The Doppleganger

    The sun was shining in my front room and it was getting rather warm
in my house. The kids were all running around like chickens with their
heads cut off asking question after question about homework and chores
and if they could watch tv. Basically it was like any other typical
afternoon in my house, crazy with all three of my kids asking for my time.
Another fight with my sixteen year old genius, another day of stumping
homework for my 12 year old beautiful daughter, and last but not least
another day of endless questions from the baby of the family. At 6
years old he has endless questions about everything!!
     I was getting ready to fix dinner when the ominous sound of the
phone ringing startled me out of my "cooking zone". I knew in my heart
there was something wrong. I didn't know what it was, but I knew I really
didn't want to answer that phone. My hands were trembling as I reached
for my cell.
     "Hello" I practically gulped the word.
     "Hi honey how are you? You don't sound okay. What's wrong?"
     The air whooshed out of me in relief. The voice on the other end
of the phone was as familiar as my own. It was my mom. "I'm okay mom. At
least I think so. You know how I get those feelings sometimes? Well I
thought you were someone else calling me with bad news. I guess I was
being silly huh?"
     "No honey you aren't being silly. You know that you get those
feelings for a reason. I wonder what it is this time? I know you got one
when your step-father passed away and then another when your dad passed
away. Let me call around and make sure that everyone is alright and I'll
call you back. Okay?" She said this with a worried tone in her voice.
     "Mom it's okay honest. I just saw Meggs and the kids are all home
and James is asleep." I knew I was just trying to reassure her because
I knew I was going to do the same thing.
     "Alright then I won't get on the phone. As long as I know that
everyone is okay," she sighed with relief.
     I was lying to her and keeping a straight face while doing so. The
truth of the matter was that I hadn't seen my sister at all that day.
I reached for my phone hoping that this one time she would answer her
cell. I waited with baited breath as her cell rang once, twice, three
times. It finally went to her voicemail and since I knew that she
wouldn't check it I just hung up. I tried to text her too, but alas she didn't
answer that either. Now this was not unusual for my sister to ignore
me, but this time I really needed to hear her voice.
     I tried again, and again I got her voicemail. Damn, where was that
brat? I was getting ready to tell James that I was going to go and see
if I could find my kid sister when I turned around and there she was.
"Aggghhh!!! You scared the hell outta me bratface!!!! Don't do that
again!" I yelled at her.
     I took a closer look at her and she looked rather pale to me. Her
mouth moved but nothing came out of it. She pointed to her throat and
mouthed that she couldn't speak.
I had played this game with her when we were kids. Alright, I thought,
I can still do this. I always beat her at charades. She pointed to
herself. That one was way too easy. "Meggan," I said with a snicker.
     She nodded her head and made her hands go around in a circle like
she was driving. This was too easy! "Driving," I said.
     This was getting annoying and I was ready to tell her so but there
was something in her eyes pleading with me to just play along.
    "Alright," I said, "but will you please get to the point because my
dinner is going to burn if you don't hurry this little charade along."
     Once again I realized she looked rather pale and wondered if she
had eaten that day. She does that sometimes you know. See she thinks she
is fat, but the truth is that she is just right. She was as beautiful
on the inside as she was on the outside, but being the baby of the
family, Meggan had a bit of a silver spoon stuck in her mouth. There were a
lot of times that she was self absorbed in her own life and shut out
everyone else. Then there were times that she was right there when you
needed someone to help out. I went along with her little game.
     It was when she made this certain gesture that I knew without a
doubt that it was my sister but at the same time not my sister standing
before me. She made the motion for a crash. We had a special way of
saying things when we were kids and this was a motion that only the two of
us knew. With my hands trembling I reached out to touch her face and
all I encountered was a chill. My hand went straight through her. Time
was precious. I knew she was still alive or her doppleganger wouldn't be
standing before me.
     "Where are you at?" I asked her. She motioned to me that she had
been driving and had gone off the road.
     "Where are you?" I asked her again with more urgency.
     She shrugged her shoulders indicating that she didn't know. I
looked to the heavens and asked the Lord to guide me to her. Now I am not a
religious person by any means. As a matter of fact I would be
considered Pagan by the standards of today. I didn't say anything other than to
yell out that I was going out and didn't know when I would be back.
Grabbing my keys and holding on to enough sanity to grab my cell I raced
out the door to go find my kid sister.
     I knew in my heart that this was going to take more power than
what I had inside of me so I reached for my cell once again. "Mom," my
voice pleaded, "you have got to help me. I lied to you when I said that I
had just seen Meggs. I need you to just listen to me. She came to me.
She has told me that she has been in an accident and that her time is
running out. She doesn't know where she is. I already asked her."
     "What? Start from the begining Sherri. You just said that you
hadn't seen her and yet you also said that she told you that she had been
in an accident. What's going on Sher?"
     "Mom. you just have to trust me. Meggan has been in a horrid car
accident and we have to find her NOW!!" I was almost hysterical by this
time and I knew I was screaming at my mom, but I couldn't help it. "You
need to help me mom. I am at a crossroads here. Right or left? Don't
think just answer me!!"
     "Right," she croaked. She knew that I was not joking and she also
knew that the connection between mother and daughter was what I was
counting on. "Go to the right Sherri....quickly!!!"
     I turned right and as I did I could see the figure of my sister
waving at me from the end of the road. I knew we were on the right track.
I drove down the road as quickly as I could. It was a long gravel road
that led to the backroads of Cordell. Great what the hell was she
doing back here anyways?!
     I was still on the phone with mom and I had come to another
juncture in the road. I had the feeling that I knew what general direction I
was going. I was headed towards Suicide Hills. I knew that I had to
have all my wits about me and I needed both hands. "Mom, I need to know if
you trust me?" I all but whispered into the receiver.
     "You know I do Sherri. Implicitly. Find our girl alive. You are
the only one who can do it Hoofprints." I knew then that she was trusting
me to find my little sister. She was using my nickname that my dad had
given me. I could almost feel his presense wrapping itself around me.
I needed all the help I could get.
     The roads that I was heading for were the most treacherous back
roads in western Oklahoma and I needed all my wits just to get me through
the twists and turns. I had to hurry before she was gone and I was
trusting the powers that be to get me there in time. You can call them
God, Allah, Yaweh, The Great Spirit; call them anything you wanted to. I
just knew that I needed them with me right now.
     Going as fast as I dare I topped the first hill and almost hit the
yellow motorcycle that was hurtling over the top. He looked really
shaken and waved at me to stop. "You have to go get her! You have to help
her! She's bad hurt!!" He was babbling by now and it was very hard to
understand him.
     "Where is she? Where is she?" I had jumped out of the car and
grabbed him by his helmet and was shaking him. "Tell me where she is!!" I
all but screamed at him.
     "Wait stop shaking me!! She is about a mile down the road. You
would be crazy to go down that way though. All the rain has washed out
that road and it's all but impossible to get to. I told her the same thing
but she wouldn't listen to me. She was adamant that she get down
there. She kept on saying that she had to get to him....she kept on
repeating it. She had this glassy look in her eyes and acted like she didn't
hear me. I tried to tell her not to go there, honest I did!!" By this
time there were tears streaming down his face and he was shaking
violently. "My brother went down there and I was going for help when Meggan came
along"
     I took a closer look at him and realized that I was talking to
Jesse. Meggan's son Ryan's older brother from the same father but
different mothers. Oh my God!! That meant my nephew was down there along with
my sister!! "Jesse, take my phone and call 911 and get some help!! Do it
NOW!!" I yelled this as I jumped back in my car and took off.
     There was no speed limit in my head and no way that I was going to
slow down my breakneck speed. I was flying over those roads! I don't
think that my tires even were on the ground. I came up and over that
last hill that has a hard right turn to it and ends in a dead end. There
it was. My sisters white Ford Tarus. Parts of it were buried in the mud,
but what I saw had me trembling with fear that I was too late.
     I jetted out of my car as I assesed the wreckage before me. The
back end of her car was a*s end up and the front end was mangled beyond
recognition. I spied a patch of my sister's hair slumped over what was
left of the wheel as I tore down the embankment. From what I could see
of her there was a lot of blood!!
     I didn't feel anything as I tried to rip open the door. There were
pieces of metal ripping open my hands but I wasn't feeling them. The
sharp edges tore at my legs as I tried to kick in the rest of the door.
As I paused for breath I heard it. A moan!! Thank God she was still
alive!!! It was then that I realized she was also standing about ten feet
away. I stopped what I was doing and went to her.
     Looking down I saw my nephew Ryan. He was half in-half out of a
puddle of water. I reached for him and looked for a place to put him.
There was a patch of rain soaked grass about 5 feet away. I used all my
training as a CNA to try and remember how to do CPR. The ABC's came back
to me as I took Ryan's limp body into my arms.
     I felt for a pulse and found one. It was faint but it was there.
It was then that I saw he had a gash on the back of his head and it was
bleeding like crazy. I took the hem of my shirt and ripped off a strip
of it. How I did it I don't know, but I took what I had in my hand and
wrapped it around his head. He moaned when I moved his head and his
eyes fluttered open. He was alive!! "Sherri?" he whispered.
     "Who?" I asked him.
     "Aunt Sherri" I knew it was alright to leave him for a bit to get
back to Meggs.
     "Stay here and don't move Ryan. Do you inderstand me?" I asked as
I looked into his eyes. For the first time in his life I knew that Ryan
would actually listen to me without giving me a hard time.
     Okay, now I knew I could go get my sister! I went back to the car
and tried once again to reach her. There was no way I could get to her.
The door was so crushed in that I knew that she had to have a broken
leg and be bleeding severely. Damn, why didn't I have the strength to
just rip off that stupid door? I reached deep down inside myself and
called on every ounce of faith I had and took what was left of the door
frame in my cut and bleeding hands. I looked up and whispered, "Give me
strength."
     I felt nothing of my sore hands. I felt nothing of my aching back.
All I felt was this warmth reach me from nowhere. It was almost a
tangible thing. I heard the word "PULL!!!" in my head. I gripped the frame
with everything in me and pulled with all my might. It was moving!! I
kept on pulling!!! Creeping ever so slowly it was opening inch by inch.
I knew then that I was not alone. I screamed as loud as I could and
gave one last mighty tug and opened it all the way.
     Reaching in I took my sister's head in my hands and whispered to
her, "It's okay Meggs. He's still alive. Come back now so you can go
home and be with Ry."
     It was then that I heard her moan, "Sher, is that you? What's
happened? Where is Ry? I have to get to him!!" She tried moving and at that
time I heard the scream of sirens. It was as if I was in a long tunnel
and the light at the other end was finally in my grasp. I knew then
that everything was going to be okay. Looking up once again I whispered
"Thanks."

 

Reviews

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This is good! I liked the descriptions you used. I loved how the narrator had "feelings". This was a great story. It's like you could continue with it! Great job!