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“You’re the one who said you wanted to see.” Tommie tugged on her sleeve. “Come on, let’s just go upstairs.”
Veronica ignored the pulling. There in the basement, locked in a large dog crate, was Tommie. But it wasn’t Tommie. Tommie was standing right next to her, still pulling insistently.
The Tommie in the crate mirrored Veronica’s wide-eyed surprise, staring up at her with unparalleled intensity. She shifted, pressing her forehead against the grating and threatening her fingers through the gaps.
“Ugh. Creep,” Tommie spat. “Well, there you go, since you didn’t believe me. I told you so. Anyway, let’s go. Seriously, I don’t like being around this thing.”
The Tommie in the crate didn’t look at her perfect double. She only looked at Veronica, with that same pleading face the real Tommie made when she was trying to convince her to go make a bowl of popcorn or get her phone or fetch a blanket so she didn’t have to get up from the couch.
“Sssure,” Veronica agreed slowly. It was all the confirmation Tommie needed: she ushered her up, slamming the basement door shut and locking all three locks firmly behind her, plunging her double into darkness.
“Well? Satisfied now?” Tommie asked, an unmistakable edge in her voice.
Veronica didn’t answer. She touched the basement door, the little bumps in the white paint. “Isn’t it a little cruel to keep her in a cage like that?”
“Um, what? It literally tried to kill me . More than once! It’s not like this was my first idea, you know,” Tommie scoffed. “Like, ‘Oh, OMG, I have a surprise twin! Better lock her in a fucking dog crate in my basement!’ A lot happened to get it to this point, okay? Besides, it’s not like it’s actually a person. I know it looks like me, and I’m very cute, but it is Not. Me. It doesn’t eat, it doesn’t drink, it doesn’t sleep. All living things need water, even bacteria and worms and shit, that’s like, basic biology. And this thing doesn’t.”
She badly forced a smile and poked Veronica in the chest. “So get any threesome fantasies out of your head, m’kay?”
“That wasn’t–you don’t need to make everything into a joke. I’m taking it seriously,” Veronica protested. “So what is it?”
“I have literally no clue. All I know is I don’t wanna get arrested for murder, and I don’t want a serial killer wearing my face in the news if I turn it in, and I definitely don’t want it running loose and killing me in my sleep. So this is what I’ve got.” Tommie sighed dramatically. “So now you know. So… I know that’s a lot to take in… but I’ve still got my question. What do you think about moving in?”
-
Every night since Veronica moved in, she laid awake thinking about the double in the basement, right beneath the floorboards.
She’d confirmed it, once, when Tommie was out of the house. The basement was right underneath the bedroom, their floor her ceiling. She could be looking up at her right now, only about a foot of flooring between them.
One night, she couldn’t take it anymore. She snuck out of bed, refilled her water in case Tommie found her and she needed an excuse. Then, down to the basement. The bar lock she could just flip open, the key to the keyed lock was hanging in the kitchen, and she’d memorized the combination that very first time Tommie had taken her down here months ago.
“Hello?” she called, flicking on the lights.
The Tommie in the cage squinted, shying away from the brightness.
“I’m sorry. Do you want the lights off?” Veronica asked, easing the door shut behind her.
“No!” she scream-whispered. Honestly, Veronica hadn’t expected her to speak. “No. Please, it’s so dark.”
“Okay. Okay. I won’t.” Veronica had the thought to sit on the steps, but walked down them instead, right up to the cage. She sat cross-legged on the floor, just barely out of arms’ reach. That should be safe. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Thinking what?” the double asked, wary.
“I just feel bad, I guess. Thinking of you trapped down here all alone.” Against her better judgment, she scooted forward, reaching out to brush a finger along the grating of the cage. “Do you have a name?”
The double shrugged. “Tommie calls me Dupe sometimes.”
“Did you have a name before that?”
“I don’t understand what you mean.” Dupe glanced down at the aluminum water bottle. “Can I have some water? Please?”
Veronica’s hand drifted to the cage lock, but she didn’t open it, not yet. “Tommie said you don’t drink.”
Dupe laughed, a joyless sound. “Tommie says a lot of things.”
She had to know.
Veronica unlocked the cage door, swinging it open with a creak she hoped wouldn’t wake her girlfriend. No sooner had she handed the water over than Dupe had it at her lips, gulping it down like she was dying of thirst. Only after shaking out every last drop did she hand back the empty bottle. “Thank you. You’re very kind.”
“I wouldn’t call that kind. Just not cruel.” Her head spun, her world cracked in two. If Tommie had lied about this, what else had she lied about?
“Then you’re not cruel,” Dupe conceded. “Is it okay if I come out? Please?” Her voice broke. “Just for a little?”
Veronica stood. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
Dupe crawled out of the dog crate, legs shaking like a newborn fawn’s as she rose to her feet. She stumbled, but Veronica was just barely able to catch her in time.
“I’ve got you. It’s okay,” she soothed. “You don’t have to go back in there.”
“Thank you.” Dupe leaned against her, and they stayed like that for a minute, two, five. She was colder than Tommie–the only physical difference Veronica had noticed so far. Eventually, Dupe pulled back, steady on her feet now. “You have to go back. She’ll get suspicious if she wakes up.”
Veronica parted from her reluctantly. “Okay. Just–stay here, and I’ll figure something out. I’ll get something prepared for you, a plane ticket, I don’t know. I’ll make sure you’re safe. I’ll come again tomorrow night, alright? And I’ll bring more water, and food, and stuff. She won’t notice?”
“Tommie never comes down here anymore,” Dupe confirms. “Meeting you was the first time she’d opened the door in years, I think.”
“Years,” Veronica whispered. “Don’t worry. I’ll come back for you. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
Dupe smiled. It was a smile she saw every day, on that same face, and it looked no different here, but it felt infinitely more powerful. “I can’t wait.”
Veronica padded back up the stairs. She did up the locks just the way they were when she found them, so Tommie wouldn’t notice, and headed back to bed.
-
When Veronica woke up hours later, one of them was straddling her with wild eyes and a knife pressed to her throat, while the other one laid dead next to her, warm blood pooling beneath the both of them.
It wasn’t hard to figure out which was which. Tommie’s corpse was still in her pajamas.
“Are you going to kill me?” Veronica whispered. For some reason, the thought didn’t strike as much fear in her as she felt it should have.
Dupe’s hand didn’t move. It didn’t slice, or stab, or saw. It trembled, just a little, not enough to split her neck open.
Her lips parted, and a full bottle’s worth of clear water spilled onto Veronica’s chest, just as cold as the moment she’d gotten it from the tap.
“I don’t know,” she said when it was all done, “I don’t know what happens now. I’ve never gotten this far.”
“Can I touch you?” Veronica asked. When Dupe gave her a jerky nod, she reached her arms up, sticky with the pooling blood, and cupped Dupe’s face. “You’re okay. You’re going to be okay. Just stay here with me.”
The press of the knife left her throat. Dupe lowered herself down, so she laid on top, her head finding the nook between Veronica’s shoulder and neck.
Veronica wrapped her arms around her, and before long, Tommie’s body cooled enough that there was no difference at all.