The Doppelgänger: A Psychological Thriller Page 25

  I eagerly replied to her message. She was my mirror image in a parallel universe.

  The next morning, I received another message.

  We should meet.

  It was from the other Darcy. She was intrigued. I saw her photo. She looked just like me. Her eyes, her lips, her nose, the scar at her back and the protruding teeth. Dead ringer.

  We had the same e-mail address. We lived in the same house. We had the same memories. We had the same nightmares. And we had the same dreams.

  But there was one little difference. Darcy Godfrey’s mother was alive. And then, a thought crossed my mind. I remembered the day I was released from prison. I remembered the emptiness that filled my life. All I needed was a second chance- a second chance to set my life straight. Darcy’s calling was my second chance.

  My heart pumped ferociously. Blood drained to my body. My eyes gazed at Darcy’s message. I wanted to meet her. I wanted to meet my mother. I deserved another chance. This time, it would be different. I would never let her go.

  Her existence filled me with hope. I failed to protect my mother. I killed an innocent man. But Darcy was different. At thirty, she was estranged from her mother. Dr. Cleo was alive in her world. She had committed none of the sins that I had. Darcy didn’t have any blood on her hands. A protective urge spread over my chest. My mother’s image swam in my mind. She wasn’t a distant memory anymore. She could be my reality.

  Darcy had nightmares so vivid that she couldn’t distinguish between her visions and reality. Dr. Cleo was trying to find her. The things she remembered made her fearful. Every blog post I wrote made her nervous. She thought Dr. Cleo would find her. Like the old me, she was delusional. She didn’t know her mother was alive. That meant I could find her before she did. I could become Darcy again, a Darcy whose existence was not stained by mistakes.

  The question as, how?

  I turned on the television and the answer stared at me.

  The dimension crawler.

  The dimension crawler was being inaugurated at McCormick Place that Sunday. There were images of the large dimension crawler. It was almost as large as a room. Colorful buttons were embedded on it. Light pulsated through the buttons in uneven intervals. The public was allowed to come watch the inauguration. There were a limited number of free tickets for visitors. I immediately logged onto the computer and began booking the tickets. Luckily, I got one before they sold out.

  I prepared all week. I prepared clothes, money and took my diary along.

  That Sunday, I visited the large complex that housed the dimension crawler with my huge bag. A crowd of excited tourists chattered excitedly. Security guards moved randomly through the convention center, keeping an eye on the visitors. The dimension crawler sat in the center of the convention enter. The first time I looked at it, it took my breath away. It was huge and more magnificent than it appeared in the news. I couldn’t tear my eyes from it.

  A scientist in a white coat walked past me. My eyes turned to the three men who sat in the control panel, waiting to demonstrate the features of the dimension crawler. I pushed through the crowd, trying to get into the front row. A thin plastic strap separated me and the dimension crawler.

  “Good morning,” an amplified voice called out through the microphone. “We’ll now begin the demonstration of the...”

  The scientist pressed a button, revealing a white surface that was covered with doors. The doors. Children clapped and adults watched in awe.

  “In the near future, you will be able to travel to different dimensions. The location of the dimension needs to be programmed into the crawler. For example, let’s try…”

  I called out the name of the dimension where Darcy lived.

  “Ummm…ok…let’s try that one,” He said. “Please stay away from the yellow line while we operate the crawler.”

  The crowd backed off. Anticipation intensified my heartbeat. The scientist pressed a button. One of the doors on the dimension crawler opened. A ball of light swelled up inside the door. I jumped over the plastic tapes that stood between me and the door. A shriek erupted from the crowd as I crossed the yellow line and ran toward the ball of light.

  The security guards turned to the main display. They ran toward me, trying to hold me down. I ran and jumped into the ball of blinding light. Everything disappeared. The light embraced me.

  I could only think of one thing. Darcy’s image was fresh in my mind. The light transformed to darkness. I closed my eyes.

  Chapter 26

  Darcy’s sleepy eyes clouded with fear. The tape was over. Silence filled the car. It was late night. She was still in the car. The scenery became clear. She couldn’t speak. The road was dark and winding. Darcy’s eyes looked at the rapidly changing scenery. Her hands were tied. Her mouth was covered.

  “What-what does this mean?” she asked, hesitant to hear the reply.

  Her eyes immediately darted to the steering wheel. Moonlight and shadows became a person. The transient street lights revealed her face. Darcy’s eyes remained fixed on her face. Her doppelgänger.

  Darcy tried to say something but the piece of cloth that covered her mouth absorbed the sound. The doppelgänger turned. Her penetrating brown eyes fell on Darcy. Shadows passed over her face. The car moved a few more meters through the never-ending concrete road. They were on a national highway. There were few cars on the highway at that hour of the night. The doppelgänger made a sharp turn.

  “Who are you?” Darcy asked. The woman didn’t turn. Reflections of street lights fell on her face. Darcy’s eyeballs didn’t budge.

  “Where are we going?” Darcy persisted. In the distance, she saw a sign that read ‘Skokie’. A chill travelled through Darcy’s body. Her hands moved to the steering wheel. The doppelgänger shot her a chilling glare. Her honey eyes were intense with hatred. Darcy’s hands pulled away. Darcy continued to stare at D, unable to break the magnetic gaze that drew her in. She was real. Flesh and bone. The proximity made Darcy realize how close she was to death. A choked whisper escaped her mouth. The doppelgänger slapped her hand away. Darcy felt electricity where the doppelgänger’s hands brushed hers.

  “Who-who are you?” Darcy asked, sinking against the leather seat of the car.

  “Darcy Godfrey.” The words were clear and terrifying.

  “You-you couldn’t be,” Darcy pushed the words out of her mouth. “I’m Darcy.”

  The doppelgänger shot her a momentary glance. Her honey eyes sucked Darcy in.

  “Why are you here? What do you want to do to me?”

  “You-” she left the sentence unfinished. Uneasiness churned in Darcy’s belly.

  A few moments of silence passed. Darcy turned to the doppelgänger. The doppelgänger turned her face. Her eyes looked into Darcy’s.

  “Let me tell you a story,” D began. She turned away and focused on the long road ahead. “Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Darcy Godfrey.”

  Darcy suppressed a grunt. “I’ve heard that story.”

  “Then, you know why both of us can’t live together.”

  “You’re lying. There’s no reality in that story. My mother…I’m not you. What happened to you didn’t happen to me.” Even as she denied it, Darcy knew she was wrong.

  “I’m sitting before you. Right here, right now. That’s all the proof you need.”

  “Why did you kill those people? Why did you kill your own mother?” Darcy asked.

  “I- I,” she paused. Darcy saw conflicted emotion flicker in her eyes. Was she feeling guilty now? Darcy cleared her throat. “I’m just as crazy as you. I can’t see them. I can only see shadows, hear voices and…my emotions blur everything.”

  Darcy wanted to say something, but she remained silent. It was exactly what she felt. As much as she denied it, she and D were bound together by an inv
isible thread. However, it was time to break that thread now.

  “But I didn’t do those things,” Darcy said. “I didn’t kill those people. I didn’t become the person you did.”

  The doppelgänger looked at her. For a moment Darcy saw sympathy flicker in her eyes. Before she could decipher what she had seen, D spoke.

  “The red barn,” the doppelgänger said, turning to the road. “What do you think happened there?”

  Darcy was silent.

  “You know you’re a murderer too. You killed those men just like I did. That’s why nobody talks about it. No matter how many times you ask, they won’t tell you. They can’t. But you can see it in their eyes. That’s why they look at you that way.”

  “No!” Darcy screamed. The images passed in her mind, making her more desperate.

  “What do you think will happen when Detective Jones finds out?”

  “It’s you, not me that he suspects.” Darcy said.

  “He doesn’t know I exist. Do you think he’s going to believe your story?”

  “You appeared on the CCTV at Dr. Williams’ apartment building.”

  “But you were the one that was inside.”

  “How do you know? We look the same.”

  “There’s proof of you being there but you don’t remember anything,” The doppelgänger said.

  “I wasn’t there.” Darcy said.

  “We both know your memory isn’t reliable.”

  “I know everything now.”

  “No. You don’t,” the doppelgänger muttered.

  “What’re you going to do now?” Darcy asked, staring at the dark road ahead of them.

  “If he finds either of us, we’re in trouble,” D said. “Do you know what that means?”

  Darcy’s eyes enlarged, but she was quiet.

  “Is that why you….”

  The doppelgänger’s eyes softened.

  “Let me tell you another story,” Darcy didn’t believe what she was hearing. She couldn’t die- not when she was so close to the truth. She strained her eyes and looked at her phone which was in her pocket. She strained her hands, but they didn’t reach the pocket. “Long ago, there lived a girl called Darcy,” D said.

  “Which Darcy?” Darcy asked, her gaze steadfast.

  “All stories begin like that,” D said, her arms firmly planted on the steering wheel. “But they don’t end in happily ever afters.”

  Darcy backed off. It was a warning. She made an effort to breathe. D continued her monologue.

  “When I came here, I didn’t want to go back. It was like a fairytale. Nobody knew me. I could be anybody I wanted. It was like a dream. I didn’t have any skeletons in the cupboard. I was free,” D continued. “Then, I saw you. You were the problem.”

  Harsh lines formed around her nose and jaw. The car took a sharp turn. The force disoriented Darcy. The seatbelt rubbed into the skin between her breasts.

  “It’s not the same anymore. My mother loves you, not me,” she said, brushing away a ghost of a tear. “People think I’m a criminal. I don’t belong here.”

  Darcy made muffled noises. She had only a few minutes to go. She had to tell somebody. She had to call Detective Jones and tell him about this crazy woman. She was innocent. She wanted the whole world to know. D’s eyes remained on the road. She brushed her tears away.

  “You don’t know what I’ve been through. It took a lot to get here. It took a lot to get here and see her again. I got a second chance, and it was surreal. But now, it’s gone.” D said, a deep sense of despair underlying her words. Darcy didn’t understand the sudden shift in mood. D’s emotions were genuine but her words made no sense. Her head cast a circular shadow on her hands. The moon moved an inch in the sky. The car didn’t stop. Darcy let out a choked question.

  “I didn’t stop her. I didn’t talk to her. I was silent. I let her suffer,” she said. “I killed her.”

  Darcy’s exhaled with an inhuman force. The silence rang in her ears. She couldn’t believe what she had heard. The doppelgänger had killed her mother. She confessed.

  “When I got your message asking to meet me, I felt alive. It was like I got a second chance to live,” D said. “I searched for her. I made a mistake once but I wouldn’t make it again.”

  Darcy’s heartbeat grew louder. Darcy’s breaths became shallow. She couldn’t tear her gaze from the doppelgänger. Her steel seatbelt buckle shone in the moonlight.

  “I envied you. You had a mother. You had a peaceful life. You never made the mistakes I did. Your mother was still alive. You never went to jail,” she said. “You had the chance I never got. That’s why you need to die. You need to die so I can live again.”

  Darcy struggled in her seat. The tight seatbelt restricted her movement. She squirmed like a worm, trying to break the rope that constricted her hands. The car made another turn. The number of cards outside the window dwindled. Darcy’s paranoia grew. The scenery blurred as death inched closer. The car was rapidly headed to a cliff. As D sped up, Darcy struggled to control her emotions from taking over.

  “How does it feel to be here?” she asked, turning to face Darcy. Darcy saw the hopelessness in her hazel eyes which were mirrored in her own. She didn’t answer. The car drove through rocky terrain. The slope of the road grew steeper. The angle of the road elevated her tension. They were going to die. Together. This couldn’t be happening. After all that she had done, this couldn’t happen. She finally knew the truth.

  “I killed Dr. Cleo and your mother,” D confirmed. Darcy’s eyes stared at her in disbelief. Fear vibrated in the core of her body. Her eyes lost the ability to blink. The burden of the truth crashed on her skull. “Dr. Cleo tried to make me forget her. He wanted me to forget what happened fifteen years ago. But, I couldn’t. He left me with memories much worse than the ones he wanted to erase. I wanted to inflict the pain he inflicted on me. I lived a miserable life because of that.”

  Darcy’s eyes slid to the car door. She needed to get out. This woman was mad. D’s fingers clutched the steering wheel tighter. Darcy’s breaths died. The hatred on her face transformed to tears. Her watery eyes navigated the roads.

  “I killed my mother by accident,” she said. A teardrop traced its way along her cheek. She wiped it with the sleeve of her sweater. “I wanted to be with her forever. That was all I ever wanted. I just wanted to live. But, she left me. She abandoned me. She sent me to that vicious man and forced me to forget her. I couldn’t do it.”

  Another tear fell to her sweater.

  “Every time I went to meet her, she rejected me. I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t you,” she said. “She was frightened. I asked her why she left me. She looked at me, disdainfully and turned away.”

  D turned the steering wheel.

  “I felt…disgust…hatred…and…I- it happened before I could realize that I was doing,” D’s eyes closed and opened within three seconds. “When I opened my eyes, she crumbled to the floor, dead. I saw the blood. I didn’t have the courage to shriek. I killed her. Again.”

  Darcy listened to the disturbing account. The woman was delusional. She was a psychopath. Darcy shivered – D was a cold-blooded, delusional psychopath.

  “That’s why you need to die,” she said. “If you didn’t exist, she’d still be alive.”

  Darcy signaled her to remove the tape. She looked away.

  “You want to know how I came here?” she asked. She let out a sharp laughter. “I came here to replace you.”

  Darcy’s suspicions were confirmed. The startling revelation troubled her.

  “I wrote the blog. I wanted to expose you to the world. Darcy Godfrey is crazy. That’s what they said to me. That’s what they’ll say to you.” she said, her speech harsh and venomous.

  D’s eyes were filled with revenge. The lig
hts ahead cast a dull glow on her brown eyes.

  “But you took the posts down,” she said. “I began writing about the past. You don’t remember it. I didn’t either. I found out. Your mother was crazy. Just like us.”

  Us. Darcy’s mind rebelled at the word. She didn’t want to be associated with the woman in front of her.

  The car stopped. Darcy saw the steep cliffs. They were on top of the hill. The winding road made her nauseous. She wanted to puke but her mouth was taped. The car neared the edge of a cliff. It was a short countdown to death. She was heading straight for the sea with the car. Darcy closed her eyes, summoning the courage to produce a sound.

  “Our journey ends here,” D said. The car slowed down. “Goodbye.”

  Darcy’s hands flew to the car. To her surprise, the car door opened. Darcy yelled, but the sounds swallowed her voice. The wind was strong. The car headed straight toward the sea. The car and Darcy were headed straight to the sea. Darcy struggled to break free. The doppelgänger moved closer to her. Only a few meters lay between the road and the fence.

  D’s hands fell on the seatbelt accidentally, clicking it open. Darcy’s was free. Breaking away from the doppelgänger, she jumped out of the car. Darcy fell out; her butt hit the concrete road. The rough concrete shredded the superficial layers of her skin. Blood clotted in the exposed skin.

  The door closed. She saw a shocked expression on the doppelgänger’s face who was still in the car. The car raced into the lake, moved by the momentum. D rammed into the fence, breaking it open. The car lost balance and began its descent into the lake. The car rubbed against the sharp edges of the cliff and ignited. It broke into pieces and Darcy screamed. Her eyes streamed with tears. She watched helplessly as pieces of the car caught fire and drowned in the lake.

  Darcy heard the sound of the car crashing into the sea. She closed her eyes. It was over.