It looked exactly like Nathan apart from the mole just under his left eye. He had always said that he wanted to get it surgically removed, I thought that was a bit extreme, it was a tiny thing. It was something you wouldn’t have noticed but I did because I saw it every day since we had started school together. “Who are you and where’s Nathan?" I asked, my voice trembling. Whoever, whatever this imposter was, they clearly didn’t think I deserved an answer. I tried again "Are you even listening to me! I asked you where Nathan is!" At that moment a van pulled up in the road behind me. I’m not sure what colour the van was, it came up so fast that I couldn’t see it before a man pressed a handkerchief to my face. As I breathed in the chloroform my eyes began to dim and I was vaguely aware of being lifted into the back of the truck. I woke up in a pitch black room. The only light was coming from a small gap under the door. I could hear voices talking in an odd language on the other side of the door. I head rustling in the corner. I obviously wasn’t alone in the room. “Who’s there!” I shouted into the darkness. “Connor?” responded a quiet voice. “Nath! Nathan is that you?” “Yeah” said Connor. “Nath do you have any idea where we are?!” I asked my friend. “No but I did hear them talking earlier. They were saying that because you didn’t believe the replica was me they took you. I don’t really understand what they meant though.” “That’s okay, I think I do.” I muttered. “So do you think they’re just gonna do the same thing as they’ve done with us with everyone that doesn’t believe the replica?”. “Yeah. That means all our friends, our parents, everyone will end up off the streets and replaced.”

I turned to the man and asked, “Excuse me, did you see a guy sitting here... looks a lot like you?”

“No.”

“I don’t mean to bother you, but...” “Then don’t” I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I turned back around in my seat. The clock read 2:30, but I wasn’t sure if that was the time or when the clock stopped working. I looked at my wrist, and saw the discoloration on that denoted where my watch would have been, had it not been stolen earlier that night. I turned to the man again, “Excuse me,” “What?” “Do you happen to know what time it is?” The man exaggerated the motion of picking his arm up, and looked at his wrist, “It’s 11:30.”

Okay. 11:30...

I can deal with that. It’s not that late yet. I dug into my pocket, looking for my phone, just to remember that the phone is probably where the watch is.

She was good.

I turned to the man again, “Excuse me,”

He turned his head, slowly, and gave me a steely look, “What is it now?”

“May I use your phone to make a call or send a message?”

“Well which one is it, a call or a message?”

“What difference does it make to you?”

“I don’t have to give you my phone to send a message.”

“Okay can you send a message to...”

I gave him my wife’s phone number, and told him to tell her to pick me up at... Then it dawned on me.

“What is the name of this bar?”

“You want her to pick you up at ‘what is the name of this bar’?”

“No, I’m asking you.”

“What?”

“The name of this bar is.”

“Yes”

“What?”

“That’s the name of this bar.”

“That’s what I’m asking you.”

“That’s what I’m telling you.”

“The name of this bar is what?” I asked, very slowly and deliberately.

“Precisely.”

I started to grow tired of this bit, until I saw a a bug question mark on one of the coasters, Yeah, send that.”

He sent the text, and a few seconds later the phone rang and the man handed it to me.

“Hello?”

My Wife answered, panting, “Eddie?”

“Yeah, can you pick me up at What?”

She inhaled and let out a small moan, “What?”

“Yes, at What? Are you okay?” Just as I uttered those words I heard another moan, but this was much deeper and was unmistakably that of a man.

“What’s going on over there?”

“Nothing... What...I’ll be there in an hour and a half.”

The phone went silent, and I handed the man his phone back.

We both sat in silence, staring at the mirror on the wall behind the bar, until I broke the silence.

“I think my wife was just having sex with another man.”

The man too a sip of his drink and stared ahead, so I took it as an invitation to continue.

It was somebody I’ve never met. I don’t know how I could tell it was not him, but I knew for a fact it wasn’t. He wasn’t sounding like himself. He had lost all hope. The boy who used to believe in heaven and light and benevolence believed no more. It was scaring me more than the creature we were running from. He seemed to have no motivation. I drug him into an old shop to hide and tried to slap him out of it. We ran and ran. But he didn’t seem to care if he stopped or kept going. I knew it wasn’t him.

I realized now that the creature we were running from was ourselves. He was replaced with himself in a worser form.

He blinked and I looked away, I didn’t want him to know what I was thinking.

“Are you suspicious of me?” he asked jokingly. I laughed nervously to keep up the pretense. A pretense that was failing.

“No, of course not, I know it’s you... It’s just...”

His eyebrow raised. His right eyebrow. Usually it’s his left. He waited for me to finish.

“...you can’t be too careful.”

“I understand that you’re worried, I am too, for all I know you could be fake. But we have to trust each other if we want to survive.”

His voice was so convincing. I hoped he really did believe what he was saying.

“We’ve lost too many people to turn on each other now.”

His solemn statement hung in the air around us. I wanted to laugh out of awkwardness but it wasn’t appropriate so I resisted.

I noticed even more things that didn’t sit right. His mannerisms had changed, he was tense.

“Since they first appeared we only really had each other. This entire new race of people that looked exactly like us, they just want to replace us. We can’t leave each other’s side for a second because when you’re alone that’s when they strike.”

“I know this.” I said back to him. He thinks he knows everything.

“I have to remind us how important it is to trust each other.”

“Well stop acting so... different, then.” I snapped back.

He seemed hurt and confused. I didn’t know what to believe, either he was a phenomenal actor or it really was him.

He was quiet, the air was cold, I stared at my shoes and wondered what to do next.

“Listen, we’ve been through a lot. I just don’t want to lose you.” I whispered.

It worked.

“You wont lose me, not if we stick together. We’ve been apart for 30 seconds maximum since all this started, look how far we’ve come, how long we’ve survived.”

He put his arm around me, I had to pretend to feel comfortable about it.

His mouth edged closer to mine and lingered for a kiss. I accepted him.

I ran my fingers down his back, my memories suggested that he enjoyed this sensation. But that felt like decades ago, like those memories belonged to a different person altogether.

He let go and smiled at me, a deeply innocent smile. His eyes were full of hope and relief that we were back on track.

I had him exactly where I needed him. He didn’t know it but it was already over for him.

30 seconds was all it took for me.

Soon he would be replaced too and our species can thrive here.

I smiled back at him, pleased to have fooled him once more. His replacement would arrive soon, and our silent war would continue being won.

There was a banging somewhere in the distance, rattling my brain. I crawled out of bed and I knew straight away things were not right. Everything felt strange, familiar but unfamiliar at the same time, like I’d dreamt about the items in my flat but now I couldn’t quit touch the dream, leaving everything blurry. I stumbled around an unfamiliar room, looking for something to cover my bare skin. I found a pair of jeans and fumbled putting them on, they seemed to fit right. I head toward the sound of the banging, which was now becoming a pulsing thunder in my head, unrelenting. I found the source of the noise and opened a heavy front door. Revealing a strange man standing there, staring at me. Sunlight over his shoulder flashing in my eyes. “Jack, your half an hour late, I’ve been knocking for fucking ever” I looked and him, confused, I didn’t recognise this man at all. “What” was about all I managed. The man barged past me “Get dressed, we need to be on the job in ten minutes”. I closed the door and we stood facing each other in the strange hallway. “God, you look like shit lad” the man said “are you back on the booze?”. I stood there in shock for a few more minutes until I finally got my courage up “Look pal, I don’t know what’s going on here” I tried to use an unthreatening tone, but I don’t think I succeeded.. I was just feeling lost and confused. And now I could see confusion on the strangers face and something else. Concern? He tried to put his hand on my shoulder but I shrugged him off roughly. “Mate are you ok?” He asked I stood there stuttering, I just couldn’t get my words out. I was getting more and more frustrated. He suddenly stepped closer and I just reacted. I punched him full in the face, sending him reeling back. I stumbled myself, my head was pounding now, I felt unsteady. I then pitched forward into darkness.

“Kevin.” I reached out and shook his shoulder. “Kevin did you hear me?”

“Hmm?” His eyes snapped to mine. “What?”

“You spaced out there. You okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” He smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “Class is about to start. See you around.”

“Yeah...” I watched him job off. Something was strange ever since he got back from his camping trip he didn’t seem to be the talkative person I knew.