The Other Nelly

by McLaughlin, S. J.

“I am her!” I yelled just a bit too loud. There was such a long, uncomfortable silence after that. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled.”

  “I just want you to leave,” he told me. I was so hungry and the food smelled so good. “How would you feel if there was a clone of me that showed up?”

  “Two Elliots would be kind of exciting,” I approached him, trying to look as sexy as I could in a dirty lab coat.

  “Stop it.”

  “But I’m your girlfriend,” I said, getting so close to him I could feel his breath on my neck. He put his hand to my shoulder so he could push me away, but I wouldn’t let him.

  “Nelly’s my girlfriend,” he said.

  “I am Nelly,” I told him with a hint of venom in my voice. Then I forced a kiss on him. I tried so hard to get him to kiss me back, but he struggled and pushed me back.

  “Stop that,” he snarled. “Nelly’s my girlfriend.”

  “But I am Nelly!” I yelled and my eyes coated with tears.

  “No you’re not!” he screamed.

  Then I hit him. It wasn’t a girly little slap either. I punched him in the face and left a bruise. I still can’t believe I did that but I was just so mad I couldn’t think better. I hit him. I actually hit him. There was no way he’d ever accept me after that. No way.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean it. Honest.” There was no use apologizing but I did it anyway.

  “Leave me and Nelly alone,” he said quietly.

  I didn’t reply. I just turned around and walked out of there.

  As I walked through the back streets of the city, I kept thinking about Elliot. Thinking about how I lost him and how I was never going to get him back. I loved him. I really did. I mean, I know we were young and that it might not have worked out in the end but that just didn’t matter to me. I wanted him back but he didn’t want me. He wanted the other Nelly and that was final.

  I found this nice patch of grass behind an abandoned building. It used to be a fire station and was in the quiet part of town. I was so thankful the sun was out so my coat could actually dry.

  My wrist felt like it was on fire. The cuff had rubbed my skin so raw it cracked and bled. It had scabbed over in the night, but the cuff peeled all of that off while I was awake and moving. Yes, it was as gross and painful as it sounds.

  I tried beating the cuff off with a large rock, but that only warped the thing tighter to my wrist. I gave up on that for a while and laid in the sun to think things over. My next plan was to hitchhike to the next city and change my name. I liked the name Jennifer, I was going to go with that one. Once I got there I’d have to find some illegal work. It’d have to be manual labor though, which would really suck, but I doubt there’s any demand for uncertified psychologists out there. I picked myself up and was about to follow that plan when I realized something.

  I still had Kim.

  Kim didn’t have classes on Monday, so there’s very little chance that the other Nelly would have tracked her down. Hell, I didn’t even think of her until then. It was still early morning and I assumed she’d probably be asleep in her dorm.

  It didn’t take long to get to Kim’s place. The hardest part was walking through campus wearing a filthy lab coat and literally nothing else on. That was so much different from being on the street because I actually knew these people. They were people I had gone to school with and talked to on occasion and for them to see me like that. Needless to say, the gossip spread pretty fast about that little incident.

  I knocked on the door of her dorm, bouncing in place from anticipation. I knew she was there, I just didn’t know if she would actually wake up. I knocked on her door harder, practically punching it.

  The door opened and Kim was there. “Kim let me in now!” I said.

  She tiredly nodded her head and let me inside, shutting the door behind us. It was this small, cluttered place with books and posters everywhere. She wasn’t exaggerating about being into conspiracy stuff, by the way. She had filled her room with research documents and textbooks about government testing and lab experiments. She had this theory that shape-shifting reptiles controlled the government. It sounds ridiculous but given the fact that they cloned me, it sounds a lot less insane.

  Once we were inside, she eyed me up and down with this puzzled look on her face. “Nelly? What the hell happened to you?”

  I started pacing the room, “I’m struggling to find out how to explain it.”

  “I’m taking something in the lab went wrong?” She guessed and got it spot on.

  “The lab coat gives it away, I take it?” I took a seat on the edge of her bed. Several days without food had made me dizzy and weak.

  “Are you wearing anything under that?” She asked. I crossed my legs and shook my head. She sat down next to me. “What’d they do to you? Does it have something to do with the handcuff you have on?”

  “Well, you know how I was saying that we were doing teleportation, right?”

  “Did something go wrong?” She asked.

  “They cloned me,” I said with no idea if she’d actually believe me or not. I mean, I had zero proof of it.

  “Holy crap! They made a clone of you?” She was so excited that she was practically vibrating. “Where is she? Is that why you have the lab coat? What’s with the handcuffs anyways?”

  Deep breaths Nelly, “I’m actually the clone. The original one’s at the lecture hall.”

  Then she poked my face. Why did she poke my face?

  “You’re a clone?”

  “I’m the clone, yeah.” I was so scared, you don’t even know.

  “That’s rad,” she said. “The government is making clones. It all makes sense.”

  “I guess?” I was so happy that she didn’t have the same reaction that Elliot did. Kim’s crazy, but the good kind of crazy.

  “Did your boyfriend see you?” she asked.

  “It didn’t go well.” I said. “He doesn’t think I’m the real Nelly.”

  “You’re Nelly enough for me,” she said with a big smile.

  “I’m glad you think so. But I’m homeless and single and broke,” I told her.

  She got up and went to the closet, searching through it while she talked, “What’s the plan then?”

  “What plan?” I asked. She came back with a rather large pair of bolt cutters. Why did she keep bolt cutters in her closet?

  “How are you getting your life back?” She grabbed my wrist and cut the lock, letting the cuff fall to the floor. I felt amazing to have my wrist free, you have no idea. No idea. It later got infected though, and I was hospitalized for a few days while they treated me. Kim stayed by my side the entire time, what a sweetheart.

  “What do you mean? Elliot doesn’t want me and the other Nelly hates me,” I told her, rubbing my sore wrist.

  “No, Elliot’s being thick as usual and doesn’t see things for what they are,” she said. “If we clean you up and give you some nice clothes he’ll never know the difference.”

  “Yeah, until there’s two of us in the room at the same time,” I laughed a bit. “I don’t want this to turn into a ‘which one do I shoot’ situation.”

  “Then kill her,” she said with a smirk.

  There was a long, long silence after that.

  “I can’t just kill her,” I told her.

  “You can’t? Or you don’t want to?” She was really digging at this.

  “I don’t want to. I mean, I can’t.” I was shaking. “It’s not right.”

  “Nelly, you don’t exist anymore. You don’t have a social insurance number. You can’t get a job. You can’t get a license. You do not exist.”

  She was making sense.

  “If you don’t kill her, you’ll die. Maybe not right away but the Nelly you were will be dead. Forget college, you’ll be working under the table and living in shacks until you die young and alone.”

  She was making too much sense. Could I really kill her? I mean, she was just myself. But that didn’t matter, she was physically a
different person. If Elliot didn’t see me kill her though, and I just slipped in as normal Nelly he’d never know and I’d have my life back. That option seemed too tempting to pass up.

  “I’ll give you some time to think on this,” she said and stood up. “Let’s get you cleaned up, alright?”

  She took me to the dorm shower. It was this awful public room with like four other girls there watching me rinse the grim, sweat and blood off my body. Didn’t help that Kim thought it was appropriate to shower with me. Is it just socially acceptable for people to be naked around each other? When the hell did that happen?

  Kim let me borrow some of her clothes. She was a bit thicker than I was, but I like my clothes loose so it really didn’t matter all that much. It was a pink and white long sleeve sweater and a blue pair of jeans. Something pretty close to what I’d normally wear. The sleeves hid my wrist cuts well enough and it just felt great to be clean and in dry clothes again.

  We went to the school cafeteria next. I didn’t have my lunch card so Kim had to buy for me. I got three burgers, a ton of fries, some donuts and a liter of pop. What? I hadn’t eaten in days and I was starving. I mean, I ended up overeating and Kim had to hold my hair back while I puked for almost an hour, but I think my hunger justified it!

  We took the food back to her dorm because I just wasn’t in the mood to be around people. Both of us ate on the bed, although Kim had a much lighter lunch than mine.

  “I don’t have class tomorrow, so I can kill her then,” I said, struggling to even get those words out of my mouth.

  “Does Elliot work?” She asked with a mouth full of food.

  “I don’t think so,” I said and thought a bit harder. “No, he doesn’t”

  I was still devouring my mountain of food when she finished eating. It kind of helped that Kim was treating this whole thing casually. I mean, I was about to attempt murder, that’s a very serious thing, but it helped that she treated it like it was no big deal, it really did.

  “Just get it over quick and fast. You can borrow my shovel if you need to.”

  “You want me to kill her with a shovel!” I almost spit my food everywhere.

  “No, no, no,” she laughed. “You need to bury the body, right?”

  “Right,” that’s when I started to notice I ate way too much.

  “You can just strangle her,” she said. "I have a shoelace you can use, if you want.”

  Put this on my list of most awkward conversations ever.

  We spent the rest of the day talking. She was very interested in the lab and had miles of questions about what it felt like to be cloned and how I escaped. I explained the whole ordeal to her, going over the all the details. She was so fascinated with it all.

  It was a single room, so there was only one bed to sleep in. It was a tiny bed too and she only had one blanket. I could feel her pressed tight against me the entire night. It wasn’t gay, okay? There was nowhere else to sleep and it was a tiny bed so we had to sleep cuddle up. Okay, maybe it was a little gay.

  When I woke up, Kim was gone. I knew she had class that day but it was still a bit weird to wake up in her room by myself. I put on the same clothes Kim lent me the night before. I doubt anyone would care that I was wearing the same clothes two days in a row. She said I could help myself to anything in her room, so I borrowed some deodorant and a bag to carry the shovel.

  The walk was long. I don’t know if it just felt long or I was walking slower than normal, either would have made sense. The bag hid the shovel well enough and I had the shoelace in my pocket. It was a very nice day out. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I kind of wish it was gloomy and gray, maybe with lighting striking the sky every ten seconds. That would have been more appropriate.

  I hesitated when I got to the house. I sat in front the yard by the door for a while and played with the shoelace. I tried several times to rip the thing, but that only ended up hurting my fingers. I knew the other Nelly could probably fight back against me and the only way this was going to work was if I caught her off guard.

  No more waiting. I opened the door as slowly and as quietly as I could and walked up the stairs. I wanted to turn back, but I knew I couldn’t. I could hear her in the bathroom. She was brushing her teeth loudly. Was I really that loud at brushing my teeth? Anyways, I tip-toed my way to the bathroom, holding the shoelace firm in my hands. This was it. One chance. I took a few deep breaths and calmed myself. My hands were shaking and my stomach felt heavy.

  The door was open, which made walking in easy. The sink was at the opposite wall and the mirror was at an awkward enough angle that she couldn’t see me coming. I knew this because Elliot would often sneak up on me in the mornings and scare me, the little brat. One step after another until I was close enough to smell the shampoo from her newly washed hair. Not often you see the back of your own head.

  I held the lace between both of my hands and stared at her neck. She lowered her brush and spit, the perfect time to do it. I jolted my hands towards her but stopped. It was scary. I didn’t think I could do it. She kept brushing and I kept holding the shoelace. She lowered the brush and spit again. No hesitation this time. I threw the lace over her head and around her neck. I wrapped it around three time and held on as tight as I could.

  My eyes were closed the entire time.

  I didn’t want to watch.

  I could feel her struggle and kick and punch at me until I was bruised all over. She fought so hard, just like I would have. I hated every goddamn second of it. I just wanted it to be over. She started to spasm and grab at me. She clawed at my arms and left red marks all down them.

  It took so long for her to fall limp. I held on for long after she did, though. It was done. She was dead. I just had to bury the body then wait for Elliot to come home and everything would be fine. I grabbed her by the arms and hoisted her onto my back. Was I really that heavy? I started walking with her on my back when I noticed Elliot standing right there. Oh God he was standing right there.

  “You killed her,” he said. “You killed Nelly…”

  He was supposed to be at work.

  “I am Nelly,” I whispered.

  Why wasn’t he at work?

  “My Nelly wasn’t a murderer,” he said, crying.

  Did he take the day off to be with the other Nelly?

  I think I was crying too. “Elliot…”

  “Shut up,” I’ve never seen him that mad before. “Was this your plan? Kill her and take her place?”

  “I am Nelly,” I said. “This is my place.”

  “Just keep telling yourself that. I’m sure that will make it true.”

  “Please, just listen to me.” I said, the weight of the other Nelly growing heavy on my shoulders.

  “I’m leaving,” he said. “Don’t bother looking for me, because you’ll never see me again.”

  “Elliot…” I whimpered for him.

  “Enjoy your goddamn life,” he said and kept his promise. I never saw him again. I’m not sure where he went or where he is now, but I hope he’s happy. I really do.

  I waited until dark before I buried her. I’m not going to go over every little detail of how I buried her corpse, okay? It was deep in the woods and when I was finished my hands were sore and blistered. That’s pretty much all you need to know about that.

  It was daylight when I got back to Kim’s place. I didn’t even bother knocking. I just opened the door and went inside. She was awake, just on her computer. She was browsing some kind of forum online, but I wasn’t sure which one. There’s quite a few of those, so forgive me if I didn’t recognize it.

  “I threw your shovel in a brook,” I told her. I wasn’t up for carrying the thing back with me.

  “It’s fine, Nelly. It really is,” she shut her computer and walked over to me. I don’t know why, but I hugged her. I hugged her and cried.

  I cried until my eyes burned and my head was pounding, but Kim still held me the entire time. “Never bring this up. Ever ag
ain,” I told her. It wasn’t a threat, just a request. I wanted us to pretend this never, ever happened.

  “I promise,” she said.

  Kim’s letting me stay at her place until I find somewhere else to live. I absolutely refused to go back to the house where I killed her. It was under Elliot’s name, so I’m sure he called in to have the place let go. They can just throw out anything I left behind because I don’t give a crap about it. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a new place, though. It’s not like I’m short on cash anymore. The lab set me up for life due to that little cloning incident. And I mean, for life. I won’t give you exact numbers, but I am loaded now.

  We spent the day together. She did a great job at keeping my mind off the whole murder thing. By the end of the day, I was less a wreck than I had been in the morning. She even let me sleep in her bed again that night, not that I was even able to sleep that well to begin with.

  Kim woke me up in the morning. The weight of a poor night’s sleep was weighing on my shoulders. She was the bathroom doing whatever and I got dressed in some clothes she laid out for me. So much had happened over the weekend that it almost felt like a dream. But now, it was time for class.

  A Note from the Author

  I’d like to thank you for purchasing my book. There’s a lot of stories out there, and I’m glad you gave mine a chance. Please take the time to leave a review. And, if you liked The Other Nelly, then be sure to check out The Break of Dawn, a story about an android who rebels against the girl who created her.