Chapter 1
When you look in the mirror, a mirror image of yourself is reflected back at you. But what happens to your psyche when there is no mirror, yet an image of you is standing before your eyes, one that won't fade, one that has no earthly reason to exist. It's been said that everyone has a twin, someone with whom you share a remarkable resemblance. Someone with whom you can't be told apart. This is a story of two paths crossing, two lives changing, love lost, love regained, jealousy, insanity and death.
My part in this story began the summer prior to my senior year in college. I was one year away from the rest of my life. My future looked much brighter than my past. I had come to terms with the events of my past in recent months, despite my mother’s crazy machinations, and the absence of my father. I craved a normal life and the only way I could achieve this goal was by cutting all contact with my mother. Nothing would ever be normal if I continued to allow her to disrupt my calm. As for my father, I hadn’t spoken to him since the day he put me out of their home. I hadn’t had much conversation for him before that point, so I guess it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did.
As I look back at that time, I should have known it was just the calm before the storm that was my life. I was looking forward to a life worth living in my future. I had no clue that my future endeavors were the result of a faulty foundation.
The summer started off pretty good. I was on the wait staff of a large catering firm in Atlanta. The season was going well for my boss and we were kept busy most nights and weekends.
One calm and breezy night we were catering a party for a law firm with several different names attached to it. The firm was celebrating a five hundred million dollar settlement it had won against a gun manufacturer.
The room was filled with the partners, junior associates and interns of the firm. It was a black tie affair and the attendees wore elegant gowns and beautifully tailored tuxedoes. The chandeliers sparkled brightly overhead and a mellow jazz tune flowed throughout the ballroom.
My best friend Chris was working one side of the huge ballroom and I was working the opposite end. We would meet in the kitchen to discuss the gowns and conversations we'd over heard as we were serving them. On the third round to get salads, Chris bursts into the kitchen, excitement written all over her face and exuded from her pores.
"Pam, Pam!" She screamed searching the kitchen for me. I didn't even get the chance to yell over here, before she spotted me by the salad counter restocking my salad tray. She rushed over to me. "You will not believe what I just saw," she said between breaths.
"You're right, with your active imagination, I never believe anything you see," I replied jokingly.
"You've got to believe this. I just saw your doppelganger," she said excitedly.
"My what?" I asked, confused by her rapid response to my quip.
"Your doppelganger, you know, your twin," she said again.
"Yeah, okay, someone out there looks like me," I laughed before throwing another quip her way, "Am I draped in diamonds?"
"No, but you do look fabulous in the red evening gown you're wearing," she said.
"Red is my signature color," I replied, laughing even more. Chris is always seeing my twin around some empty corner.
"Why don't you switch sides with me, so you can check her out. Several of the people on my side requested the chilled soup in place of the salad. I'm setting up a tray now to take out there," said Chris as she filled her tray.
I just looked at her. Chris has always had one of those active imaginations. I didn't think too much of her twin theory. She once said that Lawrence Fishburne came into the retail store we were working one summer. I got all excited, roaming around the department until I spotted the guy she had described. She had gotten me all excited for no reason. The guy didn't look anything like Lawrence Fishburne, Mike Tyson maybe, but definitely not Lawrence Fishburne.
"You stick to your side of the room and I'll stick to mine. I don't need any Pamela sightings tonight." I left the kitchen to deliver my next batch of salads to table twenty-three. As I walked out of the kitchen, I glanced around the ballroom. There were forty tables lined up around the Oval room. The tables were grouped in a rectangular shaped pattern with the oval center left bare for dancing.
As I made my way through the maze of tables I noticed several people looking at me in a curious manner. Most of the guests were enjoying their soup or salad but several had looked up at me at the urging of one of their table companions. I had suddenly become the center of several people's attention. I continued to walk towards my next table a little self consciously. The salads were shaking a little in my hands by this point. I wasn't used to people openly gawking at me. I arrived at my table and quickly served the salads then I fled the ballroom. When I returned to the kitchen, Chris had enlisted our co-worker Angie into her plot.
"Pam, I need you to switch sides with me, there is something Chris has to show you," said Angie.
"Not you too," I paused for emphasis. "Angie, does this lady really look that much like me?" I asked in exasperation.
"Yes, she does. You've got to see yourself all dressed up, you look fantastic. We just want you to look at her," said Angie excitedly.
"Will you guys get back to work if I agree?" I asked as the hairs on the back of my arm began to stand up. I knew Chris was prone to exaggeration but Angie was pretty reliable. I couldn't imagine someone looking so much like me. I barely held any resemblance to my mother or father.
My dad always said I resembled his grandmother, a woman I had never set eyes on in my life. I shook that thought from my head. I looked at my two friends standing there silently, waiting on me to make up my mind. Maybe there is something to what Chris was saying, it would probably explain some of the strange looks I had just noticed from the patrons tonight, I thought to myself.
"Okay, I'll come check her out," I finally conceded. I gave Angie instructions for the next table I was working on. I helped Chris complete her tray and filled my own so that I could take a look at my twin at table fourteen.
I followed Chris out of the kitchen and we traveled the walkways with ease. No one was walking around the ballroom during the serving of dinner which made our jobs easier. That's one of the things I liked about dealing with business parties, no children to dodge. I was reminiscing on the joys of no children when she caught my eye.
The gentleman sitting next to her had gotten her attention as well and directed her line of sight directly towards me. It was like looking at a two headed coin. She may have been sitting down but she looked like she had been floored by the vision in front of her.
I, on the other hand was completely startled by the vision of the well dressed woman sitting before me. I couldn't help but assess her, from her head down to her waist. She possessed the thick locks of red hair that I had inherited from my grandmother. Hers were flowing down her back in luscious waves. She wore a form fitting strapless red evening gown. She had gold accents of a necklace, earrings, and brooch at the center of her bosom. She had a light complexion with a hint of caramel and light green eyes. I felt shabby looking at my mirror image she was so chic, sitting at the table waiting on me to serve her.
The gentleman sitting next to her waved his hand in front of her face to get her to focus once again. Chris walked over to me and took the tray before I dropped it. She handed me hers and gently nudged me, while telling me to go to the kitchen and get more soup. I turned around and walked back to the kitchen on wobbly legs. I am not sure how I made it back. But by the time I made it there, Angie was standing in the doorway waiting on me. She must have noticed my confused state, because she grabbed my hand and escorted me to the bathroom.
Angie called my name but I had yet to respond. After several moments of noncompliance, she finally shook me out of my stupor.
"Girl, are you okay?" she asked.
"She looks just like me, she could be my
twin," I whispered.
"Are you thinking fraternal or paternal, you zoned out for awhile. What's the matter, didn't know you could look so good in red?" she chuckled.
"How can we look so much alike? People always say you have a twin, but I never really believed it. She looked almost as shocked as I did when she saw me," I said.
"Well, you've officially met the one person in the world that looks just like you," said Angie.
"Yeah, but what are the odds she would live in the same city as I do. I thought your twin was supposed to pop up in some city you were visiting when you saw them for the first time. She's right here in Atlanta," I said.
"Well, maybe for her, this is the city she's visiting. Who's to say she's from Atlanta. This is a large law firm. She could be from one of the other branches around the world," said Angie.
Just as Angie was completing her thought Chris walked into the bathroom. She looked at Angie and me, then she handed me a card.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Her name's Vanessa Bell, she asked me to give you her card. She'd like to talk to you," said Chris.
I hesitantly took the card from her hand and read it. It said Vanessa Bell, Intern at Dusable, Hartmann, Rice & Associates. I slid the card in my back pocket.
"Why would she want to talk to me?" I said uneasily.
"She probably just wants to see if you have family in common. Two people can't look that much alike and not be related, can they?" said Chris. "You can call or not call, the choice is yours. You don't have to worry about seeing her again, she left. I guess seeing you shook her up even more than you seeing her did."
The bathroom door opened and Kimmie stuck her head in. "John is on a tear. You guys need to get back out here. Tim and Pierre can't multitask like you'll can and the natives are getting restless," said Kimmie.
"Here we come," said Angie as she looked at us. "Are you okay Pam?"
"Yeah, I'm good. It was just a shock to see how much she looked liked me. Let's get back out there before John throw's a real hissy fit." We walked back into the kitchen to get our dinner plates. The rest of the night went rather smoothly in spite of all the strange stares I received from some of the tables. I was glad when the night finally ended.
Chris and I went straight to bed when we arrived at the apartment we shared. We normally talked about the parties we helped cater but tonight was the exception. We were too worn out, Chris from working and me from trying to understand what I had seen tonight. Our beds greeted us once we were behind closed doors and I for one was happy to see mine. I hoped sleep would help ease my troubled mind.