by Mark Mulle
Chapter Seven
The short brown hair, the youthful face, the green shirt, the same build, he really was just like Steve. The only difference was that his eyes were very shiny, almost glowing. That could have been because of the moon, but it freaked Steve out. He slowly approached this person, who was just standing there like a statue, and then a smile spread across this person’s lips. According to folklore, everyone had a double of themselves known as a doppelganger. From what Steve recalled, if you looked into the doppelganger’s eyes, you’d die. Steve was alive so far, but now he believed in at least part of this urban legend. The doppelganger of Steve’s began to suddenly take off.
“Come catch me!” the doppelganger said. Even the voice closely resembled Steve’s. Steve started to run toward the person. Steve was never a runner; he did a nice jog now and then, but could never exactly go very fast. But Steve’s will cause him to go much faster, yet he still couldn’t catch this person. If there was a difference between them, it was that this person could run extremely fast and had athletics to boot. This person jumped over a bench like it was a sleeping cat. This person could hop across stones that were located near the park. This person could even throw obstacles to slow Steve down. They passed a house, and quick as a hot knife to butter, the person grabbed a vase that was sitting on a windowsill. Steve had just gotten close to this person when he threw the vase toward him. Steve ducked, but that slowed him down by just the right amount. The person then ran into an alleyway with a dead end ahead. Had Steve caught him?
Then Steve noticed the ladder that was against the wall. The person climbed it up with Steve following suit. This person could climb like a monkey, but Steve took his time. Eventually, he was on the rooftop, and the doppelganger had been waiting patiently.
“Who are you?” Steve said.
The doppelganger took off, hopping to the next roof. He jumped like he had springs attached to his shoes, getting to the next rooftop with plenty of room to spare. When Steve jumped across, he barely landed on the edge. Their chase continued as Steve and his doppelganger jumped from rooftop to rooftop, and one time, Steve didn’t make the jump. His hand grabbed hold of the edge, and he had to pull himself up. By then, this doppelganger had made it to two other rooftops before stopping. Steve didn’t know what this person’s deal was. Did he want Steve to catch him, or did he just want to play with him? And not the friends-having-fun kind of play, either. Steve felt like he was a mouse in front of a cat that played with its food before eating it. All Steve knew was that they were running out of rooftops. The doppelganger kept jumping until he was heading toward a house in the corner with no other houses surrounding it. Eventually, the two landed there.
“You can keep up, I see,” the doppelganger said. Then he unsheathed a sword that was blue in hue. Steve recognized that as a diamond sword. He remembered Wendy saying that someone had bought diamonds weapons who resembled Steve. Steve took out his regular steel sword but wasn’t confident with himself. Even if Steve was more skilled, he doubted that his sword would last long if it was struck by the diamond sword. He needed to avoid the doppelganger’s attacks and look for an opening.
“But can you keep up like this?” The doppelganger charged toward Steve, who quickly jumped out of the way to avoid being struck. Steve hadn’t expected a fight right now, and all he wanted to do was to just go home. He had enough adventuring for one day. The doppelganger was extremely fast, and Steve could barely avoid his attacks. He had little room to actually attack himself, as this person left no openings.
“Why are you attacking me? I just want to know who you are,” Steve said.
“I don’t think you’d listen to my reasons. All I’m going to say is that a change will be coming to Chance, and you’ll be the one to watch it.” As he said this, his eyes appeared to shine even brighter. Whomever this man was, Steve was terrified of him. All he wanted to do was just figure out whom he was and why he looked so much like Steve.
“A change? Like what?” Steve asked.
The doppelganger giggled. “You’ll find out soon enough. All I’m going to say is that it will be fantastic, and you’ll be the one to witness it. Oh, but don’t you worry, I have front-row seats saved for you.”
This person was out of his mind. Steve charged toward him, but the doppelganger glided away from him, his movements so accurate that it almost seemed ghostly. The doppelganger slashed, and Steve had no choice but to block with his sword. It cracked a little bit as it was hit by the rough diamond surface.
Steve tried to keep an opening, but the person just smiled and said “Okay, I think you get the point. Let’s finish this.” The doppelganger charged toward Steve, who backed out of the way. Steve felt his feet touch the edge, and he blocked with his sword. That was when the sword shattered into pieces. The doppelganger then punched Steve in the stomach. The wind was knocked out of him, and before he could recover, the doppelganger pushed him off the roof. Steve fell and landed on a pile of garbage bags that someone had threw out of their window. Steve was in pain and felt disgusting, but at least they had broken his fall. He looked up, and he could see the doppelganger peering from the roof, smiling. He looked almost like a monster from this angle, and his eyes were now shining.
“We’ll be in touch,” he said. He then walked away. There was a ladder right next to the house, so Steve climbed up it. He was in pain and now unarmed, but he had to catch this doppelganger. When he climbed to the top of the roof, he was gone.