Two of a Kind

A girl battles between her desire to avenge herself, and her conscience.

Everything was planned. It was perfect. Sure, it had taken her months to plan every single detail. Perfection was crucial. Yeah, It had cost her many sleepless nights in bed tossing and turning; not to mention the countless nightmares she had every night. But it would all be worth it. The perfect chance to seek revenge was more than worth it. Amy had always been like that. “The spiteful one,” her mother had once jokingly labeled her. But no, nothing about Amy was a joke. She was malicious to the point of shocking horror. Never would she dare to admit that at some points, the reflection of that cold hateful look in her eyes had even frightened her.
    That hostile look was about the only possible way someone could tell Amy apart from Allison. They were twins. Identical twins. And although they were a mirror image of each other from their red hair all the way to the small discreet birthmark at the bottom of their left heel, their personalities were as different as night and day. Allison was well known as the stereotypical ‘good twin’. And that she was. Allison was the one with all the friends, the caring one who volunteered at the animal shelter, the one who read to elementary school kids at the community library, the one who never failed to see the bright side of a bad situation, the one who put everyone else before herself. Allison was everything Amy was not.
    Besides their personalities, the only way they could be identified was by the look in their eyes. Allison of course always had a soft look, she had inviting eyes that had often been compared to warm summer days. Looking into Allison’s eyes made everyone smile because it was as if her eyes were smiling right back at you.
    Those vile eyes that managed to send a chill down the spine of anyone and everyone who looked deep into them belonged to no one other then Amy herself. She was the pessimist. She was the resentful, unforgiving, ambitious, always jealous, but most notably, she was the vengeful twin. Once you did Amy wrong you were in deep trouble. And that’s exactly what HE had done. HE had done Amy wrong. HE had done them wrong. HE had betrayed them, abandoned them, but HE had only destroyed Amy. He was the reason Amy was Amy. Allison of course, had forgiven him long ago but Amy never would. For years she had been forced to live with the truth, the truth that had killed her as a child. Maybe she would never be able to escape the hate and pain she felt, but there was one thing she could make sure of, that he himself would feel the same pain. She finally had a plan, and she was going to do all that was necessary to go through with it. However, there was a problem....she couldn’t do it alone. As mush as she detested the idea she knew that she needed Allison’s help.
    “No…no, Amy I would never!” was her response. Amy was not surprised, Allison had always been a coward who was never willing to take essential measures; she undoubtedly enjoyed playing it safe. There was no doubt Allison played the role of the ‘good twin’ exquisitely.
    “There’s no way I can do this without you Ally,” she stated. She was not yet willing to plead, yet alone beg. Amy never begged. Never.
    “Please Amy, just let it go. It’s for the best.”
    “How dare you tell me to let it go! You might have forgiven the b*****d but I will Never! He deserves a lot worse then what my plan has in store for him, and deep down you know I’m right!”
    “What you’re asking me to do crosses the line! It’s dangerous! It’s…It’s…crazy. Amy. I’m worried about you. I love you, but…it can’t be healthy the way you th-”
    “The way I what?” Amy shouted. She could feel her blood start to boil.
    “The way you…think,” Allison answered nervously, slowly looking away. “Amy please I’m begging you, forgive him. If you do this you’ll end up in jail! What am I going to do without you?”
    “That’s exactly why I need you! With your help there’s no way either of us would get caught!” This was true. Amy was particularly detail oriented, flawlessly planning was what she did best.
    “No,” said Allison firmly. She stood up to face Amy now. “I’m not going to be part of this…and…and neither are you.” She looked into Amy’s furious eyes and felt goose bumps awakening along the back of her neck. Allison had never stood up to Amy, never. Always dreading starting an argument with her twin, Allison had always given into Amy’s plans. But this time she would‘t. The plan was perilous, not to mention it involved drastically causing harm to a human being, something Allison would never even think about doing. He had hurt her as well. She remembered as children how much they had struggled in the beginning just to survive, often having to sleep in cold dark alley ways while their stomachs yearned to be fed. If it had not been for Amy’s determination and disposition to prevail, they would have perished the first month after his desertion. But they hadn’t, many years had past, and now they were doing well. At first Allison had been confused and hurt by his treachery, but not once had it crossed her mind to cause him harm. She didn’t even know where he was now or even if he was still alive, she assumed he was, he was a fighter just like Amy.
    “I’m going through with it Ally, with you or without you. I’m going to make him pay for what he did to us. If I get caught because you refuse to help me, then fine, I’ll go to prison, I will happily rot in a cell if it means knowing that he’s dead.”
    “I won’t let you Amy. I won’t,” she was on the verge of tears. She was desperately fighting them back, she knew tears would only displease Amy even more.
    “Don’t you dare cry,” said Amy coldly. She couldn’t stand seeing anyone especially her sister cry. Not because she disliked seeing her sister in anguish, but because she saw tears as a sign of weakness. An intolerable weakness. Her sister was insubstantial, she knew this since the first day they had been on their own. Without Amy, Allison would have died, and she still would if Amy got caught. Amy knew that, still, her hatred for him surpassed the love she felt for Allison. If you could even call it love. She had to make him pay, and she was prepared to pay herself if it became obligatory. “I’m done with you Ally, I hope you can live with yourself knowing that I’ll be locked up because you refuse to help me. And after all I’ve done for you.” Amy was infuriated, the urge to slap Allison had manifested  inside her, yet she had controlled herself. Something she had to do that often.
    As she walked across the room towards the back door she heard a mumble come from Allison. She had only caught a part of it. The part that made her stop dead in her tracks. “What the hell did you say?” asked Amy indignantly. She hadn’t bothered to face Allison, if she did there was no way she thought she would be able to restrain herself from hurting her. Her veins were throbbing, blood boiling, she was being tested. “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY ALLISON!” It was no longer a question…it was now a demand.
    “I’ll tell,” mumbled Allison. There was silence. Dead silence. “I’ll tell him everything.”
    Amy took a deep breath. It didn’t calm her all that much, but just enough to give her the ability to sound almost amiable. She gradually turned towards Allison. “Oh but Ally, you don’t even know where he is, now do you sweetie?” That last word. Sweetie. Such word had never alarmed Allison as much as it did the very second it came out of her twins mouth. It had disturbed her to such a point, that she didn’t notice herself backing away until her heels collided with the closet mirror.
    “I’ll…I’ll go to the police then,” she managed to spit out. Fear had taken over her body now and she found herself unable to move.
    “You will do no such thing sister.” Amy was now slowly walking towards Allison. A twisted smile on her face. “No such thing will you do,” there was humor in her tone.
    “I’ll do it Amy, I will!”
    Closer. Amy was now closer to her sister. Closer. And closer. Amy could see her reflection getting larger and larger the closer she got to her. There eyes finally met. Amy enjoyed the fear in her incompetent sister’s eyes. No longer were they loving and friendly, they were now fearful. She could hear Allison’s heart pounding inside her chest. She could feel it. Feel it as if it were her own heart beating frantically. She put her hands on the back of Allison’s head, at first as caring as a mother who was about to kiss her only daughter goodbye. This however did not calm Allison one bit, for Amy’s eyes screamed out murder.
    “I’ll tell, I will,” she still said. Amy now clenched Allison by her hair.
    “ YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!” No longer could she control herself. She found her hands letting go of Allison’s hair. She felt them moving down towards Allison’s face, then down towards her neck. She felt them grasping Allison’s throat. She felt them clasping tighter and tighter. She couldn’t hear a sound, even though Allison was obviously screaming for dear life. She stared into Allison’s eyes. Allison’s once lively eyes becoming scorched. Becoming lifeless. Then she let go.
    Allison’s body immediately stumbled backwards shattering the closet mirror. The sound of broken glass awakened Amy from the trance she had been in. Silence. Shocking silence surrounded the room as Amy stared at her twin’s body lying among the shattered glass. She stared at Allison’s body with bewilderment and shock.
    Then something caught her eye. Something was glimmering. Allison’s eyes seemed to be peering at her. Not from the dead body that belonged to her twin, but from a jagged piece of glass that lay on the floor. Impossible she thought. Reluctantly she moved closer to it, expecting the eyes to diminish. It was her her imagination, was what she wanted to believe. But it wasn’t Amy’s imagination. They were there. Allison’s loving eyes were staring back at her from the broken glass, tears seemed to be forming in them. Without gazing from them, Amy blinked. The eyes blinked. A tear rolled slowly down Amy’s cheek. Realization came to Amy as if someone had punched her in the stomach. Sense was finally returning to her.
    “No. No...no, no,” she repeated under her breath. “No!” She screamed inside the room that only seconds ago had occupied both Allison’s dead body and Amy’s furious one. “She’s real! She’s alive! I’m alive!” she hysterically shouted as she fell to her knees sobbing, fell on top of nothing but shattered glass. She was alone now. She had always been alone.  

Author's Note

This is the first 'short story' I ever wrote. I believe I wrote it back when I was 14, so I'm aware that it's not very well developed. However being that it was my first piece of writing, it holds a special place in my heart as I'm sure many of you can relate to. Any feedback would be really great.

Reviews

[InsanityInduced]

I enjoyed reading this, I could feel Allison's fear growing as her sister became aggravated. I was also impressed at the atmosphere of the story, especially as you were 14 when you wrote this. I look forward to reading more, keep writing.

Regards,
Insanity

[Skylines]

Thanks, it really means a lot that you took the time to both read and write a review. I'd love it if you took the time to read some more of my stuff in the future. Thanks again.

Skylines