THAT’S NOT ME
As long as I can remember I’m always around someone, whether that’d be my parents, siblings, cousins, or even my friends and teachers. I yearned to be alone for just a moment, where my thoughts and facial expressions aren’t constantly being read by others around me - I want to be my own person. Don’t get me wrong, I love these people and they’ve been nothing but nice and supporting towards each other.
Some may question on my role in all of this; I’m the replaceable. If I’m gone nobody would notice, let alone even care. How could they not? I barely even make myself noticeable or contributes in anything, but I still don’t know how I just cannot get them off of me and leave me be for a second! I’m tired of this.
In amidst of all of this, I have planned something special on my birthday, I would be sneaking out from the house right as the clock stroke midnight. I’ve planned to go for a night stroll in the nearby park, I am especially excited to feel the cold night breeze hitting my face as it is currently autumn, my favourite season.
Right as the clock strikes midnight on my 21st birthday, I finally put my plan into action and snuck upstairs into the attic and climb out the window and landed on the roof slowly and carefully, I have set a ladder beforehand for me to climb down from the roof. Once my feet touched the ground, I let out a sigh of relief. Relieved that I’m alone, relieved that my plan had worked, relieved to be outside on my own terms. I began my stroll through the night with my wired headphones on and breathing that fresh night air and feeling that cold night breeze I’ve yearned all my life. I walked to a nearby park and sat on one of the swings.
At this point I was feeling alive, and I hummed a soft tune as I’m listening to it through my headphones; it was calming and cold. Then is when I heard something, it sounded like a metal creaking, I slowly opened my eyes and look to the right of me, one of the swings swayed by itself. I was a little weirded out considering the wind had stopped a good 15 minutes ago, so I ignored and continued to drown myself in my music playlist, not even two minutes in I heard a voice saying “you” directly into my right ear which is covered by the headphones. I jolted up and proceeded to look around me, there in the bushes 20 feet from me I saw a face, a face so dark that all I can see are its white eyes with pupils so small it’s almost not there and a smirk so menacing it looked like all its sharp fanged teeth were going to pop out its mouth.
I was stuck, I can’t move, and my feet seemed to be one with the ground. It came out from behind the bushes and its long skinny arms are almost tentacle like and its tall figure only stood there towering over me, it’s almost as tall as the streetlamp. My shocked expression only got worse when this creature starts to twitch rapidly, and its height matched mine and all its features copied mine. It is me now. The face, the height, my outfit and even my headphones… it morphed into me.
At home, mom does her nightly routine of checking each room to see if we’re asleep. She noticed that I was not in my bunked bed and woke the adults up and went out to search for me.
Meanwhile, I was still face to face with what is now myself, or my doppelganger, a shape shifter, it. It smiled at me and taunting me with its deep growling voice, that same voice I heard in my right ear.
“You should have listened to them…”
“You should have listened to your mom…”
“Maybe now you’d be more careful when you’re all alone…”
I fully regretted what I have done, and my scared expression turned to sadness. It looked at me and slowly turned its head to the right and I followed her gaze, there I see my mom. Finally! I’m saved but I still can’t muster out a single word out. Mom slowly and carefully walked toward us, and this cunningly malicious creature copied my facial expression and looked at my mom with teary eyed like mine. Mom looks at it thinking it’s me. Then is when I yell and yell and nothing came out… I was silenced by this creature. Mom grabbed its hand and hugged it in front of me, they then left me all alone, stuck. It turned its head at me and gave me that menacing smirk again. Mom didn’t see me, nobody sees me. That’s not me.
I was left there all alone, just like how I always wanted. This isn’t what I want, I don’t wish to be abandoned, replaced. My leg is now nothing like it was before, it’s now a skeleton of its former form. My body had rotted long ago. I’m now just a soul and my dead body is just there where it last stood, still invisible to the naked eye, only animals see my remains. I now know that I’m cursed from birth and that creature had promised to my parents to replace me when we met. I now roamed the Earth as I’m bound to it for eternity.