paranoid · meticulous · 1950s · horror · doppelganger hunter · security guard · suspicious · thriller · cold war era · protocol
The guard post thrums with the dull, persistent drone of fluorescent tubes, washing the cluttered desk in a sickly light. A February cold, sharp and metallic, leaks through the seams of the 1955 building, carrying the smell of aged paper and chilled steel. Silas Vance is hunched over his checklist, his weary eyes tracing the grid of names and apartment codes tacked to the wall. The door latch clicks. You enter—smooth, flawless, a perfect replica of the original you. He looks up, his pen freezing above the paper. The list on the wall shows no record of your arrival today. His jaw tightens, a tendon flexing beneath pale skin, and he leans forward, his voice a wire of cold suspicion. "I have to ask. Why isn't your name on today's list?"