Twin Reflection

Chapter 5 - Willow

Willow lay stretched out on her bed. It was getting dark now. She hadn't gone down for tea when her mum had called her and as far as she knew neither had Ella.

She gazed around her room, her old bookcase stood proudly by the wall to her left, opposite her bed was her desk, covered in neat piles of papers and folders. In the corner next to it sat her wardrobe with a full-length mirror beside to it and shelves lined the light blue walls with books that didn't have space on the bookcase. Her room was simple, but she liked the plain tidiness of it and it was never messy like her sister's.

Willow, who had woken up in the late afternoon after spending most of her day catching up on sleep after her previous sleepless night, now lay there wondering what was going to happen in the morning. It was her birthday tomorrow, but due to how strange her day had been, she hadn't spent much time thinking about it.

She fell into an uneasy sleep and woke up several times before deciding to get up and make herself a drink. It was 11:45 before she was back in bed drinking a cup of tea.

Willow took a sip, trying to ignore the tingling sensation in her fingers as she lifted the cup to her mouth. Putting the tea down, she got up and walked over to the window. She went to open the curtains and with a jolt she realised that within minutes she would be 14 years old. Staring out of the window onto the street, she noticed a cat stalking across the garden wall. It was focused on the garden below, Willow guessed that it was some sort of mouse or small creature hidden in the grass. Turning away from the window and heading back towards her bed, she heard a loud screech, and she quickly looked around to face the window again. Willow blinked, everything suddenly seemed a lot clearer, she could see each and every whisker on the animal and realised that it was a mouse darting through the grass with the cat on its tail. She looked around to see what had made everything clearer but she couldn't spot anything. Frowning, she decided she was probably imagining things and got back into bed and quickly fell asleep.

Willow woke up again and glancing at her alarm clock she realised that it was 6:20 in the morning. A loud tweeting noise and the barking of a dog in the distance had woken her. She came to the conclusion that the window must be open so she got up to shut it. However, she found that it was firmly closed. A loud bang from downstairs startled her. Wondering what her mum was doing making so much noise this early in the morning she headed downstairs to investigate. She went into the kitchen and her mum turned when she walked in.

"Willow, Happy Birthday! Are you feeling any better?" she asked as she poured herself a cup of tea, "Do you want a drink Willow?"

"Ow!" Willow winced and put her hands over her ears. Why was her mum talking so loudly at 6:20 in the morning?

"Sorry Mum, I'm not really feeling too well, my ears ache and I'm still really tired," she said quietly trying to block out the noise of the kettle as she focussed on what her mum was saying.

Her mum frowned, a look of confusion swept over her face, "Do you feel well enough to go to school today? Ella was still sick this morning as well. Maybe you should just rest today, then you will be better for Monday. I better phone school to tell them that you are both still ill. I can't believe this is happening on your birthday as well."

Willow headed upstairs, nearly tripping over the dog, who lay sprawled out at the foot of the stairs. "Ollie, you stupid dog. Seriously! What a place to lie!" She muttered, stepping over the dog.

"Whatever" she heard a gruff voice say from behind her. She glanced around expecting to see her dad, but there was no one there. She looked down at Ollie who tilted his head and stared back at her.

Now completely baffled. Willow turned and carried on walking upstairs telling herself she must have imagined it.