He had missed his bus out of the city and had half an hour to kill.
The nearby café was still open. It was a cold night. At least he’d have somewhere warm to wait. He went in, bought a coffee and sat down with it, taking his time. He looked around. Only two other customers. He supposed that the place was winding down for the day. A television hung from the ceiling. It silently showed a tennis game in progress. Suddenly, the game broke off for an item of breaking news. A full head and shoulders photograph of a man appeared, filling the screen. No sound, just a mugshot with a caption saying wanted for murder. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
It was a picture of him!
It certainly looked like him. Same hair colour and style. Same facial features, even the mole on his chin and the other by the side of his nose. Even he would have to say that it was him!
He instinctively looked around. He surmised that he was the only one looking at it. Then, the caption banner beneath rolled to say that the public should not approach him, as he is armed and dangerous. This picture was replaced by the newsreader, again, with only subtitles. He was saying that a woman had been attacked earlier in the evening. She had left the theatre and was walking to a taxi rank when she was dragged into an unlit doorway. She was robbed of her diamond necklace, stabbed and left for dead. When medics arrived at the scene, resuscitation was not possible. The newscaster went on, but the man had stopped reading.
How was this possible? This had definitely been his picture being broadcast on live TV. Was this some identical twin that he was never told about? Could it be a clone of himself or some kind of doppelganger? Another me, coming from some alternate universe, some parallel existence? So many possibilities. He knew that all of this was perfectly ridiculous, but he didn’t know what else to think. Was he being set up? If so, why him? He was a nobody!
Just then the television screen went black and the lights flicked off and on again. The man at the counter smiled and nodded, indicating that he was about to close.
He stood up and walked slowly to the door. He had no choice but to show himself in public. Outside he buttoned his jacket up and thrust his hands deep into his side pockets. It was at this point that he was confronted with yet another possibility; this one far more horrifying than anything he’d thought of so far.
This came about as his fingertips came to rest on what felt like a necklace!