Friday Challenge Entry #6

For the Friday Challenge.

“The dinner”

11/19/09 11:33 A.M.

Less than a week until the big day, he thought to himself as he wheeled the cart through the aisles of his local mega-mart. Searching for everything he'd need for the big meal only a week away he tried his best to contain his excitement.

Jason was overjoyed at the fact his mom had agreed to have Thanksgiving dinner at his place this year. Even though his house wasn't nearly as big as his brother Jim's, or as close as his baby sister Carol's place, he knew the family would have a good time, he assured himself as he grabbed for the biggest bag of fresh cranberries on the shelf.

11/20/09 8:13 A.M.

The constant blaring of something off in the distance was making it hard to concentrate on exactly what Shania Twain and Taylor Swift were doing to him. Jason looked down at the two ladies and said, “Hey that almost sounds like my alarm..”

“Damn!” he screamed as he sat up in bed before he even looked at the clock radio on his bedside table. He'd overslept, and by a lot. His folks were waiting for him to pick them up at the airport.

For well over an hour and a half by his reckoning, he thought as he grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor and scrambled out the door with one shoe on and the other in his hand.
If he rushed and blew through a couple of red lights he might just make it before they gave up and called Jim or Carol to pick them up. Jason dread either of them lording that over him, so he peeled out of his driveway with a loud screech and headed off to pick up his parents.

11/20/09 9:41 A.M.

Jason stood waiting at the arrival gate for the plane his parents took checking his cellphone for any voice-mails or text messages from Jim or Carol, expecting to find a childishly worded taunt at forgetting to pick up mom and dad, but found nothing. Maybe all the worrying was for nothing, he thought as he scanned the faces of the crowd approaching him trying to pick out their faces.

11/20/09 11:20 A.M.

Okay, he thought as he stared at his watch for the ninth time in as many minutes. It's not like mom and dad are terrorists or drug mules, so where are they? The thought of his parents stuck in some back room of the airport getting interrogated and receiving a cavity search made him chuckle a little, mainly because he knew his folks were the most boring unexciting people on the face of the earth and that the chances of that happening were slim and none.

Jason sighed as he dialed Jim's cell, regretting every number dialed and actually hesitating before he pressed SEND. Jesus this was gonna suck, he thought as he waited for Jim to pick up.

RING

RING

RING

RING

“Hello?” said the voice on the other end of the phone.

“Jim, it's me are mom and dad with you?” Jason said waiting for the inevitable snarky comeback, but all he heard was silence.

“Jim, did you hear me? I asked you if you have mom and dad with you, I think I missed them at the airport.” Jason said knowing his brother wouldn't let a chance to really zing him go by twice.


“Who the hell is this? And how did you get my number?” came the confused reply.

Jason took the phone away from his ear and took a deep breath before speaking, knowing that Jim was putting him on just to get a rise out of him.

“Ha ha, very funny Jim, now answer my question, did you or did you not pick up mom and dad already?” Jason said wearily hoping that Jim would let him off easy this time.

“Okay pal, I don't know who you are or how you got this number, but I'm hanging up right now.” he said, and before Jason could get in a word edgewise the line went dead.

Looking at the phone like it was an alien bug come to life in his hand, Jason knew that Jim was going to be a real jerk about this so he decided to cut out the middleman as it were and quick call Carol. He hoped that she'd at least be mature enough not to screw with him and give him a straight answer so he could go home.

RING

RING

RING

“Hello, McManus residence.” she said with the sounds of children screaming in the background.

“Carol, thank God I caught you, listen Jim is being a real jerk. Can you tell me if he picked up mom and dad at the airport yet?” Jason said praying that Jim hadn't gotten to her already.

“Who..Oh you want Jim, I'm sorry he left to pick up our folks at the airport, he should be back in a couple of minutes if you want to talk to him then. Who should I say is calling?” she said sweetly, waiting to take down a message.

Jason decided enough was enough. His day was crappy enough already, after a nearly two hour drive, and waiting around for that long at the airport was enough.

“You know damn well who this is.” he said not waiting for her to respond. “It's your older brother Jason. Enough with the games okay?” he said a little louder than he intended.

People around him began to back away and the guards who until up to now had paid him no mind, began to watch him. Jason put the phone back to his ear hoping that would calm down the spooked travelers around him, and waited for Carol to admit it was all some prank and that it was over.

But that isn't what happened.
“Listen, I don't know who you are, but my brother, my only brother's name is Jim, so whatever you're doing, if it's just a wrong number or a scam or whatever. It's not gonna work. Okay?” she said hanging up before he had a chance to speak.

Jason turned and quickly left the airport, headed for his car resolute that he'd get to the bottom of this come hell or high water.

Even though he knew where Jim's place was, he had no idea how to get there from the airport, and was glad he'd invested in the tiny GPS unit on his dash. Listening to the monotone voice guide him, Jason kept going over the strange conversations in his mind as he blindly followed the directions the whole way.

Once he parked across the street from Jim's house the day's events took a stranger turn. He'd always thought that his house sorta looked like a smaller version of Jim's house, a fact his older brother needled him with right up until he'd closed on the deal, but looking at it now, Jason was struck at exactly how much the two buildings resembled each other.

Resembled hell, they were twins.

A sound from down the street got his attention and he watched as Jim's Beemer drove up into the driveway and parked. Jason had his hand on the door-handle and was ready to open the door and confront his brother, holiday be damned.

But then he saw it, a sight that defied all reason. Across the street Jason watched as their dad slid out from behind the drivers seat a smile to beat the band on his face, and from the passenger seat, well Jason watched as a perfect replica of himself stood and helped mom get out of the backseat.

“Damn son, she's a fine ride.” shouted dad as he handed the keys back to the other Jason.

“Pop, that's no way to speak about mom, she's right here.” said the other Jason smiling.

They all laughed and walked into the house never noticing Jason, the REAL Jason sitting across the street, with a look of shocked incredulity on his face.

After a few minutes of staring out the windshield of the car, Jason broke the silence with three words.

“What the f*ck?!”

11/20/09 1:48 P.M.

A rumble in his stomach broke through Jason's panicked attempts at reconciling what he'd seen.
He realized that he hadn't eaten anything since last night and numbly started the car to go get something to eat.

As he stood in line at a sandwich shop Jason wondered if perhaps he'd gone insane. That he'd simply snapped at some point and that right now he was really locked up in some looney bin somewhere, and this was all the drugged out fever dreams of his insane mind.

A quick goose from the old lady behind him telling him he was next pulled him out of that line of thinking. If he was crazy he'd hope the ladies playing grab-ass with him would be in the under 70 crowd.

Sitting at the table polishing off the rest of his lunch, Jason took out a pen from his shirt pocket and began making a quick list on the paper his sandwich had been wrapped in.
Crazy?

Huge joke?

Dead? Heaven/Hell?

And finally as a joke he wrote down Twilight Zone?

With a smile Jason quickly scratched off “huge joke” and all of the others right away leaving only the most likely reason.

Jason wondered what else could possibly explain his situation. But nothing came to mind.

He knew that among all the items on his list, things had to be pretty bad if he was hoping he was just crazy.

11/20/09 5:51 P.M.

Sitting outside “Jim's” house Jason contemplated confronting the imposter, but decided against it. Anyone capable of stealing a person's face was surely able to hurt or kill his family.

No, what he needed was a plan. And after a few minutes he'd come up with a brilliant one if he said so himself. The only danger was to implement it, he'd have to leave his parents and sister in the hands of the other “him” for at least four or five days.

Seeing no other way, Jason started up his car and began driving the four hours it'd take to get home. Along the way he began to collect the first of the supplies he'd need for his plan to succeed.

11/22/09 5:58 A.M.

Jason lay in bed fully clothed, his hands stained with chemicals, and totally wired from the previous night's work. He'd never synthesized drugs before, so he had a few hits and misses, but overall he was happy with his results.

By his estimates he'd have enough in two days time, and by then he'd have the second phase of his plans in place. His family's life was depending on it.

11/22/09 10:24 A.M.

After an hour of fruitlessly searching on the internet for any mental illness that even remotely corresponded to what he was going through Jason came to the conclusion that he'd never figure it out, and went back to the task at hand.

11/23/09 4:04 A.M

It had been three days since he'd last slept and it didn't bother Jason in the least. If anything he was thinking much clearly and had even begun to unravel what had been happening to him.

The kitchen table was littered with empty food wrappers with nearly illegible notes scrawled on them detailing the massive conspiracy against him. Jason had laughed at how simple it had been to figure it all out.

As he squatted in the darkness in the field out behind his house, a noise in the woods got his attention. One of his traps had been sprung, finally, and now he had a test subject to try out his wares on to see if all his work would pay off.
Jason pulled the syringe from his back pocket and tapped the side of it to make sure there were no air bubbles in the liquid.

It be a shame to get this far and screw up the results with a beginners mistake like that he thought as he laughed standing over the Live-Trap® with one of the many neighborhood cats desperately trying to get out. Jason quickly jabbed the side of the animal with the needle and pushed down on the plunger in one deft move.

Before he had time to stand the cat was already moving around the cage blearily and weaving with each step. In less than 30 seconds it lay on the floor of the cage, totally and completely motionless.

Jason smiled as he carefully capped the syringe and walked back to his house.

Two more days, he though to himself.

11/25/09 11:59 P.M.

He'd had found a hiding place just behind “Jim's” house, a few loose boards in the fence acted as a pretty good makeshift door, and he had everything ready and packed in a backpack at his feet.

Now or never he thought as he picked up the bag and crept silently towards “Jim's” backdoor.

Count on Ol “Jim” to be reliable, no matter whose face he was wearing, he thought as he recovered the master-key from above the door-frame.

He had thought about entering through the sliding glass door, but quickly gave that up when he saw Carol's two girls camped out in sleeping bags on the living room floor. It wouldn't do to go through all this and have it dashed to hell by two freaked out little girls, so he opted for the basement entrance instead.


As he slowly made his way up the creaky basement steps, timing each step with sounds of the house settling, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. But as soon as he reached the door at the top of the stairs and saw his nieces asleep any thoughts about the path he'd chose were erased.

He'd do it for them, if only to ensure “Jim” couldn't hurt them.

He found all the food in the fridge ready for the next day's big meal all laid out as if arranged for his convenience. Carefully opening his bag, he pulled out the glass bottle and a syringe and set to work lacing each and every morsel of food and drink with the drug.

11/26/09 1:35 P.M.

The house was alive with noise and the smells of the food cooking began wafting downstairs. He was sure to stay stone-still and perfectly quiet in the darkest furthest corner of the basement, biding his time until his plan went into action.

11/26/09 3:02 P.M.

“Oh that smells sooo good!” someone said in the dining room above him the voice rendered unrecognizable through the layers of flooring.

“Alright everybody dig in.” said another voice. This one he knew who it belonged to, “Jim” fake Jim, body thief-Jim.

As the sounds of everybody eating and happily enjoying the day above him began to increase so too did his hatred for “Jim”.

He was sorely tempted to run up the stairs and stab the bastard through the eye with the carving knife, but the sudden rush of hostility began to wane as he heard the commotion upstairs start.

“Oh...oh God is she choking?” someone said in a panic as chairs were pushed back in a rush to assist whoever was the first to succumb to his last minute added ingredient in their holiday meal.

The sounds of bodies hitting the floor with a sickening thump increased as he ticked off the family members in his head. Once they'd all been accounted for he made his way up the stairs and into the dining room to see his handiwork up close.

He had to step over dad, and carol's oldest, but neither were the target he was searching for.

Laying the furthest away from the group was “Jim”, limply holding onto the wireless phone, weakly almost inaudibly begging for 911 to “Please help.”

“Jim” saw as he approached and the last words to escape his lips were a plaintive “Why?”

He looked down at the helpless man and smiled.

“You damn well know why.” he said as bent down and plucked the phone from “Jim's” hand.


11/26/09 3:16 P.M.

He sat at the nearest chair and began mumbling to himself. Repeating the same phrase over and over again out loud.

“He's not me, I'm me.”

Standing as he repeated the chant over and over again, he quickly walked to retrieve his bag, and what he'd need for phase two.

Pulling out the small canister of gasoline he starting practically yelling the phrase as he began spreading the fuel all around the house. Making a trail that led out the front door he laid the now nearly empty gas can just inside the front hall lit a match and said the phrase one last time...

“He's not me, I'm me!” he said throwing the match as he finished speaking.

With a smile on his face Jason turned around and walked away from the house without looking back even once.

When he got back to his car Jason locked the doors and fell asleep watching the growing orange glow and the black smoke as it belched from inside “Jim's” house.

11/26/09 4:02 P.M.

Jason sat in his car studying the ruins of the once beautiful home. With only a few standing walls left he wondered if he could even call it that anymore.
What was worse than the devastation and destruction to him, was the fact that who was at fault.

Damn "Jim"...

11/26/09 4:35 P.M.

Jason sat behind the wheel of his car and smiled as he remembered this year's festivities.

Ah...family.

Punching a new destination into the GPS unit he scowled as he realized he'd have less than 3 weeks to prepare for Christmas.
But he knew if he planned it just right it he could even outdo Thanksgiving.