Christine

The Only Chapter

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Christine Griggs. She, her father, and her twin sister lived together on a farm in the Kansas countryside. Christine and her sister home-schooled each other, which, considering they were both pretty young, didn't go very well. Though she was fairly average, Christine had the most vivid and beautiful imagination. And though most of her friends were imaginary, Christine's best friend was her sister, Anne. Christine and Anne did everything together. They did chores together and played together. Their favorite game was "Storytelling", as they called it. Anne would create long, winding stories, and Christine would act out all the parts.

Aside from being best friends, Christine and Anne were nearly identical twins, the only difference being their eye color. Anne's were a shimmering, algae green, while Christine's were sharp and yellow like a cat's.

Though Christine and Anne had their father, their main source of "parenting" was each other. Their mother had died giving birth to them, and it seemed that their father had never forgiven them. So, he generally left them alone. Because of this, they loved each other more than they could ever love anything else.

Soon after Christine and Anne turned fourteen, their father passed away from unknown causes. Even though they barely knew their father, they grieved. And though they grieved together, Anne seemed to be slowly distancing herself from Christine. Christine just assumed it was Anne's way of coping with her grief. Long before the funeral took place, Christine and Anne were told they'd be moving in with their aunt, LuAnn Davenport. They had never met LuAnn, so the girls were unsure as to why the social worker had chosen her as their legal guardian. But, since they didn't have much influence on who their legal guardian could be, they agreed to move in with LuAnn.

Several days after the funeral, Christine and Ann moved in with Ms. Davenport. As their house had been sold, they would never be going back to the small farm, but rather, living in their aunt's secluded mansion.As they drove away from the warm Kansas countryside to their aunt's dark, deserted neighbourhood, they wept. They didn't want to leave the one place they knew. When they reached LuAnn's street, Christine envisioned ghosts and demons swirling the car. But these weren't the kind of ghosts and demons from kid's television shows. These ones were grotesque, and some of them even had her father's angered face. And though Christine was fourteen, she shrank away from the window. "What's wrong?" Anne asked, eyeing her sister suspiciously. Christine shivered and closed her eyes. "It's scary here." "Yeah, I know," Anne replied."But-" She paused. "We'll be okay."

"YOU GIRLS KEEP IT DOWN BACK THERE!" LuAnn shrieked. The twins screamed at the sudden fierceness in their aunt's voice. They held on to each other, whimpering, the rest of the way to LuAnn's house.

LuAnn's house couldn't have been more dreary. Black doors, black-tinted windows, black shutters, black paint. Black seemed to be LuAnn's colour of choice. "Well, don't just sit there," LuAnn hissed at the girls when they continued to gawk at her house. "Grab your stuff and get out of my car." Christine and Anne jumped and quickly grabbed their bags.

Once they got into the dreary mansion, LuAnn essentially shoved the girls into their separate rooms and swept off to her own. As far as the twins could tell, LuAnn lived alone except for her cat. The walls were barren and faded where it seemed there had once been pictures lingering there.

"Aunt LuAnn kind of scares me," Anne whispered to her sister in Christine's room. "Me too," Christine replied. "Who lives in this big of a house alone?" "I dunno." Anne paused. There were voices coming from down the hall. Christine grabbed Anne's shoulder. "Do you hear that?" Christine asked frantically. Come to us, Christine, they seemed to say. Come to us. "What are you talking about?" Anne shot back. "Do I hear what?" "Those voices." Anne rolled her eyes and pulled Christine's hand off of her shoulder. "No, Christine," Anne snapped. "I don't hear anything! And don't touch me." Christine shrunk back. Her sister had never spoken so coldly to her before. Was is something I said? Christine wondered. Why is she mad at me? Does she hate me? Christine weeped when she thought of this prospect. She and her sister were best friends! They couldn't hate each other, could they?