Somehow I managed not to drop my coffee, and instead just stared, slack-jawed, at the woman sitting at my desk. She was me. She was absolutely me. I spend a lot more time than I probably should thinking about how I look to other people, and there she was - long dark hair, pale hands tapping away at the keyboard, brow furrowed and chapped lips pursed as she focuses on her reply to one of the many emails of the morning.

But I was standing right here, next to my desk. So she couldn’t be me, even if she looked just like me. Who was she?

My doppelgänger, catching me staring at her out of the corner of her eye, glanced up.

“Oh,” she said, standing and coming towards me. I took a step backwards reflexively.

“Don’t freak out,” she said softly. “Let’s just step over here so we don’t confuse too many people.”

“What do you want with me?” My voice quavered.

She frowned slightly. “I don’t want anything. You won the contest, remember?”

“What contest?”

“The essay contest, saying what you would do if you had a no-strings-attached, all-details-taken-care-of month off from your regular life. You wrote about that fantasy novel you’re working on. And you won the contest. Didn’t you get the confirmation email?”

“I did, but… I thought it was a prank! I wrote that for fun!”

“All the more reason to take the month off and finish that novel.” My doppelgänger patted me on the shoulder. “I’m here to take care of all the details in your regular life. So don’t worry about it! Go do whatever you want, and I’ll check back in with you in about three weeks with any important updates.”

I was having trouble processing. “But I have a meeting with -“

“No, I have a meeting. YOU have a novel to write.” She grinned at me. “So get out of here already!”