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Quickly, I stepped towards my computer and pushed a button. The glass door slid open with a soft swishing sound. Slowly, I made my way towards her. She opened her eyes, revealing a pair of striking green eyes. Her beautiful eyes stared unseeingly at me. I reached out and touched her face. Her skin was soft and warm.
She’s real, I thought, happiness overwhelming me. After months of worries and anxieties about how the experiment might go wrong, I had finally made my dream come true.
“Natalie,” I said, feeling tears behind my eyes. I blinked them away. Smiling, I reached out and pulled her tightly against me. She gasped in surprise.
“What?” she said softly. God, she even sounded like Natalie. Every inch of her looked like her, and her voice was exactly just like I remembered how she sounded.
I pulled away from her slightly and surveyed her carefully. Yes, she was the exact copy of Natalie. Her green eyes followed me as I surveyed her.
“We should get you dressed. Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold,” I mumbled after a few minutes.
She blinked her eyes at me, her eyelashes long and heavy. For a moment, I was amazed by how identical she was to Natalie. But then again, wasn’t that the point of cloning? Creating an individual that is identical to another.
Carefully, I led Natalie’s clone to Natalie’s old room. I left her standing in the middle of the room while I went to her closet to find her some clothes. I grabbed a simple blue-green dress that was Natalie’s favorite and walked back to the clone. My clone.
“Here,” I said, handing her the dress. She stared at me, confused. She looked around the room before her gaze settled on me again. I sighed. I guess I would just have to help her with it.
While I was helping her, I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. True, maybe she looked exactly like Natalie, but she did not have her memories. She was merely a clone, waiting for me to fill her brain with information. It was useless.
“Who are you?” she asked while I was zipping up her dress. I blinked. She knew how to speak other than ‘what’? Maybe not all her memories were not there. I turned her around so that she was facing me.
“I’m Hayden,” I told her. “Do you know who I am?”
“Hayden?” she repeated. Hearing her voice saying my name sent a shiver down my spine. She was so realistic.
“Yes, Hayden. We are engaged, do you remember?” I asked, ignoring the sharp pain in my heart. Yes, we were engaged. But that was before that bastard Eric, who I used to think of as a best friend, killed her. He killed her and shattered my hope and dream.
“Am I Natalie?” she asked, recognition coming to her.
“Yes,” I answered eagerly. Maybe all hope was not lost after all. She has some of Natalie’s memories.
“Hayden,” she repeated. “You are Hayden.”
I nodded. She smiled at me. I was so overwhelmed with happiness at that time that I failed to notice that her smile did not reach her eyes. That smile that was so unlike Natalie’s.
My arms went around her. Before she could utter another word, my lips were upon hers, kissing her.
She looked at me, a smile spreading slowly across her lovely face. “Of course I do,” she answered. “Isn’t this the place where we first met?”
I nodded, my heart warm with happiness. She remembered. Her memories were there. She was my Natalie. My Natalie was back.
“Yes. Beautiful place, isn’t it?” I asked, even though it was just a cheap restaurant. I first met Natalie here when I came here to grab a quick lunch. And from that moment, I had fallen in love with her.
She laughed. “Tell me that when I was still a waitress here. This place was a total nightmare during rush hour.”
I smiled. With my arm around her slender waist, we walked towards the table where I used to sit every time I came here to eat, or more accurate, came here to see her.
“I’m going to the washroom. Order something for me, okay? You know what I want, right?” Natalie said.
“Sure,” I answered. She smiled and headed for the washroom.
A waiter came to out table and took our order. I sat alone at the table, playing with the salt and pepper holder while waiting for Natalie. The door of the restaurant swung open, and in came a man that I hated with passion.
Eric spotted me immediately. I watched as he hesitated for a moment before he walked towards me. “Hayden,” he started.
“Eric,” I replied coldly.
“How are you?” he asked warmly, sitting down.
“Good until I saw you,” I said rudely.
He winced. Before he could say another word, Natalie appeared behind him. She tapped him gently on his shoulder.
“Excuse me, you are in my seat,” she said.
Eric stood up, ready to apologize when he saw her face. I watched in amusement as the color was drained from his face.
“Natalie?” he gasped, his face pale.
“You are Eric, aren’t you?” She looked at me for confirmation. I nodded, smirking.
“Eric, you haven’t forget about Natalie, have you?” I asked sarcastically.
Eric shook his head dumbly. “But how- what- it’s impossible!” he stuttered.
“Of course, you killed her, didn’t you?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “But she is here. I brought her back to life.”
“But-.” Eric looked very confused. “What did you do?” he asked quietly.
“I cloned her,” I answered simply.
He stared at me, dumbstruck. “Clone her? But she was dead. It is not possible to clone someone when they were dead.”
I ignored his point even though I was wondering the same thing too. But the most important thing was Natalie was back again.
“That is none of your business.”
“But Hayden, you don’t know what you are doing,” Eric cried, the panic in his voice obvious.
“Eric, aren’t you glad that I am back? I know it was an accident. I forgive you,” Natalie said finally after staying quiet for so long. She placed her hand gently on Eric’s shoulder.
Eric shoved her hand away from his shoulder roughly as though they burned his skin. “I am only glad when I knew you were dead,” he said coldly.
Natalie gasped.
“Eric!” I said. “Please leave. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
“But Hayden,” he started.
“Get out of my sight right now,” I said coldly.
He stared at me for a full minute. Then his gaze slid to Natalie, and he nodded slowly. “I will kill you again, I promise,” he said, staring at Natalie with hatred.
Tears gathered in Natalie’s eyes. I wanted to kill Eric with my bare hands for hurting Natalie again and again. But I forced myself to take a deep breath. Eric gave me a final glance before storming out of the place.
“What was that all about?” Natalie asked. “Why does he hate me so much?”
I only wished I know the answer. But Eric had refused to tell me.
Natalie was so real that sometimes I forgot that she was a clone. I was still amazed at my own intelligence for cloning Natalie, but Eric’s words rang in my head. His hatred for Natalie confused me. Twenty years of being friend with him, I had never seen him hate someone with so much passion that he was willing to kill her.
One day, Eric rang me. He managed to convince me to meet him.
“I want to talk to you,” he had said. “It’s about Natalie.”
An hour later, I found myself in front of his house, hesitating whether to ring his bell or not. But the door swung open even before I managed to ring it. Eric stood before me, he face serious.
“Come in,” he said.
I shrugged and stepped inside. His house was still exactly like the last time when I visited. When we were still the best of friends.
“So what is it about Natalie that you wanted to talk about?” I asked, looking around remotely.
“Would you like some drink?” Eric asked.
“No. I want to this to be over as soon as possible,” I answered.
Eric sighed. He gestured towards his sofa, and I took a seat. He sat down opposite me.
“Hayden, Natalie is,” he paused. “She is dangerous. Very.”
I snorted. “Dangerous? And that coming from someone who killed my fiancée?” I asked, anger resurfacing inside me.
“No. You don’t understand,” he said desperately.
“Yes, I don’t understand. Maybe I would if you tell me what is going on. Why do you hate Natalie so much? Why do you kill her?” I asked, my voice raising.
“I don’t hate her,” he whispered.
“You killed her,” I pointed out.
“Yes, and I never regretted it. Why do you clone her?” he demanded, looking furious.
“I have to. I need her. I love her,” I said.
“She is going to bring destruction to this world. She’s the devil reincarnate,” he cried.
I stared at him as though he had gone mad. “Devil reincarnate?” I repeated, shaking my head. “Man, you have seriously lost it,” I muttered. “First you killed Natalie, then you said she deserved to die. Now you are telling me that she is a devil.” I laughed. “Read too much supernatural?” I mocked.
“Hayden! I am not joking. You got to take me seriously,” he said. “Now that you have cloned her, no, you haven’t cloned her, you have cloned the devil within her. The world is now at the mercy of her, unless I managed to kill her again.”
“Don’t you dare!” I exploded. “She’s myNatalie, not some kind of devil that you are talking about.”
“I know what I am talking about, and you should trust me. I am your best friend for twenty years,” he argued.
“Best friend indeed. Who destroyed his best friend’s happiness,” I shot back.
“Hayden, listen. You gotta help me destroy her,” he pleaded.
“Are you out of your mind? Now you want me to help you kill her?” I asked, unable to believe my ears.
Before Eric could answer, a familiar voice spoke. We both turned towards the direction of the voice. I gasped in surprise, my heart stopped. Floating just outside of Eric’s balcony was Natalie. Spreading from her shoulder was two large feathery wings, flapping gently as she floated there. She stared at us, her eyes suddenly black and evil, her lips pulled up into an evil grin.
I watched as she descended slowly and gracefully on Eric’s balcony. Her wings folded automatically and she walked into Eric’s apartment, still grinning.
“Natalie?” I managed to choke out.
“Hello Hayden,” she said, walking towards me. She slid a hand up my face and kissed me softly on my cheek. Oddly, her kiss was cold, like ice on my skin.
She released me gently. She turned to Eric, smiling. “Eric, how nice to see you again,” she said pleasantly. But her voice was dripping with acid. If looks could kill, Eric would have died now.
Eric stared at her, the fear in his eyes obvious. It was then I realized that maybe Eric was right. This was no Natalie.
“Die, Eric. Die,” she hissed fiercely.
I watched as her eyes locked with Eric’s, and Eric’s face went blank. She turned to me and grinned.
“Watch me,” she said evilly.
I watched in horror as I realized that she was controlling Eric. He wasn’t even struggling when she placed her hands on both sides of his head. With a strength I knew Natalie would never have, she turned Eric’shead sharply. The sound of bone cracking was so loud in the silence room. Eric went limp, and his body fell to the floor. His eyes stared up at me, dead.
“You- you- you killed him,” I stuttered, suddenly feeling weak.
“Should have listen to your dear best friend, shouldn’t you? But still, you bring me back to life. I will not kill you,” she whispered in my face. I backed away from her.
She laughed at my fear. All traces of Natalie were gone now even though she still looked exactly like Natalie. No, Eric was right. She was no Natalie, she was a devil.
“I know what you are thinking, my dear. And Eric’s right. I am a devil reincarnate. And like he said, I am going to bring destruction to this world. And you are going to watch me, helpless and useless,” she said.
The next second, I heard a loud sound of siren blaring. A minute later, the door to Eric’s apartment burst open, and a team of policemen spilled into the room, pointing their guns at us. Relief washed over me. They are going to stop her.
“Freeze,” a voice commanded. “No one moves.”
Then, there was a sobbing sound. I turned to the devil, and found her crying. She pointed a shaky finger at me, and I felt a pair of strong hands clasped over my wrist. The cold of metal met my skin, and I realized what was happening. She was framing me for murdering Eric!
“Yes, sir, I saw him kill Eric. God, he was so strong. Thank God you arrived. I am quite sure he would have killed me too,” the devil cried, sounding totally innocent and terrified.
I stared at her. The policeman that had handcuffed me started talking about my right to remain silent and everything, but I could not hear anything he had said. I was too numb by everything that was happening.
I was sent straight to asylum instead of jail because of what I had been trying to tell the judge in the court. They thought I was insane. And because of that, I was locked in this hellhole, perfectly sane and perfectly aware of what was happening to the world. The devil had kept her word when she said she was keeping me alive to watch her destroy the world. I was very much alive, with something more.
She gave me a pair of eyes that allowed me to see what she was doing. Everything. Everyday, I watched as she did little and little destruction to the world. She gave a little knowledge and power to those with wicked hearts, and stood back and watched them destroyed the world. And she forced me to watch all those horrifying images too. Even when I closed my eyes.
If only I knew the truth about Natalie earlier, I would not have cloned her. I killed Eric, and now I was going to watch the whole of human population die because of me.
