CHAPTER 14 - THE SAFE PLAY
Broken chairs, drawer legs, pillow fluff, mattress foam, and bed frame fragments sprinkled my bedroom floor.
I was back.
Back in my world… and fully clothed now.
It was time to kill a William.
Whatever was left of the drawer was sadly emptied, probably by my cannibal twin. He’d definitely have more ammo than me, but that was something that I couldn’t change now.
The more pressing matter at hand was Jane.
James always told me to make the safe play, but the only play to make at the moment is a reckless one.
My specialty.
Opening my front door, I rushed down to the saloon. No matter how my right hand was, my legs were just fine. With a full-on sprint, I dashed past carriages, wagons, random folk just standing around, stray chickens, stray dogs, stray cats, stray everything. Any obstacle that was in my past had no chance of stopping me from getting to Jane.
I never stopped even when my name was called by passersby. Sorry to be rude, but I got a place to be, a guy to kill, and a woman to save.
Busting the saloon doors open with a swift kick, I caught the attention of all staying customers. The place was packed, but everybody was quiet at my entrance.
Bob, because of course the guy was here, shouted from an empty table, “Didn’t you just go upstairs? You fall out the window, idiot?”
Bob was annoying, but what he just said was what I needed to hear. I rushed upstairs, shouting down to Bob, “Back me up!”
He let out a loud groan but stood up and followed me nonetheless. “What’s going on?”
“Magic is real and the guy you saw was my evil, cannibalistic twin.”
His footsteps behind me abruptly stopped. “Wha–”
“Just back me up!”
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His footsteps resumed.
“Which room did he– did I go?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Her room, maybe?”
When we neared her bedroom, I heard a loud thud, making me quicken my already-fast pace. I launched another kick and busted the door down.
I didn’t see exactly what I thought I was going to.
My doppelganger was on the ground unconscious beside a shelf– a shelf that was seemingly emptied from his fall. He was covered in a few books and other trinkets that Jane liked to keep.
Speaking of Jane, her face was as red as a tomato. When she saw me, her mouth went agape. Her eyes darted back and forth between me and my doppelganger. It went on for so long, it looked like she was about to faint from confusion.
“Um, William?” she said. “What’s going on? Bob… why are there two of’em?”
Bob looked just as confused as her. “Something about magic and… cannibals? I don’t really know. But my day got a whole lot worse.”
I tried to explain. “Look, he’s my… twin. Twin from out of town.”
Jane quirked a brow. “A twin from out of town that just seemingly has the same burned hand as you and knows Bob and me without even ever meeting us before?’
“Okay, ‘twin’ might’ve been the wrong word to use.” Screw it, the truth, no matter how ridiculous, was the only way. “He’s a ‘me’ from another world that’s similar to ours. Except he’s a cannibal psychopath that likes to eat people… specifically you, Jane.”
Her eyes widened, then closed slowly. She plopped her butt down on her bed and looked me dead in the eye. “And how do we know you’re not the psychotic one?”
Before I could talk, Bob exclaimed, “You believe all that nonsense?”
“Why would anybody make such a silly lie like that?”
Bob quieted down and said, unconvincingly. “I guess so…”
She turned her eyes back to me. I looked directly into them. “Jane, I admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“A bear didn’t break my mirror... It was two bears.”
She laughed, a tear almost spilling out her eye before she wiped it away with a finger. “I knew the one I knocked out couldn’t be you. He was way too touchy. You like me, but you’re not a dog.”
“Wait, then why’d you even ask?”
Jane smiled. “Just to tease ya.”
Bob decided to interrupt the moment. “So, I guess we’re just accepting the whole ‘cannibal twin’ thing. What are we supposed to do with this guy, then?”
“Shoot him,” I said.
“Really? While he’s unconscious? That seems a little too cold, even for you, William. Why not just jail the guy?”
“It’s like James always says.” I walked over to my doppelganger and cocked my gun. “Make the safer play.”
I fired.