Twin Reflection

Chapter 10 - Ella

Later that afternoon they were sat in the living room watching TV, when their mum got back. They headed into the kitchen to say hello and found their mum gently placing a massive birthday cake onto the counter. She beamed at them as they entered.

"You both look a lot better than earlier! Do you think you are well enough to go out for a meal with Katie and Brook?"

They both squealed excitedly and Willow went over to give her a hug. Ella hung back feeling a bit out of place, before giving her mum a brief hug and going over to have a look at the birthday cake. She could tell that her grandma had made it. It was a beautifully decorated, 2 tier cake with multi-coloured flowers made out of icing surrounding it.

She was glad she was going to get out of the house for a bit and spend some time with Brook. She knew it was best to keep their weird abilities hidden for now, but she was having trouble keeping something this big from Brook. Realising how hard it must be for Willow, she wondered if she would be able to keep her promise and not tell her friends or their parents.

"Ella? Are you there?!" Her mum joked, tapping her on the shoulder.

"W-What?"

"I asked if you liked the cake grandma baked for you both!"

"Oh yeah, it looks delicious!"

"She was very proud of it I think! She's coming over this weekend by the way girls, she said she couldn't miss your birthday!"

Ella smiled, she got on very well with her grandma; probably better than she did with her parents sometimes! Their grandparents had split up before the girls were born, so they had never met their grandad and their mum didn't speak about her dad. Ella often wondered why but whenever she mentioned it her mum swiftly changed the topic.

Their mum told them both to go and get ready, whilst she put all her shopping away and got ready to leave. Apparently Brook was meeting them at the restaurant and they had to pick up Katie on the way.

Ella opened her wardrobe and rummaged around for something to wear. She decided on a pair of black skinny jeans and her favourite top, before grabbing her curlers to do her hair. When she got downstairs, Willow was already there helping their mum. Willow's outfit was fairly similar to Ella's, she even had her hair down, which she didn't do very often.

Ella grabbed her boots and quickly fastened them before they headed out to the car to go and pick Katie up.

Putting on her seatbelt, Ella gazed out of the window whilst Willow chatted to their mum. Before long she spotted a black car that looked quite familiar; it had turned out of a side street near their house and it had been behind them ever since. She couldn't see the driver properly due to the tinted windows but felt uneasy so turned back around to face the front, still feeling like she was being watched...

Pulling up outside Katie's house, even though it was already dark, Ella couldn't help notice how the black car slowed a little as it went past them before turning left at the end of the road and disappearing out of sight. Willow jumped out of the car, followed by their mum, and knocked on the front door which was opened immediately.

"Willow! Happy Birthday! I'm guessing you're feeling better then?!" Katie exclaimed, hugging Willow before the three of them made their way back to the car, whilst their mum chatted to Katie's dad.

"Yeah, we both feel loads better! Plus we wouldn't have wanted to miss this!"

As Katie got into the car beside her, Ella felt the unmistakable tingling feeling run down her spine...

It took her a moment to register what had happened, and when she did it was too late to stop Katie turning around to greet her. "Hey, how are..." Katie's eyes widened in confusion before she spluttered "Ella! Your eyes! They've gone purple!"

Ella stared back in horror for a second before catching Willow's panicked gaze and looking away from Katie, focussing all her energy on returning her eyes to the original colour. She felt the tingling sensation spread through her body and hoping her eyes were green again, she looked up.

"W-What Katie that's impossible!" Willow was saying, trying her hardest not to stutter. "It probably just... just... the light! It's really dark in here..."

Ella reached for the light in the car and switched it on. They were all blinded for a moment.

"Oh yeah they're green now. Must have been the light..." Katie said looking a little startled, before reaching down to rummage around for something in her bag.

The silence was broken by their mum getting back in the car.

"I told your dad we would be back by about nine thirty." She said, starting the engine.

Katie nodded before resuming her usual chatty self and rambling on about what had happened in school that day. Ella breathed a sigh of relief as she returned to staring out of the window once again. She needed to learn to control it, this could not happen when she was at school!

They stopped at the end of the street, waiting to be let through the traffic so they could turn right. A car paused to let them in front, Ella turned to see who it was and had to stop herself from gasping out loud, it was the black car with tinted windows...

Ella sank back in her seat, this couldn't be acoincidence, could it?