The Doppelgänger: A Psychological Thriller Read online

  “I thought I saw you,” he said, blinking his deep blue eyes. His face titled.

  Darcy was still. She was at work on Tuesday. How could he have seen her?

  “I thought I heard something in your house. I remembered yesterday.”

  “Uh…I can’t remember.” That was the day the photo frame broke. So, someone did come.

  “I must’ve seen it wrong,” he said, scratching the remnants of silver hair on his head.

  “Headed outside?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have a good night.”

  “You too.” Mr. Hatter disappeared down the corridor.

  Darcy remained frozen by the door. So, someone came. Someone that looked like her. Her hollow eyes stared at the empty corridor. She stared at her apartment door. Her eyes moved from Mr. Hatter’s door, which was next to hers to her own.

  She opened the door to her apartment and went in and closed the door. Her phone beeped. She pulled the her phone out. Mike’s message flashed on the screen. Her eyes moved to the card on the table that Mr. Hatter had given her yesterday. It was untouched.

  At 9:00 the next morning, Darcy stood before the library. The library was fairly quiet. She glanced at her reflection in the window glass. She looked like a zombie. The generous dose of concealer barely covered her puffy eyes. They sunk deep into her eye sockets. Last night had not been easy. She stifled a yawn.

  She scanned her card. The doors opened. Her legs felt weak and tired. Her muscles pulled. She walked up the stairs and entered the library.

  The line of bookshelves didn’t seem to end. Mr. Hatter’s revelation was what kept Darcy awake all night. The image of the broken photo frame churned in her brain. Someone came to her house on Tuesday. And, Dr. Cleo came on Wednesday. Maybe the psychic was right.

  “Darcy.” A deep voice startled her. She turned. Mike stood at the entrance of the library with the book tucked under his arm. He wore another dark shirt with light pants. She was beginning to notice a pattern here.

  “Good morning.” she said.

  “What’s the matter?” Mike asked, immediately, noticing her troubled expression.

  “No…nothing,” Darcy stammered. “Did you finish reading the book?”

  “Yes, I did. Thank you. I came to return it.”

  He handed her the book. Her eyes remained on the cover. She stared at the image of the doppelgänger on the cover. The evil smiled was etched in her memory.

  “How was it?” she asked, anxious. The door opened. A student stepped through.

  “So, how was the book? Did you find anything useful?” she repeated.

  “I didn’t know you were interested in parallel universes,” Mike remarked.

  “I was curious.”

  “It was good. An interesting theory but it has a long way to go.”

  “What theory?” Darcy asked.

  “The author thinks doppelgängers are your mirror reflection in another universe.”

  “Really?” Darcy asked. She blinked blankly.

  “Unusual, isn’t it?”

  “I’ve never heard of anything….”

  “It’s an educated theoretical guess at best,” Mike said. “But, an interesting read. There is some convincing proof there, but it’s ahead of its time.”

  “That’s a very unique angle,” Darcy said, finding her voice. The cogs of her brain turned rapidly. “Do you think doppelgängers are real?”

  Mike stopped. He turned.

  “I do. I mean, you see them in the newspapers on online blogs all the time.” Mike said,

  The realization drummed at the back of her mind. The blog. The photo. The message. Did she really have a doppelgänger? She composed herself.

  “They’re common… I mean, there are people that look like you. Haven’t you seen celebrity doppelgänger photos on the internet?” Mike continued, oblivious to her predicament.

  “That’s not the real thing, is it?” Darcy said.

  Mike nodded. “The people in those pictures are similar, not identical.”

  “There’s a difference?”

  “That’s the difference between the ones from a parallel universe and the ones in our world.”

  “The author says that?”

  Mike nodded. “He says the similar ones have different destinies but the identical ones have the same destiny.”

  “The same destiny?”

  “There is another Darcy out there,” Mike said. She stopped in the middle of the street. The cold air swooshed past her. The words had a lasting impact on her mind. Mike blinked. His grey eyes surveyed her intensely. “You okay?”

  “I never thought about it that way.” Darcy said.

  “Some parts of the book were difficult to follow,” he said. “I need to read it again. I got a few pages photocopied, just in case.”

  “Jillian said she saw somebody that looked like her last week.” The words shot out of Darcy’s mouth before she could think.

  “Who’s Jillian?” Mike asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “The new intern at the library.”

  “She saw a doppelgänger?”

  Darcy nodded. “She’s worried something will happen to her.”

  “Why?”

  “You know, they say when you see someone that looks like you, you die.” Darcy said the words with a straight face. “They’re a bad omen. Bringers of bad luck.”

  “You believe in that stuff?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen one,” Darcy admitted.

  “What if you see one?”

  “One from a parallel universe?” Darcy’s heart thudded. Her volume dropped. “I don’t know.”

  “I almost forgot,” Mike said. He pulled out a blue pen drive and extended it to her.

  “That’s the recording of the play I promised.” he said.

  “Thank you. I hope I remember this,” Darcy said. He turned.

  “Do you want to meet again?” he asked. Darcy inhaled. “To talk about the doppelgangers? I’m reading another book on the topic. You could give me a few suggestions and we could catch up over coffee.”

  “All right. See you on Sunday.” Darcy added, with a smile.

  “Sunday at eleven?”

  “Where do you want to meet?”

  “There’s a cafe near my place. I’ll text you the address.”

  “See you on Sunday,” Darcy said. “I’ll get the pen drive then.”

  She watched him disappear down the stairs. He was gone.

  At 7:30 that evening, she stood in the train station, again. The phone buzzed. The vibrations travelled through her stomach, tingling her flesh. She pulled it out of her pocket. It was Dan.

  “Hello, sis?”

  “Dan.”

  “Have you seen the news?”

  “Did something happen?” Darcy blocked the sound off by placing her left hand over her ear. The chatter made its way to her ears anyway.

  “Dr. Williams resigned.” Dan said. The chatter suddenly disappeared. Darcy took a step away.

  “What?” The train arrived.

  “You don’t know? It’s everywhere.” Dan continued. People were everywhere. She composed herself. Her legs wobbled on the spot.

  “He resigned? Why?” she asked.

  “He didn’t give a reason.”

  Uneasiness shot through Darcy’s body. She knew why. The image of his shadow on her apartment wall flashed in her mind. His blue eyes were vivid in the reel of her memory. The image inched closer. The sounds surrounding her edged into her space.

  The train emerged. Lights blinded her. The crowd moved in kaleidoscopic patterns. This was a dream. It had to be.

  “Excuse me,” a stranger said, as her brushed past her. Sh
e felt the texture of his fingers. She heard the sound of his leg tap on the floor.

  “I’ll call you later.” Darcy threw the phone into her bag. She ran onto the train.

  Darcy rushed home. Panic dripped through her intuition, forming an ocean of fear. Something happened. It was a warning. She knew it.

  She took a deep breath. The cold wind hit against her terrified face. Panic pricked her eyes. Her fists curled into a ball. She boxed the cold London air. It threw her off balance. Her ankle was perilously close to a sprain. She fell to the ground. Her eyes stared at the dark sky.

  The memories flashed like scenes from a horror movie. She knew what went on within the four walls of the lab. She didn’t have the courage to face it. She took a deep breath in. She would figure this out. Darcy had spent fifteen years recovering from the trauma of that incident. And it wasn’t over yet. He had found her. He had come for her last evening.

  Dan’s words rang in her mind. She didn’t believe him. She didn’t want to believe him. Her cold fingers pressed her cheeks. What did he want now?

  She turned at the bend in the road. The short, empty road greeted her. On one side of it lay her apartment building. Her shoes rubbed on the mortar street until she reached the base of the staircase that led to her apartment. She walked up the stairs and pulled the door open.

  When Darcy got home, she was greeted by silence. Smokey was eerily quiet. Mr. Hatter was not home. She dumped her bag on the sofa and walked into the kitchen. It was empty.

  Silence.

  Cold fear coiled around her neck. She rushed to the television and turned it on. The sound of cheesy pop songs distracted her. She flipped channels. The news was on. She sat on the sofa after pushing her bag on the floor. She began to undo her socks.

  Her eyes remained on the screen. She read each word that moved across the screen.

  Ambrosia CEO Resigns

  For a moment, her eyes closed with disbelief. She pinched herself. The news anchor’s snobbish accent doled some sense into her.

  “This morning, Dr. Cleo Williams, the CEO of Ambrosia resigned. An official statement was released at noon confirming the news. No reasons were disclosed. Anna Harrington has more details.”

  An image of Ambrosia’s head office in New York covered the screen as the reporter repeated everything the anchor had just said, adding nothing. A crowd of reporters stood outside the tall glass building. A man emerged from the building. He wore a navy suit with a light blue shirt and red tie. His hair was black and his eyes brown. Journalists shoved microphones down his throat. The cameras were so close that she could see the pores of his skin.

  “I’m sorry. More details will be out soon,” the manager said.

  She rested her back against the sofa. The cushions dug into her lower back. Dan was right.

  “Dr. Williams’ resignation has raised questions about the future of Ambrosia,” the reporter continued. “As of now, there has been no announcement of the new CEO. The board of directors is meeting tomorrow to discuss the appointment of another CEO. Anna Harrington for BBC News.”

  Darcy flipped TV channels. They were all saying the same thing. It was everywhere. She pulled the blanket closer.

  “Dr. Williams has not been seen publicly since his announcement,” the announcer continued.

  The words sunk into Darcy’s ears. She stared at the news blasting through the speakers. Smokey scowled, but she was too surprised to turn the volume down. She needed to hear the announcer shouting at her.

  Her phone rang. Her eyeballs darted to the screen. Light emanated from under her blanket. She pulled the phone toward herself.

  An unknown number.

  Her hands didn’t move. The vibration merged with the rhythm of the news anchor’s voice. It dug into her skin, prompting her to take action. She slid her finger on the touchscreen. The timer began to tick.

  She placed the phone against her ear. Silence.

  “Hello.” Her voice was low.

  “Hello? Darcy?” the raspy voice froze her body. Blood beat against the walls of her arteries.

  “Hello?” the voice repeated. She wasn’t imagining this.

  Darcy pulled the phone away from her ears. She hung up. Echoes of his raspy sank into her bones. She breathed. She struggled to breathe, but she breathed. She had to.

  He’d found her.

  Chapter 10

  The restaurant was packed for lunch as was every other restaurant in downtown Chicago. People swarmed all over the place. Darcy decided to take her food out and headed to the park. The park was much quieter. Jillian showed up five minutes later. Concern was the predominant expression on her face.

  “Did you see the news?” Jillian asked. She sat down next to Darcy.

  “Yes.”

  There weren’t any melodious birds around in winter. Pigeons annoyingly cooed into her ears. Jillian threw them some breadcrumbs. One bent its slender, grey neck and picked the food up. Its red eyes moved closer to Darcy. Darcy backed off. She shooed the pigeon away with her arms. Her nose scrunched.

  “I was shocked,” Jillian went on. “I mean, I’m not into business or anything but…he came to our university, didn’t he?”

  “I guess he decided to retire,” Darcy said with a sense of calm she didn’t know herself to possess. She put a generous helping of bean sprouts into her mouth.

  “It was unexpected. Usually, you know about these things long before they happen.”

  “Ummmm…” Darcy filled her mouth with rice. At the back of her mind, she heard his raspy voice.

  ‘Hello? Darcy.’

  That’s all he said before she hung up. He said her name in his poisonous voice. She looked to Jillian who ate her lunch, oblivious to the truth. Fear subsided.

  Jillian’s sparkly green eyes gazed at the grey sky. The park was fairly empty. Yellow grass shriveled up on the edges of the bench. Leaves lay on the pale grass. It was that time of the year.

  “Who was that man yesterday?” Jillian asked.

  “Who?”

  “The one that borrowed the book.”

  “You mean Mike?”

  Jillian nodded.

  “We studied at the same university. We were in the English society.”

  “Old classmates? That’s all?”

  Darcy knew where this was going.

  “That’s all.”

  Jillian’s green eyes turned away, disappointed.

  “He’s writing an article on doppelgängers,” Darcy put in. “He’s looking for people who’ve seen doppelgängers to interview.”

  “Really?” Jillian’s eyes lit up.

  “I told him you’d seen one but I don’t know if it was identical…” Darcy trailed off. She swallowed some tofu. The sharp taste of sweet and sour tofu jolted her taste buds.

  “Identical?”

  “He’s writing an article that links doppelgängers to parallel universes,” Darcy said. She placed the chopsticks on a piece of tissue paper. “The book he borrowed says doppelgängers are your mirror images in another dimension...basically.”

  “That sounds so cool.” Jillian sounded ten years younger.

  “Interesting, isn’t it?” Darcy said. “Apparently, the Angelina Jolie-lookalikes are similar doppelgängers, not identical ones.”

  “There’s a difference.”

  “Ummmm….” Darcy’s mouth was filled with food.

  “I don’t know if the one I saw was similar or identical. How can you say?”

  “I haven’t read the book,” Darcy said. “Maybe I should.”

  “I want to read it too.” Jillian said.

  The chill was beginning to seep in through Darcy’s clothing. She stood up.

  “Should we head back?”

  Jillian shoved her lunchbox
into her bag. She swallowed a sip of juice to shove the food down her throat.

  “I was thinking if doppelgängers are mirrored images, shouldn’t their left hand be your right and vice versa?” Jillian said on the walk back.

  “Huh?”

  “When you look at yourself in the mirror, your left is right and right is left.”

  “I wonder if that would make any difference.” Darcy said.

  “What if it’s not just left and right?” Jillian said a few moments later.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What if your doppelgänger is the evil side of you?”

  Darcy paused near the large hotel. The crowd entered her world again. She was in the middle of an intersection. Darcy pondered on Jillian’s words.

  “Your imagination is hyperactive today.” Darcy said.

  “I was thinking about the possibilities.”

  “Should I tell him you’re interested in being interviewed?”

  “I would love to be a part of the article,” Jillian admitted with a smile.

  Sunday arrived before Darcy knew it. She pulled the curtains open. Sunlight burst in through the window. Finally, a sunny day. Darcy soaked in the warmth of the sun. Her bright eyes saw the man who lived down the road. He was placing the stroller into the car. His wife stood next to him wearing light blue skinny jeans. She held the child in her arms. The sunlight framed her blonde hair.

  The kettle switched off. Darcy turned away. She closed the curtains. She drank her cup of tea on the dining table. Her eyes stared into the distance. She dressed up and headed out of the door.

  At 10:50 AM, she stood outside a café in Rogers Park. Cultures mingled with cuisine and language in the diverse neighborhood. Sol café was near the Red Line.

  In the distance, she saw Mike. He walked toward her. She saw him wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” he said, pulling the hoodie away.

  “I just arrived.” Darcy said.

  “Nice day, isn’t it?” he asked.