Perfect Twins

Chapter 19.

Why was she always afraid of that room? It was just a room. Sure it may have been really small, the lights were dim and reddish, but nothing scary, it had a dresser that was against the wall, on the dresser was a bible, lots of cross chains and papers with prayers on it.  On the wall was Jesus nailed on to the cross with flickering lights circulating around him. On the walls were countless carved crosses.  The room was too small for comfort, not enough space to breathe, almost like a closet, and it had no windows. Janet would sometimes see her mother go into this room to pray. It always weirded her out because Alice wasn't really a believer. She didn't go to church, or even spoke about anything to do with Christianity. It perplexed their father, Jamie as well. Sometimes she remembered them arguing over the purpose of this room. He wanted it to be a storage cupboard, but Alice insisted that it would be a room dedicated to prayer. When he pressed about why that should be the case, Alice had expressed fear and paranoia towards unknown forces but it was all to confusing and nonsensical at the time.

Janet hugged her knees in the corner of the room. What even made her tears shed? Oh, it was Alice again wasn't it? It was always Alice. Ever since the twins had let their secret slip to Alice she's been freaking out. Alice mumbled to herself, quick things in shock. She said, "oh no oh no oh no, not this damn it. Not now. She... She did this to me!"

Janet never got what she meant. But the memory of the story she overheard her mother saying to someone over the phone, that story about her grandmother cursing Alice, the twins ended up carrying out the black magic. Did that mean that Alice was capable of magic like the twins? Janet shook her head. It can't be. The amount of times Alice had slipped from her sanity was countless; she would have been able to do something by now for sure. But then again, the curse was to make Alice suffer, with her husband leaving her, her daughters not appreciating her... and now, the suffering was the loneliness, the alcohol, the guilt, the hate.

Janet screamed from the top of her lungs. It wasn't fair. Alice wasn't the only one suffering. The twins had to suffer their loneliness, their guilt, their hate and her negligence. Janet looked up at the cross on the wall with Jesus on it. Alice never taught her much about Christianity, and back in the days Janet was too young to understand what was being said in the church; but she knew Jesus died because of everyone else's sins.

"It's not fair!" She screamed. What did she even do wrong? All she did was tear a teddy bear without touching it because her and Lucy were practicing their magic so that they could control it one day. All of a sudden Alice saw everything and she starts mumbling and preparing the little room under the staircase, saying crazy words like "the devil" or "exorcism". Now Janet was in the room, God knows what was happening to Lucy. The faint noises of crashing and screams of agony were pretty self-explanatory.

Janet clenched her fists, looked up and attacked the door with her fists, "leave her alone!" She shouted, "get me out of here you bitch! Leave my sister alone!" Janet went back until her back felt the cold, uneven wall. She stared at the door; sweat mixed with her tears as her chest moved up and down repeatedly. She ran in the little space between her and the door and she slammed her shoulder on it. It was painful, but she didn't give up. She did it over and over again, but the darn door was too strong. She stood back to catch her breath. The door suddenly swung open, Lucy was thrown inside against her will, the door quickly closed again and she heard it lock. Lucy was on the floor on her hands and knees. Janet stooped down immediately and rubbed Lucy's back.

"What did she do to you?" Janet asked softly.

Lucy looked up and smiled, "don't worry about me Jan."

Lucy sat back and leaned against the door. Her hair was a mess, her face and eyes were red, and there was blood on her wrists, on her shirt and on her legs, not mentioning the old bruises on her body caused by previous fights with Alice. Janet closed her eyes. It was just not fair.