I am Matt Bennett

i a m m a t t b e n n e t t

I stand in front of my dead body. It's bludgeoned and bloody. My eyes widen in terror. I’m a ghost. A figment. A copy of once was human. What has led me to this? 20 years prior to this moment, a boy was born in Massachusetts. He lived a quint life he was accustomed to. That boy was me. At least I thought it was. On my 20th birthday I woke up in a white room. I was in a white gown on a cold metal table. The wall slid open to reveal a door. A man in a lab coat came into the room with his head down, staring at a clip board. He glared at me for a second before looking back at the clipboard.

“Matthew Bennett?” The man asked in an bored tone with a hint of annoyance.

“That’s me.” I replied. I was surprisingly calm. “Where am I?

“How old are you?” He ignored.

“Twenty." I answered

"And your parents are MaryLou and Edwin?"

"Yes."

"What is your sister's name?"

"Kate-"

“Thank you.” The man turned around and began to leave. I got up and ran in front of him, I stumbled a bit. The door slid shut behind me.

“Wait a second, what is going on?” I asked, now panicked. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe. He stabbed me in the neck and injected me with a green liquid that felt as if lava was pouring into my body. My body went limp and hit the floor like a bag of rocks. The lava froze and I had no control over myself. I couldn't move. The man was punching some numbers into the wall. The key pad was faint and I hadn't noticed it before. I fought my eyes that were trying to force themselves shut. The blood in my head was pounding, I couldn't hear a thing. I tried to pay attention.

6

7

8

4

The door opened and the man left. 6784. I thought to myself. 6784. 6784. I had to remember.

6784.

6784.

6784.

6784.

I thought the number repeatedly until I finally succumbed to the venom freezing my body.

I woke up with a head ache equivalent to four hang overs. I was back on the metal table. I laid there for what seemed like three hours. Staring at the single white light in the room. I felt the cold, smooth metal with my finger tips. Thinking of nothing until a single thought emerged from my lips.

"6784."

I sat up immediately and saw the keypad directly in front of me. I slowly swung my legs off the table. My feet didn't touch the ground. I gradually lowered myself onto the floor. My bare feet flat against the cool white tile. I was slightly dizzy. I stumbled and crashed into the wall. I steadied myself. I made my way to the keypad. My finger typed in the numbers.

6

7

8

4

The door made a strange sound, then slid open. Outside the door was pitch black. I took a cautious step into the dark abyss. I felt the door for a light switch and to my surprise, there was one. I flipped it up and row by row, a mix of white and green light illuminated hallway. The walls and floor was black marble. My eyes widened in a horrified awe. On both sides of the hallway the walls were lined with large tubes filled with bright green, gel-like liquid. Floating in the gel was a fetus. There were umbilical cords coming from the top of the tube. Each fetus was at different stages, going up to late teens as it appeared from hight. I didn't have my glasses and the gel blurred their appearances just enough that I couldn't see their faces.

I felt like I had just walked into a horror film. At the end of the line I stepped in a gooey substance. I looked down and saw the gel on the ground mixed with broken glass. The broken tube was empty and it appeared the umbilical cord was ripped off. I stood still; I could hear slight breathing. I looked around me but I couldn't see anyone. At the end of the hallway there was a spear/clipper like device that I assume was for cutting the umbilical cord. I ran over to it and took it off the wall. I heard a large gasp coming from my right. I quickly turned to the sound and held the spear in front of me. Hiding between the wall and a tube was me. A copy of myself, my exact self, was siting there, cowering in fear. Trembling.

"I'm Matthew Bennett." He mumbled under his breath. My spear was right in front of him. "I'm Matt Bennett." He said louder. "I was born Matt Bennett and I will die Matt Bennett." He then reached forward, grabbed the front of the spear and pulled it into himself. Green blood oozed out of the wound. He spat some more green out of his mouth and smiled at me deviously. "You are not Matt Bennett." He whispered with his dying breath.

I backed away in fear.

He was me.

Are all of these people in these tubes me?

Am I me?

Are we all clones?

Are we all replicas of the real Matt Bennett?

Am I a clone?

Those thoughts rolled in my head as I slid to the ground.

No, I thought,

I have all these memories.

I am the real Matt.

I had to prove it to my self though. I picked up a piece of glass and held it to the palm of my hand. I broke the skin only slightly when I heard a door open. I ran out of the room through the closest door, seeing the other Matt out of the corner of my eye, the smile still fresh on his face.

The door closed quickly behind me. This hallway looked like a hospital. People in blue scrubs were talking and working like a regular hospital. I walked down the hall slowly. A woman with long red hair tied up in a pony tail stopped me.

"You okay, honey? Where are you suppose to be?" She asked me. I didn't know what to say. I just looked at her for a second before blurting it out.

"I'm pregnant." I was paralyzed.

I am going to be found out, I thought. This woman is going to stab me with a syringe and I am going to wake up on the metal table, if I wake up at all. But she put arm around me and gave me a sympathetic smile.

"Oh. I know it must be though." Neither of us said a word as she guided me to a door. She opened the door to reveal a room full of pregnant men. Most were crying. Some were eating. A lot of yelling was going on. "You must have just been inseminated. Everyone is like family here. I'm April. I'll visit you, okay? What's your name?"

"Carl." I lied.

"Nice to meet you, Carl." She smiled. "I have to get back to work, but I will come back to visit you. Okay?" I stared at her and nodded slightly. She beamed at me and left. I looked around, confused. There were plenty of places to sit. Men were walking and eating. I waited for an empty chair. It was soft and I sat there staring at nothing for hours. A man in scrubs came in and told everyone it was time to go to bed. I followed the crowd into a hallway full of doors that reminded me of prison as I had seen on TV.

I stood in the almost empty hallway, men flocking to their rooms. I was dazed in confusion when I felt a hand grab me by the arm and pull me into the room next to me. Inside the room was more like a furnished prison cell. There were two soft looking twin beds. The door slams behind me. I turn and see the man who pulled me in here. He was a tall Arab man, around twenty nine, with a stomach as big as a huge salad bowl. He caught me staring.

"Triplets." He smiled. "First one to be blessed." His face then grew a little sad. "I'm Alex."

"I'm Carl." I returned.

"No. You're Matt Bennett." I froze. My heart stood still. I was afraid that if I took a breath it would come out as fire and I would melt like ice. I tried to decided whether to breath. "I use to work in the cloning section. Then I learned something disturbing. I was going to report it when they finally accepted my application for the men pregnancy project. I was immediately taken out of work and they refuse to let us out of these rooms."

"What did you find out?" Slightly breathing shallow breaths.

"They were keeping the original Matt Bennett for tests. A variation of them. The board found out and made us release him. But they had lost him. They send one home, yes, but they aren't completely sure it was the real Matthew Bennett."

"I'm the real Matt Bennett!" I shouted. "I have all my memories!"

"So do the rest of the clones. I recommended they checked the blood but they didn't know what I was talking about. Real people have red blood and clones have green. The crew working was homemade. They're color blind. It took them years to make people with color vision."

"They make people?"

"It's their specialty." He gave me a moment to absorb this information. "I was working in Texas, right out of medical school. I was asked for my assistance in Nevada and the pay was good, so I said yes. I was going to be here on base for three days and I've been her for thirteen years. Everyday I make sure I'm not a clone." Alex held out his hand to show dull scars scratched across "Since I got pregnant they wont let me have anything sharp so I fall a lot. I catch my knee on the side of a table. Anything. They can replace memories. Remove them. That's what the did to you. Removed your memories of the base. Treated you like a lab rat. How old do you think you are?"

"Twenty years old, today." I answered.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'"?

"You were here for a year. A year and eight months now."

"Does that mean I'm a clone?"

"Not necessarily. They can manipulate any living brain." I ran my hand through my hair. I'm the real Matt Bennett, I thought. I can feel it. I know.

"I need to get out of here." I started walking to the door but Alex stopped me.

"I know that, and I can help you with that. Tomorrow we get out door time. It isn't actually outside but a visual chamber. Right next door is the garage.If you find the wall you can find the door."

"That's stupid, what if the pregnant men figured this out and tried to escape?"

"Who would know how to deliver our children? None of us could get the proper medical treatment anywhere else."

"Sounds legit..." I sighed. We talked out every detail of the plan until the lights went off. I "slept" in Alex's roommate's bed, which was empty because he went into labor a few hours prior. I couldn't sleep at all. I was terrified that if I closed my eyes I would wake up on the metal slab again. I just stared into the darkness and caressed the smooth glass that was still pressed into my palm.

When morning came, we were fed breakfast, which was mainly yogurt and toast. When we were finally brought to "outdoor time", a girl with short blonde hair told me I was starting to show. I scurried away from her and started walking. I walked around for fifty five minutes when a voice said there was only five minutes left. I ran, feeling my bare feet race, scrapping against the "dirt" and "grass"; my hands outstretched. My hands slammed into a wall and I fell to the ground in a pile. I pulled myself together and stood up, feeling along the wall for a doorknob.

I heard the bell for the patients to meet back at the door. It didn't take me long to find a doorknob. I looked in the direction where the patients were lining up, they looked like ants to me. I smiled at Alex, and quickly opened the door. I was transported from a warm, grassy, field, to a stone room full of cars. I saw a car that was completely covered so no one could see my face. There was an old NorthFace jacket in back. When I put it on I felt enveloped in warmth. This was different than anything else I had felt the fast day. It was from outside this base. It was from the real world. I found a spare key to the car under the back seat, as Alex had told me it was. All the cars had spare keys, which probably wasn't as a smart idea in their case.

I calmly drove out of the garage, following arrows outside. I thought it would be morning, but when I reached the outside, it was night. I drove along the tire tracks in the sand. After about an hour I reached a gate with a man standing outside of it. I cautiously drove up to the gate. The man instructed me to stop and roll down my window. I stopped and and did so. It was a man about a year younger than myself.

"Hello." I tried to say confidently.

"Hello." The man said nervously. "I remember you for this morning! Mr. Branford was it?" I connected what was going on right away.

"Bennett. Close, good try though."

"Darn it! I'm so sorry, sir. It's only my second day on the job. Please forgive me. Say, weren't you driving a jeep before?"

"I had switched with someone the other day because they more seats." I lied quickly. "Just got it back today." He nodded in understand.

"That was mighty kind of you, sir. I'll let you get on with your night." He pressed a button and the gate opened. I drove through and even though I had been in a desert just a second before, I found myself in a city. A busy city. Transportation maybe? I didn't put it past them. I drove through the city until I pulled up to a gas station. I casually switched the car's license plate with another car's. I entered the gas station, keeping my face down so I wouldn't be caught on any security tape. I picked up a news paper.

July 27th, 2021, SaltLake City Utah.

2021.

It was 2021.

Two days ago I was in Massachusetts, I thought. 

Two days ago it was the night before my 20th birthday. 

Two days ago was October, 2019. 

The world seemed to not have changed. The iPhone12 had been out for a few months, which had the same abilities of the iPhone 5c really. President Kate Kenneally was still in office. People were still committing crimes and there were still homeless people on the street. The world was the same. I thought of my sister, whom I was living with. Who I was still living with? I knew where I had to go.

I stole another car just to make sure they couldn't track me. I drove non stop for I can't say how long. I couldn't sleep. I realized I had to eat seven hours into the ride. I stopped at a vending machine and smashed the glass with a tire iron in the back of "my" car. I took everything I could before anyone could see me. I don't know how long I was driving but I drove pretty far for someone who never got a license. I just kept thinking.

If I am a clone, should I kill myself for the sake of myself?

If I am the real Matt, should I take in consideration of the clone's feelings?

Could I be the real Matt without being the real Matt?

Why am I different?

I am the same.

I have the same memories, thoughts. We are the same person. I am Matt Bennett.

I am Matt Bennett.

I am no different from him.

He is no different from me.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I knew I didn't want to die. Neither did the me sleeping in my bed.

But I am Matt Bennett.

He is also Matt Bennett.

No.

I am the only Matt Bennett.

I am the only one who matters.

This is what I must do to survive.

I am Matt Bennett.

I am Matt Bennett.

I am Matt Bennett.

I am Matt Bennett.

I repeated my mantra as I drove miles and miles across the country. I don't know how long it took me, the sun had set at least once but I hadn't paid attention. It wasn't until I passed my old high school did I realize where I was. My subconscious had brought me home. The ten minute drive home was longer than the drive from Chicago. I pulled into the drive way across the street from the house my sister and her wife bought just the next town over from where we grew up. There wasn't a car in the drive way but there was a single light on.

It was in my room.

I got out of the car in a dream like state. I found the spare key in the same old place under a rock. I entered the house, climbed up the stairs I had climbed 2 days ago that had became 2 years. I walked the hallway that led to my room, passing my sister's room, and eventually making to a blue door that opened into my room. I pressed my palm into the doorknob and turned it. I entered the room and I was met with myself again.

He was laying in my bed. Sleeping. I stood in front of him, staring. After a few minutes, his eyes, as if he had known I was watching him. He sat up, frightened.

"Wait, wait, wait. Please don't hurt me." He stuttered. I looked down at my hands. In one hand was a crowbar, the other there was still the piece of glass. I had gripped the glass too hard, and I could feel the blood flowing in my hand. I took a step toward him.

I am Matt Bennett.

He is an imposter.

I am Matt Bennett.

I am the only Matt Bennett.

I took a step closer.

"I am Matt Bennett." I stated, almost as a demand.

"I know." He quivered. "I am too." I sensed his fear. I could read him like a book, as he was suppose to be me.

I am Matt Bennett.

"But I'm the original Matt."

I am Matt Bennett.

"I know it must be tough. You can go somewhere else. I have money. I can start you off somewhere."

I am Matt Bennett.

He took paper clip off of this bed side table. He pressed it hard into his skin.

"Look, I'll show you."

I opened the palm of my hand and the piece of glass drip from my hand in a glop of blood. I took my hand and wiped the green ooze on my face, as I knew it would be from the beginning.

I raised the crowbar above my head. He leaped off my bed and scrambled into my bathroom. He locked the door, but I knocked off the knob with the crowbar and pushed open the door. He was cowering in the bathtub.

---

I stand in front of my dead body. It's bludgeoned and bloody. My eyes widen in terror. I’m a ghost. A figment. A copy of once was human. I close the shower curtain to hide the body from my sight. I hear a car pull into the drive way. I shuffle to the mirror and stare at my face. I take a damp cloth and wash my face of green and red blood. I change into my own cloths. I hear a knock on my door.

"Hey, Matt!" Kate shouts. "I saw your light, I know you're awake!" I open the door. Her hair is longer and blonde again. Her face looks the same and she's wearing the same scrubs with cats on them as I had last seen her in. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah." I nod. "Where'd you go?"

"To work... Did you get a hair cut?" I nod, remembering he had longer hair. "It looks nice. She hands me my phone. "You left this in the kitchen."

"Thanks." I say, feeling the cracked screen over with my thumb and I press the home button. The screen lights up with the time, 11:00pm, and a notification saying I missed a call from Mary. "I'm going to bed."

"Alright." She smiles. I smile back briefly and I shut the door. I walk over to my bed and set my phone on my bedside table. I get under the blankets of the bed and close my eyes. I feel the softness and warmth of home. I smile.

I am Matt Bennett.