I never really knew what to think about the idea that everyone has a ‘Doppelgänger’. On the one hand it seemed like a pretty strange notion, but on the other hand it would hardly be the strangest thing that ever happened to me. All my life I’ve had these strange flashes, like memories of things that hadn’t happened to me, or maybe things that would happen to me, if I let them. It seemed like every time I was about to make a big mistake, I got this flash of almost-memory where I saw what would happen to me if I kept doing what I was doing. It may seem strange, but I always thought that most everything that ever went really, really right in my life was all thanks to those flashes. By seeing what could go wrong, I was always able to make the right decisions, even when I had to force myself to make them. Those flashes stopped a few months ago. At first, I thought it was because there were no big mistakes left for me to make. I had a good job and a steady boyfriend and plenty of good friends. I thought my life had just become stable enough that I didn’t need those flashes anymore… But then I got that feeling. That feeling like someone was watching me. Sometimes, the floorboards would creak oddly in the house when I was all alone. Sometimes, I’d be sure there were footsteps behind me, somehow keeping perfect time with my own. Sometimes I’d think I saw someone out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned around there was never anyone there. And sometimes, on days when I was feeling really paranoid, I’d look around and be sure I had seen myself standing in a crowd, looking back at me with this longing look in my eyes… But then I’d blink, or shake my head, and my double was never there when I looked again. For three months this kept happening, and I was seriously considering seeing someone about it, but… I came home, and there was this feeling… I can’t explain it, really. It was like my house had become a stage, and I was playing a part. Like there was some sort of expectation hanging in the air… I tried to ignore it, carrying on as usual, but it just wouldn’t go away. Feeling a bit distracted, I made myself a sandwich and some hot cocoa and sat down eat. The cocoa tasted a little off, but it was probably just the mints I’d had earlier. Or maybe it was the stress. I sure had been stressed out lately. It wasn’t until I finished the mug that I realized how drowsy I was. I wanted to go to bed, but I couldn’t find the energy to stand. I tried to lift an arm, but it barely even twitched in response. That was when I realized something was very, very wrong. I wanted to scream, to call for help, but just breathing was so difficult… That’s when I saw her. The woman who looked just like me. I saw the yearning in her eyes, the longing, the jealousy. I understood everything then. This was the other me. The me I had seen in those flashes. This was the me who made all the mistakes so that I could avoid them, and now that all the mistakes were made, she wanted the life that they had helped create. At that moment, all I could feel for her was sympathy. I tried to smile, to tell her it was OK, that I understood. But I couldn’t. As the darkness closed in around me, I found myself wishing with all my heart that she would enjoy my life. Someone should.