Dying to Breathe

8.1: estranged

A/N: Already on chapter 8! How exciting! A few more clues incoming--can anybody figure it out? 

Chapter 8, Part 1: Estranged

Penelope knew she was pretty.

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, her eyes drifted down her thin body—her mind subconsciously picking out the similarities. She wondered if every time Millie looked in the mirror, she saw her, too.

Taking in her gently sun-kissed fair skin, she saw the differences in the mirror as well—the random specks of freckles and beauty marks, the slight difference of height and weight. Penelope was smaller and thinner; Millie was a few inches taller and had more curves. Their hair was even slightly different: Millie's dark brown voluminous hair had a natural slightly distinguished curl the longer it got; Penelope's natural hair was a barely noticeable tint darker and hung almost lifelessly straight with a slight wave in it depending on how she let it dry. Millie's face was rounder, fuller—her cheeks filled with colour and perfectly placed freckles along her button nose. Penelope's face was just a bit more angular, her cheekbones more prominent, her nose a bit more turned up, her lips more pouty and less full, her chin not as rounded.

The biggest difference between them were in their eyes. Millie's green eyes would shine like jewels; hungry, alive, full of brightness. Sparkly jade. Penelope's were like looking into a forest—greenery of all sorts crawling around her irises and darkening them. Sacramento hunter green is what Millie called her eye colour.

But to everyone else, they were identical. The true definition of identical twins despite actually being fraternal. Even if Penelope wanted to, she would never be able to escape the haunting memories of Millie. Thankfully, she didn't want to. She used to actively try to look like Millie. The only reason she stopped was because she realized Millie herself didn't know how to look exactly like herself.

Millie's identity was perhaps the biggest mystery of all. Even bigger than Penelope's. And the mystery was growing more unbearable each day.

Penelope looked towards her bed; the box hidden but not forgotten. Readying herself, she looked back to the mirror—pretending to be looking at Millie.

"Hold on, okay?" She spoke into the empty room, "I'll find you. I'll figure it out." Promising her sister with a tensed nod, she turned around.

It had been a few days since Penelope discovered the box under her bed. She barely thought about it, let alone looked at it.

She pulled it out—her notebook of questions and clues on top of it as she inhaled deeply. Her hands held a shake to them as she pulled off the top, taking in the clean stacked bills. The money, despite knowing it was there, still caught Penelope's breath. Her family wasn't poor by any means, but they also didn't have wads of cash lying around. Taking a minute to settle her heart rate down, she pulled the bundles of money out. The cash was wrapped in blue elastic bands, holding them together. They seemed untouched; new. They smelled it, too. Not like a life savings that had come in steadily over time, but like something that had come in all at once.

She could probably scratch off 'stripper' from her list of ideas.

Her fingers grazed the small card first before she saw it—the smoothness of the paper distinctly different than the texturized bills. She hesitated, letting her thoughts run rampant. What if Millie was a hitman—the card a nice gesture to say thank you for killing my cheating husband?

The stripper option was looking a lot better than what was running through Penelope's mind.

Chastising herself, she refused to believe there wasn't a very valid and reasonable and legal explanation for everything. She pulled the small white card out. Whatever she thought, it wasn't what was in her hands.

It was white. Just white. A somehow ominous white.

Opening the card, in delicate black print the word 'wand' was stamped right in the middle, tiny and contrasting with that blank white around it. Nothing else. Nothing that could give any questions an answer—just more questions.

Wand. What? Was her sister a Harry Potter fanatic? Did she win some quidditch match? What or who the hell was 'wand'?

Tossing everything back into the box, she shut it angrily. Penelope felt frustrated; her yearning to know her sister almost painful. She had to get into her head. She had to find a way to see what she saw. They were twins, but Penelope had never felt so estranged from her.

Jumping as her phone vibrated against the white desk in her room, her alarm for school went off. Sighing, she took one last look at the settling orange bed skirt before hopping up.

She wouldn't let the questions defeat her.

She would find Millie.  

End of Part 1

A/N: SO MANY QUESTIONS! Anybody have any direction to those questions? I wanna hear your wildest ideas on what is going on! 

ALSO

HAPPY 1K READS!!! Thank you for your support <3 ILY! you guys the bomb.com