We're sorry, but doppelgangers are not allowed in.
It's one hour later when more neighbors seem to have woken up one by one to leave the building for whatever they have to do. So far, you've met everyone else but the housewives, the eldest of the Rudboys, the twins, and the milkman, despite being a working day of the week.
"That boy has been acting strange lately." A feminine voice echoes.
Your ears barely catch onto the conversation happening right on the other side of your office door.
"He's fine. You don't need to worry so much about him. He's a man now."
You try your best to ignore them, however the voices grow closer to your door, so close you have the impression they are intentionally hiding around your office door.
"He's not 16 anymore, Rafttellyn."
"I know, but he's been very quiet lately."
"He's been quiet ever since he was a boy, young and stupid."
"Not with us, Gloria, not with us. Remember when we were his age?"
A scoff.
"Yes, yes. His parents left him in the apartment and he inherited his grandmother's after she passed away."
"I'm glad those two weren't included in the will. Francis deserved everything. His father and mother were horrible to us. I'm glad Francis did not take after them."
You raise your eyebrow.
Huh, so these two have known each other for decades. And this Francis... Wasn't he the milkman around here? What's up with him? Why is she so worried about him?
To some degree, the information you just learned is useful. The more you know about your neighbors, the easier it will be to identify the real one.
On the other hand, it could easily backfire into overwhelming you. You don't want to know every single damn thing there is about your neighbors, now do you?
"Why is he being more quiet anyway?"
"He always greets me in the morning when going to work. Today he did not."
You furrow your eyebrows and look ahead, confused.
Did she say this morning? But I didn't see him or hear him... Maybe it was before my shift started?
The possibility was there, but perhaps their conversation would give you a reason to keep an eye on him.
When you can't hear their conversation anymore but you hear the metal door opening you know they are coming your way.
The meeting was short, they told you they were going shopping, checked with you on the list and then went on and about their business. They were nowhere near as excited meeting you as the other women were, except for that student. It was refreshing.
"Uh.. Hi."
Well, well, well. If it isn't the man of the hour!
Before you stands the stoic Francis Mosses. His uniform and hair is just slightly wet, leaving you to guess that it just started raining not long ago. As a result, his white work shirt tends to stick tighter on his skin.
"Morning, sir."
He says nothing while coming closer to the window and takes a deep breath. He digs into his pocket and slides his ID and entry request through the opening.
You take a quick look at the list on the wall and unsurprisingly, he's not there. Then, you take the 3rd-floor folder and use the page with the official information to compare them to the ones he provided.
Meanwhile, he continues to stare at you through the window. It's a shame nothing in the extra information says anything about how they behave too.
You look at his pictures and compare them, then back at him and it's safe to say that he matches his document as well as yours. His living information as well as his ID number seem to match too. The expiration date is there and it's valid, the logo is not missing, there are no mismatches and his entry request seems legit. A bit lacking in details. You hoped he would have at least explained in it why he's not on the list.
The reason: "I come from my job as a milkman. I live here."
You place the documents back on the desk and look back at him. He blinks and leans a bit forward. "...Is everything okay?" He asks.
You slide the ID back out and put the entry request in the drawer next to your legs.
"I have a few questions for you. For beginners, you are not on the list today. Why is that?"
He doesn't look shocked by your accusations, nor does he show much reaction to it.
"I should be there, that's what the previous one told me."
You raise your eyebrow. "Who?"
"The previous doorman. He told me I was on the list."
You take another look at it. He really wasn't there, so you didn't miss him.
"No, sorry. You're still not there."
He's quietly staring at you for a second before he seems to show some sort of annoyance at the situation.
"Listen, lady. I went out earlier than necessary today so I can have the rest of the day off. The previous doorman wasn't here, so I just left. I told him yesterday about my plan, but I guess he really didn't put me on."
His explanation seems plausible, yet you'd rather confirm it with another method just for good measure.
You sigh. "Ugh, man... Hold on a second, okay?"
You pick up the phone and look up his apartment phone number, then call it up.
You can hear it calling and a few more seconds go before the phone goes dead. Nobody responded.
I guess he really is telling the truth. Unless he really left and his doppelganger managed not only to fabricate a good logical story as an excuse, steal his documents and be a perfect carbon copy of him too.
You instinctively grimace at the thought. It would be a big problem if that happened, however you were taught that the chances of absolutely everything checking out are slim to none in reality.
"Alright. You're clear." You say.
Francis nods and backs away from the window. You push the green button and a moment later the door opens.
"Yeah...Bye." he shifts his gaze towards the door as he starts walking in. As soon as you hear him walk past your office you push the red button and it closes back up.
"He was so lucky his story checked out. Ben really did say he didn't give a fuck anymore and he does seem like the type of person to stop working if he knows he's not going to have to."
Most of the monsters got away or were missed because of the lack of education and training on the matter. You think it was expected with how suddenly this problem appeared. Before, the D.D.D. didn't exist as an official government thing, only self proclaimed group who went out to hunt these creatures where they were needed. Back then they were only a myth.
You yourself are part of one of the first batches of F.R. agents who graduated. The rest were either killed during their training period, gave up or got transferred to other branches. You can't blame any of them. Those who died were just unfortunate as the training wasn't something life-threatening.
Those who gave up didn't want to risk their life for something like this, especially since they were expected to fight them themselves should they need to, before the extermination team arrived. Those who were transferred didn't want to do field work or were just better at other things.
Overall, the number of people who ever got special invites and graduated was small, incredibly so. At around 4 batches, each consisting of 50 employees distributed all around the country in your department. You're the only one working right now from morning until the night falls in this building and you just hope they are going to send you another person for a shift change. That way, you could put in some work to start looking for clues about your sister's whereabouts.
It's definitely dark outside by the time your shift is about to end. All the neighbors that have left have returned and you deemed them safe to enter. You just have half an hour more until you finish and can close the place up.
"I'll have to take a shower... Eat and then write my report off... Damn it."
You yawn, already dreading the extra work you're going to have to put in.
Knock Knock
The knocking persists as you yawn harder with your eyes closed and you unintentionally wave the person on the other side of the screen with your hand.
"Have some patience." You mutter as you wipe the tears of exhaustion from the corners of your eyes.
In front of you stands one of your neighbors. In fact, you're pretty damn sure you already let this neighbor in a while ago when he came back from his job as a pilot.
The younger Rudboys... Is he leaving the apartment? I didn't hear-
The moment your eyes land on the worm sticking out the side of his face your face falls into a deadpanned expression.
Are you kidding me? This late?!
You can't even bring yourself to be scared. It's your first day and it's more exhausting than you thought it would.
This son of- he's going to have me stay here until the D.D.D. arrives! I can't take it out myself! I left my equipment upstairs!
"Papers, please." You start.
The doppelganger says nothing as it struggles to slide into the document. If that worm would not have been there, you'd figure he wasn't your neighbor based on how poor his motor skills are. You imagine pilots need steady hand movement to operate the machines.
You decided to go along with this, although you'd rather just straight up call the lockdown and leave.
Unironically, when you take the fake younger Rudboys' ID you find that the document does have a picture with him and the worm as well.
As for his entry request, you were taken aback by the reasoning.
"I enjoy doing normal human things. I like to smell people."
The fake Rudboys cocks his head at you and in a raspy voice, it responds back.
"Is there something wrong, Miss?"
The question lingers on your tongue but your eyes are still trained on the worm. You cringe and almost spit out an 'ew' in disgust.
"Yeah. What's up with your... Friend?" You point at the worm.
The doppelganger's right eye twitches and looks down towards the wiggling worm in such a way his pupils and iris almost disappear entirely. The other eye remains focused on you.
That is so creepy...
You wish you were in bed instead.
"It's normal. Now can you let me in? I'm starving." He drags the last word in emphasis.
"Just a quick question. Have you seen anything weird recently?"
The doppelganger hasn't probably blinked during the entire conversation. You wait. You wonder if its eyes ever get dry. He shakes his head.
"Are you sure?" You cross your arms and look at the fake neighbors with a deadpan stare.
"Because, frankly, I remember letting you in just a few hours ago and I assure you humans don't keep larvae or worms inside their body. Nor do they move their eyes like that." You scold.
The monster's behaviour completely changes and now it's frowning at you so heavily the poor thing's eyebrows drop over the eyes. Its lips recessed back and shriveled up like a raisin, allowing you to see newly sharp teeth.
"I was so sure I could fool you, but don't you worry. You'll be gone soon. No matter how many of your friends you call, you won't exist much later.
Jokes on it, you have the upper hand. Unimpressed, you continue to stare back at it as you lean over a little bit to the left side of your office and flip open the plastic lid to the emergency button.
During this, the doppelganger decided to press one of its hand onto the glass cover.
"I am hungry. Let. Me. In."
"No."
You shake your head.
"You! I will devour you!"