We drove back to Pittsburgh in silence. April tried to speak, to get me out of my rut, but I didn’t answer her. I couldn’t care less about what was happening around me. I needed to be alone.

“Rodion, please. I want to help.” April pleaded.

“No.” I muttered. As soon as we pulled up to my place, I grabbed my bag and would have forgotten her gift, but she yelled after me,

“Your books.”

“Yeah.” I grabbed the two books by Dostoyevsky and climbed the steps without saying goodbye to her.

Sergei wouldn’t be back until the new year, and I would be all alone. Completely undisturbed for nearly a week. I couldn’t face April. She’d brought me to see that witch on purpose. April was out to get me.

“Rodion?” I heard April yell after me, but I was already inside the safety of my house. I

I had two frozen pizzas in the freezer, and, if need be, could go to Giant Eagle and get some more. I needed no one, and no one needed me. Just to make sure, I unplugged the phone and shut off my mobile. And then I sat down on the couch and stared at the screen. I could not think of a better way to spend the next few days than playing video games. Now that I’d had a break from the Lab, I missed gaming.

I pulled on my headphones and pressed ‘play’. The only sound I could hear was electronic music with guns going off. Boom! I raced, carjacked, drove and navigated the city streets at insane speeds, tires screeching. No voices in my head. No April, no nagging, no guilt over Mama’s death.

I didn’t stop until late into the night, when I got hungry. I heated a pizza and ate half of it. Then I went to bed at around 3am. I was tired and expected to sleep way into the following day, but I woke up at five in the morning and promptly puked all the pizza.

A massive, pounding headache hit me like a ton of bricks. I sat, unable to move, then tried to go back to sleep, but falling asleep with a migraine like that was impossible. I’d never felt so sick in my life.

The sun came up and daylight hurt my eyes.

I went downstairs and tried to play, but the second I heard the upbeat sound of techno, my head pounded even worse. I touched my forehead, and it was burning. I must have a fever. Was the last thought I had before I passed out.

I woke up when it was already dark out, had some water and promptly passed back out again.

When I woke up again, I was on the couch, my clothes drenched in sweat. I shuffled to the bathroom and puked out bile.

Then I went to the kitchen and heated up the remaining half of the pizza. I had no way of telling what day it was since my phone was off.

When I turned it back on, the date was December 29th. I’d been passed out for nearly 72 hours. There were no text messages. I could have died and no one would have known. That confirmed my belief. I needed no one, and no one needed me.

I sat on the couch, thinking of what to do next. I was too weak to go out and not tired enough to go back to bed. That’s when the books caught my eye. April’s gift. I opened ‘Crime and Punishment’ and started reading.

It was hard to read at first, but once I got into it, I couldn’t stop. I actually liked the guy. Raskolnikov was cool, and I’m not saying it just because we have the same name. No, he had a real purpose in life. He was seeking justice, trying to make the world a better place. Just like I was.

His problem was that he was unlucky. If the sister hadn’t come back, Rodion would have been in the clear. The perfect crime. No one would ever suspect him of murdering the old hag with an axe.

Though that article Rodion wrote was a bit of a problem, he shouldn’t have written it. I immediately thought of my essay about justice and felt my hands grow cold. Would they catch me because of it? But then I dismissed the idea. I hadn’t been in contact with Philip for ten years. Who would ever suspect me? And besides, everything at the Lab was sealed. I laughed off my paranoia.

After I finished reading ‘Crime and Punishment’ I was certain of one thing.

My name was not accidental.

Mama named me Rodion because she expected great things from me.

***

So distraught I was by Molly and the vision, I didn’t remember the hunting knife and my idea to train with Mike until New Year’s Eve. April and I had made plans to spend it together, but she hadn’t called or texted, and I was initially too angry to contact her first. Then, I was embarrassed to make the first move. If I contacted her, I’d need to apologize, to explain my behavior, to try to repair things, but what was the point? April would leave anyway, go to Penn, to bigger and better things. It was inevitable she would disappear from my life. I had one purpose in life, which was to avenge Mama’s death. To punish Phil for what he had done.

I needed better knife skills if I wanted to kill Philip. Training at the Lab was my only option. And for that, I needed my double. Ryder was my key to revenge. If only I could train with him instead of doing oxygenation testing.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

I slept through that New Year’s Eve. Sergei called me exactly at midnight, and I picked up the phone. I’d left it on, in part expecting April to call, but she didn’t. On the other end of the line, I heard laughter, the clanking of glasses. Drunk Russian voices. ‘S novym godom’. Giggles and excitement over the new year. I couldn’t care less. 2009. Whatever.

“Happy New Year, bro.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Happy New Year!” Sergei yelled. “Tammy says hi.”

“Happy New Year to Tammy!” I said and hung up. Then I went to sleep.

January 2nd fell on a Friday, and Ben told me I didn’t have to come back until January 5th. But I couldn’t wait that long.

I needed the Lab. So I took my chances and went there at noon on January 2nd. Kate opened the door.

“Rodion, what are you doing here?” She opened her eyes in surprise.

“Just figured I’d get back to work.” I said solemnly.

“I see.” She sighed. “Let’s go get you set up. I guess you remember the drill.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, one thing, Rodion. We’re gonna keep you at 5% for now, since there was a break. Your body needs to get used to the new numbers.” She said as we walked to the kitchen.

“Alright, not a problem.” My heart leaped. 5 percent is nothing. I can do knife training and no one will notice!

I found the work station exactly how I left it. I put on the finger monitor, the headphones, and turned the screen on. Kate watched in silence, while I clicked on my double’s face.

“Ryder.” I called my digital twin by his name. I’d had a great idea that morning. I’d read somewhere that the most brilliant minds got their Eureka moments while asleep. It happened to Einstein and Mendeleev. Well, in my case, I got the idea to update the source code so I could train with Ryder on using the knife.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it.” Kate left, and I blacked out the screen, summoning the Count of Monte Cristo. He appeared right away.

Hello. How can I be of assistance? The count smiled.

“Hi, CM, I need to get the source code for Ryder. To practice the knife commands.”

I typed on the screen and quickly erased the text. Just in case anyone was tracking. Though I doubted it.

After the encounter with Chuck McPherson, I knew all they cared was the oxygen levels and the record.

Source code? Consider it done. A second later, a series of letters popped up on the screen. They made absolutely no sense to me, and I stared at them, stupefied. I scratched my head, but proceeded with my request.

“Hey, CM, can you please change the source code to have the oxygenation tests run in parallel to knife training?” I typed.

I hoped the AI had enough knowledge to do this. I bit my lip, squeezing the finger monitor. I needed this. I couldn’t waste my valuable time testing oxygen levels, when I could progress in my knife skills.

Let me try. CM responded. This wasn’t a good sign. It meant CM wasn’t sure. But he didn’t say no. That was something. I waited while the green dot on the screen blinked.

Mission accomplished. Flashed on the screen three minutes later. It felt like forever, but my patience was rewarded.

CM flashed a victorious smile and disappeared.

I saw Ryder. An oxygen control bar was running at the bottom of the screen, set at 6%. I lowered it to five and got Ryder to bike. Then I noticed a pop-up screen, where another Ryder was standing, holding a knife.

“Thank you, Count.” I mouthed, and got to it.

While the main screen was all about biking and oxygenation, the focused on the pop-up screen. Ryder threw the knife, did all kinds of tricks with the knife overheads, and practiced cutting different surfaces.

Making deep and low cuts. Long and short. Whenever he did this, I pictured Phil’s throat and it gave me a great feeling of joy.

I finished exactly at eight. I didn’t want anyone to be suspicious of my overzealous behavior on the first day back from vacation. Everything had to be exactly the same as normal. I took off the finger monitor, placed my headphones on the desk, and shut off the screen.

I went upstairs and saw Dawn. She was in the corner, her head poking over a magazine.

‘A Cautionary Tale of Our Future.’ The cover read. ‘AI will transform humanity.’ This was the subscript.

“What’s this?” I nodded at the magazine.

“Oh, just some stuff I’m reading.”

“I see.”

“How’s your girlfriend?”

“Umm. She’s back at Penn.” I said. It was as good a guess as any to where April was at the moment.

“Oh, well. I told you long distance doesn’t work. DIdn’t I?”

“I don’t remember.”

“How’s it going with AI? Lost your mind yet?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I am trying to help you.” She rose and approached. With her red hair, she suddenly looked like Black Widow. “So that nothing bad happens to you.”

“Nothing is going to happen to me.” My voice trailed off, as I remembered April’s warning just several days prior.

“You should quit now. While you’re still ahead.” Dawn said, narrowing her eyes.

“Why don’t YOU quit?” I snapped.

“I’m not the one down there, risking my life.”

“What? I’m just doing oxygenation testing.”

“Yeah, you’re playing with AI. With fire, my friend. If you leave this lab with schizophrenia only, consider yourself lucky.” She shook her head.

I gulped.

Is that why Maria Matucci saw me once a month? Were my sessions with the psychiatrist to check my mental health and not part of the study?

“I can see you’re thinking, that’s good. Very good.” Dawn was standing close to me now.

“But if I quit, aren’t you gonna lose your job?”

“

“I might. Or I might not. You see, I don’t really care.” Dawn yawned and stretched. I looked away from her bust that popped into full view.

“You don’t?” I fidgeted.

“No. I’ll just go back to stripping.” She ran her hand through her hair.

“I thought you didn’t want to do that.” I forced myself to look at her face. Her eyes looked sad and did not match her casual tone.

“I’m just joking. Don’t worry. I got other ways of making a living.”

“Dawn, listen.” I took a deep breath. “I saw your laptop. Are you working on something?”

“Oh, that’s nothing. And even if I did, it’s none of your business.” She gave me a cold stare. “Regardless, consider yourself warned.”

She walked to the couch and sat down, opening the magazine. Our conversation was over.

I should have taken her words seriously, but the moment I left the Lab I thought of my plan. Of how I was getting closer than ever to avenging Mama.

I needed to know when Philip would visit his mother. Philip went there on weekends, but how would I know when exactly? I wondered whether I should wait for him to establish a pattern, but that meant hanging out by his mother’s apartment building for hours at a time. Someone might see me. The place was right across from my high school. Someone was bound to recognize me.

And then, as I was almost home, it hit me.

Eureka! I would kill Philip on Mother’s Day! He was bound to go there on Mother’s Day.

The plan was perfect. And symbolic. That would be the best gift to Mama on Mother’s Day.

Now that my plan was in place, I knew the meaning of the phrase ‘sweet revenge.’ The very idea of what I was about to do made me smile. I thought of the Count and the years he’d put into executing his revenge on his enemies.

One day I will be like him. One day soon. May 10, 2009, would be the day I settled the score.