The sound of glass hitting and shattering on the hard marbled floors jolted me back to reality and I lifted my gaze to see Suzy staring wide-eyed at me in absolute shock and panic. My suspicions built and I stared back at the photo album. I carefully peeled the last photo of Lisa in her graduation gown from its album and held it in the air for her to see. My heart beat thumbs even faster, unsure of what answer I was expecting from her
"What is this?"
She did not reply to me and her hands shook visibly. Something was wrong. I could tell. These people were hiding something from me.
"Why does she look so much like me?"
"She...mom already told you. Lisa...Lisa looks like you. That's why she...that's why she developed an interest in you in the first place." Suzy finally found her voice and spoke with stutters but I did not believe her one bit. Her eyes held so many secrets and fear and I knew she is lying.
There was more to the story that I did not know of.
"Her birthday is the same as mine. August 21st 1998. Can you explain that?" I sounded imperious and demanding and my lips quivered as I spoke. There was more to the story. But what it was, I did not know nor did I want to think of. But I did not that a part of me was afraid of finding out at the same time.
"Mom!" Suzy callee out suddenly, her body shaking with fear. "Mom!"
"Answer me!" I gritted my teeth and tightened my hold on the picture in frustration. What was going on? Why wasn't she telling me anything?
"Mom!" Suzy yelle8 again and almost immediately, loud pattering footsteps closed in on us and Miranda appeared in the doorway, panting a little from running. Perhaps she thought something bad had happened to us.
Her face blanked instantly as she saw me holding the picture and right now, I was sure about how right I was. Lisa didn't just look like me.
I was afraid of letting my thoughts wander further.
I held the picture steady for both of them to see. "What secret are you hiding?"
"Nothing." Miranda forced a gulp back a now teary eye and her shoulders were looking slumped in defeat. She was hiding something.
"Please tell her, mom." Suzy nudged her but Miranda only shook her head.
"Tell me what?" I was getting fed up with everything. What was going on here? Why wasn't anyone saying anything?
"Calm down, Ari. We have to talk." Miranda tried to get closer to me but I backed off as though she was a deadly venom I should avoid. She knew better than to remain in her position and I could see hurt visible in her eyes.
I would not be too close to someone who knew me more than I knew myself.
"Why does she look exactly like me? And why is our birthday the same day ?" I stressed my question and clenched my fists with so much strength that I felt my knuckles would be white by now.
Miranda hesitated for a moment and I yelled this time, my voice thunderous and enraged.
"Fucking say something, Miranda! Say anything! Defend your bloody self!"
"Because she is your twin, Ari." Miranda shook as she spoke and tears broke free from her eyes. "And I am...your biological mother."
I tried to take a couple of seconds to process what she had just said, confirming my biggest fear that I still would not bring myself to believe.
But I found it so ridiculous and untrue that I could not help but laugh a little cynically. Twin? Mother? Was this all some kind of psychotic game I wasn't aware we were playing?
"What the fuck are you saying?"
"She is saying the truth, Kenzie," Suzy said and I stopped laughing instantly. She even knew my real name. Which meant she knew my true identity too.
Who the fuck were these people and how did I end up here with them?"
I scoffed and tried to understand what they are saying. In my head, I replayed my scenario of meeting them and how I had found myself here, hoping that I would catch on to the crack that I had missed all this while.
A nice kind woman showed up in my life one day and I immediately connect with her. Something really odd and very untypical of me. She became a close friend out of the blue and kept mentioning her daughter to me. A daughter I had wondered why I never saw any of her pictures before. Now, I found out I look exactly like the said daughter because she was my twin and this woman right here was my real mother.
What kind of drama were they trying to get me to act? Did they think that life was some kind of soap opera or Korean drama?
"You are saying shit. Both of you. For twenty-two years of my life, I have believed in one thing. And that thing is that I do not have a mother. Nor do I have a sister. Or any family waiting out there for me. My mother left me to die in a trash can when I was just a month old and to me...she is long dead."
Miranda burst into tears and her hands flew to her mouth in self-consolation. Her legs gradually gave way and she sank to the ground, wallowing in whatever pathetic pain she was trying to depict. I tried to imagine how she might have been my mother. It was completely insane.
"I'm sorry, Kenzie..." Suzy began to say but I snapped at her, cutting her off immediately.
"Don't you fucking call me that. You don't know shit about me or the things I have been through. So, don't fucking act like you know me or have the right to address me by my real identity."
"I am sorry," Miranda whispered in between sobs and Suzy leaned to hold her in a supportive hug. All of these felt so real that for a moment, I believed they were telling the truth and these women were my real family.
"I made a mistake and I can never forgive myself for that." Miranda continued. "I will make it up to you even if it's the last thing I do. Just please forgive me."
My own body trembled greatly and I knew that if I did not leave this toxic environment right now, I would have a mental breakdown and that wasn't something I was ready to go through in front of these strange people who first came in a camouflage of extremely nice individuals, only to end up calling themselves my family. I returned the picture to the desk.
"There is one way you can make it up to me. I'll tell you."
They both looked at me expectantly.
"Stay away from me henceforth." I stormed out of the door but Miranda tried to follow me and made to reach for my hand but I snapped it away from her reach. I glared at her, disgusted by everything about her. I could never believe she is the same woman I had trusted and opened up to. The one woman I thought was different from the rest. I guess I was wrong after all. Right this moment, I promised myself I had made a mistake breaking my walls for people. People would always remain people. People would always hurt you.
I felt a tear streak down my chin and I brushed it roughly away with my palm. I sniffed back the rest of the tears that hung in my gut. At that moment, Kelly's words ring in my head like an unfriendly reminder.
"At least I brought you home to your family."
"Family?"
"Yes, your family."
She knew. That was what she was trying to tell me that day. But I still wouldn't believe any of them. Kelly, Miranda and Suzy were the deadliest snakes I had ever met. Deadlier than Ryan or Jessie or Tory or Mrs Meyers. Deadlier because they crept their way into my heart and stung when I least expected it.
"First of all, you are not my mother. I do not have a mother. Secondly, if by any chance, you are, then it is so pathetic. You are some piece of fucked up shit I don't want to ever deal with. You are wasted." I stormed off and left the house, not even knowing where I was heading. When I was a few steps away from the house, I felt my body for my phone but realized I had left my phone and purse behind in the room. I groaned as my eyes watered even more.
What was happening to me? Why were bad things happening to me?
The thought of going back to the house crossed my mind but I ignored it. I would not be having anything to do with them anymore. Never again.
I walked to no destination at all and my heart beat in fright when I saw myself in a whole different street. It was a low-class neighbourhood and I wondered how I had gotten here from Miranda's place. A group of boys sitting on the edge of a fence whistled at me and I ignored them and quickened my steps. I could taste fear in my mouth now.
I had to find my way out of here. And fast.
I continued to walk away and when I turned to look at the boys, I was relieved they were not following me. With a sigh, I continued to walk, slowing my pace this time. I wondered how I could get to Connor's place from here by myself. It had taken Miranda almost twenty-five minutes to get to Connor's place and I feared for the distance. There was no way I would be able to make it there barefoot.
I sucked in a sharp breath as another thought occurred to me. I would not go back to Connor's place this night. Not in this condition. He would feel I always needed him. Maybe I should go back to my place this night. I could easily manage Jojo more than the rest. But first, I had to get out of here.
I walked further, hugging my body closely at the coldness of the night. My ears pricked as I wondered why I could hear footsteps behind me continuously as if someone had been following me all along. I glanced behind me and there was a shadow in the darkness, a few steps away from me. Somehow, his presence felt eerie and gave me a kind of chills and I looked back to my path and quickened my footsteps. I decided to put to test what I had learned from action movies and I took a turn to another street to test if he would follow me. The careful footsteps behind me confirmed I was still being followed.
Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe he was also going the same way. But there was only one way to be so sure.
I made a turn to another street and my feet felt instantly cold when his footsteps does not cease from behind me. My heartbeat ran cold. This was no joke anymore.
I was being followed.
Then, I did the first thing that came to my mind. I broke into a run, dashing for another street, my heart pounding in my mouth. I ran for some minutes, continuously turning my head to look behind me if he was chasing me. He was not. There was no one behind me.
I stopped to take a break, panting from both fear and exhaustion. I looked behind me again and thankfully, there was still no sign of him. I guess I had lost him.
I rested my hands on my knee and breathe heavily but my relief did not last more than a few seconds as two pairs of manly legs in dark sneakers covered my gaze. My breath stopped at once and I raised my eyes with a shiver.
A man was standing right in front of me in a black hoodie that covered most parts of his face. My eyes travelled to the gleam of light coming from the sharp knife in his hand and my body felt a cold frightening chill. I immediately tried to dash away from him again but he was quicker and grabbed me by the neck and pinned me roughly to the hard walls, such that I could hear my bones crack from the impact. I groaned in pain and he muffled my mouth with a large hand. I tried to fight him off but he wouldn't budge and only smiled a wicked smile at me.
"You are such a pretty girl. What a waste." His voice was raspy and devoid of human emotions and I had a feeling I would be dying by his hands. I tried to scream behind the muffle hand but he held me still, clasping his other huge rough hand tighter around my neck. I hit his hold with my hand as I struggle for air.
"Ryan sends his regards. Tell Kelly he said hi when you both meet in hell." He said. with a grin and in a splint of a second, I could feel the sharpness of a knife press into my stomach and slice through my flesh. The pain from the stab caused me to scream a high pitch shrill and in a bid to silence me even quicker, he pulled out the knife sharply followed by an excruciating pain in me feeling the blood in my body release itself. He dived the knife into my body for the second time and I felt it reach my organs and my legs finally gave way to my weight as he let me slump to the ground.
The man began to walk away and I watched him leave through the darkness that enveloped me. And in that darkness that enveloped me, all I could see was...
Jojo.
Zed.
Connor...
