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The day started as it ended— with a scream. Her legs kicked furiously at the blanket covering her lower body, her upper half shooting up almost immediately. Her doe-like eyes were wide in fright, chest heaving up and down erratically as her hands fisted her white sheets to ground herself to something. She could faintly hear a light shuffling of feet and a sleepy voice saying something in the background, but her pounding heart was much louder in her ears. Breathe in, one, two, three, four ... Out.
Astoria's vision blurred before she comprehended the hand that was waving closely in her line of sight, forcing her to jerk her head back in surprise. She stared at her reflection, realizing a second later that she wasn't looking at a mirror, but instead at her twin sister. Aurelia's expression was too worried to be her own face.
"What's wrong?" Aurelia tried to whisper, but it was futile. Her scream had to have woken up the entire household, possibly even the entire neighborhood as well. Maybe her grandmother woke up from across town, somehow always knowing when something was wrong. Her sister's hand reached over to grasp at Astoria's hand, but she flinched back at the sudden touch. Aurelia's hands were freezing cold, but they were always like that; so were Astoria's.
Their door was pushed open in a hurry, their necks practically snapping to see who it was. Her father stood in the doorway, a worried expression on his face with his hand still on the doorknob and the other on the door frame to hold him up. The expression wore down her father's face, making him seem older than he was. She swallowed roughly from nervousness, feeling how dry her mouth and lips were.
"What happened?" His voice was gruff from just being awoken, and guilt whirled around in her stomach, making her feel sick. She didn't say anything, laying back down in bed and holding a hand to her stomach, hoping it would settle down. "Astoria, Aurelia— which one of you screamed? It's nearly two in the morning, neither of you should be up!"
Neither girls spoke, their eyes meeting in a silent conversation before Astoria turned to their father, "It was me, I'm sorry, daddy," her voice was quiet as she spoke, hanging her head low in feigned disappointment. "I was coming back from the bathroom and I thought I saw a spider so I accidentally screamed and woke Astoria up to kill it but by then, it was already gone."
