Chapter 2: The Knock at Midnight

The man collapsed, limbs limp as Savannah injected the liquid. His whole body jerked, convulsed, then went slack, motionless.

Savannah dragged the man toward the bathtub with a practiced, almost casual ease. Had she done this before? How many times? My mind spun with questions and a creeping sense of dread.

What is she going to do?

My heartbeat stuttered, then sped up, thumping against my ribs.

The girl I’d thought of as so pure and lovely was a demon. My scalp prickled with fear, guilt, and a strange, sick fascination.

But Savannah’s next move shattered every wild assumption I’d made.

She peeled off the man’s mask, slow and methodical, revealing a face I knew better than my own reflection.

Seeing that face, my breath seized in my chest. I lurched to my feet, shock rocketing through me.

The sudden movement sent the picture frame on my desk tumbling to the floor.

The photo inside was from my old college graduation—a goofy grin, a straight nose, pale skin, thin lips, a small mole under my left eye. I’d forgotten how young I looked then.

The corpse in the bathtub was a dead ringer. No, it was more than that—it was me.

Even the mole under the left eye matched. Every feature, every angle.

Except this corpse was drained of life, its skin waxy and pale, with bruises blossoming along the jawline—like something out of a horror movie marathon.

Could there really be two people in the world who looked exactly alike? Or was this some kind of sci-fi doppelganger scenario? I felt a surge of skepticism and disbelief—this only happened in movies, not in real life.

If not…

Then who the hell was he?

02

But I had no time to think.

The picture frame hit the floor, the photo inside showing me at a Fourth of July barbecue with friends I barely remembered, the glass shattering with a sharp, ringing crack that seemed to echo through the silent apartment.

That sound, in the dead of night, was piercing—cutting through the silence like a warning shot.

Savannah whipped her head toward the camera, her eyes narrowing. She seemed to sense something, moving closer with deliberate steps.

Her face grew larger and larger on the screen, her pale features filling the monitor, the blue-white glow from the bathroom lights casting eerie shadows across her cheekbones.