I had one more delivery. It was late in the afternoon, and I had made enough money for the day to call it quits. It was a grocery order out in the boonies. I don’t know why I took it. It was a small order- a pack of bacon and a box of condoms. I felt like I should pitch in a case of beer to complete the order-on me of course. The house was off the main road tucked away in some wooded hills. The dirt road driveway meandered up and down and around several curves, until it opened up onto the main property at the bottom of a hill. There was a rustic country house with a two-door garage. There were a number of animals on the property, especially a large number of chickens.
I parked my truck and went up to the front door. I left the bag on the front porch and took a picture of it with my phone. I punched in the order as complete, rang the doorbell and went to my car. I sat there for a minute. I don’t know why but I was curious to see who would order bacon and condoms. Not really that odd, but not something I deliver every day either. I try to imagine the personality of the people I deliver to by the groceries they order. I guess the only thing I could gleam from this order was that this guy was a carnivorous stud, running out of condoms quite frequently. Something I couldn’t say about myself.
No one came to the door. Must’ve been busy. I started to back out of the driveway. I turned to look behind me as I went into reverse. There in the sky was a bright hovering red light. It pulsated and a thick nauseous mist disseminated out from underneath the light. I felt sick to my stomach. I looked back toward the house. Some of the chickens were dead, others were walking erratically. The front door of the house opened but no one came out.
I woke up the next morning, or at least I thought it was the next morning. When I looked at my phone, it was two days later. Maybe I was dreaming. I was disoriented, trying to understand what had happened or if it had even happened at all. I looked at my past orders and sure enough there it was. The home address with an order of bacon and condoms. I tried my best to remember the rest of the night or more importantly, how did I get home. I thought that maybe I should drive back to that address and see what was there.
I was waffling on my decision to go back or not. It’s one thing to deliver an order but quite another to trespass and it’s not like I could say I was turning around. Once you get to the house it’s pretty obvious you committed to going the distance. Eventually I convinced myself to do it, but I had a story to fall back on. I was going to say that I thought I left something out of the order and wanted to know if he had everything he needed.
I got to the house and noticed that the front door was still opened. Now, every chicken in the yard was dead, carcasses lying everywhere. I put the truck in park but left it running with the door propped open in case I needed to make a quick escape. I walked up the front porch stairs and looked inside. The house was empty. There was no furniture. The floors and walls were nice and clean. There was nothing cozy about this place. It was too sanitized. Wiped clean of all color, all white. It was nothing you’d expect of a house in the hills. The exterior was country cottage, but the interior was a hospital.
“Hello. Anyone home. I was just checking on your grocery order.”
Nothing. I ventured inside and made my way through each room on the lower level. The kitchen, living room, bathroom, and dining room all the same, nothing but white walls and floors. I was obsessing about the brightness of it all. It didn’t look real. I walked over to one of the dining room walls, reached out to touch it but my hand went right through it. I jerked back my hand and went to another wall to do the same. This time it was solid. I wandered at that point if I should just run. This was too much, but I was curious about upstairs. I was both frightened and intrigued.
I started to climb the stairs, half expecting my feet to go right through the illusion and fall flat on my ass, but it was solid, and I quickly made my way upstairs. I would take a quick look and get out of there. There were no rooms, but one large open area, with a vaulted ceiling. Up against the far corner was a pod. It looked like a silver coffin with a tiny window, entwined with cables and wires. I walked up to the pod and inside I saw me, except that in certain parts of my face there were dark reddish spots and exposed veins. Whatever was happening it seemed the process was not quite finished. The body inside the pod opened its eyes. I was startled. I ran out of there and got to my truck, backed out and headed up the driveway but I don’t remember ever getting out of the property and onto the road.
The next morning, I woke up. I grabbed my phone and looked at the date. Two more days gone. How could I sleep two whole days? It was impossible. I had to be losing my mind. There was a knock on my apartment door. I answered it. It was my neighbor, a big burly guy with a long red beard.
“You got a problem son,” he said as he started to act is if he was about to commence beating me into oblivion.
“Whoa man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You ever talk to my wife like that again and I’ll kill you!” He stormed off but looked back over his shoulder to give me one last threatening stare.
I didn’t have time for this. I had to go do some orders, make some money. Time was getting away from me and rent was due. I took a shower, put on my clothes, and went out to the truck. The first order on my phone was that address with an order for bacon and condoms. No thank you. Hit cancel. I accepted another order, a bigger order close by that would make more money.
I didn’t get a chance to complete the order. I don’t know what happened. I woke up from a deep sleep, but I wasn’t in my apartment. I was in my truck parked in front of that house. The front door was wide open. I reached for the ignition, but the keys were gone. I looked back towards the house and out walked my doppelganger. I was stunned and unable to make myself move. It was weird to see myself walking towards myself. As he got closer, I could see that we weren’t a perfect match. He had a large vein protruding from his forehead. I started to get out of the truck and run but he pushed me to the ground, rolled me over, and sat on top of me. He was unusually strong. He put his hands around my throat and started to choke the life out of me.
I woke up in my bed. It was night and now I was confused about everything. I didn’t know the date, the time, or even who I was. I walked to the living room and there sitting on my couch was my big burley neighbor. He turned toward me but this time he wasn’t agitated but frightened.
“Please don’t hurt me. Man, that was a month ago. I’m sorry, but you know I got to protect my family. You would do the same. “
“What are you talking about and what are you doing in my apartment?” I started to walk towards him and noticed that his hands and feet were bound by rope. The front door opened, and my doppelganger walked in with a large butcher knife in his hand. Now my neighbor was both confused and frightened. The doppelganger didn’t hesitate. He walked over to my neighbor and shoved the butcher knife into his throat. He slowly pulled it out and then shoved it right back in. He seemed fascinated by the process. He did it several more times. The doppelganger was blocking the front door, so I had to run to my bedroom and jump out the window. As I got out the window, I looked back, but I didn’t see him following me. He wasn’t pursuing me at all.
Where was I going to go. There was a dead guy in my apartment and no doubt people had seen me talking to him. I had no family here in Georgia. I had moved from California. I thought maybe I should just go back home, but that would be the obvious thing to do. The police would expect that. I needed to just randomly pick a place on the map and start all over. I decided to pick a place that I would enjoy, reasoning that I would probably spend the rest of my life in jail anyway, might as well have a good time until I got caught. I would drive down to Florida and visit the beach. I walked around to the side of the apartment building and peered around to see if he was at my truck. I didn’t see anyone there. I ran to the truck, hopped in, and got out of there. I drove to the interstate and headed south. Maybe I’ll get one last look at the ocean before I’m locked up in a cell.
I drove for three hours. I was getting extremely tired. I pulled over to a rest stop and took a nap. I woke up parked right back at that damn house. I looked at my phone, and yet again, two more days had passed. I was done. There was no escaping. I had to go and confront this thing and just either kill it or be killed. I walked through the open door and went upstairs. There on the floor was my neighbor with his head barely attached. I walked over to the pod. There was my doppelganger, but he looked completed. There was no ridiculously large vein. It was finished. I needed to get in that pod and kill that damn thing. There can only be one of me. I looked for hinges or a handle, anything that I could pry open. There was nothing but I did see a seam. I hadn’t noticed until now, but I had been holding the butcher knife all this time. Did I grab it as I came into the house? I saw my neighbor’s blood, not fresh, but dried and peeling. I drove the knife into the seam and used it like a lever. The top panel gave a little and I slid my hands in between and begin to pull. I was looking down and yanking on the panel when finally, it opened. I stood erect and looked to see that the pod was empty. I dropped the knife. I felt as if I was going to faint.
I went downstairs to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed some water in my face. I looked up at the mirror. On the side of my forehead was a ridiculously large vein, protruding and pulsating, thumping hard, and giving me an excruciating headache. I fell to the floor, my vision blurry, and before I passed out, I heard a chicken in the yard.
I woke up in my truck at a rest stop surrounded by police, blue lights flashing, a dozen or so cars. I could hear them commanding me to slowly get out of the truck with my hands in the air. I complied of course, what else could I do? I got down on my knees and then laid on my stomach. They rushed over and handcuffed me. They put me in the back of a squad car. I posted bail, the judge decided I wasn’t a flight risk. As we drove off, I saw a large red light in the sky. I posted bail, the judge decided I wasn’t a flight risk, but I can’t honestly believe that to be true. I don’t have any idea where I’m going to wake up next. I pray that the next time I wake up it would be on the beach with the wind in my face, and the sound of the waves in my ears.