A doppelgänger

Emily had been a normal college girl that lived with about a dozen other girls as roommates in a townhouse in order to save on rent cost. “Hey girlie! Check out this video of you in LA! I didn’t know you were into girls…” Emily watched in horror as the girl in video looked just like her and was full on making out with some random girl in a club. Emily had a reputation of being a good, studious girl that didn’t party so this video was absolutely tarnishing everything she had worked so hard for.

“That’s not possible…” she said looking at her roommate’s phone. “I’ve never even been out of the state and I’ve been studying in here the entire night…”

“Not according to this. Looks like you got yourself a clone,” she chuckled as she saved the video to her feed.

“Send me the link. I got to track this person down,” Emily said as she was going to get to the bottom of this since it looked like someone was using AI and trying to slander her good name.

*****

It took a week but with some detective work she was able to find the address of the person pretending to her in Los Angeles California. She had managed to do some clever financial maneuvering for a cheap flight and hotel that didn’t cost very much either. She practiced just how she would address this creep and even bought a stun gun, which she had in her purse. She made sure to be dressed as plainly as she could as she put on some jeans, a graphic tee and some sneakers with her modest white underwear as she prepared herself to confront the phony. It was about a ten minute walk from her hotel but she arrived at the apartment and approached the front desk.

“Oh hi Mel! You are dressed rather conservatively. How can I help you?” The lady asked behind the desk smiled.

(Why did she call me Mel?) Emily thought to herself as this confused her that this wasn’t just some random person pretending to be her online. Maybe this girl could help her get to the apartment for this person then.

“So I’m kinda a ditz and I forgot my key in my apartment. Can you lend me my spare?” Emily asked in hopes that “Mel” had left a spare key up front for emergencies.

“Again? No worries, I gotchu, girl,” the lady said as she opened her drawer as she pulled out an envelope as your read 4003 was on the front which must be the apartment number of somewhere close to it. She handed Emily the key as Emily thanked her and headed to the elevators. “Just remember to bring it back to me so you aren’t locked out again,” she said with a chuckle. She hoped the fourth floor was the right guess but she would have to wait until she got upstairs. She was alone in the elevator as she pulled out her stun gun to give it a test. It cracked with a tiny blue bolt for a few seconds before she put it away. She wasn’t taking any chances as she was not sure why the lady at the front seemed to have known her despite only visiting here for the first time. As the elevator doors opened, Emily knew she was going to get to the bottom of this whole mess.