The Doppelgängers: Beginnings

By David Ray

David Blue and his girlfriend Deanne Byrd are ready for a peaceful Labor Day party at his farm in Port Clinton, Ohio. Theyve invited five of their friends from college to share in the festivities, but events take a strange turn when a freak blizzard descends upon the peaceful Midwestern countryside.

Trapped at the farm, unexpected guests soon appear, people definitely not invited. David believes one of the arrivals is actually his doppelgnger his evil twinhere to destroy David and his friends. But is the doppelgnger real or is David suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder?

Can David convince his friends that there really is a doppelgnger in the house, or will they just think him mad? When guests begin to disappear, the tension increases, and no one knows whom to trust. Has David led his friends into a death trap? If so, he is the only person who can save them from his own worst enemy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491733271

David Ray

Dr. David D. Ray is the founding pastor of the River of Life Church in Abilene, Texas. He has served in pastoral ministry for thirty-six years in West Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Asbury University, his Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary, and his Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary. David and his wife, Kay, have two grown children and four grandchildren. This is his third book.

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Copyright © 2014 David Ray.

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-3326-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-3328-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-3327-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014908304

iUniverse rev. date: 05/06/2014

CONTENTS

Prelude

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 4-B

Chapter 5-A

Chapter 5-B

Chapter 6-A

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

About The Author

Thanks…

To the following I thank with all my heart. This project has been a long time coming… . David Ray

To my children; David, Sarai, Elizabeth and Aaron. My Mother, Betty Lou Cuthbertson-Fleming. Seriata, Mary, Tony and Michael; my brothers and sisters… . I love you all, and there is nothing more important than family.

To my treasured friends; Mary Vess, Ladena Wright, Tiffany Garnes, Warror Queen, Chad Comage, Kristin Humphrey, Jeffery Kuch and the entire 1738 crew… it’s been a pleasure taking this journey with you; ‘your encouragement and enthusiasm remain priceless; not to mention, it helped me finish this project’.

Last, but certainly not least; my heart…

Deborah Lynn… . always love.

PRELUDE

The word Doppelgänger is a word taken from the German; meaning: double walker.

In Ancient Egyptian Mythology, Doppelgänger was a tangible ‘spirit double’ having the same memories and feelings as the person to whom the counterpart belongs.

In some myths, the Doppelgänger was a personification of death.

In the September 2006 issue of the scientific journal, Nature; it was reported that a girl immediately felt another ‘person’ in her personal space. She was described by the girl, as being about her age, silent, and with a body posture identical to her own. This other person was located exactly behind her, almost touching her and having movements identically as hers.

The theory and belief that we are not alone in the universe; is not the exclusive domain of the intergalactic realm… but also includes the realm of human space and time…

The foundation of man’s knowledge is, whether or not a thing can be proven; but there is much more around us; touching us; brushing passed us every day. Out of the corner of our eye, we see, feel, and experience… glimpses of things. Not realizing, that we have just encountered things which exist in an ever revolving nexus; of which we are on the outer edges of.

There are many reports of people from all walks of life, who have experiences ‘in and out’ of life interchanges with spiritual beings; who are visible one moment; and then gone the next. Experiences of people who claim to have been suspended in time, who have witnessed ‘trace, impressions’ of beings, and rather than attempt to acknowledge or understand their presence; we ignored it.

Ancient worlds, without modern technology, have constructed massive monuments, societies; perfected and developed, medical technological blue prints, which our modern technological society has yet to answer; and in some cases… . understand.

"Who instructed the ancients, in the arts and sciences; where did they come from; were they beings from other worlds; or are they, unseen beings in and around our world?"

There is proof of other dimensions, interacting with, in, and against our dimension… we are not alone in the universe.

Tonight when you lock the doors of your home; and when you think you are alone… think again, because you’re not. When you hear sudden noises; are you sure that something, or someone, is not hiding under your bed, or has slipped in your closet?

Maybe, you shouldn’t go to sleep… perhaps you should get up and double check each room, each door, each window… but by no means, never ever look under your bed, or in your closet… . they may be there; waiting, watching, your every move; waiting to jump out and grab you.

Chapter 1

SEVEN MONTHS PRIOR

April 24, 2005

Central Ohio Veterans Psychiatric Hospital/Ward 2-C

A fly, is the most aggravating insect that there is. How I’d love to reach up and squash that irritating bug, but I can’t do that. If I do that, they’ll know… the Doppelgängers will know and come after me, and I can’t take that. They almost drove me out of my mind, and I’m not going through that nightmare again; so if pretending to be crazy is the only way to keep them from coming after me; then that’s what I have to do.

The farm… The farm, is where this nightmare began; and while that’s the last place in the world, I want to return to; I know I’m going to have to go back. I can’t keep running from them; I’ve got to somehow find a way to end this, if I can.

After the Labor Day weekend at the farm; Deanne found me out in the snow, sitting and babbling uncontrollably, and bought me here. It seems that the doctor’s only concern was to keep me mentally sedated; but I’m fooling them. They put pills in my mouth, but because of faulty bridge work, which my dentist failed to repair; the pills are able to slide under it, and then while no one is looking, I easily, spit them out.

My clinical diagnosis is; I slipped into a mental abyss, bought on by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, from the Vietnam War.

They were way past wrong; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has nothing to do with it… . it was the weekend on the farm… It was the Doppelgängers and their attempts to try to take me over, is what did it, not PTSD… . If these government psychiatrist would look deeper they’d see that I was scared shitless.

I’m in this place, because it was the only way to get the Doppelgängers to leave me alone. The Doppelgängers can’t use people who are mentally unstable; they need normal everyday people; people who are good and pillars of their societies. They told me that, trying to take over someone who was mentally unstable was like trying to eat scrambled eggs after you’ve just tasted an egg shell in them; or like trying to finish your oatmeal, after you discovered a maggot wiggling on the top.

I’m not a nut case; I’m just biding my time, trying to protect myself and Deanne, until I can figure out how to beat them. I’m trying to build up some kind of defense against them; and when I do, I’ll be ready for them… but for now, I have to wait, and watch and learn.

The Doppelgänger told me, everything that man thinks he knows about Doppelgängers is just that… . ‘what he thinks he knows?’ He told me at the farm that, since man walked the earth, they have watched and waited for mankind to grow cold, and calloused, and uncaring for one another; and that’s when they would come. He told me, the Doppelgängers were not permitted to interfere with man, as long as man was trying to evolve… . but now time is up!

What I was told next was too scary to fathom. The Doppelgänger said that; in the beginning, their power over us was limited; but now the Doppelgängers are about to unleash their full power on us; and not only them, but they are bringing ‘The Others’ with them. All of the killing, and rape, and mindless crimes; man has entered into an arena which is not his; and all of mankind is doomed.

I wasn’t told what the ‘Others’ were… because the Doppelganger said… . ‘I wouldn’t want to know either; but that they come out at night. He said… . families go to church on a particular day; then before the day is over; man is deep into porn, and all manner of perversion. Women plotting ways to kill their families, just to be with the minister who served them earlier that morning.

He said… when the Others come; they will introduce men and women to an entirely uglier side of evil, and perverseness; since men and women have chosen to play in their arena.

He also said that… .’

‘There is nothing we can do to stop what is coming’ . . . .

Mankind has digressed from simple murder, to teenagers, who crave the lust and love of murder. To the slaughtering of entire families, with a raw wickedness; and that men and women who do these evil and wicked things… have pissed the ‘Others’ off; and there is no crosses to help, or prayers to pray… and that since we are all connected… all men and women; even the innocent, will pay. He said that the Others can appear as anyone those choose, and when they appear as someone, that person is frozen in time, until the Others are done destroying that person’s life. Once the damage is done, the person is returned to that exact moment in time, to face the consequences.

He also said, it was not only men and women, but it will spread to the animals, and man’s pets… all living things, will then turn on man.

He said… our thoughts and imaginations would also betray us; that when we are thinking something in our minds… those thoughts would be heard aloud, as if we were speaking them.

He concluded by saying… if man thinks that he can be wicked and evil; he is in for a rude awakening, and he need not wait any longer, because… .

The Doppelgängers are coming; and the ‘Others’ too!

I sit here day after day, pretending not to hear, pretending not to listen to the countless stories of little children missing or found dead, and mothers and fathers who kill their entire families after a pleasant breakfast on Sunday morning. I pretend not to listen to the teachers and people in authority molesting little boys and girls and the husbands and wives who would prefer to kill their mates, rather than love them. I pretend not to listen to the world leaders, who pretend to want to do well, but who secretly, are only concerned for their own selves; even if it brings disaster to innocent people.

I don’t want to listen, but the attendants sit me in front of the television every morning… I can’t help but hear stories about newlyweds on a honeymoon cruises, and how the bride or groom is reported missing or dead; when I hear stories like this… I think about what he told me.

Sometimes, I wish that I could open my mouth and say… . I know what’s behind all of this; all we have to do is be good to one another; but what good would that do. Men and women aren’t ready to be loving and caring to one another… . who’s going to listen to me anyway; after all; I’m nothing but a mindless vegetable; and besides, If I did open up my mouth to speak, the psychiatrist would say… ‘yes, that would solve the world’s problems, but they’d be out of a job.

The only activity I dare to engage in here at ‘Giggle Central’ is staring at a spot on the wall. Of all of the things to stare at… . why couldn’t it have been a crayon mark, or a scuff mark, but of all things, it’s a damn chili stain.

It looks like somebody knew I was coming and threw a chili bean against the wall, for me to stare at all day; to be honest, I think looking at this chili stain is a secret part of my therapy.

With this facility being government funded, you’d think the cleaning staff could have gotten one chill stain off the wall by now. I guess every job can be taxing; maybe dipping a rag in soapy water, and wiping one little stain away, is stress, but my God… we’re talking about one chili stain that’s been on the wall for six months. I wonder if this chili stain knows that I’m looking at it.

‘My God . . . . I am losing my mind, I know it! Last week, I thought this chili stain knew I was looking at it, so I pretended not to let it see me staring at it, but I couldn’t help it… I just stared right at it.

Last week the Hospital was having an inspection and I just knew they were going to clean this chili stain off of the wall, but instead they covered it with a picture; until they were told the picture was inappropriate; too provocative… so they took it down… but I got my chili stain back.

A few swipes from a sponge is all it takes and it’s gone… hell, if they’re too busy to wipe the stain away… . I’ll do it… . I’ll take a hammer and knock a hole in the wall… . that’ll get rid of it; but I can’t do that… I’d miss my chili stain if it weren’t here… I’ve come to depend on seeing this chili stain each morning. You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if, one day when they wheeled me in; if this chili stain just fell off the wall, from sheer boredom of having nothing to do all day, but watch me, watch it.

I’ve got to get out of here… ; I can’t believe I’m talking about a chili stain, as if it were an important part of my life.

Outside of sitting here like some unwanted vegetable, from the Campbell Soup Company. The only real sanity I have is when Deanne comes to visit. She sits with me, holds my hand, and talks to me as if nothing has happened… but something did, something very dark happened; she just doesn’t know it, and that’s how it’s going to stay. I can’t let Deanne go through the hell I’ve been through, and she would, if the Doppelgängers discovered Deanne believed in their existence.

I’ve given up on my days as being anything but, the ordinary sameness, much like the understanding that comes with knowing… . ‘if you take too much time to eat your cereal after pouring the milk on, it will get soggy.

The only certainty that I have is that every morning, the attendants will get me dressed, and wheel me out into the hall way, along with the other guests of this fine resort. From our mobile line up against the wall in our wheel chairs like a ‘Sprint cup’ race lineup; waiting to be wheeled down to the nurses’ station to pick up our morning mental handcuffs in the form of gel capsules, before we have our lumpy oatmeal with powder eggs… . ‘yummy . . . whatever happen to bacon and pancakes?’

Next, after I’ve been medicated, and my mind is in ‘Lulu land’ . . . . it’s off to the dayroom, where the other guests, jockey for positions to color by the numbers, or glue imported pieces of painted plastic from China onto pieces of cardboard. As for me, the staff ensures I’m in front of the television, which is angled too high for me to see anything, except for my chili stain.

The Doppelgängers are everywhere… . in the news, in every story; and the sad part is, the Doppelgängers commit these crimes and because they look exactly like us, we get blamed and are locked away in prisons; or worst… killed.

The Doppelgänger told me they were in every home, in every place, and all I had to do was to watch the news, read the newspapers; to open my eyes and look around; and when the time was right, they were going to reveal themselves, and completely dominate this world.

I try daily to push what I know about the Doppelgängers out of my mind, but, Tom the Nursing Assistant makes that a little hard to do by jacking up the volume… .

‘shhh here he comes.’

‘Well, good morning Mr. Blue; and how are we doing today?’

Tom is an okay guy, kind of puts me in mind of one of the ‘so called’ play boys of the seventies, with his hair all slicked back, and the cheap odor, of too much Brute, or Old Spice or something.

‘Okay Mr. Blue, since we’re not in the mood to talk . . . . I’ll turn the volume up, so you can heard the news.’

Oh no… . not the news! I can’t take this… .

Good Morning central Ohio . . . . Live from the channel six newsroom, here are the stories topping today’s news.’

From our affiliate at KABC in PHOENIX

Rachel Kneads has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the brutal death of her husband, Randal Kneads, at his suburban home in Phoenix, Ariz. Jurors reached a decision late Wednesday morning after deliberating only twenty hours. Kneads gasped and appeared stunned when the guilty verdict was read. Inside the courtroom, some friends and family members cried and others hugged. Outside, a crowd of several hundred who came to the courthouse cheered when they heard the verdict.

The trial lasted six months, and Kneads was on the stand for 37 days. The trial included graphic details of their sexual escapades and photos of Randal’s mutilated body moments after his death; taken from Kneads who said . . . ‘I often thought about what he’d look like all dead and stretched out; but I don’t remember killing him.’

Randal Kneads, who grew up in River County, suffered nearly 50 knife wounds over his upper torso, also suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of his head, which exited the right of his head. The autopsy report also stated Kneads was nearly decapitated by a deep cut from ear to ear.

He was found by friends ten days after they received a phone call from Rachel’s cell phone inviting them to; ‘come and check out Randal’s going away present’. River county Sheriff Michael Cottas told KABC that when officers arrived at the scene; Mrs. Kneads was sitting on the steps in an apparent daze, saying . . . ‘It wasn’t me . . . I didn’t do it.’

This is WKAD news anchor Teresa Retell reporting live, A San Diego man who authorities say fatally shot his wife—and then posted a photo of her headless body on Facebook—was charged with first-degree murder Thursday night after turning himself in.

SDPD detective, Joe Combs said an arrest warrant