I.D. by Peter Lerangis

clippings.
    There was only one daughter. Laura … “died three years ago under circumstances he did not specify.”
    “What happened to the stuff in his lab?” Martina asked.
    Dr. Rudin shrugged. “Thrown out, I imagine. Why do you ask? Are you girls related to him?”
    “Well, no, not exactly.” Martina shot Eve a look.
    It’s over.
    Go home.
    Be with your family. Don’t die alone, like Danielle.
    “Let’s just go, Martina,” Eve said.
    She suddenly felt a hand on her forehead.
    “You’re feverish,” Dr. Rudin said. “Come with me.”
    “No,” Eve protested. “Dr. Rudin, I—I have something you can’t cure.”
    Dr. Rudin smiled. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
    “It’s the telomere thing!” Martina blurted out. “That weird disease, where the body ages? Have you heard of it?”
    “Yes,” Dr. Rudin said, giving Eve a questioning look. “But there’s no reliable diagnosis—?
    “Eve was given the disease, Dr. Rudin,” Martina said. “She’s a clone. I know it sounds ridiculous, but there were four of them. Dr. Black created them.”
    Dr. Rudin narrowed her eyes at Eve. “What did you say your name was?”
    “Eve Hardy. Look, I just need to get home—?
    “Eve…” Dr. Rudin sat. She reached out and swept back Eve’s hair, examining the back of her neck.
    The birthmark.
    “Oh my lord…” Dr. Rudin muttered.
    “My sister had that mark, too!” Martina said. “Her name was Danielle.”
    Dr. Rudin nodded. “I…I know.”
    “You do ?” Martina exclaimed. “How?”
    “I was there right after you were born, Eve,” Dr. Rudin said softly. “Danielle, too. He said you were both left at the hospital doorstep, anonymously. You must be…fourteen.”
    Eve nodded. No words. Please. Too much pain.
    “Danielle died at this age,” Martina explained. “She was convinced Dr. Black was working on a cure for the disease.”
    Dr. Rudin quickly took a prescription pad from her jacket pocket, ripped off a sheet, and began writing on the back. “This is the address. Go now. See what you can find. Notes. Anything. Call me when you get there.”
    Eve felt an arm lift her on the right. Another on the left. She felt herself being walked outside. It was cold.
    Cold.
    Sleep.
    She thought she heard “Good night.” But it might have been “Good luck.” She wasn’t sure.
    By the time the back of her head hit the seat, she was unconscious.
    “Eve, wake up! We’re here!”
    Shoulder.
    Pain.
    Sharp.
    Eve’s eyes opened.
    “The new owners are the Feltons,” Martina continued. “Doctor Howard and Doctor Felicia. Both professors. I woke them up. They almost threw me out, but I told them what happened.”
    Martina began pulling Eve out of the car. Pain radiated fiercely across her back.
    The walk to the front door seemed like a mile uphill.
    The Doctors Felton were a balding man and a trim gray-haired woman. Standing in the front door in their pj’s, they looked at Eve with concern and fear.
    “I—I don’t know if we can help you,” Dr. Howard Felton said. “We turned Doctor Black’s lab into a dining room, which was its original function—?
    To the left. Wood paneling.
    He led them to the left, into a medium-sized room, paneled in oak.
    “I…know…this…place,” Eve murmured. “It was…different.”
    Glass. Lights. Liquid.
    So bright.
    So cold.
    “There was a lot of equipment here when we came to look at the house,” Dr. Felicia Felton said. “Test tubes, beakers, spectrometers, a magnetic resonance imaging machine—?
    “Did he leave any notes?” Martina asked. “Did you save anything?”
    “No.” Dr. Howard Felton shook his head. “It wasn’t relevant to our line of work.”
    Eve’s knees gave in. Her head began to spin.
    Martina grabbed her by the arm. Dr. Felicia Felton pulled out a dining room chair.
    Round and round and round she goes…
    “EVE!” Martina was shouting.
    This is what it’s like to die. A slow fade. Not too bad, really.
    “Eve, you have to