Uhhgghhhg, why do I feel like shit2… my fucking head is throbbing like it's about to explode and not the good kind of explode either… Why am I on the floor? What was I doing here? All I remember was talking to some weird floating screen and then… OH SHIT MY HEART.

  I quickly patted my chest down only to discover that the hole in my chest was gone, but something didn't feel right, it didn't feel like my skin there, no it felt like… well something i've never felt before, maybe kinda sorta gelatinous? I made my way to the bathroom to look in the mirror to see what was going on with me, and what I saw in place of my usual milk chocolate skin adorned chest, was instead this Obsidian black and glossy substance that when I touched it, it had a little give to it. Almost like I could just reach in there and… “No, this shit is too crazy, first a floating screen, then my heart gets taken and now this? What even is this? My desire? Yeah I totally wanted to have a darker than dark patch of whatever the fuck In the middle of my chest… fuckin hell, let me make something to drink first before i tackle this.

  As I was going to the kitchen, I noticed my clock on the wall. 7 am huh? No matter how many times I do it, I still hate waking up early. I used to look forward to waking up before the sun, but now it's just another day, well besides this weird stuff on my chest. I made it to the kitchen where I stored my most reliable and favored tea brewing machine, well really it's just a glorified water boiler but it does have different temperatures I can set it to and it has a little diffuser thingy that you can put flavors and what-not in to give the drink a little more oomph. I turned it on, grabbed a refreshing water bottle from the fridge and poured it in so it’d heat up, while I waited for that i leaned on the counter and thought to myself. Why did it feel like I could go in myself? Pause, it felt like an odd jelly of sorts… should i touch it again? I was already moving my hand towards my chest to act on my thoughts when the loud beep of my tea machine broke me out of my reverie. Perhaps after I've had something to drink.

  I went to the cupboards and grabbed my favorite green mug that I got from my Gram when I moved out of her place some years ago. It took quite a lot of convincing and several days for her to let me have it because it's her favorite mug too. “Heh, i miss her silly self, i should go see her again sometime. Now what tea do i want today, lets see here, do i want the black tea, hibiscus tea, chamomile tea, chai te- oop, almost just pissed off my neighbors if they could hear me talking to myself like a madman, sigh anyway i'll just take the green tea, my tried and true, never fails to uplift my spirit!”

  I put the bag in my cup and poured the hot water in, adding just a bit of honey and a squeeze of lemon to zhuzh it up a bit, then I left it on the counter to cool a little. Before I forget because I'm sure she’ll remind me, lemme fill up her bowl before she wakes up. I grabbed her food from the cabinet and poured into her bowl a healthy portion of The good stuff ?. Apparently it's some really good stuff since I already hear Sadie rushing in to greet me and her brekky, well mostly her brekky but she at least acknowledged my existence with an expressive bark before chowing down.

  I get her drink bowl filled up next then grab my own drink giving it a sip. Ahh perfect timing, not too hot and it didn't cool down too much, i love the earthy tones it brings to my taste buds, really makes me calm and collected and ready for what i'm about to do next. I finish my tea in reasonable time and pet Sadie as I walk past her into the bathroom again to look in the mirror once more. “Ok Eli, whatever this is, it's a part of you now, might as well rip off the bandaid and figure this shit out.” I slap myself in the face just to be sure I'm not trippin “Ouch, ok let's do this!” I reach my hands up to my chest and start touching the darkness. It feels so damn weird! Almost like I'm feeling tv static and warm jello at the same time, what happens when I push in? As I start pushing in, I look at myself in the mirror and wonder how weird it is to see my hand disappear into my own chest. Yeah pretty fucking weird, atleast it doesn't hurt, wait what's that? Is there something inside of me? It feels round and squishy, let's see if I can take it out, hope it's not my soul or anything crazy like that.

  What I pulled out of my chest was something I was woefully unprepared for. A sphere? What the-. The sphere undulated and pulsed causing me to immediately drop the thing like a bad habit. It squelched like a slime ball when it hit the floor, keeping it's spherical form whilst it started pulsing and undulating faster. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a black mass, with inky off-black swirls going about on the surface. Now that's something you don't see everyday, was this really what I wanted? I can't imagine my heart's desire to be this? What does it do? Do I just chuck it at people or something? To answer my question, the strange black orb pulsed harder and faster letting me know something big was about to happen but for whatever reason I couldn't keep my eyes away from it as the orb grew in size!

  The orb started growing and pulsing audibly, like a heartbeat and loud as a drum, the inky swirls started moving faster around the surface to the point it began to blur, obfuscating the actual surface with itself as the orb took shape, the shape of which what i can only assume to be a humanoid. It grew to about my height and stopped growing from there, an inky black looking thing was standing in front of me and I had witnessed this madness with my own eyes. Whoa! Ok not gonna lie, that was actually pretty cool but hot damn what the hell is it? I reached out to touch it and as soon as my hand landed it began to shake violently while it's skin took hold of my hand making it stuck. To be honest, not the worst reaction I've ever had when I touched someone or something, though I thought I would have pooped myself when it started doing the Harlem quake like that, I wonder why my hand is stuck to it though.

  Just then a black screen, much like the one I saw last night, popped up in front of me with a prompt. “Give your clone a name.”

  “A clone you say? This thing looks nothing like me though.” The screen wrote down everything I had said and asked if I would like to confirm the name “A clone you say? This thing looks nothing like me though.” I quickly said no and decided to put some thought into a name. Alright so this things supposed to be my clone allegedly, I don't know how that is but imma just go with it, so a sensible name for something that's supposed to look like me huh? I could just go with a number system but wouldn't that be too boring? Perhaps my name and then a number? Or give it a unique name. It might get a bit confusing after a while if I end up being able to get multiple clones and naming them all differently so I should prolly keep it simple stupid.

  After giving it the good ol college try and mulling over the possible naming conventions in my head, I decided that simple is best and went with. “E1.” Once again the screen asked me to confirm the name and I said yes at which point prompted a sudden jolt to my nervous system, the black screen disappearing and my hand being released from my clone. “Ah shit! That stung, what was that for?” I say looking at my clone incredulously as if it's to blame.

  “Well maybe if you hadn't given me such a shitty name, that wouldn't have happened.”

  I blink a few times. “Um what?”

  “You and I both know you heard me, stop acting dumb and hand me a towel so I can wipe this gunk off me.”

  I gawk at my now talking clone like it had just grown a pair of horns as I struggle to comprehend. “What the fuck.”

  “The towel please?” E1 said impatiently.

  “Uh yeah sure, here.” I hand him the towel, not breaking eye contact whatsoever. “Sooo, you can talk?”

  “Wow you're an observant one aren't you? Yeah no shit I can talk jackass! But it would be much easier to talk after I get this shit off me so please bear with me.”

  “Yeah yeah sure go ahead and use my towel… does that stuff come off in a washing machine?”

  “Fuck if I know, all I know is that you created me and I have your memories and damn what a tragic story you have.”

  “Oook yeah I'd prefer you not talk about my past please and thank you.”

  “Sure thing boss, is there anything you'd like to talk about then?” He said, finishing with most of the gunk removed from his body, leaving a surprisingly familiar indicator that he was in the nude.

  “Yeah for one, you don't spawn with clothes?”

  “Did you spawn with clothes when you got here? No? Ok then can we please skip the dumb questions?”

  “Damn ok ok, um hi, how are you?”

  “Cold.”

  “Great! Ahem I mean not great, yeah i should probably get you something to wear, what size are you?”

  My clone just looked at me plainly, indicating I said something stupid. “Ah right, you said no more stupid questions, i'll go get you some clothes, wait here please.”

  I exit my bathroom and close the door gently before some panic sets in. Holy shit! I just made a clone! And it talks! It's a bit rude though, should i be calling it “it” i mean it's a clone of me so it should be a him and i should maybe consider better names in the future… fucking hell, better go get those clothes.

  After a while of rusting through some drawers and a struggle to find matching socks, I came back to the bathroom to see my clone doing pull ups on the shower rod. “ Wha? How are you doing that without breaking the rod?”

  “Oh guess I forgot to mention I can manipulate my own gravity, it's pretty neat.”

  “Oh yeah, pretty neat is what I would describe it… WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN PRETTY NEAT!”

  Sadie jumps from her food at the sudden yelling and starts barking loudly.

  “Whoa hey now no need to get all uppity, you'll scare Sadie.” E1 said still upping them reps.

  “Excuse my excitement but how the hell are you manipulating your own gravity?”

  E1 hops down from the rod and holds out his hand expectantly.

  “What, you want me to hold your hand or something?”

  “No Jackass, i want you to hand me those clothes, and i don't know, i just sort of knew how to do it when i got spawned here with a shitty name.”

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  “Damn, sorry jeez, but you for real have no idea how you're doing it? No insight? Cuz I'd love to be able to do what you're doing, oh and here are your clothes.”

  “No clue boss, it's just my innate ability I suppose, anyway i'm getting kinda hungry, you got any food? Oh wait, you barely have anything in the fridge from what I remember, guess a couple of oranges will do for now, got anymore of that green tea?”

  “What, you need food too? I thought clones didn't need to eat or something along those lines.”

  “Lol who the fuck told you that? Look boss, don't believe everything you see on the internet ok? Can I go eat some oranges?”

  “Uhh sure, don't know why you're asking me for permission but yeah go ahead.”

  “That's because I'm trying to be polite and not eat up all of your food, jk i just need permission to do certain things, especially when they involve you and yours.”

  Interesting. We both leave the bathroom together and head to the kitchen, where Sadie is seen still munching away on

  The good stuff ? , only looking up when she hears two sets of footsteps instead of one, giving both me and E1 a look over, contemplating barking to scare away the new intruder to her lovely home and running to get scratches behind the ears from said new intruder. She couldn't quite decide on what to do so she just rolled over onto her back expecting belly rubs.

  “Awww ain't she just the cutest little widdle gal.” E1 said in a voice only a baby could love.

  “Yeah she's the best, I'm surprised she hasn't tried biting you.”

  “Are you really surprised, I mean c'mon, it's me we’re talking about, I'm a complete chick magnet.” E1 said gaudily as he went to rub her belly some.

  “Well you got more confidence than me in that regard I suppose, so what else can you do, can you fly with that gravity thingy you got?”

  “I don't really know, i'm still new to this whole being a clone thing, so give me some time to figure things out alright, in the meantime imma make some tea and eat a couple of your oranges if that's alright.”

  “Yeah sure, go ahead.” Wow this is honestly so cool and also not what i expected a clone to be like, i mean sure i'm glad he's got a personality and isn't just a robot following orders… orders? “Um hey E1?”

  “Yeah?” E1 said, pulling his head out of the fridge with his speech muffled because he just shoved a whole orange in his mouth, peel n’ all and had just started chewing, some of the juice dripping on the floor.

  “Uhhh you know you're eating that orange the wrong way right? You're supposed to peel-.”

  “Oh i know what i'm supposed to do with an orange boss-man, i just prefer to eat it this way, more nutrients.”

  “Riiiiight, anyway um do you, ahem do you follow orders by any chance?” I say sheepishly

  “Follow orders huh? Can't say I've done that before, I don't know, here let's give it a shot, tell me to do something.”

  “Uhh sure, let's see here, oh i know, go grocery shopping and fill up my fridge… Please.”

  “No.”

  It was a long stretch of silence that followed after E1s sudden declaration of the negative, that is until E1 couldn't hold his laughter anymore and started tearing up.

  “Ahahah, you should have seen the look on your face!, you were like. “B-But i'm the boss!, you should do what i tell you blah blah blah.” Ahhh shit, that was hilarious, I'd pay to see that again.” After a few more hearty chuckles at my expense. “Yeah i'm just fucking with ya mate! Sure I don't mind doing your little shopping or whatever, but you do know the stuff there ain't free right?”

  After wiping the sadness off my face for a bit. “Oh yeah, you don't have anything of your own huh, that means i gotta give you the money… you're not just gonna run off and take my money are you?”

  “Lol and do what with it jackass? Exactly! Nothing! It's not like i got anywhere else to be, well maybe besides grams place but she's probably asleep still, wouldn't wanna wake her, and plus like i said earlier, i need permission to do certain things, on some things i can be completely autonomous, but other things i need permission for, so no i'm not gonna run off with your money unless you told me to, you got it?”

  “Uh Huh, ok then, do some push ups for me real quick.”

  “Are you joking right now? You can barely do 10 push ups and you expect me to do em?”

  “You should be alright, you got that whole gravity manipulation thing going on for you anyway.”

  “That i'm still trying to get used to in case you didn't hear me say that!”

  “Well now seems like a real good time to get used to it then, no?”

  “Tsk fine, I'll do the push ups, did you still want me to get groceries, I can already tell we need a bunch of stuff, and maybe get Sadie something for being the bestest girl she is.” E1 again said in a childish voice whilst getting on the ground to do some push ups.

  “Yeah but I'm not gonna send you to go alone, at least not yet, I'm coming with you and I think I need to have you in a disguise, at least so people don't immediately see two people who look like carbon copies of each other and freak out.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me boss! Mmph! One! Mmph! Two!”

  Wow, he's got perfect form on those push ups! And he's doing them a hell of a lot better than I can, but then again he does have that grav power so he's probably cheating but I can't tell. Anyway, let's see if I have a face mask and a beanie lying around somewhere, perhaps some shades too, because wearing shades indoors increases your cool stat by at least 2 points right? Anyway, do I have a fedora with dark shades and a big nose paired with a moustache?

  As I was looking for decent disguises, I happened upon a blue face mask, one of the ones that people used to wear during that dreaded time when all the toilet paper got snatched up for some reason. What a terrible time that was… oh hey i found some shades, this should work, and if anyone i know asks who i'm walking with, i'll just say my cousin or something.

  As I was walking back I noticed a slight pang in my chest and arms, kind of like my muscles were getting sore. Am I coming down with something? Man i sure hope not, ain't the heart supposed to help with immune system stuff? I'm not sure since I didn't pay much attention in biology class, sigh, this too shall pass.

  I make it back to the kitchen/dining area and I see E1 still knocking down them push ups like a champ. Yeah ain't no way he's doing those without that gravity stuff he's got going on. Oh hey, Sadie is sitting on top of him wagging her tail, having the time of her life, that's so cute! Whoa he's leaving a hefty puddle of what I can only assume to be sweat on the floor so maybe he is doing it legitly or at least partially. Damn my body is starting to get real sore out of nowhere, what the fuck?

  “Alright I'm back, good job doing those push ups, I can see your effort all over the floor, how you feeling?”

  “I'm tired boss…” E1 said while in between labored breaths and slow, shaky reps. “...Please can I stop now?”

  “Oh shit! Yeah you can stop, sorry I just kinda thought you'd stop after you got tired or something.” I say sheepishly rubbing the back of my head.

  After collapsing in the puddle of his own toil and Sadie jumping off of him to go sniff around the place and pointedly avoiding the pool of sweat. “You… told me… to do push ups… you never said… to stop when i get tired… asshole…”

  “Jeez, I said I'm sorry! Do you need some water?”

  “PLEASE!” E1 said sounding like a desert.

  I get a nice cold refreshing water bottle from the fridge and hand it to him, waiting for him to recover before I ask anything potentially annoying. He gulped that water down like a champ. He really must have needed it because I can see his skin gaining texture and substance, looking a lot less dry off of one water bottle, interesting. “Do you need another one?”

  “Yes please.” E1 said with a bit less death’s door and a bit more gracious gratitude. “Ahhhhh that hit the fucking spot! And I see you looking at me like you wanna ask me more questions. Thank you for waiting while I readjust to this new leash on life now that I'm out of the labor camp, go ahead and ask away.”

  “Yeah… so how many push ups did you do to cause this much of a mess? You're moping this up by the way.”

  “Yeah of course I am, and to answer your question, I lost count after a hundred.”

  “A hundred!? How the hell did you manage that?”

  “It's surprisingly easy when you can work our own gravity like a cheat code, but that cheat code does come with it's own workout, so basically i worked out two things at once, to be honest, i do NOT recommend it unless you really pace yourself, but i reckon after a while of doing that, i'll get better at it so it's a win-win.” E1 said almost nonchalantly, like he didn't just almost kill himself because of my negligence.

  “Huh, I guess that's a good way to train your power, though maybe next time I have you work out, it should be less demanding or have breaks every now and then… Can I order you to do routines at certain times?”

  “Oh boy, you're about to put me back in the camps already? I had a feeling you were a slave driver.” E1 said disgustedly as he went to the fridge to grab another water.

  “No no, I just wanna see you get stronger with your ability, I do genuinely think it's cool that you can manage your gravity like it's nothing, i wanna see how far you can take it is all and maybe see a better looking me so it can motivate me to get back into the groove of things. So do you think you can do like maybe I don't know fifty push ups using your gravity in the morning time, at noon and sometime in the afternoon? You can take breaks to rest and eat and drink to fill up your energy whenever and if you feel like it's getting too easy you can bump up the amount of push ups you do by whatever you feel comfortable with, maybe hit some legs in between?”

  “Hm, sounds good to me, not like i can disobey you or anything, but i don't mind doing it as long as i get my workers rights lol.”

  “Heh, i'm glad you agree, but that made me think, it's clear you have some limited form of free will, is it possible for you to actually disobey me or for me to set you free to never follow my orders?”

  “No I can't actively or passively disobey you, as for setting me free that one's a bit tricky because I don't know, I think not though simply because I'm a part of you, that connection can't be severed as far as i know, therefore I will always do what you tell me.”

  “Very interesting, but what if I wanna get rid of you?”

  “Damn tell me how you really feel, why dontcha?” E1 said in a mock affront.

  “Noooo i'm sorry i didn't mean it like that, i like you, i think you're cool, i'm just saying is it possible for me to dismiss you and bring you back or something?”

  “Ohhh, you should have led with that, here i'm thinking i just did all that work for you to not want me anymore! Typical bosses amiright? Anyway, I'm sure you'll find the answers you seek in that chest of yours.”

  “Chest? Oh my chest, guess you're right, lemme just root around in there and see what i can find.” I began to lift my shirt up and start probing my chest when I felt a little embarrassed by my clone looking at me. “Um, could you turn around please?”

  “Oh a little performance anxiety ain't nothing to feel ashamed about boss!”

  “It's not performa- ugh just turn around already!” I say angrily.

  “Sure thing boss.” E1 said with a cheeky grin.

  I swear i could hear him stifling a laugh, any fucking way, lets see here, i wonder if theres a how to train your clone manuel in here. I did not find a manual but I did find a feeling of sorts when I conveyed my desire to dismiss my clone. It came to me like a dream, except this dream was a prompt appearing in my vision asking if I wanted to dismiss my clone. I'm glad to know I can do that if in the event something happens. But now I'm curious what happens when I dismiss him, does he still remember stuff? Does he feel the feeling of being dismissed? I'd rather not think of that too much, but now I wonder if I can summon more?

  It was as I conveyed that message to my inner self? I was told by a prompt that said I could only summon 1 clone for now. So does that mean later on I can have more? That'd be freaking sick! I wonder how I can get more? Man, all this new development is freaking crazy to me… but wait, surely i'm not the only one to have gained a desire right? Those people on tv, maybe something like this happened to them and that's why shits been popping off lately! I could be wrong but my reasonable deduction seems to support this idea because ain't no freaking way people will be quiet about this for long, there will be signs. I wonder what this life has in store for me.

  It was as I thought of the word “Store” that a prompt appeared in front of me asking if I would like to view the store.

  “There's a store?”