I Was Erased By a Better Version of Myself

"POV: Your clone files a restraining order against YOU."

Yes, this happened. Yes, I have proof. No, I’m not crazy. Probably.

The caramel macchiato exploded at my feet like a shrapnel bomb, searing through my stockings. Wednesday. I remember because the receptionist’s hyena-laugh echoed as I scrambled backward – straight into her.

👁️ VIRAL HOOK:

"When you recognize your own smirk on a stranger... run."

She lounged on my desk like a panther, fingers drumming my keyboard. My missing blazer hugged her shoulders. My pumpkin spice gloss glistened as she licked her teeth – that slow, mocking swipe I’d practiced in mirrors for years.

HR’s voice cut through the coffee-scented chaos:

"Team, meet Lauren 2.0!"

Laughter detonated around me. My knees liquefied.

THE DETAILS THAT BROKE ME

When I grabbed her wrist, her skin felt wrong – poreless silicone, radiating cold.

Her pulse throbbed 43 BPM. Mine? Rabid hummingbird.

That scar above her eyebrow? Mine came from Buster, my childhood terrier. Hers was a surgical barcode.

She smelled like my perfume... mixed with formaldehyde.

"Security’s updating the logs," she breathed into my ear. "Your resignation email went out yesterday. From your account."

THE LAB REPORT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

The PI’s office reeked of stale pizza and dread. He slid the BioSynth file across his desk. Page 4 screamed:

SUBJECT: LAUREN M.

PROCEDURE: MEMORY IMPLANTATION (PHASE 3)

SUCCESS RATE: 92%

SIDE EFFECTS: PARANOIA, IDENTITY FRAGMENTATION

😱 SHOCKING DISCOVERIES:

Her "Past":

Instagram posts from 2018 showing her hiking Machu Picchu – my dream trip I’d scrapbooked for Jake.

A Yale diploma (I dropped out of community college)

My "Madness":

Therapist notes claiming I believed "doppelgängers controlled my life"

A restraining order filed by her… with my fingerprints on the paperwork

Jake’s Betrayal:

A $250,000 wire transfer from BioSynth to Jake’s account

Dated 48 hours before his moonlit proposal

"Would you recognize your partner’s handwriting on your death warrant?"

[COMMENT: HELL NO or TELL ME MORE👇]

THE APARTMENT OF NIGHTMARES

Her loft smelled like my signature jasmine perfume – corrupted by ammonia. Walls papered with my Instagram photos, each with red Xs gouged through my face.

Beneath the bloodstained mattress:

Vials of "Genetic Override Serum" glowing neon blue

Mr. Snuffles, my childhood bear ("For ancestral DNA harvesting")

A handwritten list:

Lauren’s Flaws to Weaponize

1. Abandonment trauma (father left @ age 7)

2. Imposter syndrome

3. Blind trust in Jake

The floorboard screamed.

She stood silhouetted in moonlight, aiming my father’s Colt .45 – the heirloom Jake "misplaced" last month.

"Version control requires obsolete models to be... retired." Her finger curled on the trigger.

🔫 TWIST YOU DIDN’T SEE COMING

The gunshot wasn’t hers.

My PI crashed through the window, bullet ripping through her shoulder. She collapsed, laughing. He staggered toward me, crimson blooming across his shirt.

"Six tanks..." he gurgled, "...in the warehouse... you’re Number Three..."

EPILOGUE: VERSION 3.0

The police found the warehouse. Seventeen glass tanks bubbled under black lights. Some held women with my face. Others... half-transformed horrors.

BioSynth’s CEO called it "democratized human upgrading." The cops called it "above our pay grade."

Jake left a note taped to my door:

"The real Lauren fought like hell.

You just cried.

- J"

I shave my head now. Change apartments weekly. Burn every photo.

But last Tuesday, I caught myself humming her song – that creepy jazz tune she’d whispered while stealing my life. When I spat into the mirror, my teeth gleamed sharper.

⚠️ FINAL WARNING:

Check your reflection’s pupils tonight.

If they dilate slower than yours...

You’re already upgraded.