You can only kill your doppelganger once

I woke up to the taste of saltwater and the feeling of wind rushing past my face. At least, I think I was awake. <br><br>I opened my eyes to see myself walking towards me. She was smiling, and her eyes were closed. <br><br>She looked beautiful, but I hated her. She'd been terrorizing me for months. She'd been constantly after me, relentless and patient in her pursuit. <br><br>I read somewhere that if you ever see your doppelganger, you'll die shortly after. But I'd heard mine was different. She was a harbinger of great change, and we all have a chance to kill them. <br><br>No one knows how or why, but some people can kill their doppelganger just once before they become invulnerable. We all have that one chance, and then they get to kill us. <br><br>I had mine when I was ten, and I blew it. <br><br>I got hit by a car. It was just a bad day. I was walking home from school when I saw my reflection step out of a parked car and walk towards me. I panicked, and didn't see the car coming my way. It swerved, and I got out of the way just in time, but it sent me flying into the intersection, where I was hit by a different car. <br><br>I don't remember the accident, but I remember my mother telling me about it years later. She was the one who saw my doppelganger, and she says it left when it saw her. The last thing I remember is being loaded into an ambulance, and the next thing I remember is waking up in my bedroom, with my head stitched together with bright blue thread. <br><br>My mom also told me I was never allowed to go outside without a grown-up again. When I asked her why, she said that it was because I'd gotten hit by a car, but I knew that was a lie, and it scared me. When I was alone at night, I would see my doppelganger looking back at me through my window. <br><br>She always stuck her hands to the glass, and her smile was so wide that it stretched beyond her cheeks. I could see her reflection through the windowpane, and it showed her smiling just as hard on both sides. <br><br>I tried to tell my parents, but they said I was just imagining things. My mom never refused my requests to go outside, but my dad would say we'd all be safer if I just stayed home. <br><br>But on my 18th birthday, something changed. I think they thought I was old enough, or maybe it was some weird milestone. Maybe it was because I was an adult, and they figured I could just handle the truth. I don't know. <br><br>Whatever the reason, they told me I could kill my doppelganger. They told me I'd had my chance, and I blew it. I could never run, because she was always out there, waiting for me to make a mistake. <br><br>On the outside, I had a normal life. I went to college, I got a good job, I got married. But on the inside, I was never alone. She was always with me, and I could feel her watching me. <br><br>I found ways to cope. I learned how to sleep through the nights when my husband was away, and I learned how to ignore her when she tapped on the window while we were fucking. <br><br>But I could never run. I never could. She was always out there, waiting, and I could feel her pulling me back any time I wandered too far away from her. <br><br>I never told anyone about her. They never believed me when I was a kid, and I didn't even think about it as an adult. It was something I'd grown used to, like a shadow. <br><br>And then I met him. <br><br>My new boss was someone I'd never met before. He was handsome, and he'd worked at this company for eight years, but I'd never seen him. <br><br>He'd take me to the bar after work. He'd buy me drinks, and we'd talk into the night. He was always there, and I never felt lonely with him next to me. <br><br>He was the first person I'd met in a while who really gave me a reason to live. <br><br>One night, he asked me why I was so quiet. He asked me why I always acted like I was running from something. <br><br>And for some reason, I told him. I told him about my doppelganger. I told him how she'd been after me for years, and how I'd never been able to run. <br><br>He didn't look surprised. In fact, he looked contemplative. <br><br>"You know," he said. "You're not the first person I've met with a doppelganger." <br><br>I felt a jolt of shock. "Really?"<br><br>He nodded. "Yeah. There are a lot of us out there. We all call each other 'travelers'." <br><br>"Travelers?" I repeated. <br><br>"Yeah. Because we never stop moving." <br><br>My new boss, we'll call him Eric, was a traveler. <br><br>He'd been traveling for 20 years. He'd had to move cities every couple of months because of his own doppelganger. <br><br>He told me where the others were. <br><br>They were a network of people like me, with stalkers like mine out there. They'd met each other on the way, and they'd formed their own little community. <br><br>A few nights later, I met them. <br><br>We were in a park, surrounded by darkness. But I wasn't afraid, because I was surrounded by people who understood. <br><br>They told me about their run-ins with death. One of them had been shot, and another had fallen down the stairs. <br><br>But the one that stuck with me the most was a woman named Eva. She told me that when she was a kid, she'd fallen headfirst into a fountain, face-up. <br><br>Her mother had seen her doppelganger, and it left when it realized they'd been seen. <br><br>Eva told me that she got out of the fountain, and when she looked at her reflection staring back at her in the water, she knew that she was never going to die. She'd lived through drowning. <br><br>I don't know how we got the idea, but we came up with a plan that night. <br><br>We were a group of people who'd lived through death, and we were going to use that to kill our doppelgangers. <br><br>We were going to die, but this time, we were going to take our doppelgangers with us. <br><br>We booked tickets to different parts of the world. We were going to make it look like we were killing ourselves, and when our doppelgangers came to claim us, we were going to actually kill them. <br><br>I got sent to the middle of the ocean. <br><br>I'm writing this on a boat, in the middle of the ocean. I've been out here for two months now, surrounded by water and salt and nothing but the occasional visit from a sailor. <br><br>I don't know how much longer it's going to be, but I know it's coming soon. We all felt it. <br><br>I can feel her pulling me towards her, and I know she's getting tired of waiting. <br><br>She's getting closer now. I can feel it. Slowly but surely, she's moving just beyond my field of vision. <br><br>On the horizon, I think I see her. <br><br>I'm going to end this entry, and then I'm going to go get her. <br><br>Wish me luck. <br><br>*Edit*: I got an influx of messages asking what happened to the post, when I actually deleted it. It was a weird experience. I woke up from a dream before I woke up for the day, and I felt like I'd really been on that boat. I thought this had been real, and my experience wasn't just a dream. <br><br>When I saw all the comments, it frightened me. I realized that this was just a dream, and my doppelganger was still out there. <br><br>But I appreciate the support, and I appreciate the kindness. It means a lot. Thank you. <br><br>If anyone is wondering about the others, I don't know what to say. We were a group of people connected by our experiences, but we were never close. I can't vouch for any of them, but I think we all went through similar experiences. <br><br>Thank you again, and I wish you all the luck in the world. Stay safe.