| The Clones |
| Before his birth, John�s parents decided to produce a clone of him to be his brother. In 2323 the natural birth rate was very low. When couples wanted to have a child they had to clone them selves. When Janet and Brad Corrie found out they were to have a son naturally, this was their first thought. Cloning was a common thing and almost the entire population was a clone or the descendant of one. Together in the same womb, Josh and John came into being. They were born within hours of each other. John being the first baby born and Josh being the second. They were exactly alike except for one thing. Josh, had perfect vision, but John did not. The boys grew up in the normal life of brotherhood. There was nothing wrong with the fact that the two boys were the same genetic person. John being the first-born and only an hour older than Josh, assumed a more responsible role as the studious son; he received awards and scholarships to colleges around the world. However Josh was not the intellectual son that Brad and Janet hoped he would be. Josh at an early age showed that he had no interest in learning or being dependable. Many times the Corries were called down to the school to pick up Josh because he had been in a fight. The only times that there seemed to be no confrontation was when he entered high school and began skipping school. Josh was never in school enough to get in to fights. As well Brad and Janet had believed that Josh had learned his lesson and had started to �fly right,� they had no idea Josh was blowing off school to party and get drunk, while John was studying hard to reach his full potential. Even though it was a tough job being responsible. John complained about his brother to his parents but they didn�t listen. John was obviously jealous of his brother�s freedom. He often found himself thinking about how nice the world would be if Josh was not a part of it any longer. John was favored and Josh saw this. As with all children, there were many fights between the boys over who was the favored son. However it was apparent that Josh was being pushed aside from the love of his parents. There was never any outward conflict about this. It was understood, and no one dared argue it. So this cycle continued, Josh being neglected, John being adored, then making his mark on the world. Josh, like everyone else wanted to influence the world too, but not in the same way that John would. Though this might sound weird, Josh really wanted to get back at his brother in some way, but he was unsure of how. Josh got a job as an executioner at the local jail when he was twenty-seven. He worked the regular nine to five, had an apartment and a girl friend. To every one he was making progress in his life even without a high school education. His job was a dirty but honorable one. �Some body has to do it,� was his motto. His job was to give the convict a deadly injection, then dispose of the body. However one day a security official saw that all of Josh supplies were missing from the cell. John was well on his way to a very honorable profession of being a lawyer. Many people were into getting quick money and they believed that suing people was the way to go. John was living at home with his wife and daughter. They had lots of money and a very successful family. The boys rarely talked to each other even though they lived only blocks from each other. The only time that the two families exchanged words of any sort was at Christmas. Josh was still jealous of John, and was determined to get back at his brother. However their conversations never had any intonations of this hatred between them. On the first day of spring of a woman�s baby disappeared in the city. The woman had lived alone with her baby, and had recently been trying to get her son out of jail. John was her attorney and helped her battle the courts. Every day during this time she would visit her son in block twelve B only one block from the extermination cell number thirteen where murderers were taken for execution. In the baby�s room the police found a note tied to a baby doll that looked exactly like the woman�s baby, telling police that the baby was fine but she was in danger. In the note there were hints leading to the basement of a local bank where she might be hidden. There the police found a standard amount of lethal injection tools and injections used in the prison and the baby starved and bound but alive. The only question on their minds was who was the kidnapper and why did he or she leave the stolen prison property in the scene with the baby. After finding no fingerprints and no physical evidence to arrest anyone, they left the case alone. Everyone had to go on normally with his or her lives. There was no reason to worry any further about something no one could do anything about. But eventually there was another theft in the prison; some simple medical equipment was missing from cell thirteen. Again there was another missing girl who was around the age of six. In her room the police also found another note tied to a teddy bear. This note was a little trickier; it had them running around the entire city before they finally found the child in a tunnel under a local playground. The young girl was all right except for a few bruises and some small lacerations on her arms and the stolen medical equipment all around the girl in a circle. Again there was no evidence linking anyone to the scene of the crime and the police had to give up their search and moved on. Two weeks after the six year old was kidnapped, a young girl about the age of nineteen was reported missing by her boyfriend. The boy had found a note in the girl�s locker that sounded almost like a suicide note. There was evidence however, that she was still alive somewhere. A week later in an abandoned building in the warehouse district, the girl was found by some teenagers looking for a party spot. Her wrists were slashed but she was still alive; however, she was starved and cold because the temperature was turned down in the building. A few days later the rampage continued. A thirty-year-old woman was found in a hotel room. The room was littered with stolen books, awards, exams, and a statue of Einstein. The woman was in cardiac arrest. She was poisoned, with a man-made poison made from cyanide and a thinning agent. The woman had been injected with the poison to create a sense of death when in fact the lethal poison was half as effective as it needed to be to kill anyone. Finally the clues from all the crime scenes were in place. The police had all the clues lined up. They were all pointing at one man, Josh. The police arrested Josh and held him for questioning. His prints matched all the crime scenes and his motives matched his childhood. His parents had cloned him from his brother; he was barely allowed to have toys to himself, as an adolescent he was suicidal, and he was the less intelligent of the two boys. The only thing that would lead away from the evidence that he was the culprit would be testimony from his girl friend and the victims. These people had to prove that all the evidence pointing to Josh was wrong and that the real criminal was John. In order for this to happen their testimonies had to be taken to court. On each of the days in question Josh�s girl friend declared that he was either at work or at the house with her. The six-year-old girl told the court that the man that abducted her was wearing a business suit and wore glasses, not the same clothing and accessories that Josh would wear. The adolescent was aware of the fact that the man that took her had short hair and had a bruise on his left arm. The thirty-year-old woman noticed that her captor had contact lenses in. She could see the rings around his eyes. These facts cleared Josh and pointed the blame at John. The only question that the police had was, why did John do it to frame his unsuccessful brother and why did he chose these girls? This is the startling confession John wrote from jail. Dear Josh, I know you are curious to know about why I committed such random and unhealthy crimes to frame you. You see dear brother, I have always felt shadowed by you. You were always the free spirit; you have always had the most fun in life. You don�t even have a good job or lifestyle but you still enjoy life to its fullest. Our hatred towards each other spawned when you were practically outcast from our family. However I have always felt that you were the most loved. Unbeknownst to you, I was going through the exact feelings as you were as we were growing up. When you felt inner pain I was there hurting inside. When you were in love with Jackie I was in love with Jasmine. We were going through the same feelings at the same time. The reason I attacked those particular girls was that with all the clones in this world now, these girls were the only people left who were not descended from clones or were not clones themselves. Please forgive me. You and I are the same and yet so different. Please continue to live your life in happiness and bliss, as I have not. Learn from me, Josh, and prosper. Love, John Corrie |