More Than One: A Novel (16 page)

“I would love to spend the day with you babe. Let me get dressed and I'll call you before I head over there,” I said.

“No, no, no. You get dressed and I'll come pick you up. I'll be your personal chauffeur today. I just want to say thank you for taking care of me.”

“You know it was no problem, you would’ve done the same for me.”

“Yeah. So, get dressed and call me and I'll be right over,” he said.

“Okay, I'll call you in about forty minutes.”

“Cool beans,” he said and hung up the phone.

I laid back down and thought about what I was going to say to Michael. After I heard what he said to Ash the other day, it made me feel bad, but he knew Ash was my best friend and it wasn't like that with him at all. I just hoped he didn't take it so personal. I would definitely try and catch up with him later on tonight and make it up to him.

              I called him and it took him a minute to answer.

              “Hey babe,” he said.

              “Hey, how are you?” I asked.

              “I'm good now that I'm hearing your voice.”

              “That's so sweet. So, um, what are your plans for the day?”

              “Hopefully getting to see you,” he said.

              “Okay, here's the thing, I promised Ash that I would spend the day with him. Do you mind?” I said shyly.

              He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He still didn't say anything and I didn't want to jump in and make things worse. I waited for him to respond and all I heard was him breathing deeply. Was he really that upset?

              “Michael, baby, are you mad?”

              “No, I'm not mad, just disappointed.”

              “I know and I promise I will make it up to you, but I'm really worried about Ash and I couldn’t say no to him when he asked me,” I pleaded.

              “I get it. It's okay, just call me later,” he said hanging up the phone without saying bye.

I looked at my phone and watched the words,
call ended,
flashing across the screen. I imagined he would be upset, but not
that
mad. I started to call him back and try to explain, but I decided against it. Maybe he needed some time to cool down.

              Ash and I needed this time together. It was good for the both of us to reconnect as friends.

              After a day of catching up, we ended up at one of our favorite restaurants.

“This has been an amazing day so far. I wish Rachel was here, but you know she is all wrapped up with Derrick right now,” I said.

“I'm actually glad she is. I wanted it to be just the two of us. There is something that I haven't told you and if I don't get it off my chest, I'm going to explode.”

“What is it Ash?”

“Before I say anything, you have to first promise me that you won't look at me any different.”

“Okay, I won't,” I said confused.

“Second, what I tell you goes no further than us. Under no circumstance can you tell anyone about what I am going to tell you. Do you understand?”

“Sure, I understand.”

He started rubbing his hands together like he normally did when he was nervous. I was so anxious to find out the big secret, that I scooted to the edge of my seat. He just looked at me, hesitating. There was no way I was going to let him get away with not telling me.

“Ash, you can't do this to me again. You have to tell me what's going on. If it’s that serious, then maybe I can help,” I said.

“Okay, here it goes... remember when you said you found that file in your dad's cabinet?”

“Yeah, what about it?” I asked.

“Well, you said there was a certificate or something in there that was related to clones, right?”

“Yeah, what are you getting at? What does this have to do with you?” I asked, still confused.

He had this look on his face that said,
It's so obvious
, but I still wasn't getting it.

“Wait, do you know something about the file?”

“No, I don't know about the file and why all that was mixed in with your things, but I do know that it’s possible,” he said looking down.

“What's possible? Cloning humans?” I asked.

I was so engulfed in the conversation that I was leaning over far enough for my chair to be propped on only two legs. At any second, I could fall out of my chair and I didn't care.

“Yes, it is possible to clone humans. In fact, it has been done before.”

“But I thought it was illegal to do that.”

“It is for public facilities, but not for private ones, especially since they are using their own money to fund the research and the process. There are a lot of things that have been cloned. It’s not that farfetched,” he said.

“I did some research on clones after I found the file and from what I read, the success rate wasn't that high, especially when it comes to cloning a human. I read that they die within the first couple of years depending on the development of the fetus.”

“Yeah, that's true, but that was a long time ago. Technology has grown and changed so much within that period of time, it is not impossible for a clone to live well beyond the years expected of them.”

“How do you know all this?” I said impressed with his knowledge on the subject.

He looked around still rubbing his hands together. He finally leaned in close and took a deep breath.

“Well, I, um. Okay,” he let out another deep breath. “The reason I know all of this is because...”

“Ash, you're stalling. Just spit it out,” I said.

“I'm...” he closed his eyes, “a clone.”

Everything stopped. My whole world just completely stopped. No one was walking around me, there was no noise, nothing. I slowly sat back in my chair and Ash opened his eyes. Was this a joke? I've known him for over two years now and he was just as normal as the rest of us. He just told me he was a clone. How can I believe this? I read the books that told me this was impossible, but here he sits, confessing to me this secret that he is a clone.

I didn't know what to say. He sat there silent, waiting for me to respond and all I wanted to do was think about what he just told me. I thought the nightmares and the murders were the strangest things to happen, but this definitely took the cake.

I thought about the day I called all of them together and told them what was going on with me. I told him about the file and he didn't mention this at all. There was no trust at all between me and my friends. Rach lied about hiding the letters and I still don't know what Michael is about, and now this.

The letters told me not to trust anyone and I was so quick to dismiss the warning. My friends helped me dismiss the idea that there wasn’t any danger or any reason to not trust them. What should I do now? He asked me not to look at him differently, but how could I not?

He was different to me now. He still looked like Ash, but he wasn't Ash. Who was he? Where was the original?

“I know you have a lot of questions and you're probably upset with me for not telling you until now, but there is a good reason that I couldn't,” he said reaching across the table to grab my hands. I pulled them back. I didn't want to be touched right now. “Please say something. Ask me anything and I promise I will be honest with you.”

I hesitated at first. I did have a lot of questions, but my mind was telling me to just get up and walk away. I thought I was alone last week, but this was on another level of loneliness. I didn't know what to believe anymore.

I looked at Ash, with his red pleading eyes. I couldn't just walk away from him, not like this. I couldn't walk away from finding out every detail of how he was cloned and what it felt like.

“So, you're a clone... how, I mean who... I don't know what to say. I do have a lot of questions, but where do I begin?” I said.

“My father...”

“Your father,” I cut him off. “You have a father? How does that work?”

“I call him my father because he was the one who, you know, created me I guess you can say.”

“So, if he created you, then where is the person he got the DNA from?”

“Well, I was cloned from a baby who died in the hospital. The parents were rushing to the hospital because the mother was in labor; they had an accident and the father died instantly. An ambulance was taking the mother to the hospital, but she died on the way there. They delivered the baby, but he died hours later. My father is a doctor at the hospital where the baby was born and he took the DNA from the baby boy and here I am,” he said.

“So, your father is a doctor, but how did he learn how to clone humans?”

“Well, he specializes in many areas.”

“This is so bizarre. You're a clone. All this time and you never told me. Why are you telling me now? Why couldn't you tell me this long time ago?” I asked.

“Because, my father was using the hospitals resources to do the research. That’s a public facility and if he would have gotten caught then that would mean big trouble for him. I'm alive illegally, so to speak. He made me swear that I wasn't going to tell anyone ever, but I couldn't keep it from you. I've wanted to tell you so many times, but I didn't know how. When you said something about the file, it made me think about how maybe this would connect us on another level.”

“But I'm not a clone.”

“I know, but obviously someone was cloned from you. Or they tried to anyway.”

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but I had to because the proof was sitting right in front of me. And what he said about someone being cloned from my DNA was making my stomach ball up in knots. What if he was right? What if the person I've been dreaming about was my clone? The pressure was getting heavy.

“Do you think that maybe my clone could be committing the murders?” I asked.

“No. The certificate said the cloning process failed, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, then it wouldn't be possible,” he said.

“But what if someone tried again? I'm pretty sure your father isn't the only person who experimented with clones. What if someone tried again and this time it succeeded?”

“That still doesn't explain why the file was with your things,” he said. “I'm curious to know what your father has to do with this.”

“I was wondering the same thing, but my dad has all sorts of files on different things. It could be a coincidence. I believe he would've told me this.”

“Okay, so where does that leave us?” he asked.

“Well, what about your father has he made any others?”

“No, I'm the only one he’s made,” he said.

“The other thing that doesn't add up is the fact that the murders are in Rome.”

Ash looked away. Was there something else he wasn't telling me? He started rubbing his hands together again. I thought about asking him what was wrong, but quickly changed my mind.

“Yeah, it doesn't add up,” he said. “But Jamie, I need you to promise me that this will stay between us. No one needs to know anything.”

“I promise.”

Here was another secret that I had to keep to myself. I was running out of room in my brain. Next, it will be Rach telling me something she doesn't want anyone else to know. I'm like the human, walking, talking diary.

We sat there for another hour and I asked every question that came to mind. He answered me truthfully because he knew I wouldn't tell anyone else. He told me about the test and examination he had to go through growing up, about his room and some other things. Things he never felt secure enough to share with me before. As the conversation progressed, I was more at ease with talking about it. I didn't look at Ash differently and I knew I wasn't going to. He was the same ole Ash to me and that's all that mattered.

When we were done talking, he paid for the check and we headed home. There wasn't much talking during the ride back to the dorm. We just turned up the music and sung along with the songs.

We pulled up in front of the dorm and he turned the truck off. We both turned around in our seats facing each other. All I could think about in that moment was, my best friend was a clone.

“So, are we good?” he asked.

“Of course. I told you that nothing was going to change that. But for future reference, please don't keep any more secrets from me. It just sucks not knowing what's going on with you,” I replied.

“Okay, I can do that. I hate keeping things from you anyway.”

“So, I'll see you later. I have to get some rest for class tomorrow.”

“Yeah, okay. I had fun today. We should make this a weekly thing,” he said.

“I agree,” I said leaning over kissing him on the cheek. “See ya babe.”

“See ya.”

I got out of the car and headed upstairs. Once I got to the door, I checked my phone to see if I had any missed calls. I hadn't checked it since I left the room this morning. There were no missed calls, only a text from Rach. Michael must still be mad at me.

I opened the door to the room and went in. I put my things down and dialed his number. He still didn't answer so I left him a message apologizing again. I was too tired physically, mentally and emotional and I didn't want to get into another big discussion, so I let it go. If he didn't answer the phone tomorrow, I was going to go see him.