You don't notice dropping the phone as the kitchen door opens ... there silhouetted against the light is a human figure ... the features obscured by the brightness. The light abruptly cuts off. The darkness is complete. It seems the only thing you can hear is your own beating heart. You've never been this frightened in your life. You are not alone in the house. There is someone else with you. You can't see a thing and the intruder is silent in the dark. You hear a sound ... a match strikes and lights ... a candle. You can finally make out who is standing at the threshold of your kitchen.
It is you.
It's not a person that just looks like you -- it is you. You recognize the shirt you bought a couple of weeks ago -- he's wearing your shirt. It is you ... standing in the kitchen doorway ... holding a candle. You stumble backward into your living room and fall into a chair. Your doppelganger enters the room, places the candle on the coffee table, and sits in the chair opposite you. You notice he's carrying a briefcase. Your briefcase. He speaks.
"Eight years from tonight ... Donald Trump will be elected president of the United States. The Republicans will control all three branches of government. During his first year in office, you will think about Donald Trump at least once every day. Sometimes more. You and the people you know will talk about what the Republicans and the Trump Administration are doing every single day. Because what they will do ... is horrendous."
He opens the briefcase, takes out a bundle of newspaper clippings and puts them on the table.
"This isn't everything ...these are just some of what the Republicans will do once they get into power."
"What do you want me to do?" you ask.
"I don't know if there is anything you can do," he says. "But you have to try. There isn't any time ..."
He reaches over and blows out the candle. The momentary darkness instantly dissipates as all the lights come back on in the house. The television, and the radio you turned on, blare into life. Your visitor -- is gone. You go to the front window and look out. The streetlights and the houses on your block are lit again. You see on the coffee table the sheaf of newspaper clippings. You pick it up. On top is a New York Times editorial: 100 Days of Horror. The next clipping is the front page of The Boston Globe from Sunday April 8, 2017. The headline: DEPORTATIONS TO BEGIN, President Trump calls for tripling of ICE force; riots continue.
As the television shows crowds of people celebrating Obama's election ... you begin to read ...
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