This all started on a Friday in autumn of 2006. My best friend, Logan, and I were exploring the woods after school. Logan was bragging about something cool he found earlier that day so I followed him through the cool, moist forest. The sky was gray and the only audible sounds, other than our footsteps, were the chirping of birds and insects. The ambience was beautiful and I vividly remember how peaceful things were.
However, my legs were already tired from PE class and I was having trouble keeping up with Logan. Walking miles into the woods after a long school day was already bad enough… but walking several miles BACK was gonna be a whole other story. There was also an awkward silence between us. He seemed to be taking this journey very seriously and wasn’t up for casual discussion.
“How far are we going?” I asked him, breaking the silence.
“Just to this one bridge. It shouldn’t be too far,” he told me, “I put a stick in the ground somewhere around here,” he replied. I facepalmed, stopping in my tracks. He turned back to face me with a confused look on his face, “what’s wrong?” he asked.
“You’re telling me… you want me to walk ALL this way… to find a STICK in the ground?”
“Yeah, I thought it was a good idea to- y’know, mark the spot?”
“Boys,” I said, rolling my eyes, “It probably fell out minutes after you grounded it! I’ll bet you ten bucks we’re not gonna find it,”
“Easiest ten bucks I’ve ever made!” Logan said cooly, “because I know exactly where we’re going,”
“Sure,” I muttered. We continued to traverse through the wilderness, continuing on our way to find whatever Logan had discovered, “Why though?” he asked suddenly. I looked up at him, “did your grandparents set a curfew today?” (I live with my grandparents and they were pretty strict about how long I was outside for). I’d usually only have an hour at a time. And if the sun set before I was home, I was in big trouble.
“My grandparents are out of town until tomorrow. They finally let me stay home alone. That’s why I’m able to go on this whole adventure with you. They didn’t want me to tell you I was home alone for the weekend because… uh… they don’t- really… like you,” I was nervous to tell Logan that. He was a funny, kind, and honest person. I’d honestly trust him with my life. He’s the only friend I’ve ever really had. And the thought of someone not liking him didn’t sit well with me.
“What? Why?” he asked, “I’ve always been nice and polite,”
“They keep thinking we’re dating or something. I don’t know. They can’t realize that a girl and a guy can just be friends, it’s annoying,”
“Ah, yeah, that’s the worst. But we’re only 12. I think they just want to protect you. I mean there’s a lot of messed up-” Logan paused and analyzed something in front of him. I walked closer to see what he might be looking at, “YES! There it is!” he walked over to the large stick protruding from the ground. He pulled it out with a vindictive smirk on his face, “ten bucks?” he held out his palm as if to collect the ten dollars I didn’t really have.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I said, admitting playful defeat, “you’ll get your money later,”
“That’s okay, you can keep it,” he replied, “But that means this thing is around here somewhere,” He walked diagonally from the stick, picking up speed in excitement. It was difficult to keep up with him but only minutes later, a huge bridge came into view. I was shocked. When he told me about this bridge, I had expected it to be a smaller, lamer bridge held together with rotted 2x4’s. But this was the type of bridge you’d see in a metropolitan area - the type of bridge several cars can drive on at a time.
The huge bridge went over the Sundale River. I looked back and saw the trees were aligned in a way that created a trail going from the bridge into the forest. It was clear there WAS a road or paved path years ago but the path itself must have faded over time… or perhaps it was covered up deliberately. I’m still unsure. There was a large fence around the entrance of the bridge, keeping citizens away from it. I wondered why it was quarantined and no longer used. It looked sturdy enough to sustain weight. I also wondered why I had never seen or even heard of this until now. I had lived in this town all my life.
“Logan- how?” I asked in bewilderment.
“I was just walking through the woods and saw this and found this on accident,”
“No, I mean how have we never heard of this before? I mean… I haven’t,”
“Me neither. It was probably lost in time. Or maybe someone DIED on it and the bridge became CURSED!” Logan yelled dramatically, waving his fingers around while smirking.
“Ugh, you’re dumb,” I chuckled. We gazed at the bridge for another minute, not saying anything. I studied its structure and ended up staring into space, thoughts and ideas running wild as I stared blankly - not paying attention to the sounds around me until;
“Ally!” Logan said suddenly. I phased back into reality.
“Uh, what?”
“The thing I wanted to show you is UNDER the bridge,”
“Oh, right,” we carefully walked down the slope, making our way under the bridge. It was a lot darker and cooler than I would have liked. I wasn’t necessarily scared, very low temperatures raise my anxiety. Eventually, we found it - the mysterious machine Logan was talking about. I’m not even sure how to describe it properly. It looked like a pile of rusty mechanical parts barely holding themselves together. The gears clearly hadn’t been turned in years and whatever this was had to be the oldest piece of technology I had ever seen.
“Ta-da!” Logan said dramatically, “This is what I wanted to show you,” he sounded so proud but it looked like an old computer attached to two giant refrigerators - all connected to some type of large machine. It was entirely covered in rust.
“This piece of junk?”
“Yeah!” Logan said enthusiastically, as if he was showing me something genuinely interesting.
“We walked THIS far just to see THAT? What even is this? This looks like it hasn’t been used since- the civil war,”
“That’s one of the reasons I brought you here. You’re smart. You might be able to figure out what it is…do you have any ideas?”
“No. I don’t have a dang clue,”
“Man… Well that sucks. I’m gonna take pictures and see if anyone I know can figure it out,” I studied the machine further while he took pictures on his fliphone’s camera. There seemed to be a lever that turned gears which would either push or pull something in the ground. I didn’t fully understand it but for a second, I thought I might have figured it out.
“Maybe try cranking this thing,” I told him, pointing to the big lever. He was stronger than me. He walked over to the end of the machine where I was standing. He pulled with all his strength and the handle actually budged. This allowed him to keep cranking it, which looked like a hard workout for him. Though then I noticed it was opening two compartments that were halfway lodged into the ground. Each compartment hooked up to one of the refrigerator-shaped machines. When Logan finally got both compartments open, it clicked. He took his hands off of the machine. His palms were blistering and slightly orange from the rust he had inadvertently gripped. He lunged over to further analyze the machine with me.
“What is this? A time traveling machine?” he giggled.
“No,” I pointed at the faded signs on both compartments that read ‘Insert DNA’, “But whatever it was, it wants DNA. Maybe it tests for diseases or something,”
“DNA? Ohhh! It’s a cloning machine!” I rolled my eyes.
“No, you idiot. It’s- well, whatever it is, it’s very old,” I glanced at all parts of this large machine, thinking it was primitive medical equipment, “I don’t know, maybe it’s how they keep track of people- like with fingerprints… like it’s a machine that traces your DNA back to you,”
“Ohhh, so it’s NOT a cloning machine,” I facepalmed, laughing a little, “A man can dream though. A man can dream,” Logan ripped off a piece of his hair and put it in one of the DNA compartments, “come on, we should put our DNA in and actually see what happens,”
“Why? Whatever it was, it’s just a rust-bucket under the bridge, it’s not gonna work,”
“I don’t know, let’s just do it for fun. Let’s just see,” I shook my head, not proud of what I was about to do. I ripped off a strand of hair and placed it in the other compartment. I really didn’t think anything of it at the time.
“Whatever. Let’s just go home now,”
“Wait, hold on,” he grabbed the lever and cranked it as hard as he could to close both compartments. I looked at him like he was crazy, “it’s for good luck,” he jokingly assured me. I laughed as we walked back up the steep hill and back into the woods. Though right as we got out from under the bridge, there was a faint crackling noise. I turned around to see green clouds of smoke erupting from the underground chamber.
“What the heck?” I said. I pointed at the greenish smoke which emitted from the machine, fearful it might cause a forest fire.
“Shoot! We better get out of here,” We both ran away. In hindsight, the best thing to do would be to make sure we didn’t start a fire but we were just irresponsible kids. We spent the rest of the day in downtown Oakdale. There wasn’t much to do in Oakdale - it was basically a gas station rest stop with a few old pawn shops and cafes. But if you were REALLY bored, you’d always find something to do. And everyone who grew up there knew how.
Logan and I walked into our favorite restaurant, Carrie’s Cafe, as if nothing had happened. In fact, I had forgotten all about the machine. It was the last thing on my mind. I was just glad to sit down. The smell of burgers, fries, and everything my grandparents never let me eat tormented me. Logan ate his giant double cheeseburger right in front of me as I stared at the checkerboard floors, the red cushioned seats, and listened to the same classic rock music they always played on the radios.
When Logan was done eating, we began the regular process of spending our free time thinking of things to spend our free time on. After that, we messed with shopping carts at our local grocery store and made prank calls. At around 10:00, I finally started getting tired. Up to that point, it had been one of the best days of my entire life. But the worst was yet to come. We started to walk home. Logan kept turning around every few seconds. After our years of friendship, I had come to know him well enough to understand his emotions. I could tell he was concerned or confused. Something was bothering him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him, “you keep turning your head. And you’ve been pretty awkward these past few minutes. Are you okay?”
“Uh- yeah, just… I thought I saw someone who looked EXACTLY like you - same clothes and everything - and I kept hearing footsteps and noises around us,” Logan plays a lot of pranks and jokes but I could tell he was genuinely serious about this.
Him walking faster made me scared. It caused me to walk just as fast. When we made it to my house, I asked him to come inside and hangout with me for a bit. I was a little scared and wanted his company until I felt safe but it’s not like I would ever admit this to him. We have a CCTV system so I knew having him inside my house was a little risky but I figured my grandparents probably weren’t gonna check the footage. As long as everything remained in-tact, there was no reason to.
We watched a few shows on TV before I finally felt sleepy and tired enough to let him go. I watched him walk out the door. I then turned the TV off and went upstairs. It was 12:15 and I was ready to pass out. I wanted to open the window and let cool, refreshing air into the warm room. But my window is jammed in a way it can’t be opened, so I plopped down onto my bed and fell asleep instantly. I even need any blankets…
–
“Hey! Psst! Ally! Ally!” I heard I recognized the voice to be Logan’s but I was barely conscious, still half-asleep. I sat up and looked at my alarm clock. It was almost 4 AM. My skin had accumulated a light layer of sweat, “Ally! Hey! Let me in!” He continued. It sounded like he was trying to yell but in a hushed whisper. At first, I thought I was just imagining his voice but I kept hearing it even after I fully woke up. I looked out my window and saw him standing in the front yard.
I couldn’t open my window and I didn’t feel like going outside or even trying to yell through the glass. I started texting him on my flip phone - which takes forever. Back then, you had to push buttons several times to type out single letters. It would take minutes at a time to type one word. (Smartphones DID exist but they weren’t as common. Now, everyone on planet earth has one).
“Hey, why are you at my house?” I texted. I looked outside again to make sure it was Logan and not some random creep. I was right. He knocked on my door. I started to walk downstairs and I was about to let him in but before I made it down the stairs, I heard my phone vibrate. I got a text from him;
“I’m playing Elder Scrolls 4,” sending a text like that on what we now consider such a prehistoric device would take focus and concentration. But I could still hear him talking and yelling outside my house. So how could he send this message while talking? I called him.
“Hello?” He said.
“Dude, what do you want?”
“What do you mean? I’m not even-“ the rest of his sentence phased out of my mind. I was listening to Logan talking on the phone… while hearing him yell outside. How could he be yelling to my window while talking to me on the phone? I panicked. This meant the person outside was actually not Logan. But I was SURE it was. Logan has a specific and unique face and voice.
“What the… I’ll try to get a picture,” I went to my bedroom window and aimed my flip phone camera at the man outside. The Logan lookalike noticed me in the window and looked at the flip-phone camera right as I took the picture. He then started tossing pebbles at the window. I’d hear taps on the glass every few minutes and it was making me feel even more uneasy. I sent the picture to Logan while on-call.
“Wait what? That- that looks like me… I mean he has cooler clothes, but what the hell? Are you pulling a prank?”
“No, I swear! I’m freaked out… what do I do?”
“I could come over and tell that person to piss off,”
“Nah, I don’t like that idea. You might get hurt or even… worse… he sounds and looks so much like you - it’s creepy,”
“Well what do we do then? Maybe you could call the cops,” I thought about that for a moment. I didn’t want the police. I had a feeling that if I tried, they’d contact my grandparents. It was flawed thinking and I should have called them but my grandparents were the type to ground me for things happening to me - even if they are beyond my control, especially my grandma. If she knew about this, I’d never see the light of day again.
They wouldn’t be proud of me for calling the cops, they’d be scared of letting me go outside. And who knows how long it would be until I got to see the sun again if that happened? Even through the layer of fear, I thought too critically for my own good. I should have gone with my instinctive impulse to call them but I didn’t.
“I don’t wanna do that. I know the cops will try and contact my grandma and I’ll never be allowed outside again,”
“It kind of sounds like you’re thinking of excuses,” he was completely correct. The fear from this situation was giving me too much adrenaline to bring myself to do anything, “Wait- what if that thing in the woods was actually a clone machine and that’s a clone of me?”
“Dude, stop it,”
“No, hear me out; I’m looking at this photo right now and that looks EXACTLY like me. I’m coming over whether you like it or not. I’ll be wearing my AC/DC shirt. I’ll go to the backdoor,”
“No, go to the doghouse. There is a way to get in through it,” My house has a doghouse in the backyard for our German Shepherd named Sparky. And inside it is one of those small doors where dogs can get in and out of the house when they want. My grandparents had my aunt babysit and take care of the dog while I was home alone. I wish I had him at that moment. I bet he could have aggressively confronted and scared off the intruder.
He agreed to go through the dog door. We said goodbye and I waited for him. Those few minutes felt like an eternity. And suddenly, I heard knocking on my bedroom door, which I had locked out of paranoia.
“Ally, come on now, unlock the door,” I was terrified. I had no idea who was at my door and when it occurred to me that the person was inside my home, I nearly threw up. I sat in my bed, frozen in fear. I was breathing heavily. I texted Logan;
“HE IS INSIDE MY HOME!” I had no clue how the person got in. I didn’t know if the person overheard me talking about the dog door on the phone or if they had picked a lock somehow. I looked at my bedroom door. Could it really be a clone? Just imagining the clone mambo-jumbo being real for even a second made my head hurt. I felt dizzy. When I get overwhelmed with fear, I get light-headed. I’m not sure if that’s normal but it’s always happened in tense situations. Just then, I heard someone loudly walk into the house through the dog door. I prayed it was actually Logan and that he’d confront the intruder.
“What the heck?” I heard him say. I couldn’t tell who said it but I assumed it was the REAL Logan realizing how identical this imposter was.
“Are you… me?” one of them said.
“I should be asking you the same question! How is this even possible?” Suddenly, I heard loud thrashing noises as if the two were fighting. At that point, I had to open my bedroom door. I walked into the hall and saw one pushing the other into the wall. I could tell who Logan was because of the AC/DC shirt. The intruder was wearing a red jacket with blue jeans. Both Logan and his imposter were shoving each other. But then the imposter punched the real Logan in the face. He put his hand over his nose. Logan was kind and usually non-violent. I had never seen him throw a punch at anyone. But the doppelganger was something else entirely. I jumped in front of Logan.
“Please don’t hurt him!” I pleaded. The imposter put his hands on my shoulders and I assumed he was gonna toss me to the side or somehow throw me aggressively. But Logan came from the side and smashed his doppelganger’s head with a vase. I had never seen him do anything like that before but he was always really protective of me. The vase broke over the fake Logan’s head. It didn’t knock him out but it did stun him for a while. He clenched the injury forming on his temple.
“Let’s get out of here!” Logan said. In the heat of the moment, I grabbed my cat, Mittens. I didn’t trust this intruder to be alone with her. She struggled but I kept her in my arms.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I have no idea,”
“Whatever happens, PLEASE don’t let the cops find out. I can’t have my grandma find out about this. She’ll freak out and ground me forever and it’ll just-” Logan wasn’t even paying attention to me. He was staring back in the direction of my house.
“That was my clone,” he said under his breath. I couldn’t deny it anymore. Even Logan had knew it. There was no other logical explanation - other than it all being some twisted dream. I still like to pretend this was all a dream. But it can’t be. I could feel the cool night air. I felt the fur of the cat in my arms. I could smell Logan’s natural body scent - being so close to him. The collection of my senses brought me to the horrifying realization that this was all genuinely happening.
“But how?” I asked, more to myself than to Logan.
“What if that old machine in the woods worked? I know it sounds crazy but I’d believe anything right now… wait a minute…” he raised his eyebrow, “What if YOU’RE a clone of… the REAL Ally?”
“I can’t be. We’ve been hanging out all day. Didn’t you say you saw someone who looked like me earlier in town? What if that was my clone?”
“Maybe. And believe me - I WANT to trust you. In fact, I DO trust you. I’m just… scared right now,”
“Me too,” Just then, Mittens scratched Logan’s arm while hissing, “I’m SO sorry about that!” I said. His arm began bleeding. The other Logan ran at us. Half of his face was still covered in blood.
“FOUND YOU!” he yelled. He had a knife in his hand. When Mittens saw him, she jumped out of my arms and took off down the street. I didn’t like the fact that she was running away but I was glad she was able to escape from all of this. I’d rather see Mittens leave than be stabbed in front of me. Logan and I began running again.
“Why is he chasing us?” the real Logan asked, “is he gonna kill us or something?”
“I have no idea!” I said, out of breath. I had to keep it together but it was hard when I was being chased by a psycho clone with a knife. Logan was a really fast runner. He played sports a lot and his clone was just as fit. I, on the other hand, am average weight. I am not particularly fast or slow. I was scared for my life. Eventually, I ran out of breath and physically couldn’t keep moving. The clone of Logan caught up to me.
We were in the middle of downtown. No one else was around since it was so late. The real Logan tackled his imposter to the ground. He tried to take the knife but failed. Logan was winning against his doppelganger. I sat there, trying to catch my breath. I wanted to intervene somehow but I needed to rebuild my stamina. Logan quickly got his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to me.
“Run as far away as you can and call the cops!” His voice was aggressive and authoritative. So I ran without questioning it or looking back. I took off in the direction of the forest knowing exactly where I was going. A long time ago, I helped Logan and his dad build a treehouse. It wasn’t a shitty little crafted piece of junk like most treehouses. This one was of high quality. I didn’t stop running until I got there. I nearly collapsed before walking up the rope ladder. I was out of breath. When I got into the treehouse, I laid down on the soft carpet.
I put my hand on my heart. My heart rate was incredibly fast. I held Logan’s phone and dialed 911. I put my thumb on the call button but didn’t press it. I have a natural distrust of police officers. There was a traumatic incident in my past involving police officers. I had flashbacks as my thumb was over the call button. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I sat there in confusion about what my next step should be. I loaded the airsoft gun Logan had left in the treehouse and looked out the windows one last time before passing out on the carpet.
I left him to die
He’s going to die
You killed him
The words echoed through my nightmares until… It was morning. I looked around, wondering how I was able to fall asleep with everything going on. I turned to the side and Logan was looking out the window.
“Logan?” I said tiredly. He turned back to face me.
“Oh, good. You’re awake,”
“What the hell happened?”
“You came back here and fell asleep. I knew you’d come here,”
“But what about you and the- the- whoever that was?”
“We fought for a bit but then a car came and he just- bolted out of there. He ran behind a building and I happened to run in the opposite direction. I went home and tried to get in. I yelled for my parents but my clone appeared at the door. He smiled at me… I guess since he has my memories, he knew there was a key under the welcome mat. He got into my house. I didn’t wanna wake my parents up so I went around looking for you. I figured maybe you could help prove that I am the real Logan,”
“Oh my gosh, I-I’m so sorry I didn’t… I’m sorry I left you… I’m sorry I-”
“It’s okay,” he interrupted, “don’t worry about it. I had a feeling you weren’t gonna call the cops and it’s all okay,” I sighed. It didn’t FEEL okay. I wanted to be able to trust police officers but due to my past, I just can’t. I tried convincing myself it had something to due with my grandma being pissed at me but deep down, I didn’t wanna imagine the incident from my childhood. Those flashbacks were the last thing I needed.
“Maybe we should go home now,” I suggested.
“I tried already,”
“This time, I’ll go with you,” he smiled. We both climbed down the ladder of the treehouse and hopped onto the ground again. We walked back into town. Local peers in town were greeting us but I wasn’t in the mood to talk. I gave them weak responses and pretended I was happy to see them.
We finally arrived at my house and saw my grandparents SUV. Logan watched me from a distance. I ran up to the door and tried to open it. It was locked. I rang the doorbell. Footsteps creaked across the floors of my house and they got louder and louder as someone came closer to the door. I felt like I’d finally be able to have at least some sort of comfort and safety being with my family but I was wrong…
The door opened and the face that appeared was my very own…