Young Writers Society

I was floating aimlessly in a complete void. The silence was as loud as it could be, and nothing could possibly disrupt it. This ambient was very different from my own realm. I didn't felt...Home. This didn't seem like my own mind at all.

"Oh really? Then you'll have to get used to this place , because it's your home now!"

DG's voice was louder than usual. And I could now remember what happened.

"Hey! What did you do to me?"

He laughed.

"I simply switched my place with yours", he replied in a joyful tone.

"You WHAT?!"

A nightmare. This had to be a nightmare. Although I never experienced such a thing – or if I did I don't remember it at all, considering I was always sleeping pretty well –, it had to be one. I just couldn't picture what just happened.

"Sounds like you never realized what I really was."

"Of course I did! You're a bloody piece of my mind that suddenly decided to work on its own. And I lived with it ever since."

"You don't get it, do you? You're the one who created me. Your subconscious did, at least."

I stared at DG, agape. I... Created him? Why would I even do such a thing?

"Idiot. Haven't you realized how deep your mental scars really were?"

"You're the idiot! I have no mental scars. I managed to defend myself long before having any of those. And you were already there when I performed my drama tricks for the first time."

Once again, my Doppelgänger let out a cackle.

"I can't believe you tried so hard to be optimistic until now. Let me get this straight Dyrow: you are currently fifteen years old. During twelve years of your life, you've been insulted, beaten - even though you defended yourself pretty well - and almost persecuted for your physical appearance as well as the irrational and stupid fear you brought to the others.
"In the meantime, your dad was – and still is – almost nowhere to be found, traveling around the world in order to sell the product of his researches. Not to mention your mom, who's been constantly working too in order to help her husband. And even though she was present to educate you, you were always left alone."

I shrugged.

"I know this already. I must say I wasn't that much insulted after the first six years though. Basically, I managed to survive on my own. What's your point?"

"My point is, many children in your place would've been traumatized in the most hideous way. Yet you managed to stay yourself during the whole process, almost completely untouched by what was happening to you. And do you know why?"

"No, but I'm sure you desperately want to tell me. Please go on, I'm curious."

I actually had a pretty good idea why I wasn't affected by the others evil doings. That was something I was hiding to my mind shard: he didn't have access to all of my thoughts.

"Well," he continued, "simply because I am the one taking all the pain. You created me for the sole purpose of enduring your suffering, or at least minimize it as much as possible. I am the negative side of your personality, what you should have become if your mind hadn't split up. You are extremely cheerful and happy in general. I in the other hand, am extremely cynical and can joke with everything, even the most frightful subjects. You have no golden mean, and will never have one."

If my DoppleGänger expected me to react to his little speech, it was a waste of time: I remained as calm and insensible as I should be, because I already knew this piece of information. I asked myself many times why I could never cry or be generally affected by pain. And of course, I had the same supposition: that DG was the one... "absorbing" my pain. He was only confirming it.

"Oh really?" he said, still following my train of thoughts. "I am glad you had this hypothesis in mind the whole time. You're not completely blind after all. However there is one more thing you should know. As an alternate version of yourself, I have, just like you, the ability to evolve."

I frowned my eyebrows – or rather the mental image I had of them.

"The ability to evolve? That's what you used to bring me here?"

"Precisely. I am now a separate being from you. I am still you, but I developed my own spirit. We are drastically different. Now tell me Dyrow: what would be the only thing you would wish for in my position? After suffering for another spirit during years, enduring pain again and again... What would you want to do?"

Something was wrong, I could feel it. DG was indeed becoming different. He probably started to change his mind a long time ago, but I didn't realize it, which meant he could keep secrets for himself as well – that would explain why he wasn't answering me sometimes. As for his question, I didn't need to think twice about it.

"In your position, I would feel enslaved, doomed to suffer as long as my alternate self suffers. I would try to overcome it and become the controller of the body."

I suddenly froze in place. This wasn't good. Not good at all.

"Oh you're right, it's not good at all, because this is exactly what I want to do: take your body and make it my own. And in order to do this, I have to make you disappear."

I couldn't restrain myself from smiling. Indeed, only I would've think of such a horrid scheme. He was still similar to me after all. Except for one tiny detail...

"That's a nice plan you got there", I said, "but you forgot something, something that I too would've ignore in your position. You forgot how much we both can evolve."

He stopped smiling, now paying a sharp attention to my words.

"Explain."

"You have evolved in a horrid way, and that is because you have only absorbed pain. I'm the opposite. As you said, you're the negative, and I the positive. We need each other. Since your nature is similar to mine, if you get rid of me, the negative side of myself – you – will rule. But my mind will then become unbalanced. And what can compensate that?"

"...A positive version of myself. Another mind shard."

"Correct. And knowing myself, I don't think this new positive mind shard would like to absorb happy sentiments without truly enjoying them. He'll then trick you and take over the body. You don't know how he'll be able to do it, so you can't anticipate your downfall. He will be me, he will be you, thus he WILL find a way to take over just like you are now trying to do. And when he takes over, another negative side will try and overcome the body as well, and so on. Conclusion: this is an endless and meaningless war, and we need to stop it."

This time, DG seemed very upset.

"The worst part about this chit-chat is that your arguments are actually pretty accurate."

"You can simply say that I'm right. No need to thank me. Now explain me how to get out and everyone will be happy."

My Dopplegänger's glance became sharp, but in a very worrying way.

"What? You mean you can't go out by yourself?"

I didn't like this tone. I gave him an information I shouldn't have. And I had no idea how to correct this mistake. I decided to remain honest:

"What do you mean 'go out'? I just collapsed."

A gloomy smile appeared on DG's dark lips. I indeed threw myself in a bad situation.

"No. You assumed you collapsed. But you didn't, and you can't feel it. You are still awake, but I'm watching everything with your eyes."

Not that he mentioned it, I could vaguely feel my legs, and I was still holding my mace.

My conversations with DG were very fast, since we were thinking and not literally talking. Even our current chatting must have went on for several seconds only. And now I could feel something else: my legs were moving. But I wasn't the one moving them.

"I was right. You can't get out of your current position. Therefore, with the control I possess on the inner part of yourself, There's no guarantee that my new mind shard will be able to stop me or take over the body. And as it happens, I'm willing to take the risk."

For the first time ever, a Pumpkin Smile appeared on his face.

"First task: killing the troublesome girl."

A feeling of pure terror passed through me. Killing Crystial? Why would he need to do such a thing?

"I can answer that." he said while my legs were making another distant step. "I simply want your body to remain in pain. Pain became my fuel over the years. It is a need. And if I live with pain around me, I don't think the new mind shard – after your disappearance, that is – will be able to absorb any kind of happy emotion. I will therefore stay in control, and live life like I want to. And frankly it's also because I find her annoying."

He let out a cackle before adding in a mocking tone:

"Thrilling perspectives ahead."

So threatening Crystial's life was not enough, he also had to use my lines and turn them against me. Though I had to say, I would've done something similar. Couldn't blame him for being such a jerk. But I had to get out of here no matter what. If I could feel my legs, I could probably feel something else. It was my body after all!

I had to trigger sensations. Something that would remind me the world I lived in. I immediately created a mental image of the Scafy Corner, the pupils, the teacher. They were all here, smiling at me and laughing to my jokes. Yes, that was it! Pain had been DG's fuel. He managed to make it his power. I in the other hand, loved being dramatic and make others laugh. I needed happy memories to get out.

"Yeah, right. And you actually think I'm going to let you out after all my efforts? Pitiful."

I instantly felt some sort of pressure around me. It was...whispering to me.

"...Alone..." The voice whispered. "You are destined to stay alone... Emotionless. Empty. You are a hollow... A shell of a being... You are nothing..."

No. That wasn't true. I wasn't alone anymore. And ironically, DG was the one who allowed it. He helped me, and because of his help I became happier. In the weirdest and most vengeful way ever imagined by a child, yes, but happy still.

"Oh no. Shut your trap and stay where you are!"

I had to remember. Those laughs. Those rare smiles. My parents around me, giving me gifts and congratulating me. Their words. The way I felt about it.

"Stop! STOP THIS NOW!"

"You cannot harm me DG. You are a part of myself. And in a way, you are also a part of my happiness. We don't have to hate each other."

I couldn't help but smile at this thought.What idiot was crazy enough to immensely hate a part of his own self?

"Don't you dare try this on me! I am an embodiment of pain. And all because of YOU. The girl will pay for it, as well as everyone around you!"

Slowly but surely, I was regaining control of my body. But DG has already my mace raised above my head. He was about to hit Crystial in the face, and the Oryktia armor could not stop such a hit. I had to focus even more. I didn't want to lose Crystial. She certainly didn't deserve such a fate.

"And there goes your domination on the top, little girl!" said DG with my voice.

A formidable rage took over me. How could he use my voice? My lines? Act as if he was me, after being separated from my mind for so long? That anger gave me even more will.

"You bloody mind shard, get out of my body right now! I am the one and only master! I am Dyrow Wagate, and you are my hideous alternate self! Get out!"

Once again, I felt a violent headache strike me and everything became dark. When I finally "woke up", it was to witness a cloud of smoke around me.

My mace had already struck the ground.