One morning, Septimius Budge Anderson awoke to see someone—himself!—standing in the room with, well, himself.

It was something of a shock to discover another living breathing creature in the room, especially when Budge took such precautions to secure his sanctuary from the world. Every night, he delicately locked the windows against wandering burglars and killer fog; and every night, he bolted the door lest his vampire roommate Le Mur suddenly crave blood at two in the morning. The fact alone that someone had been able to overcome these barriers was enough to scare the crap out of the little Englishman, but that this someone looked exactly like him in every way…? Budge was at once petrified and fascinated by this odd and strangely familiar apparition.

The identical being was the most disturbing thing Budge had ever seen. The haunted blue eyes, the pale face shaded by a swoop of dark hair…a face he had seen countless times and yet never before this moment. He blinked and shoved his glasses onto his face with a shaking hand in order to get a better look. Momentarily blinded by the glare of the sunlight coming through the blinds onto his glasses, Budge focused his oculi back on the apparent twin before him and smiled to see that the double’s spectacles gleamed as well. The twin smiled, too; almost evilly, it seemed. That certainly took the Englishman by surprise. Unnerved, the corners of his mouth dropped. The being in front of him mimicked the movement. Budge let out a sharp gasp, his fright returning. Anxiously, he reached towards the cause of his fear but thought better of the action and retracted his hand at the last minute. The double did the same, maliciously aping his every movement.

“Eek!!! Doppelganger!!!” Budge shrieked, running as quickly as he could from the room and down the stairs. He smacked helplessly into a tall figure dressed in black, heard two high-pitched screams (one his own and the other issuing from the black-clad figure), and felt hard plastic and the ooze of a cool liquid down his head. Straight away, he fainted.

He awoke a minute later to the wails of the person with whom he had collided. “MA-HA-HY CORNFLAKES!!!” Proserpina bemoaned loudly, rubbing her eyes to summon tears. “MY BEAUTIFUL CORNFLAKES!!!” Suddenly, she looked down at Budge and said calmly, “Oh, you’re okay,” then resumed her melodramatics.

Budge flinched and sat up with a groan. A soggy cornflake fell from his milk-soaked hair, hitting him on the nose. He sneezed and leaned back, only to put his hand into the empty cereal bowl lying on the floor. He wiped his hand on his pants and made a face.

Proserpina continued to bleat and moan like an angry sheep. “Ma-ha-hy poor breakfast…Never again shall I taste of the sweet ambrosia that is dry cereal!”

“Would you cease your infernal blubbering?!” a voice snapped from the kitchen. “There’s another box of that godforsaken fodder you like so much in the cupboard.”

“Shut up, Lemur Boy!” Proserpina shouted, breaking from her breakfast-centric sorrow. She got up and ran to the kitchen. Budge was left alone in the living room. Pushing the bowl aside, he spotted Proserpina’s spoon to his right. He picked it up and saw his reflection upside-down in the polished silver. His eyes widened as he remembered why he had come downstairs in the first place.

“Proserpina!!!” he squealed, rushing into the kitchen as well. “Save meeeeee!!!” He latched tightly onto the young woman, who turned red and peeled him off. “Proserpinaaaaa…” he whimpered piteously.

“Budge, I’m sure whatever monster’s under your bed today is long gone,” she sighed. “Go back upstairs and get yourself cleaned up.”

“Buh-buh-buh—” Budge started.

Le Mur, standing next to Proserpina with a box of almond pastries in hand, put on a face of mock sympathy. “Now, now, dear cousin, he obviously came down here to tell us something. We should hear him out.”

“Really?” asked Budge hopefully, his eyes shining with tears.

The vampire smirked. “But of course. It wouldn’t be very sporting of me to send you back upstairs when we could have a nice heart-to-heart conversation outside with all the birds. They’ll be particularly friendly on account of the food in your hair.”

“AAAAAAAAH!!! PROSERPINA!!! DON’T MAKE ME GO OUTSIDE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ‘COZ THE BIRDS AND THE MONSTER AND THE DOPPELGANGER AND OH MY GOD I’M GOING TO DIE!!!” the Englishman shrieked.

Proserpina blinked. “What?”

“THE DOPPELGANGER!!!”

“The…what?”

“THE DOPPELGANGER!!!”

“What doppelganger?”

“MY DOPPELGANGER!!! MY GHOSTLY DOUBLE!!! HE’S UP IN MY ROOM AND HE’S GOING TO KILL ME AND TAKE MY SHOES!!!” Budge sniffled upon finishing his tirade.

Proserpina eyed the petite Brit in silent shock, but their undead roommate burst into laughter. “Hahahahahaha! A doppelganger! Your doppelganger! Killing you!” He paused, seeing the pained and frightened look on Budge’s face. “Oh, you’re serious, aren’t you?”

Budge nodded.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—ow.”

“Put a sock in it, Le Mur,” Proserpina growled as she backhanded the vampire. Le Mur gave her a disdainful look but went silent. Proserpina turned back to Budge. “Now you’re sure that this ‘doppelganger’ of yours is in the bedroom?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And that it’s going to kill you and *sigh* take your shoes?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You know, Budge, I really try to believe you when you get into one of your paranoid funks, but this seems pretty far-fetched…”

“…Eeeeeee…”

“…But if you’re that convinced, I’ll go up there and check it out.”

“No!” Budge squeaked. Proserpina gave him a weird look. “I-I mean, at least not without a weapon.”

“Fine, fine,” Proserpina said, “I’ll take the broom. That should be enough to stop the ‘ghostly double” of you, anyway.”

“Wh-what about the pistol?” the Brit suggested desperately as he trembled in fear.

The young woman gave him a quizzical look. “We don’t have a pistol.”

“That’s what you think,” Le Mur muttered under his breath. He left the room with a sneer.

“Well, that was odd.” Somewhat perplexed, Proserpina pulled a broom out of the closet and marched up the stairs. Budge grabbed onto the back of her shirt in an attempt to stop her, but all he succeeded in doing was getting a ride to the second floor.

Boldly, Proserpina opened the bedroom door and stepped inside. Budge, still clutching her shirt with one hand, covered his eyes with the other; his knees sunk to the ground. Proserpina whirled around and pulled him back up.

“There’s nothing in here,” she said, exasperated. “You’re imagining things again, little guy.”

"I-I-I…” Budge trailed off as he uncovered his face, then turned angry. “I am NOT imagining things, and I don’t appreciated being treated like a daft child!” He leapt to the spot where he had first seen the doppelganger, and sure enough, the ghostly twin was there. Budge pointed with a trembling hand at the apparition. “See? Do you see?!”

With that, his fear overcame his fury, and he collapsed.

When he came to, his head was on a pillow, and hovering above him was Proserpina’s face, etched with both frustration and concern.

“You saw it…you saw it, didn’t you?” he said unsteadily. He latched onto Proserpina’s arm and gave her a nervous, delirious smile. “Didn’t you?”

“Er…” Proserpina sweatdropped. “Yes, Budge, I saw it.”

The next question was much more forcefully asked. “Did you kill it?”

“Er…no.”

“You didn’t?!” Budge’s eyes dilated to the size of golf balls.

“Well, no…because it wasn’t your doppelganger.”

“It wasn’t?!”

“No, Budge, it was your mirror.”