// go sleep!!!
Its after school! A lad is walking down the sidewalk, ready to take a train back to his house and back to his family. He carries a backpack on his back, and a bottle of diet Dr Pepper in his hand.
Upon walking to the station booth, he held the bottle in his arms, pulling his wallet from his pocket. He pulled 20$ out, handing it to the person working behind the counter. He smiled and waved to them, taking his ticket and sitting down in a comfortable spot. He stared at the ticket in his hand, waiting for the train to arrive. All of a sudden, his phone buzzes in his pocket. He picks it up, reading the text.
Me and Dad are going to be home late. The key is under the doormat. Love you, X.
He smiled warmly at his phone, putting it down in his lap and staring at the empty tracks in-front of him.
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And yet, the atmosphere suddenly grows cold. It isnât you, Akio. Even though the sun hadnât set, it felt darker than a no manâs sky.
In front of the station booth, there are figures, that the staff doesnât notice. When Akio takes a look at the figures, they all turn to look at Akio, showing their glowing red eyes and pale skin in all its fashion.
All 3 of them.
Akioâs parents, and Akio himself. Akio had been told of mysterious happenings like this at school, but it was always paranormal talk⌠but what was going on?
Akio swallows nervously, deciding to look away from the figures to his phone. He turned it on, licking his lips and checking the time. He always heard talk about weird paranormal encounters from his fellow students, but even then he canât help but shiver a little at it being right in front of him, not to mention those are him and his parents.
He nervously fidgets the phone in his hand, waiting to see if he would get a text to distract himself. Whether it be from a friend or his mom again, he didnât care.
The staff at the counter doesnât seem to be able to see them. The parent doppelgangers walked out of the station, with the Akio shadow staying and instead, walking towards him.
The doppelganger then stops right in front of the seats that Akio was sitting at. It stares at Akio, with its creepy crimson eyes.
âU-Uh. âŚHeyâŚ?â
He whispered, trying his hardest not to notice or bring his attention to the figure. He obviously failed doing that, considering the fearful look plastered across his face.
The alarm clock had begun ringing shrilly throughout the apartment, blinking in blue 7:00 AM. Not that it was even needed, since Arthur-Oliver was already awake, slipping on his jacket as he thoughtlessly sipped from his coffee.
The television was on, as it usually was, but at the moment it was muted, as Arthur-Oliver wasnât particularly interested in hearing about the daily news. Everyday, it was the same thing. Unlike at work, where he spoke with people enforcing laws, investigating the breaking of said laws, etcetera. People who knew things the media didnât.
His phone was in his pocket, shut off. A habit of his.
The doppelganger leaned forward, and stroked Akioâs face with itâs hand. Itâs freezing to the touch, and you could swear that the thing was grinning. Ever so slightly.
An image of Akio standing before a mutilated corpse flash through Akioâs mind. The image is blurry, but you can see that there is a sign by the corpse, though it is too blurry to read.
And when Akio snaps out of the image, he would see the doppelganger fading into his body.
Be it the mysterious missing person reports or the drug dealings in the city, or the suicidal policemen inside of the police station, Arthur-Olivier had a lot of things to worry about. Mysterious sightings of doppelgangers? Mostly superstition. Investigations had brought up nothing. They were nothing more than a superstitious cult attempting to divert attention of the police. After all, calming down the men inside the station was more important.
That would be, but the superintendent had a hotel card. Of the Gateway hotel seemingly demolished years ago. All cards to unlock doors were disposed of in the proper channels. How did they surface? Investigations have shown that it is most likely extras that the manufacturer of the cards had produced.
Except the fact that said person had passed years ago. There were no serial numbers on the card to determine their date of manufacturing as well.
On the way home⌠Omi takes the usual route home. As he continued walking, something started being really wrong.
What used to be a stretch of empty plains, has a tall building right smack in the middle of it.
It was not there the previous dayâŚ
Itâs a magnificent Hotel. Almost as grand as the lush 6 star hotels that you could dream of in newspapersâŚ
"Welcome to Gateway." A voice states out to Omi.
"Please come in."
And it is of a hotel card. Gateway.
There is an address stated on it. Huh.
Was that a hallucination? But this card⌠itâs here in Taistoâs hands.
At this very moment, Arthur-Oliver had the Gateway hotel card in his wallet, for reasons he couldnât quite justify to himself. Several times over the past few days heâd been close to throwing it into the nearest paper bin, but had stayed his hand. Maybe it was just the logo appealing to his artistic nature.
After resetting the alarm, and making himself a sandwich to eat on the way to the station, Arthur-Oliver turned on his heels and went to the hallway. With a shrug, he fished his keys from his pocket, and let himself out the door.
He turns the card over, but the back is blank, other than a magnetic strip. Hotel GatewayâŚ? He doesnât remember there being a hotel in operation in the Gateway - at least not since the old one had been demolished. But strangely enough, the card looks new. The surface is smooth, with no scratches on the glossy coating. He slips the card into his wallet for now, and his thoughts wander back to the creepy doppelganger he couldâve sworn he saw.
After putting the umbrella back in its place and locking the door, Taisto kicks his shoes off and flips on the light in the kitchen to look for food. He settles for a can of soda and a day-old sandwich, and plops onto the sofa before turning on the TV.
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All Akio could do is freeze up in fear, feeling as if he wanted to start crying from the imagery he just saw. He shut his eyes tight, wishing it just went away.
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Omi is startled and confused, so he reluctantly tries to get out of the situation
Omi proceeds to try to run away
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âYou will come to me. You ar-â
The voice is interruped by a flash of light, a train zooming into the station, and replaced with a mechanic voice.
âPlease mind the platform gaps.â
âAre you alright? You looked worried⌠Is there something I could do to help?â The station staff who was previously at the counter was now sitting down with Akio, asking with a kind and reassuring voice.
Omi, seeing something was definitely not quite right, and this was definitely not caused by drugs of his own calibre, decides to run. He shifts his feet to start running, only to realise that his legs didnât want to follow instructions. In fact, right in front blocking his escape, is his own doppelganger.
âWelcome to Gateway. Please, go in.â It speaks. And as it says that, more doppelgangers proceed to materialize around it, forming a wall of shadows.
âWelcome to Gateway. Please, go in.â They all repeat.
The TV shows a news report on the recent missing people and their articles. The most recent missing person case is of Muimi âShurianâ YasadaâŚ
Continue to listen?
Or change channels?
Arthur-Olivier walks out to walk to the station. Itâs a fine day of course. Nothing to worry about, all the crimes are being taken care of⌠probably. After all, it was just the other day they had cleaned up a drug syndicate. Hopefully that would have stopped the disappearing cases, but no. Even Arthur-Olivierâs secretary had just recently went missing, and he was a tough one to beat, had a good familyâŚ
Wait.
Where was he again?
Why is there a newly built hotel in front of where the station was supposed to be?
âWelcome, Superintendent. To Gateway.â
Heâs about to do the usual channel surfing, but some subconscious thought prompts him to watch the news this time. He watches with interest.
When you tune in, the report is already halfway through.
Urien Iorita (Ex-Shurian)
âMy disciples ainât quitters, theâ arenât so weak likey ice cream. She musta met with some serious accident, she ainât the lass to leave stoves runninâ.â An old man shakes his fist at the camera, dressed in a hawaiian shirt and blind black pants. âSheâs the gem I put hard work into, and a fine diamond sheâs now. Ainât no way I gon accept she just ran from everything, ya paparazzi need to look at facts and stop-â
The scene cuts off and is replaced with another person.
News Reporter
âThank you Guru Iorita. More on the Shurian missing case; The last she was reportedly seen was when she went to a convenience store opposite her house.â
Manager of said 17-1 store
âI saw her the day her house exploded. She came to buy some beer, as usual, I thought it be the same, job troubles. But no, lemme tell ya she was SCARED. Eyes all shifty, as if she were seeing things: Not the normal cool gal I know. I talked to her, and she said something about seeing herself chasing after her or something. Musta been really stressed out, probably needs a good rest, get away from it all, ya know?â
âŚ
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He looked over, swallowing. He wiped his eyes, looking at the staff member.
âY-yeahâŚIâm alright! I just remembered something and itâs messing with me a bit.â
He looked up at the train that was now here, grabbing all of his belongings. He gave a warm smile to the person, his once worried and upset facial expression turning into a happy one as he stood up.
âThank you for that. I appreciate it but Iâve got no time to talk! my train is here.â
He waved while walking to the train, making sure to hand his ticket in to where it was required, before stepping in and getting comfortable in a seat. He was lucky that there wasnât many people in there, or else he wouldâve been a bit cramped again.