John Smith arrived home at around midnight. He worked all night, making phone calls to close off contracts.
He wondered where he'd get his next job, being on the CEO's surplus list, same as everyone else in the building. Their roles were likely to be outsourced or automated.
But a part of him really didn't care at all. His wife and daughter recently passed away in a tragic accident caused by a drunk driver. His struggle wasn't so much about making money; instead, finding reasons to carry on without them.
He entered his apartment, showered, wore pajamas, swallowed a sleeping pill, drank a quick shot, then crashed into bed.
He tried sleeping, but someone's loud giggling awoke him. He couldn't figure out exactly where it was coming from. He pounded the wall behind him to quiet whoever it was—thinking it was the next-door neighbor's kid, but the giggling persisted.
Frustrated, he sat up and stepped out of his bed, then a blinding light encompassed him.
He stood before a grand hallway. So, out of curiosity, he crossed it and entered a large room. Magnificent paintings and tapestries adorned the walls. And an intricately woven carpet covered its floor.
He saw a man reclining in a chair, smoking a pipe, and reading a newspaper, all warm and cozy in front of a crackling fireplace. On closer look, the man was actually himself—well-groomed, with his jawline clearly in much better shape.
A beautiful figure of a woman walked across the room, carrying a glass of wine. Her long silky brown hair mysteriously concealed her face. She wore an exotic robe revealing her slender legs. She bent down and kissed him on the cheek, and with a familiar voice, mentioned the nanny put the children to sleep.
She untied her robe to reveal her lingerie. They smiled, and John's lookalike winked at her. She then sat on his lap. As she glanced over to the side while placing his pipe on an ashtray, she saw John, let out a frightened gasp, and screamed aloud, "Intruder!"
John soon recognized her as his late wife.
He heard more giggling—and, once again, the flash of light encompassed him.
In the next reality, he stood next to a dirty cot in an empty prison cell. The interior smelled musty; its only source of light from a metallic door left ajar.
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Outside the cell, footsteps echoed, and chains clamored—followed by a short series of interrogatives between guards and their prisoners.
Being curious, he peeped through the door's opening to a concrete hallway.
Prisoners stood in line while two guards called their names on a roster. Each inmate stepped forward, replied with his full name, crime, and sentence, and then a guard wrote something down and let the prisoner pass through.
John heard his own voice, though, raspy and coughing. He saw himself shackled, unkempt, scraggly in physical appearance, dressed in an orange jumpsuit.
Prisoner John answered the guards, "John Smith, DUI manslaughter, serving ten years."
John felt so stunned he accidentally swung the door open, causing its handle to bang against the wall.
His double spun around, pointed at him, and screamed out, "Impostor!"
The light encompassed John again, returning him to his apartment with a jolt. He assumed that he experienced a terrible nightmare, so he fell fast asleep.
The next morning, John's alarm clock buzzed. He sighed relief as he awoke in his own bed. But once he stepped out of it, a portal opened up before him in a flash of light. With it, he heard the same giggling as before. Inside, he could see last night's grand hallway again—and to his surprise, another portal opened, and his prisoner self came out.
John instinctively jumped into the other reality to face off with the prisoner. They swung fists at each other, pummeled, strangled, and kicked.
He grabbed the prisoner by his collar and kicked him into a portal, which made it disappear. He felt relief until he soon realized it was the entrance to his own world.
His current reality's double walked in with a gun, told him to freeze and do nothing else.
John wanted to leap into the other portal until he saw the prison cell inside of it.
The other John came up to him and asked, "What kind of conspiracy is this?"
John tried to explain, but the other refused to believe any of it.
His double said someone was conspiring to replace him. He then handed John a newspaper with a front-page headline of himself as CEO.
John quickly read through its article. It mentioned the CEO's plan to lay off thousands of workers and shut down a location that happened to be part of the same company—in the same place that John worked for.
The CEO claimed he knew someone would come after him. So he bought himself a gun, and his new investors hired extra security. He couldn't have imagined anyone would try to replace him with a body double, much less a clone.
John pleaded, explaining it wasn't the case, but CEO John got angrier, aimed his pistol at him, and was about to fire.
John panicked and grabbed the gun despite knowing he couldn't shoot it. He wasn't the type of person to kill anyone, so he repeated his prior action. He grabbed the CEO by the collar—then he tossed him into the prison portal.
The giggling returned, but this time around, voices spoke.
"It's time for bed, John. Did you finish your homework assignment for temporal mechanics?"
"Yes, momma. I was supposed to manifest wormholes as portals to make multiverse corrections. To make versions of myself responsible and deserving of their own outcomes. "
"That's good practice. Did you succeed?"
"I think so. He seems better off."
"Good for you, sweetie. Now please turn it off and prepare to sleep."