Together We Stand, Alone we drown

Together. [chapter one]

"Two halves don't always equal one whole. Twins may have the same body, but not the same mind. They follow one another, like Ying and Yang" - Bread

My name is Laura, Midshipmen on the fine ship, the Time. Yes, its true that most, well okay, all call me Laurie, or Laurence. I think I am 15 years old but on the streets, the months and days tend to slip through your finger like the sand that outlined the beautiful blue ocean. This is the story how I lost my name, and my twin.

Laura and Laurence, the dynamic duo of the street rats. We could weasel our way into the soup kitchens, unlike the other children, who were quickly pushed out of line by the adults. He would chat up the lady at the front of the line, all his yellow ivories glinting like pale gold fabric. Laurence. My other half. While I was quite the firecracker, chasing off the other grimy starving beggars of the alleys, he could sweet talk the soft folk and make them putty in his hands. The soft folk being the ones who owned the shops and grocery carts. We were practically the same person at the first glance, with shaggy red hair and green eyes. Freckles splattered our rosy cheeks and covered our shoulders and knees like stars across the sky. Right down to our pudgy noses we were the exact same.

Then came gender. I often wished I was a boy. Laurence often would get a coin or two when asked to hold a horse, while a bloke went into a bar to get tipsy. No matter what bar I stood at, the only type of talk I got from any cove who was looking for service was from the John's asking to push my parsley, have a little bounce around a bush. Unlike some of the kids on the streets, we weren't hungry enough to sell ourselves to the perverted trade. Hair? Sure! Teeth that had fallen out? Why not? I reckon if someone had asked Laurie for a few toes, in exchange for their weight in coins, he'd have stretched out on the table and told them he had a splendid spleen. He always told me that as a joke, since many a time THEY would visit.

Lifting our rags, scientists would prod and poke, and ask us how we were. They would almost pout upon hearing that we did not have the runs, nor were we feeling clammy. We always promised them that if they gave us a little bit of the sweet meats and drinks the gluttons indulged in, we would lay down on their laboratory door matts. They never let us have some, saying letting us get fat would be a crime to science. liked using the dead children's corpses for their work, saying that it was more compact and light. I always felt a shiver when ever I saw the flock of doctors, with their italian bubonic plague style masks, with their hooked beaks.

Laurence was the one who came up with the idea to get out of this macabre place. "By sea we will escape from this town's grasp We will flee by sea." I could only grimace at the time. Everyone knew that they wouldn't let a girl onto their ship, that was seriously bad luck. I was quick to point that little detail out to my dearest brother. He only grinned and shook his head. He took a knife and sat behind me, cutting my shoulder length matted mess. He dragged me to one our stash spots and pulled out a whole little outfit. I gasped in shock at the clean pants, shirt and vest, looking at our rags, how did he get this? As he got his own smart looking shirt and vest, he told me all about his adventure in the city morgue, which practically made my skin crawl once the clothes were on. He showed me to a puddle and well, I looked just like him. "Ain't I the prettiest little gamin!" I cooed as I messed with my mop of red hair. I was flat chested and lean, which only further improved the deception. With that, we headed down the peer determined to stash on a ship or to die trying!
It only took them fifteen minutes to find us, hidden in empty barrels. We had tried to be honorable, and fought with the other boys in the area to be ships boy. But, nah. Laurence slipped up in nervousness and started introducing us with, "Hi! I'm Laurence, and here's my sister." And that did it for us. The ship's administrators nostrils flared and he told us there was no chance I was stepping on the important vessel.
When they caught us, they lifted us right off the ground by the collar of our shirts and demanded an explanation. I figured introductions with the real crew of the ship might help our dismal looking situation. "Hello! I'm Laur-" One of the ships boy's pipped up, his voice was nasal and sliced the air like a knife. "We know, you're Laurence, and this is your ruddy sister!"
Wait. No. This was going wrong. Now they believed Laurence was me, and I was Laurence. As I opened my mouth to object, the captain strolled in deck, and I lost any confidence in speaking. His voice drowned out mine with out even trying, and demanded to know what the hell was going on. The crew quickly filled him in on our failed stowaway mission, and of our names and gender. I snuck a glance at Laurence, and my heart stopped. He looked terrified, and a good amount of reasons. We were far from the peer now, and there was no chance of them turning around and dropping us off.

The captain was pacing back and forth in thought, when he suddenly grinned, his mouth full of rotten teeth. "We'll just get ridda the girl, and keep the boy. One more ships boy couldn't hurt us, specially with all the work that we've got round here." There was a murmur of approval as my body tensed, and my stomach shriveled with fear. I was ready to get grabbed and chucked over board, when they snatched Laurence. He put up a good fight, kicking and screaming that he was in fact a bloke, which was drowned out with the laughter of the crew. Suddenly, he was over the side, I could hear him plop into the ocean. His screams of anger dissolved and were replaced with frightened shrieks.. and then, nothing. The ships boys crowded around me, eager to meet me, as I stood there shocked.

From that day onward, I have been masquerading on this ship, careful and attentive. I had definitely left one kind of prison, and walked into another.