More Than One: A Novel (20 page)

              “What's wrong,” he asked pulling me through the door.

              “Nothing, I'm just really tired. We had a major rush at work today and it wore me out.”

              “Oh okay. Are you hungry or anything? I can get you something to drink.”

              “No, I'm fine for right now. I just need to get these shoes off,” I said.

              We walked to the couch and sat down. I pulled my shoes off and starting rubbing my feet. Of course, Ash grabbed my legs, put them in his lap, and started rubbing them for me. He was such a good friend.

              “So, what did you need to talk to me about?” he asked.

              “Well, I wanted to bring up the things we discussed the other day. You now, about what you are and all that. I found out some more information and I wanted to tell you about it.”

              “Okay, what's up?”

              I pulled my journal out of my bag and opened it. For some reason, everything I thought about saying flew out of my head. That seems to be happening to me a lot lately. I just needed to calm down and just talk.

              “First of all, I called my dad last night and asked him about Rome. He says they lived there before I was born for a while. He studied with some guy there or something.”

              “Hmm, that
is
interesting. Did he tell you who he studied with?” he asked.

              This was starting to sound like all the conversations I've had in the past two days.

              “No, I didn't ask. What do you think about that?”

              “Well, if you knew who it was then maybe it would help, but I don't know.”

              “Rach seems to think that maybe I was cloned after all and my parents don't know about it.”

              “But you said they were there before you were born.”

              “Oh yeah, I left out that they took me when I was younger.”

              He scratched his head and then went back to rubbing my feet.

              “So, you’ve been to Rome before?”

              “Yep.”

              “Then that does raise a red flag. You need to find out who your father studied with,” he said.

              “I can't. If I am wrong about this then he will wonder why I am asking all these questions,” I said. “Okay, let's stick a pin in that subject and come back to it. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about was my journal. I was wondering if I could read some of these pages to you and you tell me if anything in here sounds familiar; like the surroundings or something.”

              “Like what? You said the murders took place in Rome.”

              I looked up from my journal with a frightened look on my face. I forgot Ash didn't know I knew where he was really from. All these secrets that everyone was making me keep was crashing down on me. I couldn't remember who told me what.

              I looked down at my journal again and decided to just say screw the secrets. This was my life that was in ruins and I was tired of tiptoeing around everyone's feelings. I couldn't understand why he would keep that away from me anyway.

              “Okay look. I know you're from Rome,” I blurted out.

              He stopped rubbing my feet and looked at me with a scared and worried expression. I wish I could have taken it back. Here I was, once again, worried about someone's feelings over my mine. But this was Ash though. I felt so bad.

              “How do you know that?” he asked.

              “Listen, I can't tell you how I know, but I do. Why would you tell me you were from New York when you're obviously not?”

              “Because I am from New York. Who told you I was from Rome?”

              I thought about Michael and the many times he told me that I had to keep the promise and that he would get into so much trouble if anyone found out. I didn't know what to do in this situation. What I said to Ash was already out there and I couldn't take it back. There was no way I was going to get out of this without telling him everything I knew.

              “Jamie... Who told you that?” he said sounding disappointed.

              “Michael did.”

              “How would he know? He doesn't know me.”

              “He's from Rome, too. That's how he knows. I think he has seen you around or something. I don't know, but he told me you were from Rome,” I said.             

              “That doesn't make sense Jay. He said he saw me around and naturally that means I live there. Maybe he has me mixed up with someone else. Did you ever think of that?”

              This was not how I was expecting this conversation to go. I wanted to cry. If he is not going to own up to the fact that he is from Rome, then I really had no reason to talk to him about the journal. I wanted to see if any of the places in my dreams were familiar to him and maybe that would help me find out who this person was.

              “Look Ash, you don't understand what I've been going through. The nightmares, the file, the lies and secrets. None of it means anything if I can't get to the bottom of this. So, please just help me. Help me figure this out. You are my best friend. Don't you want to see me sane again?”

              He looked away with anguish in his eyes. I didn't understand why this was so hard for him. Why couldn't he tell me where he was really from?

              “Yeah, I'm from Rome,” he said turning back to look at me.

              I sighed with relief and instantly felt better.

              “Why couldn't you tell me?”

              “Because that was a part of my condition's for leaving. I wanted to get as far away from there to live a normal life and I had to make some promises in order for me to do that. My father told me that under no circumstance was I to tell anyone that I was from Rome,” he said.

              “But why?”

              “I don't know. Maybe if something happened to me, then they wouldn't be able to link me back to him. You know I told you I'm alive illegally,” he said rubbing his hands together.

              “Yeah, I get it. But you coulda told me, you know I would never put you in any danger.”

              “I know, it's just complicated. So anyways, let's just go through your journal and I will help you out as much as I can,” he said grabbing my feet again to rub them.

              I opened the book and started from the beginning. I read to him about the place where I was sleeping, the room that was setup like a hospital. He just nodded and urged me to keep reading. Then I told him about the places where I committed the murders; the park, the bar, the restaurants, all of them. When I was done, he leaned back on the couch and blew out a breath.

              “So, does any of that ring a bell?” I asked.

              He still didn't say anything. He just sat there rubbing his eyes.

              “Ash, what's wrong?”

He looked at me with his big, brown eyes.

              “All of those places are familiar,” he said.

              My heart started pounding, this was huge. If he really knew all of these places, then he might know the person responsible for the murders. It might be someone he's seen before. I might be jumping the gun on that theory, but it’s a thought.

              “That is so great. You know these places, so maybe the person lives nearby or something. You might have seen them before.”

              I looked at him and he didn't look as enthused as I was. “What are you thinking about?” I asked.

              “I can't believe him,” he said to himself. “All this time, he was lying to me. Why would he do this to me?”

              “Who? What are you talking about?”

              “My father.”

              “What about him? What does that have to do with the places from my dream?” I said.

              When he didn't answer, I thought about it. Why would he associate the surroundings from my dreams with his father?

              “Ash, how do you know these places?”

              He turned and looked at me with anger in his eyes.

              “I know because you're describing my house,” he said.

              I dropped the journal and my hands went straight to my mouth. What was he saying? I've been dreaming about his house this whole time. I was still lost, but from Ash's expression, I could tell everything fell right into place for him.

              “The laboratory that is setup like a hospital, the park that is a couple of blocks from my house, all of it. I can't believe him,” he yelled.

              “Why do you keep saying that? What can't you believe?”

              “He told me I was the only one. There has to be another clone. Maybe your theory about you being cloned was right on the money after all.”

              The light bulb still hadn’t gone off in my head. I knew what he was saying, but it wasn't registering. Maybe I just didn't want to believe it was possible I had a clone running around Rome killing people. When we talked about it before, when it was just a theory, I was okay with it. Now that it was a possibility, it was freaking me out.

              “Okay, so break this down to me please, because it is not coming together for me like I want it to,” I said.

              “Jamie, it is so obvious. You’ve already put all the pieces together. You're just refusing to accept it. My father, the liar, told me I was the only clone he created. But why are you dreaming about my house and everything that is around it. I might have even eaten at one of those restaurants you mentioned. I mean think about it, your father said he studied in Rome before you were born, it doesn't matter if we don't know who with, the point is, he was there. Then they brought you back after you were born. That's a little too close for comfort. Then you find the file in your father's cabinet with the certificate in there. Come on Jay, this has to add up to you.”

              I leaned back and started rubbing my temples again; the pressure was coming strong now. I went through everything Ash just said and it all made sense.

              “Even if I was cloned, why would I be dreaming about the things she is doing?”

              “I don't know. Maybe it's a telepathy thing. You know how they say that twins can sense or see something that their other half is experiencing. Maybe that's what's going on with you.”

              “Maybe. So do you think I was really cloned?”

              “Yeah, it's possible,” he said.

              “I wonder what made her start killing though.”

              “I don't know. That's something we need to find out. You said your last dream was about her killing you or there was something about your arm.”

              “Yeah, I saw my face and then she carved
next
on my arm. That is scary, but she wouldn't know where I live, right? You don't think she would try and come find me, do you?”

              “I don't know the answer to that either. But I do know one thing, you need to talk to your father. I know you don't want to, but you need to find out who he worked with in Rome and then tell him what's going on. And I need to call my father and give him a piece of my mind.”

              I was almost there. This was almost over and I still felt depressed. Even though I got the answers I was looking for, something still didn't feel right. I knew Ash was right though. I did need to call my dad, even if I was making a big mistake and looking at this all wrong. I wanted to get my life back and I had to do whatever to make that happen.

              I scooted closer to Ash and laid my head on his chest. It was amazing listening to his heartbeat. He was a clone and yet he was a human in every way. I never thought science would blow me away, but I had to admit that I was wrong. The proof was right next to me.

              Ash pulled my face up to his and looked into my eyes. I gazed back into his and the eyes I saw were the same as the one's I saw in my dream. The same brown eyes, but more gentle. I thought about what Michael said about his life expectancy and it made me sad. I didn't have the heart to tell him if he didn't know. He rubbed my head and I snuggled in closer to him.

              “I bet you didn't think you would come over here and find out all this, did ya?” he said.

              “No, I can honestly say I didn't. I really didn't think you would know the places. It was kind of a shot in the dark. But this is good though. I just want it all to end. I don't even know what being normal means anymore.”

              “Oh, so you don't know what normal is... I'm a clone. That's not normal,” he said laughing.

              “Oh yeah.”

              “Thanks by the way.”

              “For what?” I asked.

              “For not treating me any different. You don't know how scared I was to tell you that day, but I knew you needed to know,” he said.