5
The blow was well-aimed and connected squarely with his jaw. His head moved a few inches to his left, but for the most part he absorbed the full force of the hit. Then for a moment time stopped, and both of them stuck in their own positions. Amanda lay there on the bed with her fist still pressed against his cheek, and the doppelganger hovering over her. His face was a picture of shock, disappointment, and that madness hidden just beneath the surface.
Then to Amanda’s horror her fingers, once pushed against the solidness of a cheek bone, felt the skin beneath her fist soften. The flesh twisted and inconsistently bulged like a wave over the side of the phantasm’s face. The skin darkened and tendrils crept out of the black ooze. They wrapped around her fingers, her hand, her wrist
