7.1 Vhy
The sight of Mikey, the fake Mikey, bending over me while I slept, grinning down at me in the darkness, was scarier than any nightmare.
I almost fell off the couch, clutching at the corner of the coffee table to keep my balance. My heart yammered like the soundtrack in a bad horror film.
The duplicate Mikey backed away at once, until he was standing in the shadows by the wall unit.
That was worse, 'cause now I couldn't see his face clearly. And he just stood there silently. Like a ghost in the darkness. Like one of those two lions in that movie that Bill Goldman wrote based on a true story he came across while on a holiday to Africa with his wife. The Ghost and The Darkness. I felt the hairs on the back of my hand standing on end with anticipation. It felt like something was about to happen; something really bad.
I felt like screaming and running from the house. Like getting away from this spooky guy who used to be my kid brother. But I remembered Maa lying unconscious in a bundle of bandages in that ICU bed, and Viveka who had suddenly turned into a vicious animalistic creature, attacking Mom, leaving her hurt badly enough to need operations and ICUs, and then leaping over a 12-foot wall like Jack Nicholson in Wolf.
I forced myself to calm down. I took three deep breaths like Van Damme takes in one of his martial arts action movies before he starts his main climax fight, and, getting up from the couch, I walked over to the light switches, forcing myself to move slowly.
Mikey should have blinked when I switched the lights on. Instead he just stood there, staring directly at me. It took me a moment to adjust to the brightness even though I'd been prepared for it, and I reminded myself once again that this person standing there was not my brother. Hell, he might not even be like us normal people.
While my rods and cones did their thing, he moved towards me. I felt he didn't even move like the old Mikey. The differences were subtle enough that Dad and Maa and Viveka hadn't noticed them at breakfast this morning, but knowing what I knew, everything he did screamed 'phony' to me. Or, as Ruch would have put it, 'Snatcher'.
My head was woozy and my eyes felt gritty. I must have fallen asleep without realizing it. I glanced at the wall clock and was shocked at how long I'd slept, and at the fact that Dad wasn't home yet. But the fake Mikey was still standing there, and I was still more than a little bit spooked at the sight of him staring at me like a scientist at a lab specimen.
"What?" I said challengingly, the way I would have said it to a guy who was rubbernecking Ruchi a bit too interestedly at a movie hall. "What?"
He shook his head, looking away. "I didn't mean to disturb you. I was just seeing if you were fast asleep or just resting."
I didn't believe him. I was sure he had been trying to do much more than just see if I was awake. Much worse.
"I'm awake now," I said. "What's hassling you?
He was silent for a moment. I lost my patience. "Come on, dude," I said. "Speak up. What's your glitch?"
"Vaibhav," the duplicate Mikey said. "I need to talk to you. About what happened this morning."
There was another shred of proof: The real Mikey would never have said something like that. He'd have come directly to the point, sub-vocally muttering whatever he had to say, throwing in a lot of hardrock lingo. He would have said something like: "Vhy, man, I need to open a channel with youse. Can we, like, connect?"
I walked to the living room toilet and slid the door open. I left it open as I went in and splashed water on my face. It gave me a few seconds more to come completely awake.
"About what?" I said, towelling my face.
He had walked over to the open door while I was washing my face. I could feel him watching me even with my face buried in the towel. "Everything," he said. "Maa and Viveka. What happened this morning."
The mention of the attack turned my face hot, as if the water I'd just splashed had been burning hot, not thanda-thanda nal ka paani.
"What about it?" I said cautiously, coming out of the bathroom and glancing either way quickly. I didn't know what his game was, but I made sure to keep a safe distance from him, just in case he was leading upto a reprisal of Viveka's attack. Correction: The duplicate Viveka's attack.
"It's my fault," he said.
I blinked at him. Like Govinda in one of his corny comedies, wagging his eyelashes with exaggerated surprise. Except that my surprise was genuine.
"It all happened because of me," he went on. "I'm responsible for it all, Vaibhav. I caused the whole thing to happen. By opening that stupid Vortal."
I almost fell off the couch, clutching at the corner of the coffee table to keep my balance. My heart yammered like the soundtrack in a bad horror film.
The duplicate Mikey backed away at once, until he was standing in the shadows by the wall unit.
That was worse, 'cause now I couldn't see his face clearly. And he just stood there silently. Like a ghost in the darkness. Like one of those two lions in that movie that Bill Goldman wrote based on a true story he came across while on a holiday to Africa with his wife. The Ghost and The Darkness. I felt the hairs on the back of my hand standing on end with anticipation. It felt like something was about to happen; something really bad.
I felt like screaming and running from the house. Like getting away from this spooky guy who used to be my kid brother. But I remembered Maa lying unconscious in a bundle of bandages in that ICU bed, and Viveka who had suddenly turned into a vicious animalistic creature, attacking Mom, leaving her hurt badly enough to need operations and ICUs, and then leaping over a 12-foot wall like Jack Nicholson in Wolf.
I forced myself to calm down. I took three deep breaths like Van Damme takes in one of his martial arts action movies before he starts his main climax fight, and, getting up from the couch, I walked over to the light switches, forcing myself to move slowly.
Mikey should have blinked when I switched the lights on. Instead he just stood there, staring directly at me. It took me a moment to adjust to the brightness even though I'd been prepared for it, and I reminded myself once again that this person standing there was not my brother. Hell, he might not even be like us normal people.
While my rods and cones did their thing, he moved towards me. I felt he didn't even move like the old Mikey. The differences were subtle enough that Dad and Maa and Viveka hadn't noticed them at breakfast this morning, but knowing what I knew, everything he did screamed 'phony' to me. Or, as Ruch would have put it, 'Snatcher'.
My head was woozy and my eyes felt gritty. I must have fallen asleep without realizing it. I glanced at the wall clock and was shocked at how long I'd slept, and at the fact that Dad wasn't home yet. But the fake Mikey was still standing there, and I was still more than a little bit spooked at the sight of him staring at me like a scientist at a lab specimen.
"What?" I said challengingly, the way I would have said it to a guy who was rubbernecking Ruchi a bit too interestedly at a movie hall. "What?"
He shook his head, looking away. "I didn't mean to disturb you. I was just seeing if you were fast asleep or just resting."
I didn't believe him. I was sure he had been trying to do much more than just see if I was awake. Much worse.
"I'm awake now," I said. "What's hassling you?
He was silent for a moment. I lost my patience. "Come on, dude," I said. "Speak up. What's your glitch?"
"Vaibhav," the duplicate Mikey said. "I need to talk to you. About what happened this morning."
There was another shred of proof: The real Mikey would never have said something like that. He'd have come directly to the point, sub-vocally muttering whatever he had to say, throwing in a lot of hardrock lingo. He would have said something like: "Vhy, man, I need to open a channel with youse. Can we, like, connect?"
I walked to the living room toilet and slid the door open. I left it open as I went in and splashed water on my face. It gave me a few seconds more to come completely awake.
"About what?" I said, towelling my face.
He had walked over to the open door while I was washing my face. I could feel him watching me even with my face buried in the towel. "Everything," he said. "Maa and Viveka. What happened this morning."
The mention of the attack turned my face hot, as if the water I'd just splashed had been burning hot, not thanda-thanda nal ka paani.
"What about it?" I said cautiously, coming out of the bathroom and glancing either way quickly. I didn't know what his game was, but I made sure to keep a safe distance from him, just in case he was leading upto a reprisal of Viveka's attack. Correction: The duplicate Viveka's attack.
"It's my fault," he said.
I blinked at him. Like Govinda in one of his corny comedies, wagging his eyelashes with exaggerated surprise. Except that my surprise was genuine.
"It all happened because of me," he went on. "I'm responsible for it all, Vaibhav. I caused the whole thing to happen. By opening that stupid Vortal."
posted by Ashok K. Banker at 12.10.05
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