Doppelganger by Rhys Guilfoyle
It is said that we all have a DOPPELGANGER—an exact double. Rhys, with the help of his friend, Danny, meets his, only to learn that cloning does have its downsides.
*ring ring*
(RHYS) “Hello?”(DANNY) “Rhys, I need help with a science experiment.”
(RHYS) “Yeah what are you testing?”
(DANNY) “I figured out how to clone people.”
(RHYS) “Bro why haven’t you called Nobel?”
(DANNY) “This has to be a secret. I’m gonna sell it to the military.”
(RHYS) “What do you need help with? You sound like you got it figured out.”
(DANNY) “The tests that came out aren’t perfect. They showed severe signs of devious behavior.”
(RHYS) “What have you done with specimen?”
(DANNY) “I killed them and harvested their organs.”
(RHYS) “I’ll help you if you give me some of that organ money.”
(DANNY) “Deal.”
I walked over to Danny’s house. He showed me to the cloning chambers.
(DANNY) “So, I should’ve told you, I need to test it on another person before I sell it.”
(RHYS) “You want to clone me? I didn’t sign up for this. Is this experiment even ethical?”
(DANNY) “Of course, I wouldn’t test you if it wasn’t”
I stepped into the cloning chambers and Danny closed the door. He did a countdown to three and everything went black. I woke back up dazed and confused.
(DANNY) “Rhys, you good?”
(RHYS) “I’m fine. Did the test work?”
(DANNY) “Yeah, meet your new friend X-24.”
(RHYS) “Oh my god, he’s literally me. Does he speak?”
(DANNY) “No. I haven’t taught them that yet. I ran other tests on him and he appears to be normal.”
(RHYS) “What are we gonna do with him?”
(DANNY) “Probably kill him. You don’t want another one of you around.”
(RHYS) “Nah he’s so cool. I want to keep him. I’ll name him Dmitiri.”
(DANNY) “I’ll keep him here a while to make sure he is normal.”
A few hours passed and I was fast asleep. I woke up to a distressing phone call from Danny.
(DANNY) “Dimitri escaped! Turns out he’s not normal.”
(RHYS) “What?! How did he get out?”
(DANNY) “He inherited the wrong genes. He has superhuman strength and insane intellectual capabilities.”
(RHYS) “We’re dealing with the ultimate lifeform.”
(DANNY) “He hurt me real bad. I called 911. Watch out, they might mistake you for him.”
(RHYS) “I will, I’m gonna track him down.”
I grabbed a flashlight and baseball bat. I walked down to the nearby Giant grocery store and noticed a ton of police cars. I snuck past them. He rearranged the entire store in the wrong sections, he spilt milk on the floor, and cracked all the eggs. We’re dealing with a menace. Where would he go next? I got a sudden call from Mr. Tom.
(MR. TOM) “Rhys, you’re expelled from the school! Why would you destroy Mr. Dave’s plants? Don’t ever come back to school.” Mr. Tom yelled.
(RHYS) “It wasn’t me. It was my doppelganger, Dimitri.”
(MR. TOM) “Likely story. Don’t ever come back again. I’ll send your mom the transfer papers.”
Mr. Tom hung up. Dimitri is trying to ruin my life. I look on my phone and notice on Apple News that a six foot white male is walking around naked in Baltimore. How could he ruin my life even more? I see a police car and break into it. I listen to the radio for any possible reports of myself.
“All units report to WBAL News station. We have reports of a naked man holding the employees hostage. Dispatch the SWAT team.” the dispatcher said.
I hurried over there and grabbed a gun. I walked up the stairs and saw Dimitri setting up to broadcast internationally. He was gonna air himself speaking fake news.
“Dimitri stop!” I yelled.
Dimitri didn’t respond but he started running towards me. I shot him. It was over. Officers asked me to put the gun down. I was arrested. A few weeks have passed and I was released from jail. Danny helped me win the case by selling the technology to the U.S government and showing them the side effects. I used the organs from the other tests to pay for plastic surgery and a name change.
Rhys Guilfoyle
11/3/23