Zach left twenty missed calls. Eliza sent thirty-six unread texts. And when Lynda met Zach and Eliza in the park of Landmay, telling them she found nobody in the Colloney's house (not even the maids), the three shrugged and couldn't care less. They all got used to Brian's family's disappearance every now and then. They always went on vacations without informing their friends, as if trying to get as far as possible from people.
Lynda handed Zach DVDs of the first season of Game of Thrones.
"How did you know I've been meaning to watch it?" Zach surprisingly asked.
"Oh, Eliza told me," Lynda said. "She and I are like the same person; telling her a word means telling me too." She winked.
If what she said were possibly true, and if many other people knew things about Zach, they would perceive him as a crazy psycho freak.
He glared at Eliza, and when Lynda noticed she was starting to ruin his day, she cracked a laugh and said she was only kidding. Zach didn't know what to believe.
"Anyway," Lynda tried to change the subject. "Have you talked to your brother? Is he going to be okay there?"
"Why are you discussing this now?" Eliza hissed.
Zach rolled his eyes. He shook his head and thought if people were never going to shut up about Alex, he would never succeed in pretending his not-anymore-brother did not exist, nor ever was he real. Perhaps the matter required some more time.
“Because I know you spoke to Alex over the phone, Eliza,” said Lynda.
“What?” Shouted Zach, which caused Eliza to step back.
She then said: “You, more than anybody else, know what Alex is capable of. I wanted to make sure he is where he is supposed to be.”
“You think he could’ve escaped?” Zach said. “He was seized, and…”
“So you called just to ask if he’s surely behind bars?” Interrupted Lynda.
“I was only attempting to be completely certain that Zach will be safe. For good.”
“We still don’t know what you and Alex talked about,” Lynda said.
Few moments after Lynda asked her questions, Eliza’s phone buzzed.
It was a text sent by her mom: Honey, don’t be late. Have fun. :)
“Let’s just talk about this later,” Zach suggested. “Okay? Let’s go see the movie.”
“Whatever,” Lynda said.
The Night in the Woods was about a group of five teens who decided they explore the woods. Once they arrived, one of them vanished. The remaining four went looking for him, but instead of finding him, they lost one more pal. Later in the film, only one girl was left. She discovered the bodies of her companions thrown before the door of a cannibal’s hut. She was lucky enough to return home safely. When her parents asked her where her friends were, she collapsed…
“Wow that was intense,” said Eliza as they walked out of the theatre hall.
At 10:54 p.m. Zach’s phone rang. “Oh, that’s Brian returning my calls,” he said. He was still with Eliza and Lynda, but now they were spending time in Lynda’s bedroom.
“Hey, dude! Where’ve you been?” Zach answered.
On the line, there was no Brian. It was his agitated mother. “Do you know where Brian is?”
“Why, weren’t you with him, Mrs. Conolley?”
Apparently, the Conolleys had been looking for him for hours; Mrs. C. said he hadn’t returned home since yesterday.
Mrs. C. said: “I need to talk to you and Eliza; I’m sure you two can be so much help.”
“Now?” Zach was starting to panic.
“I don’t see there is a better time than Right Now!” The last two words sliced through Zach’s ears.
Zach told the story about Brian’s being missing - his real disappearance they all thought meant nothing more serious than a family's day out - to his friends. Eliza’s face hardened and tightened, while Lynda raised her brown eye brows and rolled her eyes in apathy.
YOU ARE READING
Twin
Misteri / Thriller18-year-old Zach has finally got what he always wanted: get rid of his haunting nightmare. Ever since he was just an innocent little child, he never was able to receive the tiniest bit of his mother's attention. It all was directed and granted to Al...
