By Liam McManaman, April 2017.
Finn was enjoying another night at the beach with his friends trying to squeeze out the last bit of summer fun before he had to go back to high school. Being his senior year, this was his last summer before he would have to go to college and become a real adult. Finn was just like any other teenage boy in his town. Rebelling against his parents, working at the local golf course and not paying any attention to anything that wasn’t a girl or sports related. His friends were exactly the same way. All of them grew up together, played on the same teams, and went to the same schools. Now here they were sitting on the hoods of their cars at the beach staring up at the stars, talking about anything and everything.
Sitting on the hood of his friend’s car Finn was in paradise. He was free to live in the moment and push away all his worries. But only for a fleeting moment. Suddenly, the sky was full of meteors. Not just one or two – it seemed like every star was shooting across the dark canvas above them. It was the most magnificent thing he had ever seen. As if the sky was the dark African savannah and the stars were stampeding across it. He was mesmerized by the sight of it. But, he noticed that no one was as taken aback by it as him. Finn thought nothing of it as he was fixated on the stars. Then a blinding white light shone down on him; it was like turning on the bathroom light in the middle of the night. It expanded until it was all encompassing. All Finn could see was white. He couldn’t make a noise, couldn’t make a move. The light had him in its grasp. Then it was gone.
“Did anyone just see that?” Finn asked.
“See what dude?” his friends look at him with a puzzled look on their faces.
“All those shooting stars and the white light, did you guys not see it?” Finn was starting to feel as confused as his friends.
“You must have fallen asleep and had a dream man, cause everything has looked pretty normal.” They all laughed it off and went back to talking about what everyone got up to during the summer.
I must have fallen asleep. There’s no way that could have happened without them seeing it, Finn thought. Eventually he slipped back into banter and story telling.
When Finn woke up it seemed like what happened was more of a dream than anything else. Everything felt normal. He got up and sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing his eyes to rid himself of the early morning blurriness. Grabbing a t-shirt from the many that were scattered across his bedroom floor, he grudgingly making his way to the kitchen to make himself a bowl of cereal and some toast. His parents were away for the week on vacation with his younger brother. Finn decided not to go so he could spend as much time as possible with his friends before everyone inevitably split up after graduation. What he saw in the kitchen would turn his last year upside down.
Sitting there eating a bowl of cereal was a person that looked just like him. He had never screamed so loud in his life. The person sitting at the table returned the favour.
“Who are you? And what are you doing in my house?” Finn said.
“What do you mean, your house? This is my house. What are YOU doing here?” the other boy replied, getting up and backing towards the sink.
“My name is Finn, I’ve lived here my whole life.” Finn also backed up towards the opposite side of the kitchen.
“Wait, MY name is Finn. You couldn’t have lived here your whole life, because I have!”
The fear between them was slowly being replaced with curiosity. They both began to inch closer to each other with cautious steps. Recognizing the familiarity in both of their faces, they both touched the same scar on their cheek simultaneously.
“Holy shit! You’re me!” Finn yelled in surprise.
“And you’re me!!” the duplicate exclaimed, before silence fell over them.
Finn stepped back and pondered how this could have happened. Did the meteor shower and the white light actually happen? Maybe it had something to do with this.
“If you’re really me then tell me something that only I would know.” Finn said, looking at his duplicate with suspicious eyes.
The duplicate paused for a moment. Trying to think of something that no one else could know, not even ‘their’ family.
“I keep a box of love notes that I’ve written for Betty Hutchinson since grade six in my closet, behind my hockey gear in a secret storage cupboard that only I have the key to.”
“How do you know that?” Finn said, while his face turned bright pink.
“Because I wrote them,” said the duplicate, going equally pink.
“I guess we are the same” Finn muttered.
They both took a moment processing what just transpired. Suddenly Finn had a glimmer of an idea. It was a moment of realization that was only missing a lightbulb appearing above his head.
“This could be great.” Finn said, pacing around the kitchen.
“We could technically be in two places at once.” He kept repeating, as he wandered around deep in thought.
“Okay, how about one of us will go hang out with ‘our’ friends while the other does the chores around the house and goes to m— sorry, our job. Then we can alternate.” Finn suggested.
“Yeah, but what about when Mom and Dad come home? What will we do then?” The duplicate replied.
“We’ll deal with that when the time comes. This way we can pick up more hours at work and still hang out with everyone.”
The duplicate looked at Finn for a moment and nodded his head in agreement.
That was the start of their week-long adventure. While one of them was at work the other would be out with friends or out on dates and they would switch the next day. Both would have memories of doing what the other did that day. No one suspected anything at all and they were both enjoying this last week of summer, until they realized it was Saturday and Mom and Dad would be home the next day. Finn and the duplicate were sitting in the kitchen trying to find a solution.
“Okay so obviously both of us can’t be here when Mom and Dad get back.” Finn said, in a tone more tern than usual.
“Yeah, but then what are we going to do? This is my life,” the duplicate replied.
“It’s my life too, you know.”
The tension growing exponentially between them. The duplicate got up and leaned on the kitchen counter. Finn put down his glass of orange juice and went to go make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He always got hungry when he was stressed out.
“I can’t just leave. I remember growing up here. I remember all those nights I spent at the beach over the years and every single day that I had to sit in those boring classrooms,” the duplicate said, trying to hide the anger in his voice.
“But neither can I. I couldn’t leave my family and friends behind. It’s my senior year. This is supposed to be the most important year of my life,” Finn said, growing increasingly more frustrated.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the duplicate trying to hide one of the kitchen knives behind his wrist. Finn tightened his grip on the knife he was using to cut his sandwich in half. Trying to not give off any sign of suspicion. He looked over his shoulder again and noticed tears streaming down the duplicate’s cheeks. But his heavy breathing wasn’t out of sadness.
“You okay man? We’ll figure something out. Maybe Mom and Dad will understand.” Finn said nervously.
“We both know that they won’t,” the duplicate said, taking a step towards Finn.
“Then I guess one of us has to go,” Finn said, all the happiness and joy leaving his voice, replaced by the seriousness of what was about to happen.
Then the duplicate lunged, knife in hand.