Seven Faces of a Dice

It is said that one has 7 identical-looking persons in the world, including himself. The word often used for lookalikes, I believe, is a German word - doppelgänger. So, according to myth, one has 6 doppelgängers other than himself, in the world. Of course, I thought it was just hearsay. Until that day.

Okay. Introductions first. I am Claire, and I study in seventh grade. My one strength is math. I must admit, I am pretty good at it. While others may find it hard or boring, math is my best friend. Anyway, that Sunday was just like any other. I had just eaten my breakfast when that letter arrived. I was surprised when my dad declared that it was addressed to me. Who would write to me? I opened the envelope. The letter was written in neat handwriting and I read it carefully.

It said –

Dear Claire,

You are invited to No. 77 on Garland Street at 10:00 a.m. on 30^th January. Please come as there is a surprise in store for you.

Regards

Seven Faces of a Dice

Seven faces of a dice? What type of a name for an organization is that? But I was curious to know what the surprise was, so Garland Street was where I headed half an hour later.

When I finally reached No. 77, it was almost 10. I hoped I wasn’t late. I rang the doorbell. The door opened almost immediately. But there was no one behind it! So who had opened the door? Shaking my head, I walked inside, into the pitch-black room, thinking all of it was definitely a prank.

As soon as I got inside, the door closed behind me. “Just like in horror movies”, I thought. Suddenly all the lights came on, changing the entire atmosphere. It took a little time for my eyes to adjust to the brightness. When they finally did, I could see a large, almost empty hall in front of me. At the other end were booth-like structures. I walked over to them. There were seven same booths, each with a file kept on top. I went to the booth marked 1 and opened the file kept on top. I was surprised to see my name written on top of the file. Below my name was written Math Wiz. Then there were some details like my phone number, my school, etc. Curious about the other files, I checked them out. All the files had a name and a short description, along with the other information.

Here is what I summarized-

1.    Claire – Math Wiz

2.    Emily – Chess Champion

3.    Olivia – Brilliant Dancer

4.    Sophie – Aspiring Singer

5.    Eva – Master of Puzzles

6.    Hannah – Robin Hood in Disguise

7.    Violet – Totally Techie

Also, the date of birth was exactly the same on all the files. All these girls were born on the same date as me!

As soon as I finished reading all the files, a dice magically appeared in front of me. What was odd about the dice though was that (no, no, it had only six faces, not seven, as some of you may think) the faces were numbered from 2-7 instead of 1-6. Ironic, isn’t it? My file was placed on booth number 1, and that is the only number missing. I guess I was supposed to roll the dice and that is what I did. It stopped at 2. Suddenly, a deep voice said – “You are going to meet number 2, Emily.”

That is when I realized the significance of the dice. My number was not on the dice because surely, I could not meet myself! I tried to remember everything about Emily that I could. Chess champion, phone no. 9687046890 and…. What? I did not mention it? Well, okay, I have a pretty good ability to remember things, especially numbers. So there.

While I was occupied in my thoughts, a figure was materializing beside me. “Hello”, said a voice. I turned and saw the girl to whom it belonged. Both of us gasped in unison. We looked exactly the same! “How… how is this possible?”, I stammered. The other girl looked equally surprised. She managed to control herself, and said in a calm, composed voice, “You must be Claire”. I shook her outstretched hand and said, “Yes, and you are…?” “I am Emily”, she said. “Oh, you are Emily! I read your file”, I said, indicating the files kept beside. “Yeah”, she said, “I read yours too”. “So”, I began, “do you have any idea what is happening?” “Nope. What I do know is that the dice I received had all the numbers from 1-7 except for the number 2. When I rolled the dice, I got 1 and was informed that I am going to meet you. But I had never expected….” Her voice trailed off. We both were thinking the same thing. Both of us looked the same, spoke in the same manner, were born on the same date! What was going on?

That was when a dice was dropped on the floor below me. I picked it up. This time it had all the numbers except for 1 and 2. One side was left blank. “Both of us don’t have our numbers because we have already met”, I thought. “Yup. That is right.”, said Emily. “What? You can read my thoughts?”, I exclaimed. “Um, I guess I can. Then, I bet you can read mine too.” “Did you actually say that?”, I asked. “No, I thought all that”, replied Emily with a smile. So cool! We could read each other’s minds!

Suddenly Emily said, “I think you better roll that dice. I wouldn’t like to keep it waiting.” I picked up the dice and rolled it. It was a 5. “You will now meet Eva”, the voice rang out again. “Hello”, said a voice beside me, making me jump. “I am Eva. You?” I turned to look at her and got the shock of my life. She also was my duplicate! She looked equally surprised. Then she saw Emily. I was worried she would faint out of shock. Meeting two people together who look like your mirror images is not exactly very common. When she finally recovered, she immediately started solving the Rubik’s Cube that she had with her. “It helps me de-stress”, she explained. Just a fact for you all, solving complex mathematical problems helps me de-stress.

Anyway, once Eva was done, I and Emily told her whatever we had understood about all this strange dice thing. That was when another dice appeared, in Emily’s hand this time. She rolled it. We got a blank side (this time the dice had two of them). “What is this supposed to mean?”, I asked. Both Emily and Eva shrugged. This time, even the ‘voice’ was silent. “Maybe we will not meet anybody else now”, I thought. “Yeah, maybe.” This was Emily’s mind. “Oh, come on, I really wanted to meet the others”, said, or actually, thought Eva. So, I could read her mind too! I guess it was some triplet thing. I mean, think about it. We were all born on the same day, we looked exactly the same and knew what was going on in each other’s mind. We had to be linked in some way. “That is totally possible”, said Eva. Oops! I had forgotten for one moment that these two could read my mind.

None of us noticed what was happening beside us. Four other girls appeared out of nowhere. And…. yup! You guessed it right. They looked exactly like me, Emily and Eva! The shock was not much for us, but for them…I could totally imagine their condition. Soon the seven of us were standing in a circle, facing each other in amazement. It felt as if my mind was playing tricks on me. I had started believing that I was standing in front of mirrors and was looking at my own reflection all around. Then the old saying ran through my mind – ‘There are seven faces who look exactly the same in this world.” We were those seven. I had never imagined I would be meeting all the other six at the same time. Reading all their thoughts, I could tell that all of them were thinking the same thing. The voice rang out again, startling us. “Meeting over”, it said. Suddenly, I started feeling dizzy. Everything went black.

I woke up with a start. So, all this was a dream! Of course, it was all too fantastic to be real. But the strange thing was that I remembered every single detail. Got it! Maybe I should ring up Emily’s number, that is if such a person even exists. I ran to the phone and dialed- 9…6…8…

I waited for someone to pick up. Then I realized I was being stupid. What would I even say when someone answered? That I had a dream and remembered this number? Of course not. I was just hanging up when… “Hello”, said a voice from the other end of the phone. “Emily speaking.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Excuse me, who is this?”, inquired Emily. “It’s…it’s Claire”, I said, barely able to speak properly. “Claire?”, she said, sounding breathless with excitement, like me. “As in, Claire from my dream last night? So now we share dreams too?”

 “I don’t think that was even a dream. Do you?”, I asked.

 “I…Um, hang on for a moment. Someone is calling me.”

I waited. Then, my phone began ringing too. Putting Emily on hold, I answered. “Claire here. Who is this?”

“It’s me, Eva. Excuse me for asking, but did you have a strange dream last night?”

THE END