face shifted from smiling to confusion. 'What am I thinking today?'
"Thanks for helping me. But could I ask you a favor?" She said smiling shyly and looking to the side.
"Huh? What?" I questioned.
She chuckled and tapped her lips meekly. "Could you possibly, um, show me how to get there?" She finished.
I stared at her dumbfounded. "Do you mean like, entourage you there?"
"Haha, yeah. I kinda don't understand this map; in fact I nearly ripped it apart in frustration before I met you." She said rubbing the back of her head and chuckling.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I just stared at her in surprise. Did this girl really want me to help her and go as far as to be seen in public with her?
'There must be an apocalypse on its way. Of course there has to be one! Why else would SHE actually want to be seen with YOU?' I pondered as I began to argue with myself again. 'Well she doesn't know about us... er, me. Now I'm speaking of myself as two people! They're bound to lock me up if I don't fix this…' I face palmed in annoyance with myself.
Once again my trance was broken by her shaking me out of it, literally. She held on to my shoulders and began to violently shake me. When I came back to reality she ceased.
"Yo. Do you always space out like this?" She asked, her lips were pursed and started to poke my cheek.
"Not usually." I said turning my face away from her finger, she then stopped.
"So then, can you help me? Please?" She begged folding her hands together as if she were praying.
"I-I don't think I should." I was interrupted by her.
"Awww! But if it's only a mile away then it shouldn't be toooo much of a big deal!" She continued trying to persuade me. "Please! You're a nice guy, and I don't wanna get lost and end up starving to death in some alleyway, leaving my body to rot and decay for the rats. That just wouldn't be fun." Closing her eyes, she shook her head in disapproval.
I raised my eyebrow and looked at her confused.
'She really over-exaggerated that… What an imagination.' I sweat dropped.
She continued to look at me intently. It felt like her eyes were looking into my soul and soon enough found its weak point. I bent forward a little and sighed in defeat.
"I suppose..." I said quietly as my arms fell to their sides.
Her face lit up in happiness. "Yay! Omigosh! Thank you so much!" She jumped up and down in excitement, waving her hands in the air.
'Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt anything to just walk with her, right?" I reasoned with myself.
"Hey, here is your map." I folded up her map and held it out in front of her.
She stopped obnoxiously jumping and turned her head towards me. She spun around; her hands were clasped together in front of her face.
"Oh yeah. Silly me, I can't forget this!" She laughed slightly, taking the map back.
Her hand brushed against mine as she took the map from me, it sent chills of excitement up my arm from her warm contact.
'So soft...Stop. No! Bad!' I scolded myself again. 'Why am I always fighting with myself? I need to check this out and get tested for MPD...'
"Um, do you mind if we go right now?" She asked and walked in front of me.
"Uh yeah. Let's go." I said smiling meekly and walking forward, she followed behind cheerily.
"Heigh ho, heigh ho. It's time to head to my new home which is actually an apartment but I still consider it a home we go." She sang happily as she parodied the song.
I smiled back at her; she was looking around the street area at all the filthy scenery. Run down houses with rust and chipped paint were all to be seen and with the smell of rotten, weeks old food to top it all off; however, she seemed to be interested and even excited about it. I looked ahead again, not wanting her to see me looking at her.
"Robin." She said simply.
"Huh?" I asked confused and looked back at her.
"My name is Robin." She said holding her hand flat to her chest as she introduced herself.
"Oh uh Sean." I told her looking from her to our surroundings.
"Sean..." She repeated quietly to herself smiling.
We continued to walk silently until...
"Hey, by the way Sean, what were you doing before I met you?" Robin questioned. "It looked like you were just standing on the corner. Were you waiting for someone?"
I looked back at her and said, "I wasn't really doing anything. I was just observing people."
She turned her head in interest and said, "You mean like people watching?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I find it interesting to observe people and how they act, it can be very amusing." I explained to her.
'Well that's not completely off I suppose...' I thought to myself.
"Hmm! That's cool. Maybe I should start people watching too." Robin said beginning to look around for any people she could watch.
I chuckled to myself and returned watching the pavement ahead of me. The rest of the trip was short and quiet, only a few minutes. We arrived at the apartments, and I started looked around.
'Everything seemed to turn out fine. Surprisingly , no issues… Yet.'
"Thanks so much for helping me Sean." She said smiling in appreciation.
"That's fine." I said nodding.
I turned my attention to the surrounding area.
'Hmm. I've hardly been in this area of town. You've hardly been to any part of town. Yeah, I know...'
Robin was staring at me, mostly my eyes as they surveyed the area.
"Hey Sean. Can I ask you something?" Robin questioned, and she crossed her arms.
I looked back at her; she looked serious.
"Um yes. What is it?" I said looking at her, she skewed her head and leaned in close to me.
"What are you looking for?"
I froze in shock.
"What-?" I tried to steady my voice.
"It's just that the whole time we were walking you were looking around everywhere. You hardly said anything too. Is something wrong?" She tilted her head with a worried look of expression on her face.
"Oh. Well you don't need to worry about that. I am always looking around. It's kind of a habit." I scratched my face with my finger in embarrassment. 'While that's not total bull, but I feel kind of bad for not telling her the truth...Why should you? She doesn't need to get involved with this. Yes, but there is something about her...'
Robin looked at my face worried. I noticed this time and switched to a smile.
"Hey. It's all right. Don't feel bad, I am always told that I look around too much. I am just extra curious I guess." I tried to reassure her.
Her face lit up and she stood up straight, her arms were still behind her back.
"Well it was nice to meet you Robin, but if that's all then I have to go." I said raising my hand and waving it at her as I walked away.
"Heheh. Same. Will we meet again?" She asked as she ran up the steps to the main entrance of the apartments, her hand resting on the door handle.
"Maybe, we'll see." I said, "If nothing happens within that time span..." I mumbled.
Robin tilted her head in confusion. She watched me as I looked to the side in thought.
"Uh huh!" She nodded her head shrugging it off. "Well then, I'll maybe see ya around Sean!" She winked and opened the door to the office, disappearing inside.
I watched her until she was out of sight. I slid my hands into my hoodie's pockets and walked off.
'Well she was a nice girl. Kind of strange, but nice.' I thought to myself. 'I hope I get to see her again.'
I smiled at my last thought and felt my face heat up a little. Gasping quietly, I held a hand to my cheeks as I felt my warm skin. I convinced myself otherwise that it was just from the cool air of the setting sun and not a blush. Walking off into the city, I thought about everything that just transpired and trying to push back my worried nerves of what the future might bring.