The notes below are evidence submitted by Joanne Reyes, mother of Noel Reyes and alleged mother of Noel Reyes’ Doppelgänger, regarding the case of granting Noel Reyes’ Doppelgänger human rights.
Due to the sensitivity of the situation and out of respect for her as a [Custodian], we have granted her request to draft and submit these informally.
As her superior, she has my endorsement on all statements.
Thank you,
Octavia Brigard, [Custodial Officer]
Custodial Association [County] Sanitation
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Note 1:
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I have considered the legal implications. I understand all the documentation required in the Human Rights Petitions package. Every form that must be signed. The endless reviews by officials who will run background checks on my family and investigate us as if we are abnormal. The follow-ups. The checkups. And I am aware that it will follow my son(s) for the rest of their lives, but the reality of it is… they are my sons now.
We have reached a threshold where slaying the Doppelgänger is no longer an option. After forty-eight hours in close contact, the pair become impossible to tell apart. Slaying it would be no more than a coin flip, and I would be left with the weight of wondering did I allow my firstborn to be executed.
So, I have come to terms with it as his mother. And I would like to get this finished as soon as possible. After thirty days my son could be accused of felony fraud for their attempts to live without addressing the existence of another, separate self.
And with all of that, I do not want to consider the worst-case scenario. It is hard not to. The laws are so clear. The consequences are even clearer. If the courts find that the Doppelgänger and Noel are truly identical in every way, it could lead to accusations beyond fraud. Accusations that he has violated the integrity of his own personhood and compromised a righteous state of human existence by creating a duplicate. This would lead to them knowingly executing both the Doppelgänger and my son.
That is why I have agreed to Octavia Brigard’s recommendation of a petition. Not because I fully accept the situation, but because Noel must be protected. This is about shielding my family from a fate forced upon us by the mistakes of the Hunter Association and their failure to properly slay the Doppelgänger.
I don’t want to lose my son. I don’t want to lose my sons. So I am forced to acknowledge both of them. In that, I have found that there is enough deviation between the two to qualify them both as human.
Note 2:
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There are moments, when it is quiet and when I am alone with just one of them, that I forget. I fool myself. I let myself believe that this never happened. That the cleaning job went smoothly, and that I am simply with my son. These moments have become rarer as of late.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
More often than not, they are both sitting across from me. Or together in their room. In those moments, I fool myself into thinking they are truly my sons. Twins, perhaps. But when one speaks that illusion is shattered. They both have the jovialness of my son, so I can’t help but wonder, are their words rehearsed? Are the mannerisms rehearsed too? Everyone in the office is comfortable with this, so is the issue with me?
I find myself listening intently to their words, trying to catch them as if they’re playing a trick on me. I’m looking for some sign that will help me tell them apart. Is one’s voice too steady? Would Noel ever use that word? Are the differences even there?
Then come the questions for me. Is my love divided? Will my love for Noel shrink because of this? Or will my love grow to accommodate my new child? When my second son was born, I didn’t consider this—I knew in an instant that my love would only grow.
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Note 3:
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The sun is bloated today. It hangs heavy in the sky, casting everything in a strange, bleached light. It feels like a warning and I can’t say of what. I keep thinking about how different things will be. How I will have to explain this to my youngest son. He’s in college. He’s bright. He’s always asked questions and I’ve rehearsed the words for this one. I think I will tell him to think of them as identical twins.
How else can I explain this? He wants to be a [Hunter] after graduating, so he will know the truth whether I want him to or not. Most of the public doesn’t even consider this stuff. No more than they consider the risk of murder or robberies. But I just want him to think of this a different way. The way the world will legally see them if all goes well. They share the same face, the same voice, the same memories. And from now on, they will form their own memories, growing into their own lives.
There are differences, even if they’re small. I can almost sense them. One is steadier. More sure of himself. The other hesitates a little before speaking. They’re both timid, but happy. One laughs a little too easy and the other cracks the jokes. Only a mother would notice, but what is a mother, if not the first to let something be human?
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Note 4:
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I find myself asking Noel more questions. Some I don’t want to ask, some I do. Some are the kind of questions I’ve avoided for years, and some are things I considered but never found the right time to ask.
Has he ever been in love? I asked him this first.
He told me yes, twice— once with a woman and once with a man. I have never asked him that. I never knew he could love a man in that way. It was strange, because it may not have been Noel who told me this. Perhaps, it was the Doppelgänger. Isn’t that something? A thing which isn’t human may have let me see my son as who he really is. The beautiful human that he is.
Some questions are heavy in another way. Have I failed him? I ask that one in many other questions. Is this job hard on him? Does he hate me for putting his little brother through university instead of him? Does he hate me for needing help with the bills? The debt? I’ve carried the guilt for years. Does he hate me?
He told me no. He told me he understood, and that it was something a single mother had to do. And that he thanked me for getting him this job and that he loved helping people. I knew he was caring, but I never considered it until today. There were times he was jealous of his brother. There are times where the unfairness eats at him. Then he goes on a job, and sees what unfairness really is. How cruel things can really get.
I tell him he has been dealt an unfair hand. He tells me he loves me.
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Note 5:
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The Doppelgänger asked me if I loved it. Not Noel—it. I didn’t know what to say. For a long moment, we stared at one another. My mind raced. I didn’t know how I knew this wasn’t Noel, but somehow I did. Something was in his eyes. Something that begged. I have seen it before in my own reflection. That subtle, quiet pleading to be acknowledged and cherished. That knowing that you didn’t belong.
What surprised me more than the question itself, was that it didn’t try to convince me that it wasn’t Noel. It didn’t lie. It didn’t pretend. It didn’t do that smile Noel always did when he was uncomfortable, and it was visibly uncomfortable. Yet, it wanted to know, so it bore the pain. It waited for an answer.
At that moment, I accepted this. That he was my son. That I had space in my heart for him, and that there must be space in the world too.
Since then, I haven’t been able to tell them apart besides the necklaces they wear. One with the initial “N” and the other “D.” They have the same laugh, the same vocal inflections, but my Noel has never questioned my love. That’s why this Noel is human. Because With this Noel, there is a son who needs a mother.
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[PETITION PENDING]
[PETITION ACCEPTED]