Clyde's heart raced as he stood frozen in the middle of the corridor, staring at the figure that mirrored his every movement. The other Clyde—the doppelgänger—stood just a few steps away, a sinister smile curving on his lips.
"Still don't get it, do you?" The doppelgänger's voice was a cold mockery of his own. "We're not so different, you and I."
Clyde's hands clenched into fists, his mind in a whirlwind. "No. You're not me. You can't be."
The fake Clyde chuckled darkly. "Oh, but I am. And I'm everything you could've been if you'd only embraced what we both really are."
Clyde gritted his teeth, pushing the words back. "You're not real."
But the figure in front of him didn't vanish. It stepped closer, its movements too smooth, too perfect, as though it had been programmed to replicate him down to the smallest detail.
"Real?" the doppelgänger said, shaking his head slowly. "What's real anymore, Clyde? What if everything you thought you knew was just part of a larger system? What if you were just... a glitch?"
The air between them crackled with tension. Clyde's mind spun, unable to escape the overwhelming presence of the other version of himself. There was something chillingly familiar about him—like looking into a mirror that showed a darker reflection. The same memories, the same experiences, but twisted.
Clyde took a step back. "I won't be part of your game."
A smirk flickered across the doppelgänger's face. "You already are. It's too late."
And with that, the world around them warped. The walls pulsed with unnatural energy, glitching and shifting like a corrupted simulation. The space around them began to collapse, folding in on itself. The only thing that remained in focus was the distorted figure of his double.
"Come on," the doppelgänger taunted. "You're running out of time. It's the perfect reset."
Clyde's pulse raced as the corridor began to fold in on itself. Reality was slipping through his fingers, and the only thing that remained was the chilling certainty that everything—his life, his memories—was unraveling.
The double lunged forward.
Everything shattered.