The day that I lost her was the day that I died inside. We went home on the subway one evening after seeing a movie. It was late. There were three men that crept up on us as we rode home. They looked like a bunch of yuppie jerks. One of them asked me for some change.  I told him that I didn’t have any. “You can do better than that”, said the man.  He asked me for my wallet.  The other two pulled their guns on us. I gave my wallet to the men expecting for them to go away, but they didn’t. They shot me and my girlfriend. I hit the floor with a thud.  Warm crimson blood ran down my face.  I lay still not knowing the extent of my injuries.  

The men quickly ran away. I had been nicked in the head, but my girlfriend wasn’t so lucky. She lay in a pool of blood barely breathing. I held her and waited for EMS. The other passengers came to check on us. They had the conductor stop the Subway. EMS crews came and a whole bunch of police officers.  The police asked me a few questions, taped off the area with crime scene tape, and nothing was said again.

I went back to my life. But, I was never the same. I missed my girlfriend. She was an intelligent wonderful person that only wanted peace.  Hate burned in my mind. I couldn’t let those guys get away with what they had done to her. My friends told me to let the courts and law enforcement take care of them. All they would do to these men is put them in prison, and the taxpayers would take care of them for the rest of their lives. I had to do something.

A few months went by, and they had caught one of the men. They took him in for questioning on a different incident.  They wanted me to go to the station and pick him out of a lineup. I didn’t want to go at first, but I had to. I had to help get the guy off the street.

I drove to the police station. A big officer met me at the door. He took me down a dark hallway to an observation room. There were ten suspects lined up in a row.  The man that they had taken in for questioning was one of the men that robbed my girlfriend and me. He was one of the shooters. He stood in line with a smirk on his face. I pointed at the man, and then left the room.

The man’s lawyer tried to stop me to explain. I pushed him away. I couldn’t believe that someone could do such an evil crime and have someone protect them like they were innocent. I walked outside and got into my car and drove away. I felt a sickness in my gut, and a burning desire for revenge.

The next day after work I drove to the jail. I wanted to meet with my girlfriend’s killer face to face. I wanted to ask him why he did it. I knew this probably wasn’t a good idea, but I did it anyway.  I asked to visit him.  They wouldn’t let me see him. They said it was for his safety and mine. I can’t believe that criminals still have rights after killing someone. They told me that I could only meet with him if his lawyers were present.

I found out his name it was Mike Lamoreaux, and he was from an upper class family. He was a white man, and he had a Crack habit.  He had been brought in on Domestic Violence and stalking charges. That is how they caught him. His father had disowned him, cutting him off from millions of dollars. His daddy’s money no longer would support his habit so he turned to crime.  

I called his lawyer to arrange a meeting with him. His lawyer gladly would meet me at the police station under his terms, so I agreed to meet him. I walked into the police station. His Lawyer met me at the door. He shook my hand. He attempted to make conversation with me. I told him to “**** off”.  “Whatever”, he told me.  I went to the inmate meeting area.  I sat down at a cubical and picked up a phone receiver. On the other side of the glass was the man that killed my girlfriend. He wouldn’t look at me. I asked him why he shot my girlfriend. He didn’t answer the question, because all criminals they are “innocent”. They never do anything wrong. It is always some else’s fault.  “I don’t know what you are talking about”, he said.  “I think that you do”, I said. “This is ****. I am an innocent man”, he said.  “That is enough. You are making my client upset”, said his lawyer. “Upset, this guy killed my girlfriend”, I said. “It wasn’t him”, said his lawyer. A guard came and took Mr. Lamoreaux away.

I am a Geneticist. I work at a lab. I clone humans for a living, and I am damn good at it. That night I decided to clone Mr. Lamoreaux. I would make a clone of him and his clone would help me find the other two that committed the crime.  The next afternoon I went back to the jail to get a DNA sample from Mr. Lamoreaux. I walked into the inmate visiting area, and I saw Mr. Lamoreaux talking to his lawyer, and his girlfriend. His lawyer looked up at me and approached me. “What are you doing here”, asked His lawyer. “I came to see Mr. Lamoreaux”, I said. “You can’t do that, because he doesn’t want to see you”, said his lawyer.  “I think he does. I am here to bail him out”, I said. “Bail him out”, said his lawyer. “Yes, since he did nothing wrong I am here to give him his freedom”, I said. “What kind of game are playing”, said his lawyer. “He is innocent, and he deserves to be free”, I said. “I will talk to Mr. Lamoreaux, and see if he accepts your “kind” offer”, said his lawyer. Mr. Lamoreaux’s lawyer discussed my offer with him.

Mr. Lamoreaux refused for me to bail him out.  He said he would take his chances inside the “big house”. I walked over to a cubical in front of Mr. Lamoreaux. His eyes looked cold, and they were filled with mistrust.  “I don’t trust you. You want me dead”, said Mr. Lamoreaux. “No, that is far from the truth. I want you to live”, I said. “You are sick”, said Mr. Lamoreaux.  “Look, I have something for you”, I said. “What”, said Mr. Lamoreaux?  “I have a carton of cigarettes for you”, I said. “Did you lace them with something”, said Mr. Lamoreaux. “They have never been opened. Here why don’t you have one? It will calm your nerves. It is a peace offering for the way that have I acted”, I said.  “What are you doing”, said his lawyer. I just smiled.

I opened the carton and pulled out a pack. I passed Mr. Lamoreaux a fresh cigarette out of the pack, and I took one myself. I don’t smoke, but I needed to get his DNA and his trust.  I handed him a cigarette and a lighter. He took it, but with a little caution. He put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it. He sucked on the fresh cigarette, taking a drag of the freshly lit cancer stick into his lungs.  The guard quickly told him to put it out. Mr. Lamoreaux quickly put the cigarette out and handed it me. I grabbed it and put it in a small tube, and then walked out, leaving the carton on the chair. His lawyer followed me out, I just ignored him. “I don’t know what you are doing, but it better not be for revenge. I will sue your **** so fast”, said his lawyer. “Stop blowing hot air out of your ****”, I said.

That night I went to lab. I got the DNA from Mr. Lamoreaux’s cigarette, and started the process. Thus, by this time tomorrow there would be a fully grown clone of Mr. Lamoreaux lying in a latex womb.  I quickly mixed Mr. Lamoreaux’s DNA with an unfertilized human egg from a donor. Then I put the fertilized egg into an artificial latex womb.  I would come back later to check on the process.

I drove home to find a message on my on my answering machine. “You better leave Mr. Lamoreaux alone if you know what is good for you”, said the voice. I quickly saved the message, and then went to the jail to see if Mr. Lamoreaux was there. He wasn’t someone had bailed him out. I couldn’t believe it. He was loose on the streets after killing someone in cold blood. I called his lawyer to find out what was going on. When he answered his phone I could hear people talking in the background. His lawyer hung up the phone on me. They were celebrating Mr. Lamoreaux’s release. Who got him out, and why? He bond was set at one million dollars. He is guilty as sin.

The next day I drove back to the lab to find a naked body in the latex womb that I had configured. I tore away the latex. The clone looked just like Mr. Lamoreaux. It opened its eyes to look at me. “I know you”, said the clone. “No, you don’t”, I said. “Yes, I do you are the guy that I robbed for some drug money”, said the clone. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Its memories were stored in cells that I had recovered from the real Mr. Lamoreaux. “You are clone of that person”, I said. “I couldn’t believe that I would do such a hideous atrocity against another living thing “, said the clone. “I have created you to help me”, I said.   “Help, you”, said the Clone. “Yes, I want to bring all those involved in the crime that you talk about to justice. You will help me then I shall set you free”, I said. “Yes, yes of course I will help you”, said the clone. “Here I brought you some clothes”, I said.

He quickly put on the clothes that I had given him. Then we left the lab. I carefully unlocked my car door and his. I didn’t want security to see me leave with him. We both got seated and then I drove into the night.  If my supervisor knew that I had created a clone with lab property I would be fired. But, revenge was more important, and the clone that I had made was just the right person to help me get it.

I asked the clone where the other two involved in the crime lived. He guided me to their exact locations. The first stop was a big house. It looked like the kind of house where the super rich lived. The clone got out and went to the door. I watched as the clone opened the screen door, and rang the doorbell.  Ten seconds later a man came to the door. The man was tall, and he too was a white man. The clone shook the man’s hand, and then they walked toward the car. The clone opened the back door of the car, and the man got in.

I quickly turned around. The man saw me and started to run, but the clone stopped him. “Come for a ride with us”, I said. “What do you want”, screamed the man. “I want revenge”, I said. “Why”, said the man. “Why not, after all your crime is what killed my girlfriend”, I said. “Look man, it wasn’t my idea. I am a crack head, and I needed my next fix”, said the man. “You are rich. Why didn’t you hit your family up for the money”, I said. “Look man it is not that easy. My family knows that I have a drug problem, and if I started using again I would be cut off from millions of dollars”, said the man. “So, you and your friends killed an innocent woman for a fix and so you wouldn’t have to work”, I said. “No, hard feelings, but that is life”, said the man. 

I felt rage pulsating in my veins.  “Put, him in a seatbelt”, I said.  The clone strapped him in, and stayed in the backseat with him. “Where are you taking me. I can pay you. I can give all the money that you need”, said the man.  “Money means nothing to me. Can you bring back my girlfriend”, I said. The man looked at me with confusion.  “Don’t you want to know my name? Do you know who I am”, said the man. “You are not human. You are scum. Your name means nothing to me. Who you are means nothing to me. You don’t exist as far as I am concerned. “What are you doing with this guy Mike”, said the man. “I am not Mike”, said the clone. “Yeah, you are…you are Mike Lamoreaux.  Is this some kind of joke”, said the man. “Do you see me laughing”, said the clone. “No, I guess not”, said the man.

I drove the car to the next location. The house we stopped at was a small one. There was a light in the front window, and the porch was poorly lit.  The clone got out and walked to the front door. He rang the doorbell, and a shadow came to the door. It was the other man that was involved in the robbery.  He too was white. He looked out at the car, and then went inside for a couple of minutes. Then walked to the car, and got in the backseat next to the other robber. “What is this Mike”, said other man. I turned around. “Do you remember me”, I said. ”You are that man that I thought that we smoked along with that broad”, said the other guy.  “You didn’t kill me, but I wish that you had”, I said. “Look, no hard feelings…we just needed a fix”, said the other guy.

The clone seat belted the other guy in the backseat, and then I drove away.  I had the other two guys that had committed the hideous crime against me and my girlfriend. Now it was time to find Mike, and my plan would be complete. But, before I drove off to find Mike I would drop his partners off at the lab. I would keep them in a decontamination chamber. There is no getting in or out without a code. They would be locked in there for no more than an hour. We drove past security guards that had just started the evening shift at the lab. “Good evening”, said the guard as I pulled up to the guard station. I showed him my badge. The windows of my car are dark. They didn’t see the three guys sitting in the back seat, and motioned for me to drive on through.  The weekends are normally quiet, so no one would know about the guys in the decontamination chamber.

“Where are you taking us”, said one of the robbers. “You don’t need to know. You are not a human to me”, I said. “Look I am sorry for what happened to your girlfriend, but we have drug problems. Would it change things if we said that we were sorry”, said the robber. “It is too late for that”, I said. The clone and I got the two men out of the car, and walked to the back entrance of lab. The temperature outside was three below zero.  I slid my electronic swipe card across a card reader. The door slid open, and we entered the lab. The lab was warm. The heat roared through the ducts.  Sweat dripped off the robber’s temples. They looked scared. There was no stopping the hate that I felt inside. My plan was coming into action. Within an hour or so, “they would be getting theirs”.

I slid a second swipe card across a second card reader.  We were now in a decontamination chamber. “I have to get Mike”, I said. “You can’t leave us here. I won’t let you. This is false imprisonment. It is a crime. ”, said one of the robbers. “And what you did isn’t”, I said. The two men said nothing. I pressed the close button to the decontamination chamber, and shut off the lights. The clone and I got back into my car and went to find Mike. “Where is he”, I asked. “He is with his girlfriend”, said the clone. “Where is that”, I said. “He is having sex her. He is not decent”, said the clone. “Where is he”, I said. “He is at a motel on the Southside of town”, said the clone. “He is having make-up sex with his girlfriend after hitting her”, I said. “Yes, he is”, said the clone.

I drove to the Southside of town. The clone guided me to where Mike was staying.  He was staying at the most expensive hotel in town. I parked the car and we went inside to the registration desk. “What room is Mike Lamoreaux staying in”, I said. “I can’t tell you that”, said the man at the counter. “I don’t have time for this”, I said. “You can walk out of here, or the cops can escort you out it is your choice”, said the guy at the desk. “He is on the third floor room three thirty”, said the clone. “I am calling the cops”, said the desk clerk. “No, you are not going to call the cops”, said the clone. “Oh, yeah…watch me”, said the desk clerk. The clerk picked up the phone receiver to dial “911”.  The clone got a pen from the desk and cut himself with it.  His crimson blood flowed from the newly opened wound. The clone stuck his bleeding finger into the desk clerks mouth. The clerk fought it at first, and then went into a trance. He looked freighted and told the clone to stop.  The desk clerk begins sobbing hysterically, and after a couple of minutes gave us the swipe card to Mr. Lamoreaux’s room.  

“What did you do to him”, I said. I showed him what Mr. Lamoreaux did. I made him feel what your girlfriend felt when her life was slipping away”, said the clone. “What did the cloning process do to you”, I said. “It made me a mutant; all my cells have the crime recorded in them. I can never forget the crime. I look like Mr. Lamoreaux, but I am nothing like him. I want you to understand”, said the clone. “I know that you aren’t. You need a name. I shouldn’t refer to you as “clone”. You have humanity. You are not a taker. You are a giver”, I said.  “Thank you”, said the clone. We left the front desk attendant crying. “How long will he be like that”, I said. “Forever”, said the clone. “Forever”, I said. “Yes, right now the cells from my blood are recording the crime to every cell in his body. He too will never forget the crime, he might need to be committed to a psyche hospital before all is said and done”, said the clone.  “Let’s go, we can discuss this later”, I said. “Sure”, said the clone.

We stood at the elevator door waiting for the door to open. The door opened and a young couple stepped out. They looked at us and laughed. “I would give anything to be young and in love…again”, I said to myself.  We entered the elevator and the doors shut behind us. I pressed the three “button” once the doors closed. The elevator sped to the third floor in seconds.  The door opened and we got out. We found room three thirty. I hid by the vending machines. I wanted Mike Lamoreaux to have the scare of his life.  I had the clone knock on Mr. Lamoreaux’s hotel room door.  I heard a loud scream, and the next thing that I saw was Mr. Lamoreaux slumped over the clone’s shoulder. He was totally naked.

“Is he Ok”, I said. “He is passed out stone drunk”, said the clone.  “What about his girlfriend”, I said. “She ran to the bathroom”, said the clone. “Did she see you”, I said. “Yes, she is the one that answered the door. I don’t think that she was in her right mind”, said the clone.  “Let’s get out of here. We don’t have much time”, I said.  We took the stairs instead of the elevator this time, and exited out a side door into the main parking lot. The parking lot was empty, but I am sure they got us on surveillance camera. We put Mike in my car and drove back to the lab.

This time there was no one at the security post at the entrance of the lab. I parked the car in the back once more.  The clone picked up Mr. Lamoreaux and took him inside the lab.  “Where am I”, asked Mike. “It doesn’t matter”, I said. “I am going to sue you for false imprisonment. I knew you were up to something when you came to see me the other day”, said Mike. “You will only be here for a few minutes, so shut up. I am not going to kill you. I fact I want you to suffer in this world. ”, I said.  Take him to the decontamination chamber with the other two”, I said.

The clone took Mr. Lamoreaux to the decontamination room, and I prepared the syringes. “They are in the decontamination chamber”, said the clone. “Good, I am ready”, I said.  I put caps on the syringes, and went to where the others were being held. I un-capped the syringes and had the clone take the men out one at a time.  The first guy screamed and told me not to do it. The second guy offered me a million dollars. Mike told me that he would sue me.  It didn’t matter to me. Their words meant nothing to me.  I injected the three with my girlfriend’s cells causing them to go mad. Her DNA recorded itself to all their cells. Now they are reliving the crime and feeling her pain every minute of every day. After I injected them, the clone and I took them back to where we found them.

There was a trial, but all were found unable to stand trial. They were all committed to mental hospitals.  Mental health professionals said that it was the drugs that made them go mad, but I know otherwise. The three men cry all day. They sob uncontrollability, and in the end they are paying for their crime. As for the Desk clerk, he is fine he doesn’t work at the hotel anymore.