Times Two (Miles 1610/42 Twins)
Chapter (10) Title: El Segundo Día (The Second Day)
Milo’s POV
Morning sunlight crept through my blinds way too early. I groaned, rolling onto my back. My head felt heavy, like I’d spent the whole night thinking instead of sleeping.
Which… yeah. I had.
That kid. That face. My face.
I still didn’t know what I saw yesterday, and the not‑knowing was eating at me.
I dragged myself out of bed and shuffled into the kitchen. Aaron was already there, leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee, scrolling through something on his phone.
He looked up. “Morning, kid.”
“Morning,” I mumbled, grabbing a piece of toast.
He watched me for a second, eyes narrowing. “So… how was your first day at Vision Academy?”
I froze mid‑bite.
My mind flashed back to the hallway, the collision, the shock, the way my gut twisted like it was trying to warn me. I swallowed hard.
“It was… fine,” I said, shrugging like it was no big deal.
Aaron raised an eyebrow. “Just fine?”
“Yeah.” I forced a laugh. “You know. School. Classes. Gente rara. Lo normal. (Weird people. That’s normal.)”
He smirked. “You ready for day two?”
No. Not even close.
But I nodded anyway. “Yeah”
He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push. “Alright. Have a good one. And hey -try to make a friend or two.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, grabbing my backpack. “See you, Pops.”
I left before he could ask anything else. The last thing I needed was him reading my face and knowing something was off. I wasn’t ready to explain something I didn’t understand myself.
The morning bell hadn’t rung yet, but I was already at Vision Academy, tucked into the second-floor alcove near the science labs where no one was.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
I pressed them flat against my jeans, willing them to be still, but it didn’t work. Nothing worked anymore.
The kid with my face.
The thought kept looping in my head, over and over, like a broken record I couldn’t turn off.
He saw me. I saw him. He’s real.
And then yesterday…
Yesterday I’d turned a corner and walked straight into him.
Into me.
My chest tightened at the memory. The collision. The shock in his eyes. The way his whole body had gone rigid, like he’d been hit by lightning.
I’d felt it too. That pull. That recognition.
Like looking into a mirror that shouldn’t exist.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to breathe when the morning bell rang, sharp and sudden.
I flinched.
The hallway outside the alcove exploded into noise, lockers slamming, voices shouting, footsteps thundering past. The chaos of Vision Academy between classes.
I stayed frozen, listening.
And then I heard it.
“Miles!”
My stomach dropped.
Someone was calling.
Someone was calling His name.
But it was the same name. The same voice. The same-
“Where?!” another voice yelled.
I pressed myself harder against the wall, pulse hammering.
They were looking for me.
He was looking for me.
“There! By the lockers! He’s moving fast!”
My breath caught.
I didn’t think. I just moved.
I shoved off the wall and bolted into the hallway, weaving through the crowd, keeping my head down. My backpack bounced against my shoulders. My sneakers squeaked against the linoleum.
Don’t look back. Don’t look back.
But I could feel him behind me. Not physically, I couldn’t see him through the crowd, but I felt him. That same pull from yesterday. That same magnetic tug in my chest that told me he was close.
Too close.
I took a sharp left, ducking under someone’s arm, sidestepping a group of freshmen clustered around a locker.
“Hey!” someone shouted behind me.
I didn’t stop.
The hallway thinned out ahead, most students already in class. My footsteps echoed too loud now, too obvious.
I needed to disappear.
The stairwell.
I hit the door hard, shoving it open, and took the stairs two at a time. My legs burned. My lungs screamed. But I didn’t slow down.
Up. I had to go up.
Second floor. Third floor.
Behind me, I heard the door slam open again.
Footsteps. Fast. Determined.
He’s following me.
My heart hammered so hard I thought it might crack a rib.
Fourth floor.
I burst through the door into the hallway and stopped, gasping for air.
Empty. Completely empty.
The hallway stretched out in front of me. Long, narrow, lined with classroom doors. Sunlight poured through the window at the far end, turning everything gold.
I stood there, chest heaving, trying to think.
What am I doing?
I couldn’t keep running forever. I couldn’t keep hiding.
And maybe…
Maybe I didn’t want to.
I turned around slowly, facing the stairwell door.
Waiting.
The door creaked open.
And there he was.
Miles.
The kid with my face. My eyes. My build.
He stepped into the hallway, his friend right behind him. A shorter kid with wide eyes and a backpack covered in gaming pins.
Miles froze when he saw me.
We stood there, thirty feet apart, staring at each other.
I saw the shock in his face. The confusion. The fear.
But I also saw something else.
Recognition.
He knew. On some level, he knew.
“Miles,” his friend whispered, grabbing his arm. “That’s-”
“I know,” Miles said quietly.
I opened my mouth.
I wanted to ask who he was. I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs why do you look like me!?
But before I could speak-
The fire alarm blared to life.
Red lights flashed. The sprinklers kicked on, drenching the hallway in seconds.
I gasped as cold water hit my face, my hair, my clothes.
Classroom doors burst open. Students poured into the hallway, shouting, laughing, chaos erupting all over again.
And I-
I ran.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I had to.
Because I wasn’t ready. Because I didn’t know what was happening. Because if I stayed, I wouldn’t know what to say.
I shoved through the crowd, water streaming down my face, my heart pounding with every step.
I heard him shout behind me. “Wait!” But I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t.
I hit the stairwell again, taking the steps three at a time, my wet sneakers slipping on the concrete.
Down. Down. Down.
By the time I reached the first floor, the alarm was still blaring, but the crowd had thinned. Everyone was heading outside for the fire drill.
I slipped out a side door, into the courtyard, into the mass of students gathering on the lawn.
And I disappeared.
Just another face in the crowd.
Just another kid at Vision Academy.
Nobody special.
Nobody real.
I stood there, soaked and shaking, watching the school empty out.
And somewhere in that crowd, I knew he was looking for me.
Searching.
Desperate for the same answers I wanted but didn’t have.
