The Neighborhood Watch

Chapter Nine - Heimlich and Other Horrible Words

I don't remember much. I just remember the distinct difference of no longer having water in my lungs. Does that mean I'd drowned? Was I dead like MCD?

In the time between dying and knowing, I dreamt.

I was somewhere in town, surrounded by mounds of ice and snow. Marrisa and I sat in the middle of a frozen lake I'd never seen before, despite the overwhelming feeling that we were here in town. There was blood slashed across our faces though no wounds on our bodies. A large hole sat between us, the bubbles of someone's air rising in the water, slowing coming to an end as they drowned.

Marrisa was about six years old in my dream, which meant I was too, but we seemed oddly at home in the blood. "I tried to help him." She breathed.

"It wasn't our fault." Six-year-old me told her. "His shadow did it."

My sister frowned out towards the white emptiness that was the rest of the dream. "When you're not triplets anymore, what do you call yourselves?"

"Twins," I told her as the dream faded.

I woke up coughing up water, instinctively rolling onto my side to spit it out.

My eyes opened, as though for the first time, to a strange scene. Marrisa knelt before me, soaking wet and looking tired. Leo sat to the left of me, looking like he'd been holding onto someone who was wet, his shirt and pants dampened in the shape of a human. Hannah looked focused, holding onto a flannel she didn't seem to realize she was still holding. Sabrina stood off to the side, holding her breath.

Sitting up, I looked down at the pool, almost expecting to see my reflection there again, nodding at me to jump. But there was nothing but water and a ruined pool cover. "What happened?" I asked.

"I dove in after you," Marrisa told me, wiping the wet hair out of her face. "I pulled you out and Leo did CPR on you until you spit out all that water."

Leo looked at me, shock written across his face. "Why would you go into the pool, Mika?"

"I wanted to know what it was like to drown, like MCD," I admitted, the feeling of confusion slowly leaving me. "Then my reflection told me to jump, and something pushed me in, a shadow of some sort."

Hannah frowned. "Your shadow pushed you in?"

I shook my head. "Not mine."

"You were alone when we got out here," Leo told me.

I looked up to where my reflection had been, realizing he hadn't been in the water. He'd stood at the other end of the pool, and I'd been drunk enough to assume he had been me. I was wrong to tell Marrisa we were twins that day.

"What is it?" Marrisa asked.

I looked back at her and frowned. "It was our brother and his shadow," I muttered, not sure about it myself. But there was no other explanation, other than I suppose ingesting too much vodka and pool water. "MCD. The third Darcy. Somehow, we're triplets." I told her, much louder this time. 

My sister frowned and looked at my face for signs of confusion and brain damage. "Mika, that's not possible, we've been twins forever."

"But not before that kid drowned." I reminded her. "I can't remember anything before they drowned. Can you?" Marrisa paused as she thought about it. "My reflection wasn't in the water, he spoke to me from over there," I pointed to the other side of the pool. "It was his shadow that pushed me in. He is the MCD on the scope I found. Mom and Dad lied to us."

Leo reached out to touch my forehead and check for a temperature. "How are you feeling Mika? Still a bit woozy?"

I swatted his hand away and pointed to where my reflection had been. "When I was dying, I remembered that day. It was in town, at a lake. We were covered in blood, and we were six years old. Marrisa," I turned towards her. "You asked me what we call ourselves if we're not triplets anymore, and I said, twins. We've called ourselves that ever since."