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The worst part of it was not knowing. Not knowing, and hiding there like a baby while the winds raged, faster and fiercer than before, assuring himself that it would be all right, because his mother wasn’t there to reassure him.
Not going there, though. Not thinking about it. Just sitting. Not knowing. Something about indolence being bliss? Or was it innocence? He wished he could find his thesaurus. Or something.
He didn’t realize exactly how hard he was clenching his fists until he felt something wet start seeping slowly through his fingers – trickles of his own blood. He didn’t know how to react to the discovery, so he ignored it. After an eternity, the winds died down. But he stayed where he was, hiding like the baby he was, afraid to find out what had happened. Because as bad as not knowing was, he was hideously afraid that knowing would be worse.
He was shaking something terrible – maybe that’s why the first clone accidentally appeared. Far from worrying about accidentally triggering his ‘abnormality,’ Jamie was grateful for the company. He stopped shaking, at least.
“Are…are we okay?”
Jamie looked himself over, noting that the little cuts he’d made in his palms were less pronounced after making a duplicate. That had happened after his broken arm, too. Took half the time to heal, and the doctors had been amazed.
“I think so.”
Jamie looked on in interest as his duplicate looked around. “Is the storm over?”
“I dunno,” Jamie answered…himself.
“Where…Where’s Mom and Dad?”
“I dunno,” Jamie whispered again, paling slightly. This was what he’d avoided thinking about.
“D’you…d’you think…”
“Let’s not talk about that.”
“Okay.”
“I’m….I’m scared…”
“Me too…”
Jamie laughed uneasily. “That’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?”
Jamie and his duplicate laughed nervously. It was better than thinking about anything. It seemed to help the dread in his stomach, too.
“Are…are we hungry?”
“Not if it means leaving the cellar,” Jamie answered himself firmly. “We have enough food to last a while.”
“Unless we both eat it…”
“We’re the same stomach, genius.”
“But it’d be like stuffing yourself twice!”
“Oh. I didn’t think about that.”
“D’you think someone will come and get us?”
“Definitely. We just have to wait here.”
“And when we get hungry, we should probably just…you know. Be one person.”
“I...I don’t wanna be alone.”
“…me neither.”
They fell into silence, and eventually, drifted uneasily to sleep. Original and clone never parted contact with one another; fear of solitude ensured it.