Chapter Twenty Three - WTF

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"What do you mean, that's not your mother?" Kate whispered, as if someone might hear us.

I whispered right back "She just offered me the menu, and asked what I fancied"

Kate gasps "Maybe she found the Buddha this summer... or learnt boundaries. Perhaps she missed you and wants to change" she went on to reel off about twenty reasons why Moira may have changed.

"None of that explains why my Mother now smells like sweet citrus, replacing her heady perfume, or indeed why her colour palette has changed from black ... to... salmon pink"

"Dear god" Kate gasps again. "It's not possible Millie... is it?"

"That I just hugged..." and I paused, because saying it out loud sounded insane "Millie" and before Kate can even say anything I'm back tracking, like I've been talking like a lunatic. "Of course it's not Millie, she's dead. I don't know why I said that"

Kate was quiet.

"You still there" I asked her.

"I'm googling" she replied, tongue in her cheek as she clearly scrolled on her phone.

"Googling what" I ask "it's not like Google is going to tell you whose sat at this table. But, if it's not Millie, and I'm not hallucinating, than it's my Mother... and she's having a mental breakdown"

"I didn't notice this before" Kate whispered.

"What" I ask.

She quietly taps away on her phone "Katherine" I curse "share"

"Sorry, it's just I didn't notice the first time I googled her, how she's got this death notification in the paper, but no mention of a place to send flowers , or even a funeral. It's just a little odd. Probably nothing"

I hold my palm to my forehead and exhale, feeling the tension and the anxiety begin to form a headache "Honestly maybe it's me, maybe I'm just losing it. Last night I thought I saw a ghost, and now I'm seeing Millie in my Mother, which is no shock since they were identical freaking twins"

"Any tells" Kate asks.

"Tells" I ask.

"You know, twins might be identical on paper but there's always ways to tell them apart"

I thought back to the night my Mother told me about Millie, and the way she described the only way they differed physically. Millie had a small mole beside her ear, in the same place I did.

"I gotta go" I say, standing quickly and righting myself.

"Wait... Millie, we should talk this through. What does this mean? And where is Moira? Should I come down?" Kate asked, sounding a little panic stricken.

"No, don't come down" but before I can finish what I'm saying my phone rings.

"What's that beeping sound" Kate asked.

I hold my phone out in front of me and read the screen "it's Moira"

"I just got goosebumps" Kate freaked out. "Answer it Millie" she urged. "And stay in that bathroom until I get there"

The line cut, and I clicked to accept my mothers call. I am silent, listening to the line pick up and the silence her end.

"Millicent... are you okay..." Came her familiar voice, laced with apprehension.

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