The Realms

~Annabelle~

Annabelle Lanara Methodina Grand woke up the morning of her sixteenth birthday with a powerful headache and the conviction that something big was going to happen. She wasn’t sure what, and she wasn’t sure when, but she knew she didn’t like it. She rubbed her palms against clear blue eyes, blinking them against the morning sun that streamed through the window above her. So then Moira had left the window open when she’d snuck back in last night. Annabelle sat up, yawning, and pushed tousled black hair behind her ear. It hung in long loose waves down her back when washed and brushed, but always in the mornings it was piled on top of her head in a crazy bun, bits and pieces of it escaping and the bun hanging halfway down her scalp. She pulled her hair free of the rubber band and let it fall down to almost her butt. She hobbled out of bed, scratching her side, and walked up to her twin sister’s bed, smacking the other girl on the stomach. “Wake up, Moira. And go brush your teeth and take some aspirin before you go down. I can smell the alcohol from my bed. You must have a killer hangover.” Annabelle shook her head as Moira grumbled something incoherent. She pulled the covers of her sister and dragged her off the bed. Moira landed on the ground with a thump. “Go take a shower and wake up. I’ll go deal with Dad, okay?”

Anna couldn’t help smiling as a disgruntled Moira pulled herself up of the ground and padded toward their adjoined bathroom. She turned once to shoot a glare at Annabelle, which made Anna dissolve into giggles, before disappearing behind a locked door. Anna laughed, combing fingers through tangled hair, and walked out of the room she shared with Moira and into the second floor hallway. The second she opened the bedroom door she was greeted by the smell of bacon, pancakes, French toast, eggs, waffles, syrup, cinnamon rolls... She knew it, something was definitely up. Ray Grand didn’t cook, at least not in the mornings. The only time he cooked breakfast was when he was breaking news to his two daughters. He’d cooked the morning after their mother had just packed her bags and left them in the middle of the night. Ray had looked for her for months after letting his daughters know that she had left them behind, but he had never found her. That had been a few years ago, though, so Anna guessed that he was probably introducing a girlfriend to them. After all, as she padded towards the stairs the unmistakable sound of her father singing had become clearer and clearer.

“Dad?” Annabelle walked into the kitchen, and the smells of foods became stronger. Every inch of every surface in the kitchen was covered in food. Annabelle paused, her mouth dropping open with small pop. “Jeez!” she cried, “What are you doing, Dad! Getting ready to feed an army?” Anna gaped at the food that covered her kitchen. In her head she was already trying to figure out how much money her father had spent on all of the food. They weren’t poor, but they certainly didn’t have as enough for her dad to splurge whenever the mood struck him. She sighed. “What is it, Dad? Or should I wait for Moira to get out of the shower before you tell us?

“Moira...” Ray frowned, his eyes saddening. Annabelle winced. “She’s your mother, that one,” Ray said quietly, sadness enveloping his voice. “Prepare yourself, Anna. One day she’s going to leave us too.” Annabelle reeled back, feeling as if she’d just been punched in the gut. What scared her more, saddened her more than her father’s words, though, was the truth in them. Moira had always, always been closer to their mother. Annabelle had always been a Daddy’s Girl, but Moira and their mother were the duo. So, when Mayla Grand had left the family, it had been Moira who had taken it the hardest of the twins. Ileana and David, the girls’ older brother and sister, also twins, had been starting college already when it had happened, and had been expecting it, so it hadn’t hit them as hard. But Annabelle and Moira had taken it like a slap in the face, especially Moira. She’d began acting out and although she’d calmed down some, she was still the wild twin.

The thing was, Anna was expecting Moira to leave eventually. Hell, she planned on leaving some point too. It was called growing up. Anna wasn’t stupid. She knew that she and Moira would always be glued to each other. They already weren’t, not in the way they used to. They still spent more time than most siblings did together, but they also had lives separate from each other. Moira had her sports, and her parties. She was a tomboy, and she got along well with the other jocks, male and female alike. And Anna was a performance geek. She played violin in the school orchestra, and she would sometimes take parts for the drama club, though violin always came first. They both had their own respective groups of friends, and, although they were identical, they dressed and styled themselves completely differently. Anna went for the more girly clothing and kept her hair long, whereas Moira dressed like the jock she was, and kept her hair cut in a pixie cut, no longer than an inch, that waved messily. They already planned on different colleges. But the way her father said it, he meant that Moira would leave in a completely different way.

“Moira’s not Mom, Dad,” Anna said quietly. “And I’m not Mom. We’re not Mom. I’m Annabelle, she’s Moira. We’re different. I know we look like her, Dad, but we’re different. And I know that Moira acts like her sometimes, but we’re different. So stop acting like we’re the same. Stop looking at us like we’re the same.” Anna shook her head and grabbed a plate of strawberry topped waffles and headed toward the dining room. “Just wait for Moira to come down, and then call me, okay Dad?” she said, leaving the room.

Anna plunked down in her seat, sawing at her waffles with a butter knife. “Stupid Dad,” she grumbled to herself. “He makes everything feel so ominous.” She rubbed at her head, willing the headache to go away. A warmth spread through her body, and then the headache did leave. She shivered. She didn’t know why, but the fact that she could do that always freaked her out. She never stayed sick for long. As long as she willed herself better, she was better. She didn’t know why, but that’s how it always was. Moira seemed to be the same way. She couldn’t quite explain it and it gave her the heebie-jeebies.

She listened as she heard her sister’s shower turn off. How did Moira feel about all this... this... craziness that seemed to be following them everywhere? Their father’s fears were the most suffocating part. Especially since he pushed them all on to Moira for all the similarities she had to Mayla. She sighed. She really didn’t know what to do. Anna turned back to her waffles and ate them in silence, closing herself up from everything, if only for the moment.