A shiver runs down my spine as I walk down my neighborhood sidewalk. Only the chill is not from the cold night air. It's from something else, something unseen.
A part of me tries to brush it off. After all I'm a single 22-year-old female walking alone in the at night. There's many scarier things for a young woman besides this, but not many. But this doesn't feel like the reason. Well, I guess that could partly be the reason.
As I walk the words of the old woman who was at the bus stop play in my head over and over; "
There's something wrong in the air
." She put into words what I was feeling. Something just feels wrong. Like, otherworldly wrong.
I can't explain it but I can feel it. It's like nature knows something isn't right and is warning everyone. That's why the breeze has that foreign chill. That's why the night air smells odd. It's why there's no one else walking even if it is only 7pm, the time for all the joggers. It's why I keep looking behind me as I walk.
Finally, I reach my house. I quickly move to the front door as I already had my key ready. I make sure to check around me multiple times before I move to the front door as it now feels like someone is following me. That even right now they are watching me.
My front door unlocks easily and I rush inside. I damn near slam the door as I race to lock it as if someone or something is running at the door to burst in. Looking at the small window on the door, I don't see anyone but I damn well feel them. And whatever it is feels close too. Makes me feel that I got the lock in just in time.
Being inside my house does give me some comfort. Maybe because it is familiar or maybe because I have a few weapons here I can defend myself with. But the way I feel at the moment, I don't want to turn on too many lights. I don't want to let the world know that I'm home.
With that in mind, I decide to forgo my normal routine of getting a glass of wine or some cheese. Instead I go straight up to my bedroom in the dark. It's on the second floor and this is the first time ever that my stairs have felt creepy. Like climbing stairs in a video game.
Once in my bedroom, I check under my bed like a little kid to make sure there's no monster there. There isn't of course, unless you call a pile of shoes a monster. Seeing this I do chuckle a bit because I know I'm being silly. This, at least, allows me to relax some. Feeling a tad better, I change into my pajamas, or at least what I call my pajamas; t-shirt and boy shorts underwear.
Standing next to my bed, I suddenly get a heavy dose of that feeling of being watched. This is confusing because I'm inside my bedroom with all the blinds down. There's no way anyone could see me at the moment. Hell, there's not even an attic above this part of the house.
I'm not sure why, but I move to the window. It's like something draws me to it. I then slowly pull apart two of the blinds to look outside. I then immediately let go and step back.
There's someone in the street looking up at me. Someone standing in the middle of the street, looking up at me.
I stand back from the closed blinds, stunned at what I saw. The person was looking UP at this window. They knew I was in here, but how? I didn't even turn on the overhead light as there's enough light from the alarm clock. So how in the hell did they know I was up here?
Unable to help it I move back to the blinds, only this time I go to the other side of the window. It's dark in the bedroom, so there's no way whoever it is can see me move. I don't even cast a shadow on the window.
Peeling the blinds apart again, I dispel the idea that I imagined seeing the person as I clearly see them. There's a figure...in the street...looking up at me. Only now I can tell it's a woman. There's a streetlamp behind her, which makes her front be cast in shadow, but I see the shape of her body. It's a woman for sure.
She has long blond straight hair just like I do. And I think she even parts it right down the middle like I do. And I'm pretty sure she's white. Or at least light skinned whatever race she is. And she's dressed in a weird way as it looks like she has on very little, like short shorts and a shirt. Not the clothes you would wear out in the chilly night.
Unable to stand it any longer, I let go of the blinds and step to the side. She was still staring up at me. Even now it feels like she can see me right through the blinds and the wall. This causes a rush of cold fear to run over me, like being in a bathtub when ice cold water is turned on. It's a horrible, paralyzing fear, the sort that makes every logical thought you might have change into panic.
Why is she looking at my house? Do I know her? Did I do something to her? I have no clue who in the hell she is. And I don't remember doing anything to the point someone would get creepy.
What do I do? Call the police? If I did, what would I say? There's a woman looking at my house and it is creeping me out? Would they even come out for that? I dunno. I don't think...not unless she tries to break in or something. So what do I do?
I stand there for at least 3 or 4 minutes as I panicky think of what to do. After so much time has passed, I do the only thing I can think to do, which is to inch back to the blinds. I then use my fingers to pull apart the blinds and sneak a look in hopes that she's gone. Maybe she left knowing she scared me.
My heart sinks and a fresh wave of that paralyzing fear runs over me as I see she's not just there but she's moved
closer
. She's now on the sidewalk right in front of my house! And she's still looking up, right at me as if she can see me through the half-inch slot I'm looking at her through.
But that's not the worse part. Oh no. Oh hell no. With her on the sidewalk the light from my neighbor's porch light softly illuminated her face. Only her face...it's not possible.
I tell myself I'm not really seeing what I'm seeing, but that's sort of hard to do as you are looking at the thing. Instead, I tell myself that is a dream, or that I've been drugged. But it can't be real.
She has my face. MY face. The face I see every morning in the mirror.
The woman outside looks just like me. It's as if she IS me. But that's impossible. It's just not possible. Yet here I am, looking at her. It looks as if that's me out there, staring up at, well, me.
I'm unable to look away or even move as I feel my breath exit my lungs. My body becomes so scared it just shuts down and doesn't let me move at all. This clone and I stare at each other, with her emotionless gaze piercing my terrified one.
Finally, after a lifetime of being a deer stuck in the headlights, I'm able to take a breath and regain some tiny bit of sanity. To this I move away from the window. I move to the side and place my back against the wall.
I need to do something, but what? I mean, she can't be me, right? I don't have a twin or even a sibling. This has to be a trick. And it's clear that she's after me or else she wouldn't be staring at my house. What's the point? What's the purpose?
Proof. That's what I need. Proof. Proof for the police. Proof she is trying to terrorize me. Then the police can come, arrest her ass and figure what in the fuck is going on. I need to get proof. To this I get on my hands and knees and crawl as fast as I can to my bedstand to grab my cell. My fingers tremble as I tap at the screen, trying to unlock it and get it to go to video recording.
With my cell ready, I move back to the window. My heart pounds as I part open the blinds again, only this time with my cell recording. Looking at the screen I'm a bit shocked because I see nothing but the sidewalk. Confused, I lower the cell and look outside. She's gone. But where? Where did she go?
Trying to be as discreet as possible not to make that much noise or movement, I start looking around. She's not in my front yard. Not on my sidewalk. Not in the street. Not in my neighbor's yard. Not even walking away. Where in the hell did she go? No way she could have run off down the street in the few seconds I wasn't looking. Where'd the hell she go?
Is she...at my front door? Or maybe at a window? Panic begins to build as I try to remember if any window here is open. The doors for sure will be locked, but the windows? I mean, they should be. I can't remember the last time I opened one of them. They have to be locked. But that doesn't mean she can't break one to get in.
I step back from the window and face the open door as I try to listen. As if I have super-hearing, I try to listen for any sound out of the ordinary. From a low grunt of someone trying to open a locked window to the creaking of someone coming up the stairs.
Nothing. I hear nothing. I listen as closely as I can, but I don't hear anything. My fear makes the passing seconds feel like hours, but nothing happens. There's no sounds at all.
I'm not sure what I would do if I did hear something, I guess call the police. But it's not like they will teleport here or anything. It would be me and clone-lady here until they arrive.