Ask what happened out there

Nicole and Nicole sat shoulder to icy shoulder on the couch that you had so recently occupied with Miranda. They were both pouting like scolded children as they shot cold glares at each other, and occasionally at you, as if any of this was your fault. One angry Nicole was intimidating enough, facing down two of them felt like a waking nightmare. For some reason, everyone was looking to you to start talking, as if inviting everyone into the living room made you the group leader.

"So..." you drummed your hands on your knees, doing your best to meet two pairs of Nicole's crystal blue eyes as you tried to think of what to say.

Obviously, your first priority was to find the real Nicole, but asking them outright would only result in the same fruitless, back-and-forth, arguing as before. You would have to try asking them something else instead, and hope that their answers would reveal something useful.

"So," you said again, "how about you two tell us what happened out there, and then we'll ask Tom for his version of events, and we'll see what adds up?"

Neither Nicole looked very happy with that idea, one of them fiddling with the tattered hem of her dress partway up her slender thigh, whilst the other tugged up her own dress to better cover her modest breasts. They both looked a little disheveled from their journey, not quite the prim and proper girl that had gone out there, but the messy blonde hair and ragged dress just made them all the cuter.

"Fine," they eventually said in unison, frowning at each other for the accidental synchronicity, before one of them continued speaking

"Me and Tom set off into the woods," she began, only for her twin to interrupt.

"No, Tom and I went off into the woods," she said, but it wasn't obvious if she was correcting her duplicate's grammar or reasserting her identity. Regardless, she continued from where the other Nicole left off.

"Tom was racing ahead, so I was nearly running just to keep up, when he stopped."

"There was someone on the path ahead of us," the first Nicole jumped in, "they were just like, a figure, or a silhouette, but something about them seemed off."

"It was just wrong," the second Nicole surprisingly agreed, "I was about to say that we should turn back, when the lights all went out."

"Then we just ran, me and Tom, in two different directions."

"Tom and I got separated in the dark for a while, until we, I mean, until I thought we bumped into each other. After that we. . . "

Both Nicole's fell silent for a second, with neither of them quite meeting your gaze.

"Well, we found each other again," the second Nicole resumed speaking, "but while we were. . . I mean, before we could get back to the path, Tom patted me on the head again, so I grabbed his arm and twisted it like before but," she trailed off again, her eyes going unfocused like she was revisiting a grim memory. "It wasn't Tom. Whatever that thing was, it squealed like an animal, so I took off running again, that's when I found the real Tom, with HER! I grabbed him to run, but she followed us!"

"No, that's not what happened," the first Nicole cut in, shaking her blonde head furiously, "I was with Tom in the woods when she came out of nowhere, shouting like crazy, she tried to drag Tom away but I pushed him back to the path. The three of us ran back here, but I couldn't outrun her, and now this weird shapeshifter thing won't just leave!"

"Liar!"

"Faker!"

"Okay," you held up your hand, "that's enough. You've both said your piece." Both Nicole's turned their ire on you again, a pair of frown that made you raise both hands in near surrender.

"Yeah, that's enough," Miranda jumped in, doing her best to sound brave, "now we hear what Tom has to say."

All eyes, including the duplicated ones, turned towards Tom, who looked for the first time in his life like he didn't want to be the center of attention. With one hand he tapped his sunglasses against his leg, whilst with the other he held one side of his leather jacket. Before he left he had zipped it up, but now it was almost all the way open again, his sculpted physique looking less impressive now that he was slouched anxiously in his chair.

"Well, I," he scratched the back of his head, "I agree with most of what she said, what they said, I mean."

"What don't you agree with?" You asked.

Tom thought for a moment before responding. "Everything up to the light going out is right, that's how I remember it too, but after that things were different. I didn't bump into Nicole, she grabbed me, and hugged me, and said how glad she was she'd found me."

Already, that didn't sound like Nicole, and you found yourself side eyeing the one who claimed to have bumped into this Tom in the woods. It was difficult to tell them apart, even now when you'd only turned your back on them for a couple of seconds, but you **** yourself differentiate the two Nicole's. The one who spoke first, the one who ad been with Tom when the other Nicole showed up, had dirt on her knees that the other Nicole didn't.

That would be how you'd tell them apart.

Turning back to Tom, you found him strangely tongue tied. Rather than continue his story, his mouth hung slightly open, and he tapped his sunglasses against his leg again.

"So," Matt prompted him, "what happened next?"

Tom paused. He closed his mouth, opened it, closed it again, then finally opened it to speak.
"Nicole offered to suck my dick."

"Ugh," Miranda sighed in irritation.
"Really dude?" Matt threw himself back in his chair, frustrated.
Sarah rolled her eyes.
"You're fucking cracking jokes now?" You spat, sitting up in your seat so fast that you almost convinced yourself you were about to get up and hit him.

"I'm not joking," Tom defended himself, "that's what she did! She was all over me, and then she stuck her hands down my pants and made me an offer. Ain't that right, Nicole?"

You followed his gaze to the couch where the two Nicole's were sitting. They were both blushing furiously now, their blue eyes looking anywhere but directly back at you. Despite saying both their names, it was clear the question had been directed at the first Nicole. The dirt on her knees carried a very different implication now.

That, combined with the involuntary physical reaction of her cheeks going so pink, gave an awful lot of weight to what Tom was saying.

"Nicole?" The sound of her name made them both look at you, but your eyes were only on the one on the left. "Is that true?"

The first Nicole rubbed her hands together in her lap, before reaching up and nervously tucking a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear. "Wellllllll. . ." she murmured, her voice a whisper as she dragged out the syllable for as long as she could.

"Kinda."

"Ok, she's the fake, right?" You announced, never taking your eyes off her.
"Oh yeah," Matt said.
"Obviously," Miranda concurred.
"Mmhmm," Sarah nodded, vigorously.

The second Nicole, the real Nicole, distanced herself from her doppelganger, pushing herself as far to the right side of the couch as she could. The first Nicole, the fake one, glanced quickly from one of you to the next, as if trying to plead her case with just her eyes. Unfortunately for her, no one was buying it.

"You were pretty convincing," you said, "but the real Nicole would never have done something like that, and definitely not with Tom."

The real Nicole cringed, her rosy cheeks going even redder. She must have been feeling shame by association, picturing herself in that position with Tom had probably knocked her sick.

"You've been found out," you said, standing up to tower over the fake Nicole. She looked afraid, her eyes darted around the room for escape and her bottom lip quivered pathetically. Seeing Nicole in that state unsettled your stomach, but you reminded yourself that it wasn't the real her, it was all an act.

Looking at her, you realized that while you may have found out the faker, you didn't know what to do next. The quick plan you'd come up with in the hallway hadn't gotten that far. It was possible that you could physically throw not-Nicole out, but you really didn't want to do that. Manhandling Nicole, even a fake, would just feel too bad.

"I think you should leave. Now." You commanded with as much authority as you could muster. "Whatever weird little game you were playing, it's over."

Not-Nicole's face changed in an instant. The fear vanished, her blush faded, and her lips went from trembling miserably into a malicious smile.

"No," she shook her head, still grinning. The voice from her lips was still Nicole's, but it carried a mischief that you'd never heard from her before. Somehow, it made you think of what it would sound like if a cat could talk.

"I think the game's just getting started."

Her eyes moved in an instant, from locked on your own to focused behind you.

"And I've brought more friends to play," she laughed, a sound like the clattering of tiny blades.

Whirling around, you saw the curtains were still open, pushed apart by all of you looking outside, now framing the black glass like curtains around a stage. The glass still reflected much of the room's interior, but now there was something more beyond. Through that mirror, darkly, you saw figures.

Not just figures.

You saw yourself. And Matt and Tom and Sarah and Miranda. All of you stood outside, so close to the window that your noses must have been nearly touching it. All of you bore grins, wide smiles that you'd never seen on any face before, and certainly not on your own. The sight of what was surely your reflection not facing you made you sick. Just looking at the five of them made your breath hitch in your throat.

The only person, if it was a person, in the room that wasn't similarly struck, was not-Nicole. Behind you, she giggled again, before calling out;

"Come on in guys, the game's about to start!"

Once those words left her lips, the light went out, and the fire died. Silence followed. You exhaled. The window shattered. Someone screamed. It might have been you. Blind fear gripped you. Absolute terror. You ran. Elbows bumped yours. People shoved against you. You ran. You were blind. You didn't know where you were going.

You ran.