Writing for Fun
September 2016
Doppleganger - Maureen Rampersaud
I caught sight of her when I was Christmas shopping. I thought it was my reflection in the shop window, then I went closer, it wasn't me, but she had my face. We gazed at each other for what seemed like a long time. Her expression was strange, knowing and showing no surprise. I hurried inside but she had gone when I got there. I felt uneasy so I rang my friend, Irma, who didn't exactly allay my fears.
'It's your doppelganger, a sort of apparition, meant to be a harbinger of bad luck.'
I tried to put it out of my mind, but I felt as if I'd been knocked off balance. I thought I saw her from time to time during the year, in a crowd or on a 'bus . . . where I couldn't reach her . . . always with that mysterious look on her face.
December arrived. It had snowed during the night, so I carefully backed my car down the drive. I stopped with a jolt. I had opened the gates, but now they were closed. I got out of the car and examined the scene. The padlock was snapped shut, I would have doubted myself but for the curved tracks in the snow, made when I had opened the gates.
I unlocked the gates, opened them and continued backing out, checking my mirror for passing pedestrians. I slammed on the brake . . . there she was, standing in the middle of my driveway. I was livid, enough was enough! I jumped out of my car to confront her, but I literally stopped in my tracks. There was no-one there, not even footprints, this was getting even weirder. Perhaps I should see someone.
I brought myself back to reality, I was going to be late for work, on top of everything else. I was about to get into my car when my daughter grabbed me and hugged me so close that I could hardly breathe.
'Mum, thank God you're still here. It said on the radio that the bridge has just collapsed and that there are lots of fatalities . . . oh Mum . . . I thought one of them was you!'
I couldn't speak, I was in shock. Irma's words, 'harbinger of bad luck,' ran through my mind. How wrong she was.