Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Duality ❯ Duality ( Chapter 1 )

Duality

By: Tyler Laronde

 

I glanced at my watch. 12:05, she was late. “Honestly,” I murmured under my breath. “Who the hell arrives late to confront the evil villain?”

 

“Hey speak for yourself,” a growling, almost inhuman voice snapped. I sighed; he was back, that meant…

 

“Do not try to place all the blame on him Id, you are a part of him, a part that got us INTO this mess in the first place I might add,” a light, angelic voice defended.

 

I dug my heel into the soft dewy grass and spun on the spot, confronting my inner demons. Id was casually leaning against a tree, a partly eaten apple in his hand. Why a werewolf would eat apples is beyond me. Id kind of defied a lot of expectations I had about werewolves actually. The first was the posture, I imagined werewolves to be hunched over, menacing. Id WAS menacing, but in a way a bouncer at the local pub seems menacing. Id stood upright, almost with an air of superiority. Hell if it wasn't for the wolves face and soot black fur covering his body he could pass for a really tall human, though it wasn't as if he needed to act so deceptively, since I was apparently the only one that could see him.

 

“And what about you Uber? Aren't you supposed to be the guy that tells Key to use the Vampire's Amulet for GOOD?”

 

“I thought you only cared about yourself Id!” I interrupted cruelly. I was disgusted that this monster was actually part of my psychic makeup.

 

“He does,” the white haired man supplied from his comfy spot on the park bench, not looking up from the book in his hand. “He's only asking why I didn't `tell you so' NOW is that he trying to dodge the blame, as you hate to take responsibility for your own actions,” he carefully pulled out a small ruffle in his toga that the wind had caused. It was little tidbit like that which added to the complexity that was my insanity, or so I thought. Maybe it was just an after effect from touching the Amulet? Not that hard to believe really, or was I just doing as Uber said? Trying to shift the blame off of my own feeble mind…

 

“So wait, why DIDN'T you tell me it was a bad idea?” I challenged Uber.

 

“That's your conscience you're thinking about, and you lost that when you TOOK the Amulet from the archeological dig,”

 

“They said it was worthless right?” I countered.

 

“That doesn't change that fact you took it without asking,”

 

“Who gives a dame?” Id interrupted again. “He has the Amulet, and now anyone he wants does whatever he wants, total mind control baby!” he pumped his fist and howled.

 

Detestably I agreed with Id words. I WAS glad I took the Amulet, because as you've probably figured out by now, the Amulet wasn't your ordinary trinket, it LOOKED ordinary, what with the deep purple egg shaped gem set in the center with the complex frame of fake gold wire, but as it has been proven in society, looks can be deceiving.

I first discovered the power the day after the field trip to the dig site when the local bully was ready to set up an emergency meeting with my doctor for `staring' at his girlfriend on the bus ride back from the trip, Kathleen Grey, in my opinion the angle of Duality High.

 

I was clutched by fear as he menacingly stared me down, backing me up into the wall, slowly pounding one fist into the other, demonstrating how it was going to collide with my face next. Normally this is where the body goes into a `fight or flight' mode, but my rational mind, Uber maybe, thought to do what they showed you in those low budget anti-bully movies at those school assemblies. I stood up nice and tall (not easy when the guy dwarfs you by a good half a foot), and said in a load, clear, if-anyone-heard-they-would-be-pissing-themselves-laughing voice. “Leave me alone!” surprisingly he obeyed, lowering his fist, just staring at me.

 

Flabbergasted was probably a word I used to describe my awe at the time, I don't know what made me say what I said next, curiosity maybe. “Now go break up with Kathleen Grey!” he walked away without a word, back to the fountain that was a popular school hang-out, where his homies and his girl were waiting.

 

Now that I look back maybe I always knew, the first time I laid eyes on that Amulet, just sitting there on the picnic bench. The deep, intoxicating allure of that gem seemed to draw me in, was it by instinct I took it? Or something more…

 

Either way I had confirmed its power next period, news spread like a fire at a timber lodge in our school. Tim Bullsworth and Kathleen Grey had broken up; everyone was shocked by the sudden turn of events. Everyone that is, but for one smirking boy, dangling a small purple Amulet in front of him. His eyes glowing with the possibilities that lay before him now…

 

My home-room teacher said I have a very scientific mind, when I asked her what that meant she said; “it means you look before you leap,” Ironic I know, but I did spend two days experimenting with my newfound power, studying the limits and features of the Amulet. I committed my first crime with it a day after that.

 

I was hesitant, society's morals still having a strong grip on me. I knew that even with this power shop-lifting would be out of the question. In fact that was one of my first thoughts that afternoon in class.

 

I was smart, there would be electronic records of the items, figures wouldn't add up, and video cameras could catch something. True I could just hoodwink the police officer that showed up on my door step, but why go that far?

 

My first crime was a mugging. I walked up to a lonely old man reading the paper in the park, made sure no one was watching, stuck out my hand, and he slipped me a fifty. It wasn't mugging in the general sense, but that fifty felt like a lead brick in my pocket for a few days. The elderly where the perfect `victims' in this case, I could always find one alone, they where the most likely to carry cash on them, and anyone who saw would simply think it was a grandparent giving a child some birthday money. I just had to be careful not to hit the same people frequently. Over time I grew bolder, taking money whenever I saw an old person or someone alone; with the Amulet I could scrip a conversation to deflect any suspension from prying eyes.

 

Once I made a mistake, taking money from an old man at a diner right when his wife walked in. it was there I discovered how deep my power extended, complete control of the mind, including the ability to erase memories. All I needed to do was wish it be, and the old couple was seated at the table chatting away like nothing happened.

 

After that, I went into a bit of a god complex; it was only natural after all. Absolute power corrupts absolutely…with the power I had I soon thought I could get away with anything. But Uber put up a valiant struggle; I kept myself in check, telling myself that if anyone found out the results would be disastrous.

 

It all fell apart with a girl. Girls in my opinion are much scarier then guys. If dealing with male bullies was like dealing with a rabid bull, dealing with a female bully was like dealing with a hidden viper.

 

It wasn't even ME Emily Anaconda hurt. It was Kathleen, after breaking up with Tim (surprisingly she was relived about that whole thing, Tim's bullying was pulling down HER image) Emily began spreading rumors about the circumstances of the break up. She had been out to get Kathleen ever since she stole the show from her in the school's `American Idol' event. The circumstances ranged from seeing other guys behind his back to the fact that her chest was too small. The final straw was when I saw her crying in a stairwell due to a particularly nasty rumor about her divorced parents.

 

Never before had I a felt such rage for a person in my life. My elementary school career was colored by bloody noses, stolen lunch money and the likes. So I could sympathize with her, the pain that bullies inflicted on you, making you feel that the world would be better off without you; and it gave Id a chance to satisfy his wraith.

 

The next day at school, every guy was either staring or trying to franticly collect the sexually explicit pictures of Emily I had made her take the night before. When she walked into school it was like someone had pressed time's pause button. She was simply waited at the open door, and everyone else was watching her, she could tell something was wrong. The tension broke when one of the pictures floated down from a high spot on the wall, resting at her feet as if projected by a supernatural force. She turned and ran out the door as the catcalls came flying out of the lustful mouths.

 

I think it was the first time the riot squad was called to our school; the mob mentality had lead to a bunch of uncontrollable students chasing the poor girl (I use `poor' in the broadest sense possible). Some were trying to go and comfort her, some wanted to see more of her break-down like some sick twisted reality T.V. show, others where just hoping for a chance to see more skin. The end result was the same, the four years of pain and fear she had inflicted on the other girls and guys was paid back in full on that single day.

 

I won't kid myself, it wasn't righteous judgment I did, it was me lashing out, feeding Id, just like the money was feeding his greed.

 

But that was where I got caught, and by another girl no less. Faith Smith, she saw me when I cornered Emily in the hall, from what I figured she was directly behind me, my power takes a second to take over a person, and for that single second, she caught her eyes, the hallow, soulless eyes that came with total mind control, almost like a hypnotic state.

 

She confronted me the next day; I reacted accordingly by trying to erase her memories. When her eyes didn't glaze over I started to get worried, smirking she held up a silver cross.

 

And so now I was here, deep in this god forsaken forest at midnight (her idea not mine) going over everything I knew about her. Her faith to the Roman Catholic religion was legendary in our school, but she was a cool girl, once we worked on a debate together about religion's role in society. We talked about the witch hunts, the corruption before the protestant reform, even the origin of god and the morals of the church. She was dedicated to her faith, but she kept an open mind to others. She was also captain of the school fencing team, leading us to the championship twice in row.

 

I glanced at the long metal pipe I had dragged along with me for self defense. The thought of what I may have to do to her sat heavy in my stomach.

 

“Come on man, you know what you gota do,” Id pressed me.

 

“Key, it's time you gave this up,” Uber closed his book, looking me in the eye.

 

“Uber,” tears where streaming down my face. “I can't…it's too hard, you are a part of me, you know I can't do that, I don't have a choice!”

 

The air was dead still for a moment as my two sides quietly brooded, well Uber brooded, Id polished off the apple.

 

“You know, this is kind of a switch, isn't it?”

 

My hyperactive nerves made me jump as I heard Faith's voice, quietly I faced her. She looked just as she had at school today. Long blond hair tied back in a pony hair, shoulders set slightly back, ready to spring at a moment's notice, her un-polished nails stroke the hilt of the crusader's sword she must have taken off the family mantel. Only her eyes showed that she was just as nervous as I was.

 

“Two things, actually, first off, you're usually the one helping others when they cry,” she forced a smile though her gloomy face. “And it's usually the guy that confronts the girl about witchcraft,”

 

I couldn't help but give a wolfish grin at the thought, Id and Uber having vanished the moment I heard her. “I remember that, that supernatural literature elective right?”

 

“Ya,” she nodded. “Good thing I can't simply accuse you of witchcraft, no one would believe me in this day and age,”

 

“Unless I showed them,” I responded gravely.

 

“I don't want that,” she locked eyes with me, the challenge was being issued. “Let's end this now, throw away the Witch's Amulet, this isn't you Key, I know it isn't,”

 

I sighed, glancing at the pipe, even with it I knew in a straight up sword-fight Faith would slaughter me, and thanks to that cross of hers I lost on the mental battle too. My eyes met hers, there was only one other possible avenue, I would have to disarm her ideals. Yes, I was going to try to talk my way though the town's mini pope.

 

My opening move left my lips. “Why?”

 

She countered. “I think that's fairly obvious, don't you?” smooth, try and get me to admit my own faults, I wasn't taken in for a second.

 

“Enlighten me,” let her tell the story, then shoot it full of holes.

 

“Key, what you did to Emily was WRONG,” she spat out the last word, emphasizing it.

 

A short answer has its goods and bads, on one hand it would leave me open to interpret it, but I didn't have much TO interpret. “I could have done worse,”

 

Yea, bad move, and she caught it. “Key, that thing is dangerous, look at what it's doing to you!” she was getting offensive.

 

“well what else was I suppose to do, just sit back and let that bitch walk all over everyone she pleased?” I went in as well, turning this into a battle of attrition.

 

“There are other ways…” she began, I cut her off.

 

“and each and every one of them is useless, she relies on misinformation and the school's rumor mill to get what she wants, the facility can't track something said though fifty students, the best we could hope for is the principle shouting at BOTH parties,” I decided to end off with a question, lay a trap in the flurry. “She doesn't play by the rules, why should I?”

 

“Because by doing that, you are no better than her!” she shouted.

 

Got her. “Hansel and Gretel Faith, Hansel and Gretel,” Her face took on a moment of confusion before snapping to shocked realization. “Hey, you where the one that brought up Sup Lite, remember what our teacher said? That Gretel could only push the witch into the oven because a bit of the witch was inside her? That it takes evil to defeat evil?” this argument had the bonus of `using evil for good things'.

 

“Tha-that's just a story!” she objected, raising a hasty parry.

 

“Yet it does contain a seed of truth, doesn't it?” I smashed though.

 

We parted for a moment, composing ourselves.

 

“But that's not the way things should work,” she was going for a new angle here; I decided to bid my time, se what she was planning. “Two wrongs don't make a right,”

 

“I never said I was trying to be right, but a wrong can stop a wrong,” she had faith; I had to use logic to shake that. “I'm not evil Faith,”

 

“Then what about the money?”

 

I realized too late she was bluffing, there was no possible way she could have guessed I was controlling the old folks to hand me money. But my facial expressions told all, she knew, worse, she knew I knew she knew. “Don't you see Key? The Amulet is corrupting you; don't let the words of the devil deter you from the path of light!”

 

And now she was trying to unhinge my logic with religion, trouble is it was working, Id still occupied the back of my mind. I had a way out of this, but if I did, I would be no better than Id, just trying to save myself, screwing everyone else. Despite what I was arguing, I truly didn't believe I was evil. But when I put Emily in her place, I liked it, I liked the power I had. I sighed, did that make me evil?

 

“Throw down the Amulet Key, nothing good can come of it,” she stood resolute.

 

It was too perfect, the opening for my trump card, I could take the wind out of Faith's sails in one blow, and yet I was hesitant, because I had no clue what the consequences would be.

 

“Oh really?” I cursed Id; he was making my decisions for me again.

 

“I stand firmly on the path of god, I know that thing is the work of the devil,” she solemnly said.

 

This was it, the moment I had been waiting for. “Funny, the path of god wasn't doing your sister any good,” the words left my mouth innocently, with a twist of venom concealed within them.

 

“What are you talking about Key?” I wanted to bang my head against a tree for her stupidity.

 

“I'm talking about Maria's autism,”

 

“Wait…” the fact dawned on her. “…you mean, you where the one that cured her?” her knee's trembled.

 

I had seen her sister once when Faith invited me over to her house to work on the debate. The house was nice (though too many crosses for my liking). I knew something was wrong with her raven haired sister the moment I laid eyes on the little 9 year old. She didn't acknowledge ether of us, and when I went to say hello, I knew. Those eyes, those petite brown eyes, lifeless, hollow, I looked up at Faith's tearful face, and I knew. After I discovered the little memory erase function, I ran into Maria at the playground. Her mother was making another futile attempt to get her to improve social interactions. Inspiration struck me, and I'm still not too sure HOW I did it, but at the end of the day, mother and daughter where happily buying some ice-cream, the hollow eyes of little Maria now filled with life.

 

“You've gathered that my power lets me take control of people's minds, but it runs deeper then that, allowing me to correct anomalies in the mind,” I drew a breath, time to finish this. “I don't know what created the Vampire's Amulet Faith, but it is only a tool, WE decide whether it is good or evil,”

 

The girl feel to her knees, everything that she had worked up towards here I shattered in a few short sentences; I had hoped there would be a way to defuse this without bringing that up. I let out one last sigh, it was over, it was finally over.

 

“No…”

 

Ok, it WASN'T over.

 

“No,” she repeated, firmer this time, getting back to her feet. “That wasn't you,” `Well who else could it be?' Was what I wanted to cry out. “Devil's lies won't deceive me,” her eyes grew wide, she was approaching hysteria. “God saved my sister…” she thrust out the silver cross in her hand. “JUST LIKE GOD IS PROTECTING ME FROM THE DEVIL NOW!”

 

Shit, she was going into denial, instead of defusing her; my plan had just strengthened her resolve.

 

“Put the sword down Faith,” I said carefully as the ring of the blade being drawn died down.

 

“Key, please, throw it away,” that face, that tearful face was back again. “Please Key… I don't want to hurt you, fight it Key, do the right thing,”

 

What WAS the right thing? She had forced the battle to a choice, and I had to make it…I could give up the power, or I could keep it.

 

A howl broke the silence, and for some reason I felt drawn to it, it was a wolf's howl, I could tell, and with that I made my decision. Slowly I raised my hand, placing it against the collar of my shirt, and tugged. With a snap the chain came undone, in more ways then one in my opinion. I tossed the Amulet at her feet; the purple gem seemed to have lost its glow in the moonlight.

 

“Key…” she kept herself under control, but I could still sense the admiration in her voice, I couldn't take it, I turned away.

 

“Destroy it,” was all I said.

 

Nodding she held the sword high in the air, and with a small prayer, smashed the gem into pieces.

 

“Huh… it WAS worthless,” she commented.

 

“Guess so,” I replied, keeping my voice monotone.

 

I heard the sword being sheathed, and her arm intertwined around mine, lending me strength. “Let's go home,”

 

We began to walk. “Thank The Lord, the moral order is restored, now you can repent for your sins,” she made the sigh of the cross on her head.

 

“Ya, according to you,” I jibbed, walking along side her now, hand behind my back.

 

“Key, I know you're an atheist, but what you did was still wrong,” she scorned.

 

We walked in silence for a few moments before we approached the edge of the forest, our battle had been long and exhausting, faint rays of dawn sun started to break the veil of night. “Hey Faith, if a tree in this forest fell, and we didn't here it, would it make a sound?” I started.

 

“Of course it would,” she answered.

 

“Prove it,”

 

“What?”

 

I stopped. “Prove to me it would make a sound,”

 

She followed my lead. “I can't,”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because we would be too far away,”

 

“So for all we know it may have, or it may not have, because it didn't come to our attention,”

 

“Key, where are you going with this?”

 

“I'm saying that I couldn't have done anything wrong, because no one SAW me do anything wrong,”

 

“That's not true Key,” a gentle breeze attempted to help relive the tension with its cool wind, playing with Faith's ponytail. “You would know it, and if you were ok with it, then you would be evil,” she sounded like such a kid, preaching about right and wrong.

 

“You say evil,” I flashed my signature wolfish grin. “I say `alternative system of morality',”

 

“Key…” she crouched down a bit, sensing that something was wrong.

 

“good, evil, Faith they don't exist, wars are never started because of someone evil rises, not like in supernatural literature, hell even in supernatural literature the monsters only fight because they have different ideas about how to live life. Wars, conflicts, they're started because people are too stubborn to back down, because people are stupid”

 

“Key, none of that matters now,” she kept her eyes trained on me, but I could see the tears starting to leak back. “The Witch's Amulet is gone…”

 

“Why do you keep calling it the `Witch's' Amulet?” I suddenly asked.

 

“Because it is the work of a sinner, a witch,” her face tightened as she remembered something. “Why do you call it the `Vampire's' Amulet?”

 

I ignored her question. “Haven't you wondered WHY that cross protected you?” her eyes flicked to her cross for a moment. “Oh, it's not for the reasons you think, I'm not actually a vampire, not in the literal sense anyways,” I crossed my arms over my chest. “A witch draws her power from things around her, brooms, potions, familiars, a vampire's power,” I symbolically touched my heart. “Comes from within,”

 

“No…” she drew her sword again, pointed at me.

 

“I SAID the Amulet was only a tool,” I sighed, it really pained me to do this, but I needed to get this stuff off my chest. “No devil work here Faith, just human instinct,”

 

She moved with an inhuman speed, thrusting the blade at my head, it stopped just an inch from actual penetration. Her eyes grew wide, her body wouldn't respond to her command.

 

“You never answered my question you know; do you know WHY the cross protected you?” I launched into my explanation. “My power works something like hypnosis, only on a much more powerful level, but it still falls to the same basic weakness, it can be resisted, it's impossible to hypnotize someone that knows they're about to be hypnotized, now normally that's not a problem, since people don't expect to be hypnotized in everyday life, but say someone SAW me use it, and understood what it was, but thought that somehow, they where protected…” I trailed off, forcing her to sheath her weapon.

 

“The cross protected you because you BELIVED it would protect you, and when you smashed the Vampire's Amulet, you believed my power was broken, so you let your guard down, long enough for me to slip into your mind,”

 

It was a hard choice for me to make, to deceive someone like that, but now I understood that survival had no room for honor “it wasn't god that saved you, it wasn't god that saved your sister, just like it wasn't the devil that gave me power, all of this…happens by our own will…” with that I said farewell to Faith, the seed of power I planted in her mind blossomed, wiping her memories of this incident.

 

“Well done, well done,” Id howled, much like that wolf I had heard before. “And you know, now that you have her…ready to do ANYTHING you want…” he nudged me slyly. I looked over at Faith, she WAS a beautiful girl, and no one would see us, I would make sure of that from now on. `You would know it, and if you were ok with it, then you would be evil'. That wasn't true, I didn't see Id as evil now, he just wanted me to be happy, the best way he knew how, and he was too stubborn to accept any other idea.

 

I turned Faith around, and ordered her to go home. “Come ON dude, you had her,” Id pressed me.

 

“She's a virgin,” I simply said.

 

“And that's an issue….why?”

 

“because the reason I got into this mess in the first place was that I left traces, I won't do that anymore, from now on, I will be a phantom, feeding you without exposing myself,”

 

“Whatever,” he huffed, and with that he disappeared, only to be replaced by a man in a white toga, a smile spread on his face.

 

“Why are you so happy?” I asked Uber. “It's not like I did the `right' thing here,”

 

“Don't be so quick to judge yourself,” Uber sat down on a log, inviting me to do the same, I complied. “Key, Id and I both want you to be happy, but like you said, we simply had different ideas about how to go about it,” a pair of yellow eyes stared out at us from the underbrush, a small wolf, presumably the one that made the howl before.

 

“Id thinks that I should do whatever I want to be happy, much like a wolf,” I don't know why I was explaining my reasoning to myself; maybe I was still in shock about the whole event. “People don't think much of animals, in supernatural literature animals are demonized as well, but that's not true,” I scratched the wolf behind the ears, my power soothing its hostility.

 

“Animals don't have rules, that is true, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, they are free to be themselves, they're Id driven,” I looked up at the stars, drawing to my conclusion. “Id's not evil and I shouldn't fight him, to call him evil would be to call my instincts evil, the will to live would be evil,” my mind went back to Id at the beginning; I think I understood now why he was eating the apple. “There's nothing wrong with the temptations around us, we don't have to battle to keep from falling into them, there never was a reason to and there never will be. They're merely instincts, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain…” I paused. “So why do I have you?”

 

“Because if you just listened to Id, in the end, the long run, you would be miserable,” Uber placed a hand on my shoulder, he felt cool to the touch. “its all well and good that you seek what you want, but if you did that all the time, sooner or later you would come into contact with someone with different ideas, much like tonight,”

 

We locked eyes. “In the long run, peace is better then rapture, people take religion because they believe there is something more for them, and religion gives them that comfort, they prove to themselves that they can do what they set their mind too, even going against their own instincts” he chuckled. “But that is merely my opinion; it is up to you to decide you influence you, you are you, Key, and that's all you need to be,”

 

I fingered the impression on my hand where I grasped the chain. I had a choice, I could have kept the power or given it up, and my life along with it, as it was now tied to my very existence, that was the second reason I called it the vampire's Amulet, because like it or not, I had this power. Now that I look back on that supernatural literature course, those villains and heroes I saw… I saw now as Uber and Id. No good, no evil, just one way of living verses another way of living. The Amulet now gave me the option of living a great life, one where all my dreams could come true.

 

Faith had asked me to repent for my sins, only now I didn't see them as sins. Life had granted me a great gift, and with Uber and Id by my side, I would take it.

 

I stood up; at the end of the year my teacher had asked me, `what role do you think supernatural literature plays in society?' I had my answer now, my definition of good and evil have changed, probably for the better, but the line between them was still the same, too much to one side and I would end up like Faith, oblivious to the reality around me, not finding my own path. Too much to the other and I'd end up like Tim, unloved, alone, and a bully.

 

In the end, `you are you, and that's all you need to be' my friend told me, (I think he got back from his trip today actually). I say now that I had been looking at it wrong, it didn't mean I should give into Id, or Uber, or concur them ether, they where me, and all I had to do was be me. I simply had to live with them as best I can; human kind had to live with this duality, that's what those stories meant to me now.

 

“So where are you going?” Uber asked as the early morning sun rose up, a new day had started.

 

“Kathleen's place,” I said simply, giving my wolfish grin. What I did when I got there, well, that was up to me wasn't it? I was after all me, and me was all I needed to be…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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