Oh No, You Don't

The sky was already bright by the time I was done going through all of the stuff. Now that I had a good idea of what kind of life the other "me" has been living so far, I would be able to somehow fit in in this world.

I stretched out and stood up, lighting a cigarette. All of this research made me kinda tired. I should just get something to eat and take a nap.

I reached out for my new phone to use one of the food delivery apps. As soon as I unlocked the screen however, I was hit with a ton of notifications. 35 missed calls and 57 new messages? And all from the same number.

Before I had a chance to read through them, I heard the sound of the door unlocking. How bothersome.

I already knew he had no girlfriend. While the idea wasn't entirely unbelievable, since he had my face, there was absolutely nothing on his laptop or socials that would suggest otherwise. No housemates either.

Which meant it only could have been one person.

I glanced at the corpse still lying on the bedroom floor. Fuck. That's not good.

I quickly put out my cigarette and left the room, shutting the doors tightly right behind me.

"Hello, mother."

There she was. The answer to why the other "me" turned out to be such a loser. Or at least one of the answers.

A middle-aged woman glared at me from the entrance and came inside without a word, throwing her purse on the table. She resembled me quite a lot. We had the same black hair and eyes, even our facial features were similar. There could be no doubt we were related, unfortunately.

I returned the glare with my eyes narrowed. I've only known her for around two months in one of the previous worlds, but I really did not like her. Was my mother just like her? Probably, but I wouldn't know. I've never met my parents.

The woman scrunched her nose in disgust. "Is that the cigarettes I smell?"

I didn't bother answering, just observed her as she poured herself a glass of water. What a pain in the ass. Why do I need to deal with her first thing in the morning?

"Why haven't you been answering my calls? And how come you're not on your way to work yet? Do you want to lose your job? Just how much of a failure can you be?" The woman did not seem to care about my answer or lack thereof and just continued nagging.

Right, "my" working hours were about to start soon. Of course, I had no intention of going. They can fire me for all that I care. But more importantly, does that mean she barged into my flat when I was supposed to be gone, and without my permission? Even if "I" was her son, you can't just come to your adult children's apartment whenever you see fit, can you? I'm not an expert in family matters, but even I knew that there should be some boundaries.

But what did I expect? She has always been a crazy control freak. No wonder my father left her.

"Are you even listening to me!? James!" Seems she finally realized I've been ignoring her. Seeing her fuming like that, I couldn't help but smirk.

That angered her even more, to the point she was rendered speechless. She inhaled loudly, her face reddened, and stepped toward me, raising her hand.

Oh no, you don't.

I grabbed her wrist tightly, making her wince. "I am so sorry, dear mother, but I think it's time for you to leave." I grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her towards the doors.

She was so shocked she didn't even know how to react. I put her outside and slammed the door.

Oh, right. I almost forgot.

I reopened the door and threw the purse at her. "That's yours. I'll be taking my keys though!" She looked at me with widened eyes as I waved the spare keys to my apartment she used to have in front of her face.

Only when I closed the door again did she recover. She started banging on the door, ringing the doorbell, and calling my name. How noisy.

I yawned and ruffled my hair. I really wanted a nap, but perhaps I should deal with the corpse first. Good thing she didn't see it, or I would have needed to kill her. That would be inconvenient. Her disappearance was bound to get the police involved.

Honestly, I was starting to doubt whether it was worth all the effort. But it's not like I can destroy a world in a day. It's gonna be a while until I can have a break like that again, so I wasn't about to give up just yet.

I sat down on the floor next to the corpse, stretched out my hand, and slowly started turning it into ashes. I just needed to spread them somewhere outside later, and I'd be left with no evidence.

The banging on the door soon subsided. Seems she finally got tired, although I doubt that would be the last I've seen of her. She wasn't the type to give up so easily. Especially since her son was the only person she could control.

But what could she possibly do? I was an adult already. She had no legal power over me anymore. Even I knew this much.

The best course of action was to simply ignore her for now.

What kind of mother was she, even? Putting aside the fact how she treated her son, being over-controlling, constantly berating him, and so on, she hasn't even noticed that he's been replaced. I had the same face, but otherwise was a completely different person. Shouldn't a mother be able to tell straight away? "You are not my son" or something along those lines?

Well, it's just shown that I did not miss out on anything. Destroying the worlds was far better than the life I was "meant" to have.

Once I was done cremating the corpse, I threw myself on the bed. I was so tired that I didn't even care about the food anymore.