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The Faulty Reflection
#doppelganger
Katie was known in her town as a good soul. She was the person that would see a lost dog and take it home and feed it, alerting everyone she knew that she had found it. She would pull over and wait for a tow truck with the elderly with car problems. She didn't know how much of a percentage tip she left behind, because she didn't really mind giving large tips. She was the model citizen, not a Democrat or a Republican, just an honest, caring person. But one day, the views of her little town had a sudden shift.
The day was burning hotter by the second. Little Jameson was struggling to get his pet cat out of the tree in front of his home. Along came a welcome face, and Jameson called out. "Katie, help!," he exclaimed. "Prince is in the tree again, and I cannot get him to come down," he cried with a face full of tears. "Let's dethrone this beast, then," was her reply. She grabbed the tree by the trunk and shook it furiously, dislodging the animal and throwing it to the ground. "Consider this a change of heirarchy," she said with a laugh as she walked away wryly, leaving a confused boy and his kitty behind her. Jameson quickly gathered his pet and headed inside to tell his grandmother of the experience. Repulsed by the unfolding story, his grandmother made some phone calls. Each call had a similar tone. Katie had changed and nobody knew how or why. One respondent stated that she left her table at the diner messy and didn't leave a tip. Another claimed she had cut him off in traffic while making an obscene gesture with her left hand.
News was traveling faster than ever when she was caught during a live news broadcast calling a girl scout a twit and stealing her thin mints. After these events and a few more, she seemed to entirely vanish, not being seen or heard from for several days. Her boyfriend was reasonably concerned, as before her apparent psychotic break, she had told him she was heading to Phoenix for a business trip and would be gone for two weeks. But all the chaos was taking place after her scheduled departure. Why would she miss her flight and create such chaos? What triggered this Saint to commit such treacherous acts?
A town-wide watch was initiated by the local police to find Katie and establish the cause of the changes. Days passed with no answer to either question. About a week after the first complaint, Katie's house burned to the ground, and the rescue workers found a smoldering body bound in tape, but they never found the safe containing the records of the thirty year stint in the criminal psychiatric ward, served by her identical twin, Samantha.
© Geoffrey Shelton
Katie was known in her town as a good soul. She was the person that would see a lost dog and take it home and feed it, alerting everyone she knew that she had found it. She would pull over and wait for a tow truck with the elderly with car problems. She didn't know how much of a percentage tip she left behind, because she didn't really mind giving large tips. She was the model citizen, not a Democrat or a Republican, just an honest, caring person. But one day, the views of her little town had a sudden shift.
The day was burning hotter by the second. Little Jameson was struggling to get his pet cat out of the tree in front of his home. Along came a welcome face, and Jameson called out. "Katie, help!," he exclaimed. "Prince is in the tree again, and I cannot get him to come down," he cried with a face full of tears. "Let's dethrone this beast, then," was her reply. She grabbed the tree by the trunk and shook it furiously, dislodging the animal and throwing it to the ground. "Consider this a change of heirarchy," she said with a laugh as she walked away wryly, leaving a confused boy and his kitty behind her. Jameson quickly gathered his pet and headed inside to tell his grandmother of the experience. Repulsed by the unfolding story, his grandmother made some phone calls. Each call had a similar tone. Katie had changed and nobody knew how or why. One respondent stated that she left her table at the diner messy and didn't leave a tip. Another claimed she had cut him off in traffic while making an obscene gesture with her left hand.
News was traveling faster than ever when she was caught during a live news broadcast calling a girl scout a twit and stealing her thin mints. After these events and a few more, she seemed to entirely vanish, not being seen or heard from for several days. Her boyfriend was reasonably concerned, as before her apparent psychotic break, she had told him she was heading to Phoenix for a business trip and would be gone for two weeks. But all the chaos was taking place after her scheduled departure. Why would she miss her flight and create such chaos? What triggered this Saint to commit such treacherous acts?
A town-wide watch was initiated by the local police to find Katie and establish the cause of the changes. Days passed with no answer to either question. About a week after the first complaint, Katie's house burned to the ground, and the rescue workers found a smoldering body bound in tape, but they never found the safe containing the records of the thirty year stint in the criminal psychiatric ward, served by her identical twin, Samantha.
© Geoffrey Shelton
