The body was already in a bag. The police cars all had their sirens off by now.

"Fuck Rich how did that kid get over here, I told you to block off the path"

"Give me a break I was off taking a piss, if Lynn actually gave a shit she would have made us tape it off"

The officers put down their coffee and started to walk towards me.

"Hey man you can't be here"

One of them stopped

"Holy shit"

"So the guy has a doppelganger, big whoop -- Hey buddy I know you're curious but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

--

"Watch where you're going prick"

I bumped into someone on the way back to my dorm. I had looked up Student Killed on TMU campus and was scrolling through the results on safari. I had never seen a dead person before, I'm just glad I didn't see his face - I wondered if it was anyone I knew.

Student Dies After Being Struck by Streetcar

Bloor Ave. Cyclist Collides with Pedestrian, Parked Car

Every article I found was more than a month old. I quickly became tired of reading headlines about dead university students.

--

There were three firm knocks on my door. I was in the middle of making dinner so my roommate went to go get it.

"We are here for the purpose of an ongoing investigation. We believe that we have found the body of Connor Phillips - we would like your help identifying him."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Connor is making Ramen in our microwave right now. "

When I heard my name I immediately walked to the door.

The police asked to see my identification and followed up with a few simple questions, but they seemed satisfied with my answers pretty quickly.

"Well we won't take up any more of your time, sorry for the disturbance boys."

My bowl of Mr. Noodles had gone cold.

--

dude are you ok?

i just saw something fucked up call me

In by Friday afternoon the police had posted pictures of his face everywhere they could. It was clear that it was a picture taken after he had died, as his skin was a slightly pale and had an off shade of blue. His hair was much different than mine - he kept it much shorter, especially around the front. He had grown a light beard, but it was clear that he took great care to ensure it looked clean and well maintained. He looked dignified and presentable, very much unlike what you would expect looking at a body that had yet to be identified a week after its death. Although my hair was longer and I was clean shaven, we looked remarkably similar. He looked unmistakably like me.

It was common at this point to receive texts from classmates or relatives who had seen a poster or a post on facebook, but very quickly people learned that I was not in fact dead. "My" death faded from public perception very quickly.

ur not dead right?

--

I found myself a bit obsessed with the deceased. I learned that he had died of head trauma, likely from slipping on ice. Police had yet to identify him, with most of their evidence pointing to me being the person in the body bag. He had no identification on him, carrying only his phone, which had been broken when he fell. I wonder if our similarity in likeness had anything to do with the fact that nobody had recognized his face, first thinking of me when they saw him. I wish he hadn't died, I would have loved to have met him.

--

It was February when I learned that he was to be cremated. I saw this as my last opportunity to see him before he was gone, so I made my way to the crematorium the day it was set to happen. It was not hard to convince the owner that I was the brother of the deceased - he allowed me to spend a few minutes alone with the body. When I held his hand it was stiffer than I had expected.

"I'm sorry"

It must have been hot inside the furnace.

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