I turned back to the screen and stared at my double. Or whatever the thing was called. Digital twin? Digital double? Ryder. I liked the name I picked for him.

He was my replica, staring back at me.

Like most people, I’d spent some time examining myself in the mirror, but this was different. This was as if I was looking at myself from the outside. An out-of-body experience. It was as if I had somehow multiplied and could see things happen to another version of me.

I tried to remember the garbled instructions I’d gotten from Ben and Kate just moments prior and, of course, failed. How hard could it be? I thought and jumped right into the interface.

I located the ‘Detach’ command and clicked that first. Immediately, Ryder flashed a smile and the ‘Ready’ command appeared.

That was a relief. I started moving Ryder around and immediately ran into problems. Like his legs would freeze in mid-movement, or his fingers didn’t move the right way. I wrote these down and created a list of ‘glitches’, as I called it.

Since I was working until eight, I had over six hours to explore Ryder and everything about him. I really got into reviewing Ryder’s abilities. I noticed minor errors in movement, or things that made him seem not as real. It took me a bit of time to get the hang of how to maneuver Ryder, and the whole time we were in this desert space. The octagonal white place with mountains in the back. I tried to change Ryder’s location, to move him somewhere else, but failed. So that whole afternoon we stayed in the same location and the only thing that varied were his movements. He ran, jumped, skipped, hopped, walked. And I noticed that if Ryder did certain things on the screen, my heart rate also accelerated. Like if Ryder ran, my cheeks flushed from the effort. If Ryder stood still, my pulse slowed down.

I worked until six. It had been the longest time I’d spent in the Lab, six straight hours, and suddenly I realized I needed a break. The muscles of my neck strained and my back ached. I pressed ‘stop’ and took off the finger monitor. Immediately, the screen buzzed and flashed a huge ‘ERROR’ message. I stared at the screen in confusion. ‘WARNING. MEMORY LOSS.’

I tried to remember whether Ben or Kate had said anything about stopping the game and failed. What do I do with this thing? I needed a break, but I couldn’t free myself from Ryder. I put the finger monitor back on, and the warning disappeared.

What do I do now? I mouthed in frustration. And that’s when Ryder winked at me, like a real person. And so I did what any rational human being would do. I asked him what to do next.

“So, you know what I’m supposed to do?” Ryder winked again, and then he spoke.

“Attach.”

“Attach!” Of course! I clapped in excitement. “That makes sense.” I quickly found the ‘Attach’ command and reconnected the double. Ryder gave me a ‘thumbs up’ and stopped moving. ‘SAVING’ flashed on the screen. Then, a few seconds later, ‘SAVE COMPLETE.’

Once that happened, I took off the finger monitor. This time, there was no error message, and no warning appeared on the screen. I breathed a sigh of relief and went upstairs.

I confidently punched in the door code, and then a strange thought occurred to me. They never told me the code. I remembered. Was it an oversight? Or done intentionally? But these guys wouldn’t want me stuck here without a way out. I calmed myself and went to the bathroom. As I flicked on the light and looked in the mirror, I saw my reflection, one into another, forming a tunnel.

Multiple versions of myself stared at each other. I wondered if Ryder was there among them, looking for an escape.

I forced myself to look away, wiping beads of cold sweat off my forehead. And then walked into the kitchen.

The late afternoon light illuminated the kitchen. It was beautiful. I stared at the rays of the sun on the kitchen wall. This isn’t so bad. I thought and nodded to myself. I’ve got this. I saw the tray of sandwiches sitting on the counter, and immediately my stomach growled.

It was quiet, and I wondered if Kate and Ben had already left for the day. How were they tracking me? Could I also leave? I checked the clock. Less than two hours remained until my shift was over. I decided to play it safe, grabbed a sandwich and was just about to take a bite when I heard a rustling noise. It came from the living room. I froze in place.

The rustling repeated. I dropped the sandwich back on the tray. Then, holding my breath, I tip-toed toward the noise.

Slowly, I approached. The curtains in the living room had been drawn closed, and it was submerged in semi-darkness. There was a shadow on the wall. It shifted, and I felt the tips of my fingers turn icy cold. Fear gripped my insides.

I’m never coming back here. I was about to dash for the front door when the figure shifted and suddenly light flooded the living room. A girl sat up on the couch, rubbing her eyes. She’d just turned on the light. The first thing I noticed about her was her hair. It was bright red. Like Sideshow Bob’s. She rose and came up to me without saying a word.

Her hair had been cut in a trapeze fashion, longer in the front, and shaved in the back, revealing a long, pale-white neck. A tattoo of a fox extended from her ear to her shoulder. The earlobe was studded with a multitude of earrings, with the lowest one being a black post stuck right in the middle. It was about half-an-inch thick.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Hey.” The girl said, squinting, once she stood right next to me. “Are you the dude?”

“Ha?” I raised my eyebrows, trying to look menacing. I was getting angry at myself for feeling terrified over nothing.

“The dude from downstairs?”

“I guess so. I was downstairs. Where’s Kate?” I squinted at her. “And Ben?”

“Oh, they’re not here after five. I’m Dawn. I work the night shift.” She flashed a smile, then straightened up her blouse, making her large breasts look more prominent. I could tell she noticed me checking them out, because an almost imperceptible eye-roll followed.

“You’re Dawn and you work the night shift?” I tried to sound upbeat.

“I get paid overtime.” She gave a defiant shrug, and either ignored or didn’t get my joke.

“I guess I better get going. I’m here till eight.”

“I know. I’m supposed to clock you out.” Dawn held my gaze, watching for my reaction.

“Great.” I squeezed out and headed back to the basement.

Back downstairs, I sat, staring at the computer screen. I had over an hour left of my shift, and I knew I had to finish it. Ben and Kate had been specific about the task, but I felt a strange aversion to Ryder and the process. I sat there, staring at the screen and wondering whether they would know if I didn’t continue testing until eight. Of course they will know.

ATTACH. DETACH. I thought of the commands. Does it mean I attach him back to me? Does Ryder become a part of me when I leave here? I felt a knot form in my stomach. Does it mean I now have Ryder somewhere inside of me? I sat for a moment longer, staring at the screen, then turned it on.

I wish now I’d left at that moment. If I’d done it, it wouldn’t have been too late. I could have saved myself. But that job was all I had. April was gone. I had nothing else in my life. I couldn’t be a loser sitting on the couch, waiting for Vista to contact me. And the money. It was such good money. I couldn’t just walk away from my first big paycheck.

Ryder appeared on the screen. My double. My digital twin. A part of me that lived in the virtual world. I forced myself to continue testing, and exactly at eight separated myself from Ryder.

On my way out of the Lab, I passed by Dawn. She rose from the couch and made a show of checking the time as I opened the front door to leave. She didn’t speak a word, and watched me in silence. I walked a few blocks and immediately reached for my phone. I couldn’t wait to share everything with April. She picked up on the first ring.

“Hey!” I heard her voice and felt a wave of relief. April will make everything alright. She always did. “How was today?”

“It was alright.” I started to say. My voice cracked. “I got to interact with this thing. It’s hard to explain.”

“What thing?”

“So, get this, they are testing this technology.” I yelled into the receiver. At that moment I passed a gym. I’d never noticed it before. Through a window, I could see a guy wearing red boxing gloves was punching away at a boxing bag, and it hit me. Fight Club! I pictured Ben’s severe face. You do NOT TALK about Fight Club. I couldn’t tell April about the Lab. I couldn’t share anything with her. I squeezed the phone tighter.

“What is it, Rodion?”

“Just this technology. It’s kinda cool.” I said, hoping my voice sounded calm.

“Are you gonna tell me about it?”

“I miss you, April.”

“I miss you, too.” I heard a shuffling noise on the other end of the line. “Hold on.” April said to someone. “Rodion, listen, I gotta go. We have a new student mixer now. I’ll call you back.”

“Bye.” I said, but she’d already hung up.

After spending the week in the Lab, I couldn’t bring myself to play video games over the weekend. That was the strange thing. I couldn’t even watch any movies. The idea of looking at another screen turned me off entirely. So, I slept. And slept some more. Then read a bit of the ‘Count of Monte Cristo.’ And then Sergei and I went to see Vlada for Sunday dinner.

After Mama’s death, Vlada had started going to church. It was some Orthodox Church in Homestead, which many of the Russians in Pittsburgh attended. Vlada went every Sunday, and would inform us of the various feasts, holidays, fasts, and such, though Sergei and I didn’t pay attention. Vlada had taken us to church with her only once. It was right after Mama’s death, and Sergei and I were in our stunned state, as if a thick fog separated us from the world. Vlada introduced us to the Priest, Father George, a tall, balding man, who didn’t speak much Russian.

“Father, these boys should be baptized.” Vlada said, pushing us forward. “I want them to join me for service.”

“Have they been baptized in the Orthodox Church before?” Father George asked in English. This had put Vlada off. She stared at us, wide-eyed.

“Sergei? Do you remember?” She turned to my brother. Sergei shook his head. She turned to me, but then dismissed my memory by saying, “But Rodion would have been too young to remember.”

“Father, I don’t know for sure. They just lost their mother. Church would provide them with great comfort.”

“Yes. I understand.” The man’s face turned even more solemn. “But we cannot baptize someone twice.”

“But if they don’t know if they’d been baptized? Father George, can’t you just do this again? It would be of great solace for the boys.” Vlada stepped closer to the man. She was tall and imposing, and I expected Father George to cave in. But he shook his head.

“Baptism is a sacrament that only happens once in a lifetime. It’s a rebirth, and if these boys had already been baptized, they cannot be baptized again.”

“But we don’t know this for sure.” She mumbled.

“Trust in God.” Father George bowed, crossed us, and left. After this interaction, Vlada tried to make us go to church, but each time she would be stumped by whether we’d been baptized and whether taking us to church meant that we should or shouldn’t be baptized. I suspect that at some point, she simply gave up. Which was just as well. I didn’t like Father George, and the one time we’d gone to church, I didn’t feel any better or any closer to Mama.

That afternoon, as we came to Vlada’s, she greeted us at the door.

“Let me look at you, boys!” Vlada still called us ‘boys,’ though Sergei was pushing thirty. “I lit a candle for your mother today.”

“Thank you, Vlada.” We nodded.

“Your mother is watching over you, boys.”

“Vlada, Rodion started a new job last week.” Sergei pushed me forward.

“Oh, how wonderful! Is it at Vista? I’ll tell Zhanna. Maybe you can…” Vlada started to say, but Sergei interrupted her.

“No, Rodion got some job at a lab in Oakland.”

“A lab? What kind of lab?”

“We test computer equipment.” I said, averting my eyes. You do NOT TALK about Fight Club.

“That’s great, Rodion. I hope it opens doors for you.” Vlada gave me a pointed stare. She was normally quite intense, and I’d gotten used to her. But this time, her gaze made me shrivel inside. It was like she knew I was lying.

“What doors?” I gulped.

“The Doors of Perception.” Sergei cackled. I knew what Sergei implied and immediately thought of Huxley’s book and Jim Morrison. Acid. The influence of psychedelics on art and creativity. The Lab was nothing like that.

“It’s not like that!” I threw my hands up in the air.

“Chill out, man. I’m just joking.” Sergei threw a curious look my way.