Getting My Own Life

There are a million faces like mine.
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the number had now reached two million,
With the rate that original made copies of himself, it's hard to know for sure.
A million copies that look exactly like him.
A million copies to do whatever stupid stunt he wanted them to do for 'science.'

That's why I had survived so long.
I wasn't as stupid as my other clone brothers.
Willing to follow his directions like lemmings off a cliff.

No wonder there were a million faces like mine.
There had to be.
Because my original couldn't accomplish everything he did otherwise.

I just wished...that he'd actually see us as real people for once.
I stood in line, keeping my expression neutral as Original walked through the ranks. Pencil tapping at his chin as he decided who his next victim would be.
I never understood this morning process. If we all looked exactly alike, dressed exactly alike.
What was there to decide between? Why not just pick the first clone closest to him for his mad schemes?
Of course, his indecision was possibly the only reason why I had survived getting chosen for this long.

I held my breath as he walked past yet again, keeping my eyes forward. I needed an escape. A way to get out of this death trap. To actually be someone besides a number. To have a name of my own. To get out of my creator's thumb and have my own life. I wasn't just a mindless clone. I was me. And I very much wanted to stay alive to discover more of who I was and how I was not exactly a clone to the Original.

-Inspiration from watching Inside Out -Imaginary Boyfriend

Stranded

"Your car must be the one I saw on the side of the road."
I managed a smile, though inside I wanted to throttle her. "Possibly, I suppose there aren't many cars still out in the park in this weather."
"It's a good thing I came along then." Her eyes sparkled, giving away her concern for malice. I was 99% sure that she'd was the cause for my dead battery. I could have sworn I saw her ugly grey Honda driving along this road earlier on the day when I was up on the overlook.
I nodded. "Yah, it would be nice to get into some dry clothes." I would look forward to that at least. The long drive back to my place would be intoler---
"Hmmm." She leaned back in her seat. "Well....good luck then." She wiggled her fingers at my gapping face, laughing as she squealed her tires, kicking up mud and water into my face as she sped away.
I...I couldn't believe it! Had she really....really just left me? Alone. In the middle of nowhere. IN A RAIN STORM?!
How could she be so....sooo EVIL?!

-Inspiration from watching Pride and Prejudice -Pink Bible version.

I Betrayed You

I couldn't control me. My anger, the hatred, all the bad thoughts I would keep down, dismiss, not worry about. It had all boiled to the surface.
The result?"
I'd become a monster.

Tears welled in my eyes even before I opened them. My throat constricted and dry. The nightmare had ended, I could feel that. I was back in control. I had my emotions...the bad ones...in check once more.
I...I didn't want to wake up though.
My reality had become a living nightmare. One I didn't want to live in.
I sat up slowly, wincing as my shoulder twinged. I'd hurt that pretty bad, but not as bad...I couldn't look at the faces of the people around me. I sensed they were on the defensive, ready to attack me if I decided to attack them. In one swift day. I swallowed, pivoting slowly on the bed, away from them letting my hair cover my face. "I'm alright....now." I said, knowing that I didn't sound alright at all. But I had to give them something. Some sort of comfort even if it was for nothing. I hugged myself tightly, wishing the memories of my actions wouldn't be so fresh in my mind. Knowing that...that I'd...I'd killed....tears ran down my cheeks.
"Are you sure?" A stranger asked me. "You're not feeling...murderous now?"
I flinched. "I'm sure." I told him in a wobbly voice. "Please....leave....please."

******

I fell to my knees, in front of the freshly filled graves. The headstones too shiny, too new. I couldn't see the names carved there, blurred by my tears.
Shaking in agony. I knew who was there. And each grave drove a barbed spike into my heart. Jimmy my closest friend, Hunter my crush, Avery my other best friend, Little Bill my brother, and my Father Jean.
Gone.
Dead.
Buried.
Because of me.

Because of me.

******

"Don't I know you?"
"Probably, wish you didn't though." I muttered, my hoodie further down to hide my face. I wished nobody knew who I was. Nobody would have gotten hurt if I'd just stayed a nobody instead of trying to make a difference in the world. I should have just dug my own grave and hid in there. I didn't even know why I still lived, still tried to help others...
Okay I knew. I couldn't face my family and friends on the other side. I couldn't bear to have them think of me as a monster. I just...just wanted to prove that I was as good as I....but how could I be good....after....after everything?

-Inspiration -From watching Supergirl -Red Kryptonite.

The Fall Through

"What were you thinking! Going out with someone like that?" My Aunt demanded.
"Someone like what?" I asked, brushing past her, regretting coming home. If I'd known she'd drive all the way across town to see me, I would have stayed out all night. Couldn't I get any peace with my world melting down around me?
"A Rich Man!" She denounced.
"What does his money have to do with anything?"
"Were you not dating him for--"
"No!" I said turning to her. "I dated him because I LIKED him. Money had nothing to do with it." Sure, it would be nice. Sure, to have money would be great. Especially when I was...I had been living pay check to pay check. Now without my job thanks to his jealous ex girlfriend, I needed to find a new job and fast.
She shook her finger in my face. "Do not lie to me little girl! You cannot believe your Cinderella dreams will come true. You want money you have to work. Work. Work!"
"I know, Auntie Meg. You've told me that a hundred times."
"And I'll tell you a thousand more until it gets into your thick skull. "You cannot skip a head in li--"
The doorbell rang. And my heart leapt in relief. Some reason to get out of this conversation. To not have my dreams crushed even more so.
I dashed for the door. "I got it." It was my apartment, of course I would get it. Whoever it was, they were a lifesaver.

-Inspiration from watching Maid in Manhattan

Canyon Smashing

I looked up as I heard the crunch of tires on the loose rock. A rusted little chevy pulled past my truck, to park on the far edge of the parking lot. Away from the trailhead. I frowned, as a young woman stepped out, dark hair pulled up in a high ponytail. It was a bit late in the day for hikers to start on this particular trail. The sun would be behind the mountains in another thirty minutes or so, and the hike itself would take at least two hours.
I leaned on the steering wheel of my truck, watching as she pulled out not one, or two, but four pumpkins from the trunk. Awkwardly carrying them one on the ground by a picnic table. Obviously heavy, but with how she handled them, she'd done this before.
I frowned. This just kept getting weirder. Halloween had been a couple of weeks ago. There was no party going on here. So why in the world would this woman be by herself with four pumpkins?
The thought that she was about to perform a cult ritual crossed my mind, as she set them up in a circle.
She then pulled out a bat from her trunk and stood in the middle of them. She went perfectly still for two seconds. Then shrieked, like a pterodactyl and swung the bat. Smashing into the first pumpkin sending guts and seeds flying in all directions.
My eyebrows rose so high they probably disappeared under my hairline. What in the world!?!
Shrieking continuously. She spun hitting each pumpkin time and time again. Smashing them into a mushy mess that resembled more slime than pumpkin.
I got out of my truck, cautiously approaching her. No need for me to get hit with the bat. "That's one way to take out your anger." I remarked. She spun to face me. Bat held up in a batter's swing. She was basically orange from head to toe. "What did the pumpkins ever do to you?"
She frowned. "Nothing." She turned away, smashing another pumpkin peace. "I'll clean it up. Go away."
"Sure you don't need help?"
"I got it."
I shook my head. "Maybe talking out your problems to a stranger would help?"
"No." She didn't even look at me.
I raised my hands slowly. "Alright....well....if you need me, I'll be over in my truck...you know on the other side of the parking lot."
"I won't need you." She said tersely. "Bye."

-Inspiration from a talk in Church. The speaker's friend deals with anger by taking pumpkins up the canyon and smashing them.

No More Music

The lid shut over the pearly piano keys with a quiet click.
With a wistful smile, she brushed her hand over the smooth dark wood, the final note she'd played on the piano still ringing in her ears.
She loved this piano.
Unfortunately, where she was going, she couldn't take it with her. Too big, too bulky. She could hardly move it here in the house, let alone carry it away from it.
She turned away from her only joy in this place, adjusting the strings of her bonnet.
Head held high, she glided from the room without a second look, heart fluttering violently in her throat.
No one ever did this.
No one would ever leave like this.
But if she didn't leave.
Didn't take a step for herself.
She would die. She couldn't live like this anymore. Live this horrible life.
Her hand shook as she raised it to hail a city carriage.
At any moment she expected to be caught. For someone to realize what she was about.
She plastered a smile on her face. "To the Opera, Please." She said, stepping inside.
She always went to the Opera at this time.
To listen to the musicians, the players, the performances.
She'd dreamt of performing there.
No longer.
Her habits would be her solace. No one would suspect....
She cut off the thought.
Silly to think anyone could read her mind, but if she thought about it, maybe someone would realize. And she couldn't have that.

-Inspiration from watching Episode 3 of Murder Maps. -Seeing the lid shut on the piano.
 

Far From Home

I pulled back in the shadows as everyone ran by, all calling my name. All searching for me.
They didn't need to find me. They couldn't find me.
I exhaled, listening to them get further away.
"Ted."
Victor touched my shoulder. I flinched, shying away.
"Go." I whispered harshly. It shouldn't have surprised me that he found me.
He shook his head. "You can't do this alone."
"I have to."
"You don't."
"Vic, I'm no good to you anymore. I can't protect you like this!"
He smirked. "Then I guess I'll have to protect you now huh?" He jerked his head in the opposite direction. "Come on." He tugged at me. "We need to go before the idiot scientists actually figure out what we're up to."

-Inspiration from watching Fantastic 4 (the new movie.)