What should I call this book?

Prologue

The wind was howling outside, my little twin sisters screaming only increased the sound of the wind. They're scared of it, for some peculiar reason. I rather like the sound of the wind; be it howling or it making the trees go swish, swish. I'm a twin too, but my twin is gone. Vanished, disappeared into thin air. She and I were really close. We shared a room. Her half of the room is still untouched; if she comes back, she should have a room to come back to. Her name was Melany. It means "The person always covers by shadows, impossible to be seen."

We both loved to read books, her more then me. We both could play instruments. Melany could play the violin and I could play the piano. I sometimes teased her by calling her "Melody". I mean, when she played that violin, she could play the most beautiful tunes and songs. She didn't tease me, but she called me "Chris". We both loved sports and were a bit tom-boyish. We were the odd ones of the family.

Our 5 sisters were all girly-girls; loved make-up, dresses, high-heels are just a few. Our 8 brothers, however, liked us just the way we were. Melany and I could (and would) wrestle with them, play soccer, rug-by, and other sports with them. Melany left just over two years ago. Mom doesn't really like us; I mean we're her only two girls who didn't like all of that stuff. Jeans and shorts and T-shirts were what we like the best. Dad laughed when we showed up every time the boys, were going to do a match or martial arts meeting. Finally, Dawson, the youngest of our brothers, said

"Dad, why don't we let Crystal and Melany try some martial arts. To see if they like it." He added when he saw us brighten up and Dad looked at him and us with doubt. "Ok. Just try your best and after this is over, let me know if you don't like it. Ok, girls?" Dad asked uncertainty. We just nodded vigorously. And so for the next four years, we got closer to Dad and our brothers. We loved our training and sports. Melany disappeared when she was ten. That was two years ago. Yep, I'm twelve now.

Ok, that's it. I'm going into the woods. I can't deal with stupid two year old's screaming. I thought as I gathered my books and homework. I shoved all of them into my satchel. Melany made it for me for our 8th birthday. I made her a song. The satchel is basically very big. On the outside it looks small, the inside is huge! I can fit many days' worth of food in it and still have space to spare; like for water canteens. Anyway, I opened my window and went out onto the little balcony. I grabbed the rope that connected the balcony to my treehouse. I set up my stuff and lit the lamps and for an hour I studied, did my homework, and read. I looked at my watch and it said 4:15. I decided I would go and explore the forest for bit.

After a while, I don't want to admit but I'm lost. And where I'm at, its pretty dark and I can't see anything. I'm not scared though, just nervous. I hear some twigs snap and I spin around, shining my flashlight at where the twigs snapped.

"Who's there? I'm not afraid to fight! Step out where I can see you." I call out, feeling a bit stupid. No one steps out and I stand still for a while, the flashlight on the spot. Nothing happened. So I walked on, thinking Next clearing I get to, I'll set up a small camp. Why didn't I think to ask Dad to take us camping before this? I found a little gap between some roots and crawled in.

I woke up to faint sunlight on my face. I got to my feet and was thrown back onto my back. I struggled to breathe and I found out that is was a person attacking me. We fought for the upper hand. I got a good look at them. I determined that 'they' were 'she'. She had pitch black hair- rather she had hair that was the color of the darkest shadows of black there were. She had silk clothes that were the same shade of black as her hair. Her eyes were teal colored. Only one person I know had those colored eyes.

"M-m-me-Melany?" I said breathlessly, having managed to get her of me. She didn't say anything. So I tried it again. "Melany?" Why can't I think if what she liked to be called? "Melody! Is that you? It's me! Crystal!" I cried out. She looked at me with shock. She looked like she couldn't believe what her ears and eyes were telling her.

"How do you know that?" The girl said hesitantly, like this was some trick.

"I'm your twin, Crystal. Remember?" I said to her. I spoke softly, because I didn't know if this was a dream or not. But either way, I missed my sister and I didn't want her to go away. She looked at me and smirked.

"Of course I remember you."

"Where have you been? Dad's worried and so are the others."

"Are they worried? Or are you talking about just yourself? I know you've missed me, but have the rest of the family?" What? Of course our family missed Melany. Why was she saying they didn't miss her?

"Of course we miss you! Why would you say we didn't miss you? And here you are, I've finally found you and we're hav-" She cut me off, looking a bit angry. I realized that I was shouting at her.

"You've finally found me!? What if I didn't want to be found! What if I like the family I have now! What if I left on purpose! What if I never liked the family you have now? Have you thought of what I might have felt? When I left? When I was gone for two years? How I never came back? You should know that forests don't scare me. You know I can get out of a forest like it was just a walk in the park! You should know that on the second day of being gone, I would have come back!" She yelled at me. I could see the fury bubbling in her. I also felt the hot fury threatened to overwhelm me. I shook at what she was saying. I stood there with shock, struggling to comprehend. Then she spoke again.

"If you want to leave the forest, head straight, then turn left twice when you get to two clearings, then head right four times, when you get to some ditches, they'll be one right after another, and head straight, you'll pass some pools of water," Why was Melany helping me when she made it clear that she didn't want anything to do with me or my family. "Oh, and my name is Shadow."

"Why are helping me now? Why did you change your name?"

Shadow sniffed "Because I'm not allowed to let you wander our forest anymore. I had to change my name. I had no choice." These answers only made more questions. I stiffened.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Well, one we could smell you, hear you and because an idiot stepped on a twig. We could smell you because you didn't disguise your scent, everyone has a scent." Shadow added quickly, as I opened my mouth to say a retort.

"Our forest? What do you mean?" I asked quickly.

Shadow merely said nothing, a hint of a grin on her face. And like that she was gone.

"Don't forget what I said." Her voice called from nowhere in particular. Then suddenly I found myself just over the border from the tree line.

"Don't come back or I won't be so nice. Don't come back at all if you don't want to get hurt." Shadow's voice hissed from the tree line.

I ignored her and set off towards home. I didn't know that she wasn't kidding.