Selected

“Excuse me?”

Mal folded her arms, “They’re clones. God, do I have to spell it out for you?”

I needed to sit down somewhere, I found a chair and plopped down into it. Vox and Lincoln were the same person. My love for Vox suddenly grossed me out. If Vox was just a young version of Lincoln, did that mean that I slept with Lincoln Bly?

Oh God. I had to get that image out of my head. I literally shook my head to get rid of the thought. I was just in shock. I thought about the time he snuck me onto the Selection building’s roof. There are perks to having my father’s eyes. He literally had Lincoln Bly’s eyes. This was unreal, I just couldn’t wrap my brain around it. I noticed how similar they looked, but I never imagined that they would be the same person.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I just, uh, I need a minute to process all of this. It’s kind of a lot to take in.” I paused, then the questions started pouring in my head, “How is that possible?”

Her tone turned patronizing, “Well, you see they take a DNA sample of the subject and then-.”

I held up my hand, “I know how it’s done, I just meant, I mean isn’t it illegal?”

Mal rolled her eyes, “Please, do you think a few laws would really stop the Blys from doing what they want?”

She had a point. “Does Vox know?”

“Yeah, he found out when we were like 13, went through a whole existential crisis. He’s fine with it now, I mean he understands.”

I stood, “Okay, well, make me understand. Why would Mr. Bly do it?”

Mal shrugged, “I don’t know, I wasn’t privy to those details.”

“Well, how did they keep it so hush hush? I mean wouldn’t someone notice that Vox wasn’t actually born?”

“That’s easy, Sixteen. When it was becoming noticeable that she wasn’t showing any signs of pregnancy, they sent Mrs. Bly on like 6 month spa vacation in the African Federation. When she came back, she had a baby. With his position, Lincoln was able to just make a record for him.”

There was a knock on the door before it opened, “Emmary?” Hal appeared through the doorway, “Oh good, I found you.” She noticed who I was with, “Mal?” She looked confused and then ignored it. She was flustered and in a panic, “You two have to see this.”

She dashed out the door and we followed her. The music had gone quite, in fact the whole house was silent except for one man’s voice that floated down the hallway. “-under South Congress St., causing the Capital building to collapse.” When we reached the living room, all the guests were gathered around the living room television. There was a quiet awe that encompassed everyone.

“We do not have any more information on the status of the people inside. We do know that the Sector Representative meeting was being held inside this building in Sector 1A. Every representative from around our great nation was gathered for this annual meeting, along with the president and vice president. No deaths have been confirmed, but as you can see from the footage from our helicopter, this is a national disaster and a tragedy that will undoubtedly be a great blow to our country.”

The screen changed from the news anchor to what used to be the capital building. The building was collapsed in on itself. It looked like it had sunk into the ground a few feet as well. Fires were burning all over the scene. Red and blue lights surrounded the perimeter. “This is live footage from the bomb that just went off under the capital building. As you can see the building as collapsed. The president, vice president, and the sector representatives were inside when the bomb went off. The number of casualties is still unknown, but is expected to be great. This is-.”

The screen changed again, back to the news anchor, “I’m just now getting new information. It seems like the Selection rioters have claimed responsibility for the explosion that occurred here tonight. The leader of the rioters, who still remains anonymous, sent a message out tonight. This is what he had to say.” The anchor read the text that had now appeared on the screen.

"Selection goes against human nature. Our lives are being controlled by the government through Selection. We, as humans, have certain unalienable rights that have been lost since Selection was instated. We are entitled to the life we want to live, to the liberty of making choices, and the ability to pursue our own happiness. Selection prevents those rights. Selection was claimed to be the answer to forming a perfect society, but it has done the exact opposite. We are living lives that are predetermined by our government. But no more. The government is gone. This is the day to rebuild our nation the way we want it.”

Murmurs started to fly throughout the room. Our government was gone. I started to look around the room for him. Even with what I had just found out, I couldn’t help the way I felt. I needed him. I needed the security he provided for me.

The television switched back to the news anchor. “We have a new update. It has been officially determined that both President Greyson and Vice President Pope have been declared dead. Their bodies were found in the rubble along with the representatives. The death count is being reported at 47 as more bodies are being discovered. The leadership of this country will now fall on the Selector, Vox Bly. He was to be inaugurated as Selector tomorrow morning, and because of this tragedy, will be inaugurated as President as soon as possible.”

I didn’t listen to the rest of the report. I had found Vox. He was walking up the stairs. His hand was running through his hair and he pinched the bridge of his nose. Everything had changed. He was no longer going to be inaugurated as Selector tomorrow. That ceremony had changed. Now, now I was looking at the new president. President Bly.

I pushed through the crowed, trying to get to him. I watched from below as he turned down the upstairs hallway and slipped into his room. I broke through the crowd and ran up the steps and knocked on his door.

“Vox, it’s me, Emmary.”

He didn’t answer. I opened the door anyways. “Vox?” I walked in without his permission. He was standing with his back to the door, looking out at the window. “Vox?” I repeated.

He turned, “Oh. Hi, I didn’t hear you. I don’t really feel like talking about the letter right now, okay?”

“I wasn’t going to bring it up.” I paused, “Are you okay?” He shrugged and turned back to the window. “Vox, talk to me.” I took a few steps to shorten the distance between us.

“I just needed to be alone for the moment.”

I knew how he felt. I had just learned that my fiancé was the clone of his father. Now, that was a lot to take in at one time. Now, he was going to become the leader of our country within a few hours. This was monumental. “Um, who’s going to take over the Selector role, when, you know, you become President.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know, Emmary.”

“Well, I mean, you can’t just not name anyone.”

“And why not?”

“I mean, you can’t do two jobs. All of your time was already consume with one.”

He sighed, “What makes you think there will be a Selector?”

“So, you’re going to give in to them?”

“They killed everyone in our government. If I don’t, they’re going to kill me too.”

I slipped between him and the window so he would be forced to look at me. “Vox, -”

“Emmary, there’s nothing we can do. This is it. They won, we lost. It’s better to just give them what they want before they destroy the whole country.”

Just then the door burst open, “Congrats, President Bly.” Addeck strolled in through the door. “I hope you have your speech ready.” Vox turned and Addeck realized I was in the room. He looked between me and Vox, “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know I was interrupting.”

“It’s okay, I’ll meet you in your room.” Addeck nodded and closed the door behind him.

“He was awfully chipper about all of this.”

Vox shrugged again, “Addeck is, well, Addeck. You know him. He never has an appropriate reaction.”

I narrowed my eyebrows, “Why do you always defend him?”

Vox frowned at me, “What do you mean?”

“Anytime I mention that he’s being suspicious, you just chalk it up to him being his usual self. People don’t act like that when our whole government just exploded, literally. This is a time of crisis and he’s acting as if you two hit the jackpot.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. He’s my brother, and he has issues, but I’m going to defend him when people start pointing fingers.”

I don’t know what made me say it, this was clearly not the time to bring it up, but the words just fell out of my mouth, “I know he’s not really your brother.”

Vox looked taken aback, “Excuse me?”

I took a deep breath and then exhaled. There was no turning back now, “I know that you’re Lincoln Bly’s clone.”

He took a step back, “Who told you that?”

“Mal.”

He nodded in understanding, “It doesn’t change anything though. He’s still my brother, and I don’t appreciate you always trying to throw suspicion on him.”

“I’m not trying to throw it on him, I’m just pointing out when he does something sketchy. I mean come on, he had my letter. The letter that he claimed he sent to Koontz. A different letter was sent, in my handwritting, and now Koontz is dead.”

“You’re so hypocritical. You call me out for defending Addeck at every turn, when you do the exact same thing with Koontz. Maybe Koontz isn’t innocent in all of this. Maybe he did kill her. Did you ever actually think about that possibility? No, you’re too busy being in love with him to realize that he’s a murderer. Sometimes people aren’t who you think they are.”

I felt like I was going to burst into tears. A mixture of anger and hurt was boiling to the surface. I couldn’t believe he would say those things. I didn’t know what else to say, even if I did, I had a fear that if I started to speak I would break down and I didn’t want him to really know how much those words hurt. “You’re an asshole.” I pushed passed him and ran out the door.

Half of me really hoped that he would follow me as I made my way down the hallway into my room. That he would grab me by the arm and pull me into an embrace where he would whisper apologies. Another part of me wished that I could go back to this afternoon when everything was simple and perfect and we had been in our own little bubble. The last part of me just wanted to go home. The last part of me just didn’t want to be here.

I fell into my bed and let the tears fall. My mind started to think of what Vox had said. What if he was right? I stopped myself right there. He wasn’t. I wasn’t blinded for my love of Koontz. In fact it made me the only one who could see what was in front of me. Koontz had been innocent. Someone had framed him, for what purpose I didn’t know.

His words stuck with me though. Sometimes people aren’t who you think they are. They kept running through my head. They reminded me of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide. Dr. Jekyll had been a timid person and yet he had a monstrous side. Vox had acted so offended when I told him he should read it. Why did he act so offended? Why did he act as though there was some hidden meaning in me recommending it to him?

Because sometimes people aren’t who you think they are.

I thought back on some of Vox’s actions. The multiple times he lied about going into work. The multiple times he blew me off when I approached him about Addeck. How he had acted when I showed him the letter just this afternoon. You’re giving Addeck too much credit.

At the time I had thought he meant that Addeck wasn’t capable of switching my letter. But now. A chill ran down my spine at the thought of Vox’s hand in Koontz’s execution. He made me believe he was doing everything in his power to save Koontz. What if it was the other way around?

But why? Why would he do that? Why would he murder Felicity and blame Koontz? Out of jealousy? Did he do it because of his past with Felicity? Because I loved Koontz?

My head became a muddled mess of thoughts and questions and growing suspicion. It was all speculation, I didn’t have any proof. I had my letter. But what good would that do? It was in my possession now and I had found it in Addeck’s desk anyways. Who would believe that President Bly would kill Felicity and frame Koontz? There was no real connection to Vox.

I had nothing, just my conspiracy theory. That’s all it would be if I approached anyone with this. What I needed was a confession.