Farmer's+Group

**hey guys its melissa. i havent had time to change anything yet. who is going to put it on word later when were done and do paragraphing and such?** 

__Two too Many__

A bright strip of lightning, a low thump and everything fades to black in stormy Manhattan. A middle aged man with a once white lab coat lifted safety goggles from his early aging face. “Has it worked?” the scientist asked. “I don’t know, did it?” the boy replied with anxious eyes. The scientist opened the door and a puff of smoke appeared. Out fell a lifeless look alike of his nephew, a young man about the age of 23. “Another failure!” the scientist’s voice boomed in the silence. William looked notably worried. The scientist was William's Uncle and had asked him to help with an experiment. The boy looked down at the useless doppelganger. “Cloning…” William thought. His Uncle let out an unsavory sigh and said to no one in particular. “I give up!” he yelped as he threw the stack of papers off the lab table. “Why do I try? Nothing ever goes right. I’m no scientist! I’m a fraud, a fake, a phony!” The boy looked at his uncle searching for something to say as Uncle John stared back at him. The silence was deafening. “You can stay or go William. It doesn’t matter now.” The boy nodded apologetically. His Uncle stared at the motionless copy once more before making his way out of the lab. The year was 2020 and cloning was all over the headlines and news channels. New experiments were performed every day in an attempt to crack the mystery, but they were only studies. No experiments had created an exact replica and Uncle John was out to change that. Attempting dangerous and difficult tasks made people not like John. He was determined. William stared at the clone in disgust, “Why couldn’t you just have worked!” he exclaimed. Tears of frustration rolled down his cheeks. He hated for people to presume his Uncle was crazy. If this experiment was successful, people would leave his Uncle alone. The boy looked around the lab and started cleaning up the useless scraps of paper. As William made his way to the door, he felt a presence from behind. Swiftly, he turned around, but there was no one. He shrugged and continued out into the cold but still felt as if there was someone there. Halfway to his car he turned around on his heal and jogged back inside. He turned on the light and peered around. He could have sworn the inanimate body was facing the other way before he’d left. He yelled at himself for thinking such silly thoughts and picked up the body, swung it over his shoulder and threw it in the dumpster. William left the lab just as the resembling body rose out of the garbage. While the two were physically the same, the look alike had taken on a mind of its own. He had made his way to the chair in the lab and waited for the scientist to return later the next day. Uncle John stomped into the lab. He scolded himself for leaving it in such disarray but as he turned he noticed someone sitting behind his desk facing the wall. He flipped the switch for the lights and got closer concluding that it must be William compliant for another day of experiments. Apologizing about the evening before, he began to voice new ideas about a way to correct his problems in the experiment. The clone stood up with an angry expression on his face and picked up the scientist throwing him in the closet. “William, what do you think you’re doing? I understand that you’re upset but this is no way to treat me!” screamed John. “Why are you referring to me as William?” the clone asked. “Because that’s your name? What else would I call you?” he replied confused. At that moment the clone realized that he needed a name. In this world that is how people are identified, but he couldn’t take Williams name. On the other hand he couldn’t just appear on earth as a 23 year old man. He needed to blend in. “I’m sorry; I think I just need some sleep. Bye Uncle!” his low voiced boomed as he hastily fled the lab. He was extremely tired and his gut told him he needed sleep. His internal clock hadn’t been set yet and the clone slept for 24 straight hours. Content, he awoke and wanted to explore his new environment as large and extravagant as it was. “Manhattan…” he sighed as he smelled the fresh morning air. He strolled for quite some time and took in the immense scenery, wading through the crowded streets to a quiet park. There he sat on a green faded bench pondering deep in thought of a way to conceal the scientist' mistake and a way to come across as William McKinley. Billy, he finally decided; after all it was a nickname for William. There would be numerous problems that Billy would run into but he paused in thought as his mirror image jogged by. Billy became greatly amused, like a child in a roller coaster line. He was eager and excited watching such a familiar face pass by. His dark brown curly hair was wind blown and his blue eyes watered from the bitter Manhattan wind. William turned and glanced at where Billy was sitting, paused for a second and then went about his business. William returned home a couple minutes later after his run through the park. “That can’t be right” William struggled to himself. “That man on the bench looked awfully familiar?” “How is that possible? Is it…Did it work? I must truly be going crazy like my Uncle.” The impossible thoughts were pushed out of his head and he suddenly remembered that his mother’s birthday was coming up soon. The sliding doors opened and he entered Bloomingdales. William smiled at Wendy, the cashier in lane 5. Wendy and William had been a couple since his senior year of high school. They hadn’t had a fight in the entire 5 years they had been together. It surprised William when he heard Wendy half way across the store screaming with intensity. “I’ve done nothing, what are you talking about?” exlaimed William “You know what you did, you tried stealing but you didn’t get away with anything, the tape caught it all. You were running and they caught you. You can’t deny it, we have it on video. Don’t even try to tell me it wasn’t you!” replied Wendy. Wendy was always known for her laid back personality and quiet disposition. It was completely unlike her to be yelling throughout the entire store. “Get out!” she yelled as a look of confusion poured over William's worn face. He ran like an out of control train heading downhill, throwing open the store doors and running till he had no breath left. He found a safe back alley to turn into and crouched down with his hands on his knees desperately gasping for air. “Why was Wendy so furious? What have I done?” William shouted to no one. Out of the corner of his eye a shadow fell in front of the back alley casting on the wall across from William. The shadow appeared tall with shaggy hair just like him. His gut filled with rage as the first thing that came to mind was the clone. “He was the one that had stolen from Bloomingdales!” he exclaimed. He bolted from the back alley expecting to find his clone but it was only a boy waiting for the mid day local bus. Furious and eager to find the look alike, he spun around on his heels ready to run, to find Billy, to prove to Wendy that it wasn’t him who had stolen from the store. WHAM! It was like the out of control train hit a firm brick wall. He was shocked as his adrenalin filled body came to a halt and he was held in place by a tight grip. William felt an immense pressure building on top of his shoulder and an unbearable weight squeezing his gut. All William could see was the shadow cast on the cool cement on the side walk; a tall man just like him with shaggy hair just like him. His eyes began to close as he struggled to fight back the hazed shadow and a black bag was pulled over his head. He slipped out of consciousness. “William!” Uncle John called, clumsily tripping over the lab coat and shoes thrown on the wood floor. Test tubes were everywhere and glass was strewn across the linoleum flooring inside the duplicator, Uncle didn’t much care about his inventions anymore. He hadn’t said a thing about his last attempt since the accident, a full two days. No matter what the outcome of his experiments, Uncle always talked with William about them. It wasn’t like him to push all scientific thoughts out of his head for that long. With a 20 second delay an answer finally came from the back room. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Billy screeched. The scientist scrunched his nose and cringed at the shrill sound trying to soften the blow on his delicate ears but it didn’t help much. “Did you forget your own mother’s birthday? You’ve never been one to forget such an important event like your mothers birthday!” said John. “You’ve been acting really strange, completely opposite of yourself lately. What’s wrong?” William was always on top of things and since it was only him and his mom, since his father walked out at five, they’ve been inseparable. Something was up. “Do this, do that… blah, blah, blah! You’re always asking stupid questions and I didn’t forget about it! She already knows how much I care about her. She doesn’t need a fancy frilly card for me to tell her that.” His uncle shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, “What has gotten into him?” he thought to himself. “If it’s money you need, here’s five dollars.” He pulled out five crinkled green paper bills and handed them to Billy. “Please get her at least a card William.” He snatched it from his uncle’s hand, “Whatever, fine!” he yelped. “But stop calling me William! I want to be called Billy from now on. William is so proper and long.” He grabbed his coat out of the heap of clothes piled by the door. “I won’t be back soon!” He growled furiously and ran, shoved the door open and the cold air swept some of the debris and glass out the door. It crunched under his angry feet. “Billy it is” whispered his uncle. “I love you!” he explained as the door creaked shut. “Yeah, yeah” Billy called back. On the other side of town William awoke with a sudden splash of water on his face. As he slowly opened his eyes he felt as if he were looking in a mirror. That was when William realized that the clone must have actually worked and right now he wasn’t looking in a mirror but into the eyes of his own twin. William asked in a worried voice, “Where am I, why did you bring me here?” Billy replied, “You will find out soon.” William sat there in a confused state. He knew that he must be in a condemned warehouse, or maybe an old factory because of the rusty machinery and dirty walls. Then Billy began to talk to William and started to tell him about his ideas. “When I first saw myself I was happy. I realized that I was alive and able to move and do anything I wanted. But now as I sit here I start to wonder how I fit into this society. I know that your name is William and you have a great life here in Manhattan, but I need a life now. And right now I think it will be best if you stay here for a while as I try to plan things for my future. I will be back soon to bring you food and water.” And with that, Billy left William again. He closed the large, cold, steel door, locked it, and put the key in his pocket. He began on his journey to find a place for himself in this world. As he walked out of the building he found himself peering at the jewelry store across the street. Billy, undiscovered, knew he could do anything he wanted without consequence; anything at all, even like robbing a jewelry store. He laughed to himself, “I’m so brilliant!” he said aloud, astonished at the beautiful jewelry inside the store. William looked around in the emptiness. “Why?” he thought. “Why did this have to happen? I don’t deserve this. I’m not a bad person at all.” William blinked and a lone tear fell down his cheek. Meanwhile, alarms blasted from around the town. Squad cars and detectives pulled up from every direction. They stopped in front of the jewelry store. “Any suspects?” asked the short detective. “Actually yes, the culprit was quite bold. There was no face mask or anything. He even told me his name was Billy. He had curly brown hair with puddle blue eyes.” The owner stated. “Any idea where he went?” the detective probed. “We saw him heading down South Street” the owner replied. Billy was running at an impossibly fast pace back to the warehouse. He flung open the door and told William to flee. “Get out of here!” shouted Billy at the top of his lungs. “Have you had a change of heart?” William asked looking at his replica. “Yes, yes, sure whatever!” Billy yelled shoving William out the door. Before he could say anything the door slammed shut and he started walking. He had only been walking for a block when he saw flashing lights and a cop signaled for him to stop. “What’s your name son?” asked the cop. “William sir, I-” “Don’t get smart with me boy! You’re Billy” the cop interrupted. “Well I guess sir but I-” “You guess nothing! You are under arrest for theft.” “WHAT? No, you have the wrong person!” “I don’t want to hear it young man,” the cop bellowed. William was led into the police car. As they drove off, he looked out the window and caught a glimpse of someone. The reflection smiled back in the back window of the police car. William turned realizing he wasn’t the one smiling. “Billy…” As the fifth sun rose since the mishap experiment, William had nothing to do but pout. “This can't be happening to me…” pondered William as he lay on the frigid, glacial cement of the jail cell. The slight draft from under the door gave his whole body goose bumps and numbed his toes. After witnessing a breakthrough in cloning he now wished that his uncle’s cloning wasn't successful. Billy was destroying his life. He took his name, his appearance and now he was stealing his freedom too! William felt as if his life was turning into a broken record player. Billy would keep getting rid of him and he would never get his life back and there was no one to help him. He couldn’t ruin his uncle's reputation by letting this secret out. Who would believe that they actually produced a real clone and it was taking over his life anyway? William wouldn’t have believed it himself if he hadn’t seen Billy with his own eyes. Some way some how he was going to get out and get back at Billy. Maybe the replica could take his name and his appearance but no way was he going to let him take his freedom and individuality. “I will show the world how destructive clones can really be and that they should never be meddled with” he scolded himself for ever helping his uncle. Now thinking to himself, William couldn’t believe that he had actually volunteered to such a monstrosity, clones would never be able to be exactly like their maker because only appearance can be copied not personality. Billy gazed at the sapphire blue and ruby reed diamond necklace he held in his hands. He was proud of himself but wondered who it was for and what he was going to do with it. Now that William was out of site and no one knew he was gone he could resume Williams’s life as his own. “I can give it to Wendy” he thought mindlessly but enthusiastically. Billy stripped the bed sheets from where William had stayed and discarded all the dishes and sheets in a pile and set fire to the lonely warehouse on South Street. The old condemned sign read, “Sally's fine clothing” at the top. The "y" was missing and there was a bullet hole through the “fine” that was rain rotting. He watched briefly while the building collapsed into ashes. Billy made his way back to his uncles’ lab by way of side streets eager to get away from the obvious burning building. “UNCLE!” Billy demanded as he threw the door open, “DRIVE ME TO WENDY’S, NOW!” “But…Willia…Billy? You can drive, you’ve been to her house plenty of times before?” “We…well I hurt my foot,” he faked as he took the weight off his right leg. He began to whimper a little as would a dog whose leg got caught in a door. “What’s that in your hand?” Uncle John asked calmly. “…I-It’s for…” Billy struggled to make up a sensible fib. “It’s for mom!” he blurted fiercely. “Cards are for sissies. I decided to get her something nice” he snickered under his hot mischievous breath. “A-ha something nice… and he believes me!” Billy chortled to himself again. “That’s my boy; now let’s see if we can get you to Wendy’s.” Uncle John reached under Billy’s right elbow so he could lean his weight on him as they walked to the car. He was sure Billy would fall, tripping over all this mess with an injured foot. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” He jerked his elbow away from his uncle pushing him into the corner of a nearby table. The corner was sharp and the scientist grunted painfully squinting his eyebrows. He was becoming impatient with Billy but left it alone and walked ahead of Billy leaving him to hobble out the door on his own. As the scientist sat in the car waiting for Billy to join him he thought about everything that had just happened. His thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as the passenger door was opened and then slammed closed with a loud bang. Billy glared at the scientist and without saying a word Uncle John put the car in reverse. He backed out and changed it to drive, then took off down the road and turned left. The scientist returned to his thoughts. He wondered what had gotten into his nephew and why he was acting this way. As John drove on he began to think about how much Billy’s personality had changed and if personality could be cloned as well as physical appearance. “Just because Billy has muscles and dark brown soft wavy hair, tall and sleek with beautiful glassy blue eyes doesn’t mean the clone will come out kind and courteous, loving and eager to help others. He could turn out the exact opposite!” thought John. “I would create a monster!” A loud boisterous horn beeped and John jumped. He had been sitting at the stop light for several minutes now and cars were beginning to pile behind his red minivan. Billy yelled at John, “What’s your problem? GO! I would like to make it there today!” John continued on his way to Wendy’s. “Maybe it’s a good thing that my experiments never worked out. It’s not my place to create life, I can’t clone individuality or personality and people have a mind of their own.” A light bulb went off in the scientists head and he decided there would be no more cloning studies. It was already ruining his nephew’s attitude. He strayed to another subject as he often did. “I wonder what he is bringing her…” “What are you giving to Wendy, Billy?” “Does it really matter to you or are you just being nosy? Just keep your eyes on the road and get us there safely.” John focused his attention back on the road and started to become concerned. He wanted to ask Billy why he was upset, but after the last response he received, he thought it best if he turned up the radio and had a quiet ride to Wendy’s. The only jail in Manhattan was the Chapter 76 jail, approximately five miles from Wendy's house.With only 10 cells and a group of 23 ferocious men, they were prone to riot. The men in Williams cell were planning a breakout during the next one. The next day during mess hall everything went crazy. Men were jumping on the tables protesting their arrest. William and his cell mates slipped through the angry mob and found an opening through the resting ground. Crawling under a few tables and slipping past the anxious guards they made it back to the real world. Though emaciated and dazed, he had gathered the strength to make it out. Just like that William was freed. “I swore to myself if I ever got out of this cell I would go after my clone” William thought furiously. First he needed food, a nap, and to tell the person he adored most about what was happening. Surely Wendy would believe him. “Ding dong, ding dong” chimed the door bell. After dropping Billy off at Wendy's he returned to the still destroyed lab. Uncle John was frantically diving through the dumpster looking for the lab write up he wrote for his cloning experiments. He didn’t want anyone trying to clone any more people. He knew he threw it away when William threw his lifeless clone in the dumpster…. “WHERE’S THE BODY! IT WAS IN HERE, I SWEAR WILLIAM THREW IT IN HERE!” Overwhelmed with fear and disgust at himself he began to wonder what could have happened to the body. And like the blink of an eye he remembered reading about life for clones taking three hours to kick in. “I’m such an idiot!” I must go talk to Bill… BILLY!” Billy had already been with Wendy for a while now. He fibbed; just little white lies though no harm done. They sat on her bed and moments later she finally gave in and began to talk to him. “I’m sorry I attempted to steal” he deceived her. “I didn’t have money for my mother’s birthday gift and I needed a card.” “But you could have asked me to lend you some money. What has gotten into you William!” said Wendy. Billy held his tongue; he knew if he blurted his new name that she would know something was wrong. “I don’t know Wendy but I bought you a gift.” Laughing hysterically to himself he brought it out from behind his back. “Here Wendy, I’m sorry. Don’t call the cops I swear I will never do it again.” She gasped, “This is amazing William! It’s…Beautiful!” “She’s buying all of this nonsense, ha-ha how stupid she is” snickered Billy. Wendy had forgotten that the doorbell rang a few minutes ago but it came to her attention as it rang twice more, “Ding dong, ding dong.” “Ill be right back!” Wendy cried as she fled for the door still giddy from the wonderful gift. William, still standing at the door patiently, was dazed from lack of nutrition., Wendy didn’t even notice his familiar brown hair and tall body as she flung open the door asking herself who it could be. At first glance it seemed like a poor beggar asking for a little kindness and quick to speak she said, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.” But as William lifted his head her eyes became large and her face turned flush reed. William's body gave a delayed reaction and he began to urge himself forward as the once to be shadow crept up behind Wendy’s body holding tight to her neck. The knife was raised slightly to her jawbone; it was icy cold. William knew this because Wendy flinched at the touch. William slowly tried to move his helpless legs but they stood firm. Billy let go of Wendy as her eyes closed and she fell to the door step covered in silk red blood. Rage filled William's body and he reached for Billy’s knife, trying with all his might, their equal force strength kept either one from snatching the sharp blade. A next door neighbor had heard strange suspicious noises so she had called the police. Sirens could be heard and suddenly William remembered his cuff. He let go of Billy’s hand jumping back to keep from being cut. William knelt next to Wendy and sobbed for her. “WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?” William screeched, his voice strained. The police cars pulled up as William touched her wet face. Billy sat as the four police officers approached them with hand guns and Billy began to sob obviously morning over Wendy. Sneaking in a laugh or two every now and then that wasn’t noticed. William turned around and the police officers frowned. “Who are you two? WHICH ONE OF YOU DID THIS!” exclaimed the one in front with his badge falling out of his pocket. Billy continued to weep and pointed to William who was in shock. There were no more tears falling from William's face and as the man with the badge grabbed for his cuffs William managed to blurt out, “No, he’s my clone! I didn’t do it, he did, look at his hands they're filthy with evidence!” The police man looked at William's wrist as he pointed and saw the cuff and pushed weak William to the concrete scraping his delicate knees. “You’ve committed crimes before! You’re wearing a cuff! How ignorant to blame this poor man who has just lost his dear friend. You’ll be put away for life!” Billy was over doing it now; he wept uncontrollably and forced the tear as if they were real streams of sorrow. William was lifted to his feet and dragged to the police car with help from his men. “I’m so sorry sir” the leader exclaimed to Billy. “He will be punished for this, I assure you.” And they left as William once again saw his shadow in the glass mirror of the police car. Red stained hands and dried tears on his face, his head dropped down by his shoulder. Billy laughed uncontrollably, loud enough to hear for miles.