MYSTERY STORY

Tom got off the train and as he left, he realized he was holding the wrong suitcase.

The man stood there frozen, while the wind was blowing into his short brown hair. His blue eyes were looking straight into the empty suitcase, which he knew wasn’t his. Even though they looked the same on the outside, the one he had was full of documents about his career and himself. He had been looking forward to a very important meeting that was meant to end up with him signing the greatest job contract of his life with a big company.

His freckled cheeks were red because of the frustration he was feeling. The tall man tried to search for his suitcase into the crowd, but with no success. He hurried off to the info center to report the lost suitcase.

“What was your last name again, in case we find it?” the nice lady who was working there asked.

It was weird…. Tom was looking blankly at her. He couldn’t remember his last name, but it wasn’t important anyway. If he left now, he could make it in time to the meeting. He could talk to the kind people from the company and reschedule, right?

“Taxi!” he yelled waving to a yellow car.

The taxi stopped in front of him and he got in the car. In about half an hour, they were almost at the destination, which was more than Tom had anticipated.

“That would be 10 bucks” the man driving the car said.

“Oh… I’m sorry I don’t have cash on me right now”

“No problem. You can pay me with your credit card. What was your name again?”

Not again. The man was finding himself in the same situation as the one from the info center. What was his last name? What about his first name?

When he didn’t get a response the driver turned to look at the back seat.

“That man! He left without paying. What a horrible person!”

The freckled man was very confused because they were making eye contact. So why was the other man acting like he wasn’t seeing him? “Oh, maybe he’s suggesting that there is no need for me to pay” the tall man thought to himself.

“Thank you!” he said before getting off the car.

That was the first good thing, which happened that day and another one was about to happen. The guards from the building didn’t stop him at the entrance to ask for his ID, which he lost along with his suitcase. It was like they didn’t see him.

Even though he was late by about 15 minutes because of the traffic he thought it was not such a big deal. Entering the meeting room he saw the man who represented the company, the one he was supposed to meet to talk about the job, talking with a tall freckled man, with brown hair and blue eyes.

“I didn’t know you had planned another meeting for the job today” he said approaching. But no one replied to him. They didn’t even turn to look at him.

The two man in front of him stood up and shook hands.

“I’m glad to have you working with us, Tom!” the man from the company said.

“The pleasure is mine” the other one replied.

The third man was watching with shock how someone else, with the exact same look as him, was signing the job contract he had worked so hard for.

“Wait! This man is an impostor!”, but still no answer. They continued to talk like he wasn’t even there.

“I’m Tom!” he tried once again to make his presence felt. His name was Tom. Or was it?

Along with another things that happened that day, this was making no sense. Later, the two men left the room together. The tall man was standing alone in the room. He looked at the window realizing in surprise that it was already dark outside. But the thing that make him jump in horror was not how fast the time passed, it was the fact that he couldn’t see himself reflecting in the window like the other objects in the room did.

The only sound that could still be heard was the soft noise of the footsteps fading away. After the two man left, in the room was left in silence, with no one being there anymore.