Byron Starr - Doppelgänger

“You might want to cut down on his pain medication,” Sam suggested.

Reginald’s eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

“In fact, you might want to cut it out altogether,” Sam added with a grin. “A man like him could use a little pain.”

Getting Sam’s drift, the old doctor smiled and replied, “It’s crossed my mind, believe you me.”

Sam drove back to Newton at a considerably slower pace than he had left. He was normally a lead-footed driver, but today he needed time to think so he made the trip at a leisurely sixty miles per hour.

He thought of his conversation with Dan. There was no doubt that Dan really believed his son had attacked him and his wife, yet there was also no doubt that Jeremy didn’t commit the crime. This seemed to coincide perfectly with what Bill had told him James had said about the beast: it could disguise itself. But, that was impossible. How could something disguise itself so perfectly that someone’s own mother and father wouldn’t know the difference?

Sam had seen his share of weird cases in his career, but this one took the cake.

Another thing was bothering Sam. Ever since his heated conversation with Dan Chamblin, he had a dull pain in the left side of his chest and on down his left arm. Sam was well aware what that could possibly mean, and had meant to talk to Doctor Thomas about it. But, Reginald had been busy and he was in a hurry to get back to Newton. He would have to add this to his long list of things to do when all this was over.

The citywide curfew was anything but popular with the people of Newton, especially the teenagers, and when teenagers are unhappy, they inevitably find ways to make their parents miserable. The best solution for the problem was for the parents to find something for the teenagers to do.

Lisa Beck had just turned fourteen, so the curfew didn’t affect her as much as many other teenagers. But Lisa whined about the curfew nonetheless. On Wednesday Lisa’s mother, Tina Beck, had suggested that Lisa invite her friends over for a slumber party Friday night.

Almost fifteen years ago, Tina Beck had gotten knocked-up back in high school. The father was one of two local boys, both of whom pointed a finger at the other one and swore the child wasn’t his. Despite being only sixteen and having both her parents pushing for an abortion, Tina decided to keep the baby. Tina’s parents and friends warned her about what she was getting into, but, oddly enough, Tina found herself to be excited about the prospect of having a baby. This excitement didn’t wane in the least during the pregnancy, or even after Lisa was born — unlike many other teenaged mothers whose enthusiasm wears off after the third or fourth diaper change, Tina loved it. Tina left all her party-going high school ways behind and never looked back. Her baby, named Lisa after her aunt, became the center of her life. As her daughter grew older, Tina remained highly involved in her daughter’s life. In fact, there were times when Lisa would argue that her mother was a little too involved.

Unlike many parents who would have thought a slumber party would be a major pain in the neck, Tina always enjoyed the company of her daughter and her daughter’s friends. All through grade school Tina had been the sponsor of the majority of the girls’ slumber parties. In fact, Tina was excited about the prospect of another sleep over; it had been so long since the last one. When she made the suggestion, Tina had been worried that her daughter might think she had outgrown slumber parties, but Lisa was beside herself with enthusiasm. As soon as Tina voiced her idea, Lisa was on the phone to her friends. Lisa called six of her closest friends, Megan Pierce, Theresa Barrett, Shelly Polk, Julie Pender, Janet Johnson, and Crystal Nickerson, and started making the plans. Tina then talked to all the parents. Julie and Janet’s parents were too concerned over the recent killings to allow their daughters to stay overnight, and it took quite a bit of convincing to persuade the other four parents, but, in the end, the party was a go. Megan, Theresa, and Crystal would ride the bus home from school with Lisa; Shelly’s mom would drop her off at Lisa’s at around six that afternoon.

After a Thursday filled with anticipation, Friday finally came. Despite the fact that the girls were now teenagers, the party followed the normal routine for all adolescent slumber parties. The girls watched movies until dark — horror movies, in keeping with recent local events — then they gathered their sleeping bags into a little circle in Lisa’s room and gossiped about boys. They had a brief pillow fight, which Tina broke up, fearing someone might get hurt. Eventually they got to that well-known stage of the slumber party where all the girls gang up on the least popular girl, in this case Megan, and relentlessly picked on her until she wants to go home. Megan, still following the generations-old manual of late adolescence and early teen slumber parties to a tee, then went and told Tina that she wanted to call her mother — she wanted to go home. Tina came in and made everybody apologize. Tina had just left the room and Crystal had started picking on Megan again when a knock came at the door.

The beast was on the prowl in Newton again. It slowly and stealthily made its way among the shadows. As the beast moved from backyard to backyard it would occasionally detach its vision and take a look inside. It seemed like the beast was not hunting but strolling leisurely through a buffet line.

The beast was passing through a backyard, when it heard talking inside the house. It detached its vision and sent it through the walls. Inside one room was a woman watching a television. It didn’t enter her mind, not yet. The beast knew there were other people in the house so it continued the search. Then it hit the jackpot: five young girls, four of them giggling and talking, the fifth one pouting in her sleeping bag. If the one watching the TV could be killed before she made too much noise, maybe the neighbors would think the girls screams were just childish playing.

The beast entered the mind of the pouting girl. Then each of the other girls. It returned to the living room and entered the lady’s mind. Then the beast outside opened its eyes, stood up on two legs, and walked around toward the front door.

At Emilio’s trailer-house, just outside of Newton, James woke up with such a start, that he tumbled off the couch and onto the floor. It was dark in the unfamiliar house and James couldn’t find a light.

“Emilio!”

Now on his feet, James continued fumbling around, looking for a light, until his hands bumped a lamp, sending it teetering on the edge of the end table. James was able to grab it before it fell off. He reached inside the lampshade and turned the lamp’s switch, but nothing happened. The bulb was burned out.

James was just about to yell for Emilio again when the overhead light came on. Emilio was standing in the hallway to the master bedroom in his underwear.

“Dream?” Emilio asked groggily

“Kids!” James yelled frantically. “There’s kids in the house!”

At first Emilio didn’t understand what James meant. He stood in the hallway rubbing his temples. Then it sank in what James was talking about. He woke up immediately. “Whose house, James? Do you know whose house it was?”

“I know her, but I can’t remember her name,” James said, calming down a little. “She’s not married and has a young daughter.” James became frantic again and added. “Oh God, there are five kids at that house.”

Emilio had only lived in Newton for two years he was going to have to get some better details to figure this one out, and there was no way he was going to be able to piece together the ranting of a panicked person and decipher where this was happening. The only way he was going to be able to figure out where this was taking place was for James to pull himself together. The only chance for them to save the girls was for James to come up with a name or an address that they could call in to the dispatcher.