I am You

I awoke in a white void with the ground above me and the sky below me. Dark stars twinkled beneath my feet.

“Hey, little puppy,” came a voice.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m you,” I walked before myself as though I looked into a mirror. He wore a white lab coat, dark skin, and messy black curly hair the size of a football, exactly like mine. His fat nose touched mine. My black eyes reflected in his own black eyes.

“You…” I pointed my trembling finger at him.

“Father?” my daughter’s voice came through the sky beneath me. “Where are you, Father?”

“Everywhere,” said my Doppelganger.

“No, don’t listen to him,” I said. “Lily? Lily?”

“Oh, don’t you speak my daughter’s name.”

“She’s mine.”

“No, no, no, I’m the real one. You are only my reflection.”

“You’re lying.”

“Arno,” he said, and my eyes widened.

“How do you know my name?”

“My name. Remind me, who has just woken up, and who has been here, to be honest, I don’t know how long. You can’t really tell time here.”

“What is this place?”

“Nowhere. You woke in a void, didn’t you?”

“How did you…” I took a step back.

“They weren’t your thoughts, little puppy. They were mine. You are my reflection.”

“No, I came from outside. You were here. That’s why you lost track of time.”

“Do you know how I even came here?”

“I…” I touched my chest. “Discovered another world and opened a portal to it.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“See, your memory isn’t yet complete. If it were, you would know that I ordered my daughter to open a portal again after an hour.”

“Then why are you here?”

He smiled, and my face pushed to copy his. I bit my lips. “How are you doing this?”

“I conclude that for me to escape, I must leave behind a copy of myself. This is why I created you.”

“Father,” my daughter’s voice rumbled at my feet.

“Lily,” I said. “I’m the real one. I was—.”

“In my lab.”

“The time was—.”

“Twelve o'clock. Noon.”

“I was trying to enter—.”

“The Void.”

I opened my mouth but then closed it.

“You see, little puppy, you succeeded. You are in the void. You are nowhere. Because you are not real.” He pointed his finger at me, and it went through me. I quaked and fell. “I need to go back to my daughter.”

“You see, little puppy, you succeeded. You are in the void, you are nowhere. Because you are not real.” He pointed a finger at me, and it went through me. I quaked and fell. “I need to go back to my daughter.”

A dark crack formed behind him, and he said, "You stay here, okay?"

I nodded as the crack broke and became a pathway. My grey lab appeared from the other side.

"Father, is that you?" Lily said. I ran toward the other and jumped on him.

"No, I'm the real one."

"I or we hate our lab partner. Does that convince you?" He punched him and stood to run.

"No, I like my partner. He's a good friend."

"You don't know. My wife cheated on me with him. But he’s invaluable, so I keep him around."

My hand reached out from the crack, but he pulled me back and threw me away.

"I can read your every thought," he said. "Then he morphed into a twenty-meter-high white marble statue. His face was a symmetrical oval, with a sharp-as-a-knife chin. With no neck, his face floated above his chest. A great white shawl flowed and covered his body to his knees. A great spear melted into his right hand, its tip so sharp that it could cut a mountain like a potato. With no eyes, ears, mouth, nose or lips, his bare face glared at me, and he said: Because I'm you." He stepped on me as though I was a cockroach. I throbbed like a fish fresh out of water. I gathered all my strength to breathe; but couldn't as if my nostrils got blocked. The giant statue took two steps toward the crack. With all my might, I tried one more time, and I breathed. I stood and rushed toward the crack and jumped through it. I gazed at my daughter's glowing face, but my stomach ached as though every organ had exploded. I fell to my knees, and blood leaked from my ears and mouth. I fell into a pool of blood.

"Father," she said. The statue's first finger went through the crack, and with my blood, I wrote: close it.

She ran toward the machine shaped like a glass cannon and shut it down. The crack snapped shut and cut off the finger. It fell beside me. My blood re-traced itself, and I breathed again. Lily ran and hugged me; a cool breeze swept through my body. I rubbed her head and heard footsteps.

"Hey, buddy," said David, my lab partner.

I looked at his boastful face, and I just wanted to kill him.