She checked her pockets, but… Oh no! She’d left her phone on the kitchen island. All her contacts.
She didn’t remember any numbers by heart22. Who could? Were there still payphones these days? Whom should she call even if she found one?
“Don’t scream,” came the same cold voice from the call, but… behind her. She stopped in disbelief23.
“Keep walking.” A slight shove on her back.
She complied24. A decision triggered25 by her survival mechanism26 rather than her brain. “Who are you?” she asked quietly.
“In a minute,” the stranger said. “Turn right here.” Another nudge to her back.
They stepped into a quiet alley where most of the benches were occupied with elderly people and mothers rocking their baby strollers27.
“Here’s good,” the stranger said when they reached an empty bench. “Sit down.” “May I turn around?” she asked, sitting down.
“If you want,” the stranger said. She did.
Perhaps, it was not a good comparison, but what Lizzy saw shocked her almost as much as the death of her boyfriend.
She was looking at herself. Well, she was looking at a young woman who looked exactly like her, as if they were identical twins in different outfits. The same mouth shape, the same celestial nose28. Her straight hair was shorter than Lizzy’s shoulder length curls. The stranger was wearing a plain dark blue hoodie, a pair of black jeans, and, what looked like, Dr. Martens black leather boots.
“Yes, I know,” the stranger said. “It took quite some time for me to wrap my head around this29too!”
“Are you…?” she began.
“You?” the stranger finished. “Yes. I’m you.” “From the future?” Lizzy asked in bewilderment30. “Not really,” the woman said. “I’m your copy.” “My copy?”
“Yes. Some of us have copies, but they never tell us that,” Lizzy’s copy said as if it was common knowledge31.
“Who are they?”
“They.” The other woman shrugged32. “The ones who want to control us. And now they are trying to erase33 us for some reason.”
What?!
“I haven’t done anything illegal. What is happening?” Lizzy asked in a wavering voice. “Listen, we don’t have much time, so let’s get the hell out of here first and then we can properly catch up34,” Lizzy’s copy said, looking around. “But I don’t understand…” she started.
“No talk. Let’s go,” the other she said quickly and stood up.
The stranger extended35 her hand, another cracking sound somewhere in a distance, and… the copy’s head exploded36 like a watermelon.
Two dead people in one morning might seem like nothing on the global scale of things but seeing your boyfriend and your copy, whatever that meant, getting shot in front of you could make anyone go insane37.
Is that what it was?
Was Lizzy going crazy and was seeing things that weren’t there? Nope. The moms in the alley were all screaming, and the grandmas were trying to run away. There was definitely a shooting just now.
The cracking sound. Was she the next target?
The twin woman had said that they were trying to erase them. Another click. Lizzy’s brain started to work again.
It took her a couple of minutes to get into the endless stream38 of people hurrying to their work. She stopped by the curb39 to catch her breath when a car tire screeched40 next to her, and the passenger door opened.
“Get in, quick,” the driver yelled.
What next?
Will it ever end?
Why does this voice sound so familiar?
“Come on, Lizzy. We don’t have much time!” He sounded agitated41. He knew her name!
Lizzy gaped42 at him. It was him. Her Mark. But how could that be?
“I know,” he said without taking his eyes off the road. “It took me awhile to understand this, but I’m not who you think I am.”
It dawned on her43. “You’re his copy.” He nodded.
She got into the car.
She couldn’t stop looking at him. This man looked exactly like Mark, the boyfriend who was supposed to propose Lizzy soon. They both had round faces and blue eyes. Only his hair was combed in a different way, to the right side, and he wasn’t wearing pajamas, but a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. The man’s skin was tanned as if he had spent a lot of time under the sun. Mark was not a big of fan of sunbathing and preferred to stay inside. Also, the stranger was wearing a rather chunky44 diver’s watch with a steel bracelet on his right hand, unlike her boyfriend who wore his dress watch on a leather strap on the left hand. She remembered that because she had given him that watch as a birthday present. It was only a few days ago. It was expensive and it had taken her a while to choose it in the department store that was near her office.
“He was trying to make you leave the apartment this morning. To save you,” he said. “He just needed a bit more time.”
What?! How does he know about what happened at my home?
“We found him first and told him everything,” he said. “He thought we were from the future,” he added with a sad smile.
He kept quiet for a while. Only the sound of the accelerating45 engine filled the air.
Lizzy felt that the numbness which her body had gone into to protect her from the shock of losing Mark and watching the assassination of the woman who was supposed to be her copy was slowly melting away and the intense mix of emotions