Doppelgänger

03. Unsuccessfully Saved

There used to be a story about a child who was born to coincide with the presence of a full moon. The time of his birth missed far from what had been predicted by the previous doctor, the baby was born faster than it should have.

On that night, the full moon was shining very brightly as if its light was an absolute marker of the birth of a little son from two happy parents because the couple could only have children after their marriage touched the fourth year of marriage. However, no one knows that it turns out that the full moon is also a sign that the birth is not an ordinary birth like babies in general. The little boy is blessed with a unique ability that was never expected.

A few moments after birth, instead of crying loudly like babies. The baby smiled broadly as if someone was joking with him then. Realizing this strangeness, at first, the nurses were still regular, but the baby still didn't cry hours later.

As a result, the nurses did various ways to make him cry because she said a normal baby would cry at birth. Don't worry, they didn't do anything extreme to make the baby cry, they just did a few simple things that fortunately worked. In the end, the baby cried loudly after all the efforts had been made.

The little boy was named Zack Kather, with the name Zack used for his simple calls.

Zack's birth brought a lot of happiness to his parents so they made a beautiful name for him, even with the meaning behind it. Zack's parents gave this name in the hope that this little boy could later become an active leader and good at building good communication with others.

But unfortunately, their hopes are only limited to hopes because Zack can't grant these wishes. Because instead of being able to build good relationships with other people like his parents wanted, Zack was shunned and considered a monster by all of them for years.

His existence was never considered to exist and his presence was always a trigger for them to bully him. Ultimately, the man chooses to close himself off and avoid being around because he doesn't want to be treated like that all the time.

Zack is not thirsty for attention, he doesn't mind if, in his teens, he didn't have friends. Because even for him, a friend he could never really have.

Not with him, who is always called The Doppel. That's the name of the unique ability he has. The ability to predict someone's death because he can see the doppelganger of that person. In short, Zack could see flashes of how that person would die through the doppelganger he saw. That ability is also what ultimately makes Zack different from most kids his age and the ability that makes him called a monster.

Zack was never angry and evasive when they talked about it like that, he was self-aware because who wouldn't be afraid if Zack suddenly told them how they would die? Even for himself, it would be terrifying if he was in the position of these people. So, Zack understands why they get scared every time they see him, and in the end, they cover up that fear by bullying because they think Zack will be scared and won't touch them even an inch.

There is one memory that the man still remembers to this day, which is about the beginning when he became aware of this ability. He had known about the ability to see doppelgangers since he was young, even then Zack was still in elementary school.

However, Zack still didn't understand what he could see during grades one through five. Hence, he even ignored visions that accidentally popped into his head when he touched someone's hand for a long time.

When he entered the sixth grade, still in the elementary school range, Zack began to feel strange when he realized that what he had seen when he touched someone's hand for a long time, his vision happened in the real world a few days later. And even scarier is that the man just realized that the flash he always saw was about how those people would die in the future.

In short, it was like a bad dream that upon seeing how they had died in that flash, they would die the same way he had seen them before long.

Zack was very scared when he witnessed this for the first time in real life. Moreover, the death happened to his grandmother.

"Mother, we don't have to go home, okay, just stay here with grandma."

It was a routine visiting day for Zack's family to see his grandmother in district two. The same day, Zack also sulked at his mother frantically, begging them to stay and not come home.

Because, at that time, Zack felt that his feelings were horrible and related to his grandmother.

Grandmother was very old; only one household assistant served as a guard in her house. She is also difficult for her to talk, but she is physically healthy enough to walk even though she is slightly bent down.

Zack's family regularly visits her every two weeks, even though father had asked grandmother to live with him. Still, she didn't want to come because she said she was afraid of causing trouble, although to be honest, no one in the family thought like that. However, to make her happy in her old age, his father finally allowed her to live alone with the note that his grandmother should not be angry if Zack's family visited her as often as possible.

But, for that one day, for the first time, Zack was adamant that he didn't want to go home. The boy did not want to leave his grandmother's house, even for a moment. If possible, he even wants to continue to be by her side to ensure her grandmother is always safe and well.

Because no one knew that Zack had talked to his grandmother during the day, the man invited the grandmother to chat. Even though her response was a bit difficult to understand, Zack didn't stop talking. He tells her everything that happened at school, whether it's good or bad. Until Zack unconsciously held her warm hand, intending to give more affection so that his grandmother would feel comfortable listening to him chattering on, Zack got a strange flash as he had often seen in several people before his grandmother.

Zack saw his grandmother fall down the stairs and was later pronounced dead.