I was frozen. I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't believe my existence right at that moment. It felt as if I was put in front of a mirror but the only difference was, my eyes were open and hers were not. I couldn't speak. My voice got lost within me. I felt hollow. Everything inside me sank at once. How could that be possible? Was she my twin sister? For she exactly looked like me. Or was that an illusion too?

"Who the hell are you?!!? Why do you look like me?!!! I am Maureen Evans!!! Hey!! Listen to me!!!" I screamed but it seemed she wasn't able to listen to me. She slept peacefully. I was finding it hard to breathe now. I screamed until my throat ached. Nobody was listening to me. I was sweating heavily. My head felt heavy and dizzy. I couldn't sit anymore and my head hit the pillow. I was beginning to drowse and the last thing I remembered saying was, "Who are you?"

I don't know what happened next. Everything was dark. I wasn't asleep, I realized. I had just closed my eyes. But I wasn't able to open them because they had become involuntary. A familiar voice gradually faded in. It was then I perceived that the surface I was lying on was covered with water. I tried opening my eyes. At first, it hurt but then I was successful. There wasn't any difference between the site I was witnessing while my eyes were closed and the site after I woke up. As I said, darkness and I were now in a mutual relationship. We had become intimate friends. I looked around and could feel the presence of Trevor next to me.

The voice I heard must have been his. I tried waking up and Trevor's footsteps intensified. "Hey, Maureen. Are you okay?" he asked. "Yeah, I am," I responded. I was now sure where I was. Trevor and I had successfully crossed the wall but I couldn't see anything special. I remember getting a vague image of something flowing. Something more like a stream but there was nothing like that. I guess someone had left the water tap open. I felt disappointed I didn't find anything interesting.

"Trevor," I spoke up, "do you know where I have been roaming all this while?" I questioned him.

"No, I woke up a few moments ago," he answered. There wasn't much energy in his voice. "Oh, but you know what? I collected a lot of information," I said, cheering both of us a bit. He didn't say anything. I guess he was too tired. I circled my hands in the air to form a fireball and was successful. I smirked proudly at my power and then turned my gaze to Trevor. He smiled back. I tried to figure out where we were through the little light emitted by the fireball. But nothing was detectable.

I tried standing up but unfortunately, I fell with a thud twisting my ankle. "Ouch!!!" I yelled and shut my eyes in pain. "Maureen!!! Be careful," Trevor said worriedly. My hands were no longer holding the fireball. It had extinguished as soon as it touched the water. Trevor helped me get up and both of us looked at our surroundings in awe. I guess that was the result of my fireball touching the water surface. We were in a dense forest with beautiful trees and fireflies. The site was truly magnificent. But we couldn't find where the bright blue light was coming from. It was somewhere far away from us but was connected with us through the stream.

Talking about the water. We weren't standing on a millimetre height of it, we were standing on the stream. I wasn't wrong, after all. There was this stream I could see. It had a depth of a few miles but we weren't sinking. I wasn't surprised because I was used to these kinds of illogical and magical incidents. But Trevor wasn't. His eyes nearly popped out when he saw fishes swimming in troops beneath our feet. They weren't normal fishes. They had spunky designs on their body. It was fun walking on the river. We sat on the midway as my ankle was hurting and Trevor was tired too.

"So, instead of sitting silently, I think we should tell each other, where we travelled all this while," I suggested resting my face on my wrist. "Yeah, you can start," Trevor said, nodding his head. "Okay. So let me start with me fading away. I saw my body disappearing completely and I shouted for help. I thought there was no rescue but then, you know what happened?" I took a pause. "Hmm, no. What happened?" Trevor asked, filling the gap. "I was lying on my bed and Olivia sat beside me," I stated. I could see him raising his eyebrows in surprise. " And on asking she said, she had never shifted to South Shields. In fact, she has never been to South Shields before. I was so confused, you know. Then I took a shower to calm myself down and decided to visit you," I continued.

"It was dark outside but still we chose to walk to your home. When we reached your house, I asked you about all these strange things and about Remora but you told me that you don't know anything about this!! At all." I held back when he exclaimed, "What?!"

"Yes. None of you believed me. But then I noticed the picture of that library stuck behind a wall painting at your home. Remember? That old library?" I asked and he nodded. " I plucked that picture out and showed it to you but you still didn't get it. So, feeling irritated, I pulled the painting off its place and everything went dark," I rested to take a breath. "Then?" he interrogated. "Then, when the lights came back, I was in our school library-", I was interrupted by Trevor again. "What?!! Our school library? What's special there?"

"Hold on. Let me complete it," I said, getting annoyed and he nodded in agreement. "I searched the desk of the librarian and it turned out that she was the assistant librarian of that library. And that building is known by the name The Old Castle Library. And you know what, it was exactly in the same place where the mall was built. Exactly on the same spot where the bookstore exists," I halted to see if he had anything to say.

"I- wha- okay. You may continue," he faltered. "And the moment I got my answers or more like my clues from the school library, the lights went off again. I walked for some distance but burst out into tears when I couldn't resist my hunger and tiredness. That's when I saw my home door approaching me with great speed. It stopped abruptly when it was just a few inches away from me. I pressed the doorbell and my mom opened the door. I changed into my nightclothes and had my meal. When I asked my parents about Olivia, they said she had shifted to South Shields a few weeks ago and that I was being crazy," I noticed Trevor was trying to say something but I gestured him to shut as I continued, "But the worst is yet to come."

"When I went to my bed to sleep. I tossed myself to the other side just to find another person sleeping on my bed. And that was me! She looked exactly like me. I shouted and yelled but she slept peacefully. And then, I felt drowsy too and when I opened my eyes, I was here," I finished my tale with a sigh.

Trevor looked at me with disbelieving eyes. "Hold up, let me process this shit," he said, breaking the stillness. He covered his face and rubbed it hard. "So you are saying, you saw a girl, who exactly looks like you sleeping in your bed?" he asked and I nodded. "Well, if you ask me, I didn't quite go anywhere. I was here all this time," he informed. "Oh, that's strange. But what do you think about that girl?" I inquired. "Whoever is doing this, he or she has a purpose. I guess that girl was your doppelganger and the Trevor you saw was my doppelganger. They are meant to be outside to cover up for us while we are stuck here," he said after thinking for a while.

"Then what about Olivia? Why is she having a doppelganger? And why not Remora having one?" I questioned him again. "I don't know. Maybe because the one who is casting the spells can't make a doppelganger of a dead person. I guess Olivia hasn't gone anywhere," he concluded. "What? What are you talking about? Cast spells? Olivia hasn't gone anywhere?? I am not getting it," I stated in confusion. "Okay, leave that. Even I am not able to understand what I am saying," Trevor replied and laughed nervously.

"You are high, Trevor," I giggled. "In love? Yes," he responded. "With whom?" I inquired, raising my voice. "Maybe with a human," he laughed. "I didn't find it funny, Trevor. Of course, it has to be a human. I want the name," I replied, squinting my eyes. "Okay, maybe you know her. She is beautiful, crazy. She loves adventure and mystery. And..." he halted and smirked. "And?" I muttered, my voice almost fading out.

"And she has superpowers..." He whispered in a husky tone.

A/N

To be continued.

So, yeah Trevor almost confessed it, didn't he? 😏 Okay, whatever. So what do you think about the doppelgangers, the peculiar stream and the unknown light source? What do you think about this whole situation? What will happen next? Can you guys guess it? There's no harm in trying.

I was eating an apple while drafting this, which reminded me of the proverb "An apple a day keeps a doctor away." But it isn't true. It should be rephrased, "A sneeze a day keeps everyone away."

LOL. Alright, a poor joke. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter. If you did then hit that star and don't forget to comment about how you feel about this chap. LOVE.LOVE. xx 🤡🤡

Yours incredibly beautiful authoh
~Nick~