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Todd heard someone approaching.
“Who’s that?”
Tukluk approached Todd and placed an arm on his shoulder.
“It’s the answer to all your questions, my friend,” he said cryptically, as the wheelchair finally arrived and Chuck stopped in front of the cell, turning Gemini to face Todd.>
They stared at one another.
Gemini’s wilted body stiffened, his sedation suddenly sobering as he peered into the cell at a man with long hair who possessed his face and his eyes...even his scar.
Todd seemed in shock and at first he just stood in the middle of his cell without moving. He took a few steps forward, unsteadily, grabbing one of the bars for support as his lips parted slightly as if to speak, but said nothing...all he could do was stare, fixated on the image before him. The man sitting there was a double, an exact replica of himself with the exception of his hair, which was short and lightened. Everything about him was the same: every pore in the same location, every eyelash accounted for, even the shadowy pattern of his beard stubble was mapped out like his own.
“What the hell is going on...” Todd finally managed to stammer under his breath.
“Imp...possible...” gasped Gemini, shaking his head slowly with the little energy he had.
Chuck walked up to the cell.
“Not impossible. Todd, this man is Gemini...and he’s...well, he’s been replicated to be just like you. He’s a...a clone of you.”
Todd was frighteningly quiet, concentrating on Chuck’s lips as he uttered the term “clone”, his eyes narrowing as his mind processed its meaning slowly. He stood erect and motionless, straining and tense, his body quivering tightly like the string on a bow when it can no longer bear the tension of the impinging arrow laboring to be released. Suddenly, he lunged forward and grabbed Gemini through the bars, catching him by the throat and clawing at his face.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? HA? IS THIS A MASK...LET’S SEE...,” shouted Todd, tearing at Gemini who was too weak to defend himself. Todd’s fingers left thick, red welts as his nails slashed viciously at the face before him, trying to gauge Gemini’s flesh from his bone...trying to remove it.
“NO, TODD!” shouted Tukluk, jumping up and pulling Gemini away before Todd could hurt him.
Todd leapt toward Chuck, reaching out for him in his incarcerated futility with murder in his eyes. He slammed himself against the rigid bars and grunted with frustrated agony. Chuck jumped back instinctively fearing Todd would walk right through the steel, melting it with his acid rage.
“ARE YOU ALL TRYING TO DRIVE ME INSANE? IS THAT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT,” shouted Todd hysterically, his hands slashing at the air as he tried helplessly to get at Gemini through the bars. He glared at Tukluk, raging as he yanked on the bars. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE A FRIEND...YOU BASTARD! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER THAN TO TRUST ANYONE. LET ME OUT OF HERE AND I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU...”
“Todd! Calm down! This isn’t a joke,” said Chuck. “We’re trying to help you...to make you understand what’s been going on here.”
“Todd, Chuck is right,” Tukluk pleaded. “ Believe me...I didn’t believe it either at first...but...now I must. This man is a clone of you. He’s been living your life in Llanview for the past three years.”
Gemini stared at Tukluk.
“I’m Todd Manning...I’m...Todd Mann...” he whimpered.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! THERE’S ONLY ONE TODD MANNING IN THE UNIVERSE...AND HE IS ME. I’M TODD MANNING,” said Todd, fuming, pointing at himself emphatically, trying desperately to cling to an identity that he felt slipping away from him.
Todd turned away and started pacing manically in his cell, his fingers tearing nervously at his long hair.
“Oh god...oh my god! Oh, hell...what the hell? Okay...think....think, Todd, think. Starr...Tea...they think he’s me? All this time...thinking he’s me? He’s been with them? He’s been with...Tea?”
Whipping around suddenly, his raging eyes turning from a soft gold to vitriolic green, he approached Gemini again.
“I’LL KILL YOU IF YOU TOUCHED THEM! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FAMILY?”
Gemini looked up at him.
“My family...love my family. Love Blair... the kids...”
“Blair? What the fuck...what’s he talking about?” asked Todd, glaring at Tukluk.
“I don’t know...who’s Blair?”
“Blair...she’s my...wife...” said Gemini.
Todd started laughing, looking relieved, almost cocky.
“Okay, now I know this is some sort of hoax. Blair’s not my wife, she’s my bitch of an ex-wife...Tea’s my woman. This guy’s blown his cover. Sorry...buddy, you just blew it! This guy’s had some plastic surgery, that’s all. Probably trying to get his hands on my money...this is a scam! Maybe that’s why I’m here...just a scam to get my money. Are you all in on this?”
Chuck moved closer to Todd.
“Todd, this is no joke. I’ve seen the medical records to back this up. Look, I don’t know who Blair...or Tea are, but, I can tell you this guy has been living in Llanview Pennsylvania as Todd Manning for the last three years.”
Again Todd was quiet, frighteningly so, watching Gemini who looked confused and pale, his eyes closing.
“Bring him to me,” Todd said commandingly to Tukluk, who had pulled Gemini to the opposite wall.
“You promise not to hurt him, Todd? This man is a victim too...just like you.”
“I promise...” he said quietly.
Tukluk pushed the chair as close to the bars as possible and Todd crouched down so that they were at eye-level, their faces just inches apart.
“My god....” Todd whispered, looking at eyes he’d only seen looking back at him in the mirror, noticing the golden flecks on Gemini’s irises laid out in an identical pattern to his own.
Who...are...you?” asked Gemini, his glassy eyes filled with terror.
“Tell me...Gemini...where are you from?”
“Not Gemini...I’m To...Manning. I live in...Llan...Pennsylvania.”
“Tell me about...your wife.”
“My wife...Blair...we’re a family...”
“How’s Starr...my daughter?”
“Starr? My daughter...” said Gemini, getting agitated and looking exhausted and depleted.
“And...Tea?”
“Tea? Tea...beautiful...,” he said, looking away. “Suppose to love Blair..Blair is my family. Tea...gone. Tea’s crying...need to get back to my family...to Blair...”
“What the hell are you saying? Tea and Starr are my family...you got it all wrong.” Todd stood up. “This guy isn’t a clone...he’s a clown. Someone misinformed him about my past. I don’t know how this guy got my face...but he’s not me.”
Chuck walked up to Todd.
“Todd, I know this is difficult for you to comprehend, but this institute was set up for human replication...for cloning. It pretends to be a research facility that studies human growth hormones, but it’s not. It’s why I came to study here. Gemini doesn’t just have your face...he’s you, a perfectly engineered, genetic duplicate...the same in every way. I’m not sure how it was done, but they replicated your DNA, used growth hormones to advance the aging process and programmed him for years to believe he’s you. He’s been living in Llanview all this time and no one realized you were missing.”
Todd shook his head.
“NO! This is bullshit! Maybe Blair is too much of an airhead to know the difference...but Tea? Tea would know if it wasn’t me. She knows me...she knows every part of me. And Starr? Hell...Starr would know her own father! This is ridiculous...this guy thinks he’s married to Blair!”
“Todd,” said Tukluk,” I think he believes he is.”
Todd stared at him then leaned against the wall closing his eyes.
“Are you telling me this guy went back to Llanview and married Blair and is raising my kid? But...what about Tea? How does she fit into this?” he asked, walking back over to Gemini, who seemed to be wincing with pain, losing consciousness.
“WHERE’S TEA, YOU SICK BASTARD!”
Gemini’s eyes flew open.
“Tea? No...not Tea. Suppose to love Blair...”
“STOP SAYING THAT! What the fuck’s wrong with him?”
“Anxiety stimulates his programming...the more aggravated he gets the more he reverts back to his programming, only...it’s not working properly. The morphine is confusing him...” said Chuck, pulling the clamp off the morphine drip and watching the clear liquid enter the intravenous tube, giving Gemini some relief. “He’s in a lot of pain. He’s dying, Todd.”
Todd looked down at Gemini, noticing his ghostly pallor, his swollen, twisted fingers.
“His internal organs are aging quickly, that’s why they brought him here.”
“Who’s they?”
“Dr. Reese, Crespo...others,” said Chuck. “It seems your father, Victor Lord wasn’t dead after all, just as you suspected. He used you as a guinea pig, wanting to replicate himself eventually, maybe get his fortune back and go on living forever. You were the test subject. Unfortunately, your father died a few months ago and now, this place is in chaos. And...I don’t think they know what to do with you.”
Todd stared at him.
“Are they going to kill me?”
Chuck and Tukluk looked at one another.
“Not if we can help it,” said Tukluk. “There’s a lot of illegal shit going on here This place is going down fast...everyone is in a panic and we need to get you out of here. Dr. Reese and Dr. Crespo are the only ones with keys to this cell...and we need to find them.”
“Call the cops,” said Todd.
“All phone lines are controlled and monitored here. And I’m sure you’ve noticed people have a way of disappearing...especially when they find out what’s going on here. It’s not just your life that’s on the line here, Todd. Chuck and me...we’re in big trouble too.”
Gemini started shaking violently.
“I’ve got to get him back into bed. He’s not going to last too long,” said Chuck. Gemini was trembling as Chuck reached for the oxygen mask and placed it on his face. Gemini breathed deeply, his eyes half closed as his head drooped to his shoulder. Chuck turned the wheelchair and started wheeling him away.
Tukluk watched as Todd walked over to the toilet in the corner and collapsed, falling to his knees and retching violently, vomiting into the bowl. His body cramping and purging itself of a nauseating and unbearable truth, that his will had been usurped and violated and he’d been completely raped of his life. Once drained of everything he rested his forehead on the rim of the toilet and stayed in that position for a few minutes without moving. Then he covered his face with his hands and Tukluk could here him crying softly, his shoulders jerking softly as he tried to stifle his grief.
“Todd? Sorry about this, man. Are you okay?”
Todd looked up at him, then, slowly getting up, he flushed the toilet and rinsed his face and mouth out in the sink.
“I’m going to die here. I’m going to die before I ever see my kid again,” he cried, throwing his head back. “I’ll never see Tea again...I’ll never get the chance to tell her I.... I’m going to die here...”
“No...you’re not going to die, Todd. You’ve survived for three long years and something tells me that you’ve survived worse things than this.”
Todd looked at him, tears filling his eyes before he looked away, shaking his head.
“I’ve done some awful things in my life, Tuk. Maybe I’m finally getting the punishment I deserve,” he whispered. “Where’s my life? They’ve been fucking with my life for years, Tuk...rewriting it...perverting it. I wonder what’s left of it...”
*****
2003 Copyright by Trog
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