The Twins (EDITED)

Chapter 3

Alexander's POV-

Throwing knives is like throwing away my worries. There's nothing I need to do. All I need to hear is my music. All I need to see is the knives penetrating the walls. That's it.

You're not good enough.

You'll never be able to protect her.

You're a tiny winy boy who knows nothing.

You're stupid.

You're dumb.

You'll never be able to protect your family.

You're gonna die.

No, I'm not.

"Stop."

You're a worthless piece of crap!

"Stop!"

You don't know when she's gonna be in danger again, you couldn't protect her last time.

"STOP!"

I had my eyes closed this whole time. What if someone came in? That's not possible. I locked my door. Only Ariana has a key. 

"Alex? Alex! GUYS! ALEX IS HAVING A PANIC ATTACK!" Ariana is screaming for help. I can barely hear her, it's just a whisper.

I hear Reese and Mike come to my room, they're trying to calm me down.

"Alex, listen to me, how many fingers am I holding up?" Ariana asks, calmly. 

"Focus on my fingers, focus on my heartbeat. Alex, you have to calm down."

She pulls me to her chest, as I find her heartbeat calming. My breathing slows down and I feel like I can breathe again.

"WHAT IN THE FLIPPING HECK WAS THAT?!" Mike screams. I could hardly hear him over Ariana whispering things in my ears.

"You're good enough. Don't listen to those voices Alex. You'll be able to protect the family. You always do," She whispered. I find it comforting. My twin is the best.

Ariana's POV-

"GUYS! ALEX IS HAVING A FLIPPING PANIC ATTACK! GET YOUR BUTTS UP HERE NOW YOU SONS OF A BISCUIT!"

Having to calm Alex down is hard for me, I hate to see him like this. It's so hard to keep my composure. But, I have to stay strong, for his sake, and for my brother's sake. Without me, they would've gone insane by now anyway.

"Alex, focus on my breathing. Focus on my fingers. Focus on my words. Follow my breathing. In and out. In and out," I spoke softly in a reassuring manner, my tone calming. I use my ‘calming voice’ to help him out of this. He's never had a panic attack before.

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no! This is bad! This is really bad! Reese and Mike are looking at the throwing knives on the wall.

"Mike, Reese. I think we should have a private chat. Alone," I say. I need to make up a lie. Now, at this moment. Or I could threaten them. We step out of the room to let Alex get a hold of himself.

"Guys, I know it looks bad-"

"What do you mean looks bad? It is bad!" Mike says. Reese is just standing there in question.

"What...why does he have throwing knives..?" Reese asked, perplexed.

"That’s a good question," Mike spoke.

I send a death glare to Reese telling him to shut up. They know I’m getting annoyed.

"It looks bad, but I can explain."

"Explain then, dearest sister." Mike mocks.

I shoot him a death glare, even more deadly than the one I sent Reese. He got the message.

"So, when we were 12-"

"Are you a-actually gonna tell them Ari?" Alex asks, his voice cracking. It hurts me to see him like this. 

"Of course I am! It's been too long we've been keeping this secret!" I exclaimed, as I winked at him, so he knows it's an act.

"Well, as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," I spoke as I directed the last part to Alex. "We've been into throwing knives, it was a way of coping with the loss of mom and dad," I continued. I shudder thinking about the fact I actually called them 'mom and dad'.

All 3 boys stare at me blankly, I know they're probably thinking that too. They weren't really our parents. Not really, they just had the titles. They hated all 5 of us.

"We thought if we took our anger out on something, then we would feel better."

"Then we got addicted to throwing knives, it's like our escape from the world. Escape from our pain," Alex finishes. I look at him with empathy evident in my expression.  My eyes widened at his last sentence as I fully registered it. How could he be so stupid to say that? Cue the questions.

"What pain?" Mike asks.

"Feel better? How do you need to feel better?!" Reese blurted. He’s really only like this when he’s really mad, upset or confused. Probably the last.

"Umm, has anyone seen Brian?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

Key word: trying.

"He's at work, now what do you mean?" Mike asks, again. He's getting madder by the second.

"Can we talk about this later? He really needs to recover," I say, gesturing to Alex.

Mike and Reese looked at each other. It confuses me how they're not twins and can still read each other like that. It gets on my nerves.

"Fine," they say simultaneously.

"We'll tell you later, we promise," I said, trying to be reassuring. Hopefully they forget before dinner.

Brian's POV-

"What do you mean, something's up with the twins?" I ask. I'm confused. The twins wouldn’t let any of their secrets get exposed.

"Well, Alex had a panic attack, and Ariana knew how to handle it! Then, out of the blue they told us a big secret! Since when do they just open up like that?" Mike tattles. 

"Stop snitching on them, I want to hear it out of their own mouths," I say. Why are my little brother and sister so confusing? Why are they letting them think so…far-fetched?

My phone rings. I look at the caller I.D seeing it's Ariana. I hang up on Mike and Reese.

"Yes-" She cuts me off.

"BRIAN! THEY'RE ONTO US!" She shouts through the phone. Yeah, no crap.

"I'll deal with them."

"No, they want answers at dinner. They need answers at dinner," Ariana says.

Those sons of a biscuit! They can't be prying their secrets from them when they both have pretty big secrets too! Secrets they don’t know I know about. 

"Make up a lie or something until I get home. Make sure they believe it," I say, hanging up. She's smart, she can do it. I’ll finish this last paper, then I’ll go home. I have yet to see how much they know.

Hewo, my peeps! Another kinda short chapter... please expect this.

How ya doin' today?

Have an amazing day, my peeps! <3