Perfect Twins

Chapter 10.

Janet remembers that night perfectly. Eleven-year-old Janet made her way to the kitchen downstairs. Lucy was watching television while doing her homework in the living room in their old house, and Alice was on the laptop reading her emails like she did everyday.

"Mom do we have anything to eat?" Janet called from the kitchen, her hand on the fridge door handle, ready to open it. Janet waited but didn't get a response; all she could hear was the television that was on a high volume. Janet shrugged carelessly and opened the fridge door, and to everyone's surprise, a bottle of wine fell from one of the shelves in the fridge and shattered into pieces on the ground, injuring Janet's feet in the process. Janet screamed and fell to the floor, alarming everyone.

Alice ran to the kitchen followed by Lucy and they both stopped in shock when they saw alcohol and blood mixed together on the kitchen's stoned floor. Janet laid down, panting and grunting as her bare legs bled and the palm of her hands were cut when she tried to take out the broken shards.

"What did you do?!" Alice exclaimed. Shock, horror and loss were heard in her voice. Tears gathered in Alice's eyes and she shot her eyes at Janet with pure hate. For a moment, Janet couldn't recognise her own mother. Alice grabbed Janet and started to punch the poor girl in the face and the stomach, and she screamed in the process with tears falling down from her face. When Alice's fists got tired, she got up and started to kick Janet. Janet curled into a ball so the pain wouldn't get to her, she grimaced and cried out in pain. Lucy was frozen in her place, her eyes wide open and her body shaking uncontrollably. She didn't expect such a reaction. Only the sudden loud scream of Janet snapped Lucy out of her surprise.

"Mom! Stop it!" Lucy tried to push Alice away but Alice was way stronger than her and she grabbed Lucy's shirt and threw her to the floor of glass, alcohol and blood next to Janet. Her back throbbed and her head almost felt like it shattered with how hard it banged the floor.

"You..." Alice pointed at them, her finger shaking, she was out of breath; her dark hair stuck to the sweat on her face. "You're useless." Her voice shook but the volume was subtle.

Janet shook her head and her bottom lip quivered. She couldn't bring herself to utter anything, but the pain in her eyes begged for mercy. 

"Mom please!" Lucy begged, "what's gotten in to you?"

"What's gotten into me?" Alice exclaimed again, she grabbed a wet piece of broken glass off the floor and held it tightly, almost looking like the glass would cut through her fingers. "You've gotten into me! You and your cursed father! You're ruining my life!" Her breathing became faster and faster and her body vibrated with rage, "he's not coming back." Tears rolled down her cheeks again.

She attacked Lucy with the piece of glass and slit the skin of Lucy's forearm. Lucy cries out in pain and struggles to get out of Alice's grip. Janet tries to pull Alice away with her weak hands but it's pointless and soon after, Janet feels noxious and falls to the floor unconscious. Everything went black, the images faded and the screams were no longer heard.

***

Janet cracked open her eyes; it took her a few seconds before she realised she could barely move. Every movement sent pain to her side. Her legs felt cramped and bruised and her muscles were stiff. She looked around and recognised the house bathroom. She was in the bathtub naked, the blood from her cuts floated in the water. She turned her stiff neck and saw Lucy sat down on the tiled floor with her chin leaning on the bathtub and she smiled sadly.

"What happened?" Janet asked painfully.

"Nothing much." Lucy answered, her voice timid, "when she was finished with me she ran outside the house... do you think she'll be back?"

Janet sighed and sunk a little into the red bath.

Lucy bit her bottom lip and looked down, "why would she do that to us?"

"Stop it Lucy."

"She never hits us. Ever."

"Pain changes people. Mother loves us, it's just... she's going through tough times and she needs to let it out somehow."

"Is it because of dad?"

"As far as I know."

Lucy looked down at her forearm and gently touched the red fresh scars, "why did she punish me?"

Janet moved closer to Lucy, "Lucy," she said, "I want you to promise me that no matter what happens, you'd love mommy and you would never tell anyone else about this. They'll think she's a bad person, mom isn't a bad person, everything she's ever done was to make sure that we had everything we wanted, now it's our turn to show her that we love her."

Janet picked up Lucy's arm with her wet hands and brushed her fingers lightly across Lucy's scars and then kissed it softly, "it's going to be okay." She said gently.