The Doppelgänger: A Psychological Thriller (5 page)

She wanted to meet this woman. If she existed.

Chapter 6

Potter’s cafe was a quaint little place nestled in Oak Park. The tables smelled of wood polish. The silver coffee machine sparkled like new. Darcy glanced around and noticed she was the only person in the cafe.

The cafe was decorated with cylindrical lights that hung low. The lights were dim. The cafe was practically deserted at seven in the evening. Her eyes read the sign on the door. The cafe was due to close in two hours.

She focused her attention on a young part-timer who stood next to the cash register. The girl was busy texting. She didn’t bother to look up.

Darcy’s eyes hovered over the wall clock. A cuckoo came out of the clock and sang a short song. 8:00 PM. Darcy tapped at the table impatiently. She wondered if she should have ordered something. The hunger that clawed into her belly an hour ago was gone.

The small bell at the frame of the door chimed musically. Somebody walked in. Darcy’s eyes shot to the stranger. He wore a black coat. His face was covered with the shadow of his hat. Her eyes followed him across the wooden floor.

He paused at the cash register and gazed at  the menu. His broad shoulders hid the petite lady at the cash counter. Darcy craned her neck to steal a glance at his face.

“One chicken BLT sandwich please,” he said in a deep baritone. “Actually, make that two. And two cups of coffee.”

The lazy part-timer got to work reluctantly. She was going to have to hang around for another ten minutes.

How did he know what Darcy liked? The hair on Darcy’s neck stood up. Her ears were sensitive to the words being exchanged between them.

His huge hands received two cups of latte from the lady at the cash register. He walked to an empty seat and sat down. He unbuttoned his coat and hung it on the seat. Darcy observed his movements. She stood up. She moved toward him with her coat and bag clutched in her hand. Before she could approach him, someone else came in and cut in. Darcy stepped away.

A woman in her thirties appeared turned around. She sat facing the stranger. He smiled at her. Darcy saw the man. He looked fairly young. She backed off. He was the wrong person.

She moved back to her seat after ordering a latte. D wasn’t coming anytime soon. Darcy fiddled with her phone. She breathed in the warm smell of fresh coffee.

The part-timer shot her an anxious glance. She moved in her chair uneasily.

The cuckoo burst out of the alarm clock again. Darcy was sleepy. It was 9:15 PM. She needed to hurry back, or she’d miss the last train home.  She checked her e-mails. She hadn’t gotten any.

The part-timer shot her a restless glance, chewing gum. Darcy stood up. Whoever D was, wasn’t coming. She opened the door and walked out. The cold wind brought back her senses. She was alone in the suburbs.

A nagging curiosity bit at Darcy every moment on her journey back. She re-read the message. The implication was obvious. Darcy buried the phone in her pocket walked to her door.

She got home at 10:30 a sleepy state and collapsed on the bed. As soon as she pulled the duvet over her body, she fell asleep.

Darcy woke up to the sound of the reverberating doorbell. Her sleepy eyes stirred open. She wanted to keep them closed, but the sound awakened her. She pushed the duvet aside and walked to the door. Who could it be at 11:00 in the night?

Her breath was slow and calculated as her fingers curved over the door knob. She peered through the peeping hole embedded on the door and saw his face, clearer than ever before. His marble blue eyes looked at her with a mixture of vengeance and hatred. His wiry fingers clutched the doorknob, inching closer.

Her courage shrunk. He knocked the door violently sending vibrations screaming across the surface of the wooden floor. Darcy took a step back. She rested her back against the wall. Her mind scrambled for answers.

He was here to get her. He knew who she was. He knew she was the girl that had run away fifteen years ago. She slapped her hands over her mouth.

She and Dr. Cleo were separated by a thin wooden door. Her fingers touched the surface of wood. He knocked. The sound vibrated through the door. It sparked at Darcy’s nerve endings.

Memories of that night flashed in Darcy’s mind. She saw the shadows behind her. Her small, tired legs ran as fast as they could. She struggled to breathe. Her legs wanted to give away. Her heart wanted to stop beating. She wished the ground would open up, and she’d fall through. Fatigue permeated every cell of her body. In the dark of the night, she ran. She ran to nowhere. She ran until she could she knew why. She crawled, she swam, and she ran. She ran for her life.

Trrrrrrrrrrrrr

Her eyes opened abruptly. The digits ‘9:00’ blinked on the digital alarm clock. Images dissolved in daylight. She groaned.

Bright trees swayed outside the window. It was another dream. Life returned to her terrified body as she stepped out of bed. The phone rang. Darcy looked around for any sign of the phone. She rushed to her bag that lay on the sofa. She opened it and pulled her phone out.

“Morning,” Dan’s cheerful voice burst through the speakers. Darcy groaned in response.

“It’s another cloudy morning, huh?” Dan asked.

“Ummmm…” Darcy replied. “How’re you?”

“Good.”

“How’s your new job going?”

“It’s good. You won’t believe how high tech the labs are,” he said. “I mean…the people, the culture, the research…it’s out of the world.”

“That’s why they’re the best.” Darcy pushed the words out through clenched teeth. She continued the superficial conversation.

“I haven’t been so excited about a job in ages,” he went on. The day she started work was so long ago that she didn’t remember anything about it. She was getting old. Her nervous ears grazed the phone.

“That’s great,” Darcy said, politely.

“How’s dad?” Darcy put in, changing the course of the conversation.

“He’s good. Haven’t seen him in a while.” Dan said.

“Sis, is everything okay?” Dan asked, concerned. Darcy’s ears picked up the tone of his voice.

“Yeah?” it was a question.

“Good…good,” Dan was relieved.

“Is there something you’re hiding?” Darcy asked.

“Me? No. I’m going great.” he said.

“How’s Betty?”

“Good. Good.”

“Any interesting experiences on the first day at work?”

“No…nothing special,” he said “How are the appointments going?”

“Appointments?”

“Um…with the psychiatrist.”

An uncomfortable silence hung over the phone. Darcy didn’t say a word.

“Dan, I stopped a few years ago.” she said, after a long moment.

“Really?”

“Dad didn’t tell you?”

“I never asked.”

“I’m fine now. Perfectly fine,” she said. It was a lie. She knew it was.

“I never thought you would- never mind. All’s well that ends well, eh?”

“You never thought I would what?”

“Nothing.”

“Say it.”

“You know, be normal…be fine.” The words hammered like a nail in Darcy’s mind. Dan thought she was crazy. Ten years ago, she really was.

“You were wrong.” Darcy whispered, in a low voice.

“I’m glad I was,” Dan dissolved the tension with those words. “So, when are you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?”

“You’re starting to sound like dad.”

“Am I?” the question faded into silence. “Who was the guy you met last week? I saw the picture on Facebook.”

So, Mike had put the picture up. Darcy snorted.

“You’re stalking me?” she teased.

“Well, it is out there for the whole world to see. I wouldn’t call that stalking.”

“We were together in the literature society at university,” Darcy explained.

“That’s all?”

“Come on. This is not what you think. There’s nothing going on here.”

“Whatever you say.” Dan said, brushing off the topic.

“What are your working hours?” Darcy asked. “I need to know when I can call you.”

“I don’t have fixed hours yet. I’ll probably move next week.”

“Move?”

“I might go to the facility in King’s Park. You know, the one in the asylum?”

Darcy was silent. She didn’t like the sound of it.

“You there?”

“When are you moving?”

“Next week. I told you. Nothing’s confirmed yet.”

“You wanna go there?” Darcy asked. It was with resignation. Her voice was lethargic.

“Of course. It’s one of the best labs.” Excitement crept into his voice. “It is the oldest-”

He droned on. Darcy wasn’t listening. Her nightmare hinged perilously close to becoming a reality. She wanted to tell him the truth. But, her lips were glued together.

“Is it?” she asked. Dan lost interest after listening to her unenthusiastic response.

“I’m heading out in a few minutes. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay. Take care. Love you.”

She hung up. Echoes of his words remained in her mind. Her heart felt tighter each day. She wasn’t comfortable with the idea of Dan working at Ambrosia but what could she do? How would she explain? She took a deep breath. She let it out.

Darcy decided to visit the zoo on Sunday.

She stepped out of her apartment and followed the road to the L at Damen. She ended up at the zoo later that day. Hundreds of visitors had come to the zoo on that bright winter Sunday. The panda was the main attraction but there were quite a few kids who asked their parents about zebras and lions.

Darcy collected her free pamphlet and map and made her way into the zoo. Her gaze passed over a boy squirting tomato ketchup on his. It was a vivid red. Red. Darcy’s mind reeled. She touched her head and stepped away.

“Darcy?” A deep voice cut through the layers of memories. Darcy turned. Mike stood behind her, surveying her with surprise.

“Mike? What are you doing here?” He wore a light blue shirt buttoned all the way and a pair of brown trousers.

“I haven’t been here in a long time so I decided to visit. You?” he said. He held the brochure, waving it.

“I got up early and had nothing to do,” Darcy confessed. “I looked this place up on the internet.”

“Sundays can be boring,” Mike confessed.

“What’s that?” Darcy asked, looking at the piece of paper Mike held. They strolled leisurely through the market. The smells of ethnic foods mingled with the cool air.

“This? I’m working on an article.” Mike shoved his right hand into his pocket.

“What kind of article?” Darcy prodded.

“An article about parallel universes.”

“Parallel universes?” Darcy raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like science fiction.”

“Doesn’t it?” he asked, strolling. “What if I told you they could be real?”

“Really?” Darcy shot him a skeptical glance. She stopped in the middle of the road.

“We don’t know for sure. I’ve been interviewing a few prominent physicists in the area.”

“And they say it’s possible?”

“There’s a lot we don’t know,” Mike said. His intense eyes focused on Darcy. He lost focus. “I’m hungry.”

Darcy and Mike ate lunch together that afternoon. The conversation invariably drifted back to their college days. Darcy mostly listened.

“We should meet sometime to catch up properly,” he said. “It’s not every day I see an old friend.”

“We should. Drop by the library sometime. I’m there on weekdays.”

“I might drop by,” he said. “I’m looking for a book on parallel universes.”

“I’ll see what I can find.”

He inched closed and gave her a parting hug.

“See you.” He began walking away.

“Good luck with the article.”

He raised his hand in a wave.

Darcy stopped by a few shops on the high street after her expedition at the zoo. By five, most of them were closed. She stopped by the bus stop. A bus stopped before her. She got in.

Darcy fiddled with her phone. She logged on to ‘My diary’. Her fingers trembled as she typed the words into the search box. There was no telling what came next. She hoped the author had stopped writing posts about her past. Darcy had warned her. She deleted two of her posts. With renewed hope, Darcy opened the page.

The first image blew her away. She looked around the bus self-consciously. Then, her eyes returned to the screen. This time, it was more dangerous than ever.

Honey eyes. Brunette hair. A round face. Glasses. Books. A white coat. It was a photo of Darcy. There was an unmissable pain in her eyes. Darcy’s heart skipped a beat. Her mind went crazy trying to assess all the possibilities.

Darcy’s eyes widened. Her gaze froze on the screen. She reloaded the page two times to make sure that what she was seeing really existed. She zoomed into the photo. Despair descended over her. Her mind was numb with shock and fear. Her eyes closed, trying to block what she had seen.

She scrolled impatiently.

Dear diary,

Today, I decided to show the world my face.

Today, I decided to stop being ashamed.

Here I am, in all my glory. I have nothing to fear. I have decided to live in the truth.

I want to be a source of inspiration to all the people who believe in me. I want to be the voice of those that died without having their screams heard. I want to say the words that those people couldn’t say. I want to be the face of the suffering that I went through.

I want to breathe. I want to see the light. I want to live.

Welcome to this world, Darcy.

Darcy’s fingers dropped. The bus stopped. She didn’t have the courage to get off. Her feet were stuck. She couldn’t feel her arms.

“Are you getting off?” the bus driver asked. Darcy’s voice died in her throat. She couldn’t see anything but eternal darkness. She was exposed. The whole world knew who she was. He would come find her. He would take to that horrible place again.

She heard them scream. She ducked and closed her ears. Her hands couldn’t silence the screams. They were everywhere. The faces of all those that suffered floated to her. At the end, she saw her mother’s face. It was gentle and beautiful. It shone with the warmth of love. Her hands parted from her ears. She felt more secure. She opened her eyes. Her mother’s face vanished.

The bus driver was staring at her. Suddenly all their gazes were on her. The lady behind her nudged her.