November 17, 2020.
"Mommy," Tim says, tapping on her bed. "Mommy, wake up, there's somebody in the bathroom."
Despite knowing full well her son is just imagining things, (Tim is a deeply imaginative boy... which sometimes gets him into trouble at school) something in the sound of his voice causes a slight tremor of fear to shoot through Lise anyway.
Still, she gets up, too tired to argue, picks up Tim and plops him into her bed. "Okay, baby, I'll go take a look."
Her sock-covered feet plod off to the bathroom, leaving Tim alone in the dark. He shivers against her duvet, and waits.
She's been gone too long. "Mommy?"
A second Lise looks out at him from the closet, her finger over her lips, smiling.
"What?" he says. "Hey, I'm five years old, this is fricked up, what, I've got two identical moms now? Shit lady, I'm still dealing with object permanence, don't give me this horse-hockey, you hear? Sometimes I still get freakin' peek-a-boo PTSD, what's all this shit!?"
"What's that, Tim?" shouts the first Lise from the bathroom.
"There's another freakin mom in here! She's actin real weird, too, all smilin like she wants to eat my soul and stuff." The second mother is shaking her hands in front of her neck, like, no, cut it out, Tim.
"That's weird!" shouts his first mother. "Is she saying anything? Hold on, I'm coming right back."
"No, she's being silent, like she can't even speak because she's just a demonic doppleganger or something!"
"Aw frick," grumbles Lise. "Okay, hold on, I'll be right there."
The demon mother looks really awkward and bares several rows of needle-sharp teeth, to try to scare Tim, but he just waves her away and rolls his eyes. "She's got fricked up teeth, too!"
The real Lise enters the bedroom, glares at the fake one in the closet. "Go to a freakin dentist, lady," she says.
"Ha ha!" laughs Tim. "Love you mom."
"Love you too, Tim. Now look here, demon, take a hike!"
"Yeah, take a hike!" shouts five year old Tim, delighted.
The doppleganger looks pretty depressed and leaves through a window.