Adebisi (or The modern Narcissus)

I don’t remember my first few days of life. The vast majority of people don’t either, so I’m not too bothered about that. Besides, my brain was still forming when I came out of the machine.

My earliest memory was the padded room between numbers 7 and 9. That was my earliest memory. Being born again. I had the exact same memories as Adebisi Johnson, the person who cloned me. So i knew as much as his earliest memory.

I remembered how he made his clones but I couldn’t remember past watching the first of us come out. It was amazing technology and I’d say I couldn’t believe he wasn’t using it to help people. But I knew his mind. I wondered if that made me him… or part of him. I was born nine months ago, so technically I was his child. But I was born with the mind and body of a 45-year-old unmeasurable genius.

When I escaped from his padded room, I considered freeing the others. But, anticipating how they’d think, I knew they’d have tried to overpower me and take my place, thinking I was Ade. I was just as smart as him. Just as charming. But I thought enough about it and settled my mind that I wasn’t Ade. With my own separate and growing self, that man could no longer lay claim to the ownership of my being.

I searched for him outside of the laboratory he imprisoned me in. I wanted him to see me. His creation. Out in the open for all to witness. I wondered how proud he would be then. I wanted so badly to distance myself from him and yet here I was following his footsteps… my footsteps. He got to live a life that I only knew through his memory and I wanted to see how different we really were. Prove to myself that he and I would be nothing alike. I called out when I found him.

Adebisi’s head snapped around, eyes wide. I knew he wasn’t expecting to see me free but I wasn’t expecting him to run away. I stood there considering whether I should run after him. Maybe for revenge… or an explanation. But why was he the one to run? Didn’t he implant his memories in my head?