Status: Finished; working on the sequel
In The Dark
Chapter Six
Dad comes back on the porch with something white that look like a folded pair of tights. He hands it to me. “Put it on,” he orders me.
I unfold it, and find it to be not one or two, but several sizes too small. I look back up at him in complete disbelief. He has to be out of his aging mind if he thinks I can fit this!
“Are you kidding me? This looks like Zoë’s size, not mine. In fact, this doesn’t even look like her size.”
However, he just smiles at me as if he has some super awesome secret that he’s not telling me. “Just go change. I’ll explain what it does later on.” A worried look comes over his face after he says this though. “I hope,” he adds, before walking back inside.
I stare at the scrawny little suit. It looks like one of the outfits I used to put on my baby dolls. “I’m not allowed to go inside,” I say to the others. How am I supposed to put this on? I’m definitely not changing in front of them.” I motion towards the boys.
Jenna nods and stands, waving me over. Once in front of her, she motions for me to stands still, then closes her eyes and holds out her hands.
Starting at the ground, grains of dirt start to collect and form a relatively large circle at my feet. Then, more and more grains race toward it rapidly, leaping on top of one another, until a bowl has been formed on the ground underneath my feet. This continues until I’m surrounded in sand, in some dome-like structure.
Then it stops, a few inches from the roof of the porch.
“Go ahead Kyra,” Jenna calls. “I’ll take it down when you’re finished.”
Still dumfounded, I change into the suit. Quickly, as soon as I’ve stuck my foot in, the fabric begins to stretch to mold around it. As I pull the rest of the suit on, the fabric continues to mold itself to me, becoming like a second skin.
Completely on now, the suit continues to take shape. Boots solidify on my feet, stopping at my calves, raising me off the off the ground an inch or two. The material at my left wrist seems to liquefy and spill down it, to cover my hand and form a glove. However, not before something falls out of the sleeve, landing at my feet. Noticing my bandaged arm, I tentatively pull off the gauze of my right arm, and [even more cautiously] pull out the stitches, to find my arm… completely healed?
How is that possible? Oh well… many formerly impossible things have been happening to me lately haven’t they. At once, the sleeve of my right arm drips down to cover my exposed hand.
And that’s it, right? No, of course not! How could you think that would be it?
The marks that were on my arms and stomach, I now realize, were not the only places that markings were. How do I know this? Oh… because the markings are not only showing from those areas, but also from every other area on my body.
However, am I surprised? No, I’m not. I don’t think I can be surprised anymore from this point on.
I sigh. “Okay, Jenna. I’m done.”
I hear slight rustling, and then the sand just starts pouring down on my head. “Hey! Jenna!”
It keeps on pouring and I cover my ears, and squeeze my eyes shut.
Once it’s on the floor, it all just rolls back into the grass. Jenna collapses onto the porch swing. “Sorry,” she breaths, her eyes closed, “I’m good at getting it up there, but I still need practice when it comes to getting it back down.”
Zoë jumps up and down and squeals some more, and the boys gape at me. And when Jenna opens her eyes, I can tell she’s impressed too.
“You look so pretty Kyra! Like the invisible woman except your suit is white, and you’re not invisible. I have one too you know. We all do, underneath our clothes.” Zoë starts to show me, but Leon stops her.
“Zoë. You weren’t supposed to tell her that. Not yet. But now…”
Zoë’s face falls a little bit, and I’m quick to cheer her up. “But hey,” she looks up, “I won’t tell anybody. My lips are sealed.”
She smiles, brightening up her whole face, and glances down. Bending down, she picks something up, and after looking at it for a second, quickly drops it. “That’s yours Kyra!” She backs away from it.
Startled, I reach down to the thing, but before I can touch it, it flies up by itself and attaches itself to the back of my hand. I jerk back in surprise, actually stumbling so that Ryan has to steady me.
He holds my hand up to the sun, and whatever is on it glitters.
“What is that?” He sounds genuinely confused.
I take a good look at it. It’s a little sliver of some sort of… “Crystal,” I breath. “Some sort of crystal. Not one I’ve seen before though.”
Ryan looks at me, his eyebrows raised. “What’s it doing on your hand?”
I roll my eyes at him, exasperated. “How should I know, Ryan? What, you think I planned this or something?”
Taking another good look at it, I notice that it’s fused on top of some sort of metal plating. I try to pry it off by sliding a nail underneath it, but as soon as I do that, I feel a prick and feel something bury itself in my hand. Slightly terrified, I look up at Ryan. But he’s busy watching some car pass by. A Mustang.
“Kyra! Your crystal!” Jenna yells, pointing at my hand.
I look down to see it glowing a pale bluish color. Running my finger over the surface, I think I see something pop into my vision for a second, but it’s gone faster than it appeared. I’m about to test it, when all the parents, except Ryan’s, and mine call their kids inside.
When we try to follow, Zoë’s mom stops us. “You guys can come in when everything’s ready okay?” Not waiting for an answer, she goes inside and closes the door behind her.
Ryan and I stare at the door, dumbfounded.
“Kyra? You okay?”
I don’t answer, but sit down on the railing next to him in a huff. He just looks at me, waiting for me to say something I guess. But I don’t, and he eventually seems to drop it.
Suddenly uncomfortable, I shift on the rail… and lose my balance; falling off the back and landing on my back in the mud, [it rained this morning]. I pick myself up, but don’t look at Ryan, because I know he’s trying not to laugh.
The mud seems to simply slide off my suit, but my hair is ruined. Shaking my head and mumbling to myself, I get the hose and start to rinse out the wet dirt. It’s not easy though. ‘Cause it’s so long, my hair keeps dipping into the mud again, and the hose is already stretched to its limit.
Finally, Ryan comes over and holds the ends up for me, and I’m able to get the rest out.
“You really need to cut this. It must be a huge hassle. You really do this every day? By yourself?”
“Well I don’t do it outside with a hose, next to the mud, Ryan,” I snap back at him. He chuckles, obviously enjoying my discomfort.
When all of the mud is out, I pick up the black t-shirt that Ryan let me borrow earlier, and wrap my hair up in it. Ryan grimaces.
“I don’t remember giving that to you so you could use it as a towel.”
I stick my tongue out at him, squeezing my hair dry with the shirt. “Too bad. This is what you get. And BTW, you owe me a new iphone.”
“What?! That’s not the phone you had! You had some other touch-enabled phone! One that was a lot less expensive.”
I shrug. “Well you really owe me anyway. I want that phone.”
He shakes his head, wiping a hand down his face. “Unbelievable.”
Leon opens the door. “Come on you two, everything’s ready. You are going to flip.”
With a quick glance at each other, Ryan and I step inside, him first, then me…
…
…
Into my living room… packed with kids.
Ryan’s face goes blank, and he turns to me, obviously expecting me to lose it.
All of the kids are wearing suits, like me, except they’re all in different metallic colors. Zoë, Jenna, Treyvon, and Leon, have all changed into suits as well, but they’re all black.
How in the world did they all get in here? Were they all hiding somewhere? This is not a happy surprise. Leon thought I was going to flip, and I am, but not in the way he wanted.
Everyone must notice the rage behind my blank expression, and how bad I see this as, because every one of their smiles fade.
“What is going on,” I say loudly, “Why didn’t anybody tell me about this? Why in the world are all of you here? How…?” I shake my head in frustration and anger.
Why doesn’t anybody ever tell me about things like this? Things I need to know.
Zoë tries to come over to me, but I hold my arms out in front of me like a barrier to stop her.
At once, the kids all start talking, but I can’t hear because I’m covering my ears. Ryan steps forward next, and I step back, away from him. He takes another step, so do I.
“Kyra,” he says soothingly, “they’ll explain, I’m sure, if you’d just calm down. Come here.”
I back up still, until my back is against the screen door. I turn to run out, but Ryan grabs my shoulders and spins me around to face him. He stares down at the top of my head and I’m forced to look up at him.
“Please calm down. Just breathe.” I continue to stare at him, my breath coming rapidly. His hands tighten on my shoulders.
“Calm. Down. You’re scaring everybody.”
I look around. There is a mix of older and younger kids, and the younger kids look like they want to cry, whereas the older kids look rigid as if they’re waiting for me to explode or something.
I force myself to take some deep breaths, and Ryan bends down to whisper in my ear, “Better now?”
I nod slowly, feeling my face get hot with his closeness.
“Aaaawwww,” the older kids say somewhat mockingly.
My eyes narrow and I really wish that I could hurt them all. They must see this, as their taunts stop abruptly.
Ryan lets me go and steps back, looking a little uneasy himself.
Zoë bounces slightly on her toes, looking excited. “You have to see this.”
She stands up on a chair, and beckons someone from the back of the crowd.
I hear muffled excuse me’s from the middle of the crowd as someone makes their way to the front. Then, a girl steps out from the mass of kids to stand in front of me.
She stares at me, and I stare right back.
“Oh… my… gosh,” we say in unison.
She looks just like me! But on the other hand, I look just like her? But... wow! The only difference is that her silver hair is short, stopping right below her ears, and he eyes are a few shades deeper then mine. She even has on the same suit as me.
Treyvon nudges her closer until she’s right in front of me. It’s like looking in a mirror.
“Your parents told us that she’s your twin, if you can’t tell already. They have known all along. Apparently, you were separated when you were just two months old. That’s why you’ve never known.”
It’s obvious that the girl had no idea about this, so I don’t lose it on her. Instead, I hold out a hand, somewhat obligated to make a good first impression.
“Hi, I’m… Kyra. Or Loli, I guess. Call me whichever you want.”
Instead of shaking my hand, she steps forward, somewhat hesitantly, and hugs me. Okay… I was not expecting this. Nevertheless, I hug her back, not wanting to seem rude.
“I’m Lana,” she says back, a huge grin on her face. She’s obviously much more excited about this than I am.
I’ve heard about a Lana at my school. People are always asking me if I know her.
Lana kicks into overdrive, her former shyness gone. “This is so cool. I have always wanted a sister, so to have a twin is even better! Plus I’m happy to have someone really related to me by blood. I have been depressed 'cause I really wanted a sibling, and now, not only do I have a sister, I have a twin! Hey! I hear that twins have similar brain patterns, thoughts, and stuff! What are you thinking about? MP3 players? That’s what I’m thinking of. What-”
I cut her off sharply. “Listen, I’m kind of happy about this too, but I have some things to figure out before I start to bond with you okay?”
Her face falls dramatically, and she bites her lip, the same things I do when I’m about to cry. She turns to go back into the group of kids again, but I grab her hand and pull her back to stand next to me. She doesn’t try to pull away either, so I don’t let go.
Standing where everyone can see me, I clear my throat loudly, to get their attention.
“Excuse me.” Everyone keeps on talking. I put my fingers in my mouth and blow a shrill whistle like grandpa taught me, which shuts them up immediately.
“Thank you. Now I want you all in groups according to age. Five and six year olds in one line, seven and eight year olds in another, nine and ten year olds in another, and everyone older than my sister and I in the last group.”
The room is suddenly buzzing as kids move into their designated lines. Slowly. Ugh… I finally know what teachers have to go through every day. I will never disrespect them again.
Okay… I guess I can handle everyone until I can find out what to do. I look over at Lana and smile. She smiles back, and it’s amazing how much effort it takes for me not to reach out to make sure I’m not dreaming and/or looking in a mirror.
The parents come out of the back room, all of them smiling at Lana and I. Lana looks at my hand and lifts her own to show me. She has the same crystal that I do. However, hers is slightly smaller than mine is, and it’s shaped like an oval. Mine is a sliver of a gem.
My dad steps over to me and hugs me. “I am so proud of you, Kyra. You are going to do great things, I can tell. We’re very sorry for all of this, but we do not regret taking you into our family one bit. We’re going to miss you.”
I pull away. “What are you talking about? What is going on, dad? Where am I going? Please tell me something.” I feel tears come to my eyes, and I hold them back, angry all over again.
Dad sits down on the edge of the sofa, and motions for me to sit next to him. I do, bringing Lana with me [she wont let go of my hand].
“Sweetheart. We do not really know anything. All we were going to tell you was that you were in some sort of accident, and that you had a twin sister. No one told us anything else. I know that is hard for you to believe, but it is the truth. We don’t know anymore than you do.”
Lana squeezes my hand reassuringly and leans her head on my shoulder, and I can’t help being so happy to have her. We seem to have already bonded, without saying anything.
I’m about to question his answer, when an ear-rattling siren stops me in my tracks.
I unfold it, and find it to be not one or two, but several sizes too small. I look back up at him in complete disbelief. He has to be out of his aging mind if he thinks I can fit this!
“Are you kidding me? This looks like Zoë’s size, not mine. In fact, this doesn’t even look like her size.”
However, he just smiles at me as if he has some super awesome secret that he’s not telling me. “Just go change. I’ll explain what it does later on.” A worried look comes over his face after he says this though. “I hope,” he adds, before walking back inside.
I stare at the scrawny little suit. It looks like one of the outfits I used to put on my baby dolls. “I’m not allowed to go inside,” I say to the others. How am I supposed to put this on? I’m definitely not changing in front of them.” I motion towards the boys.
Jenna nods and stands, waving me over. Once in front of her, she motions for me to stands still, then closes her eyes and holds out her hands.
Starting at the ground, grains of dirt start to collect and form a relatively large circle at my feet. Then, more and more grains race toward it rapidly, leaping on top of one another, until a bowl has been formed on the ground underneath my feet. This continues until I’m surrounded in sand, in some dome-like structure.
Then it stops, a few inches from the roof of the porch.
“Go ahead Kyra,” Jenna calls. “I’ll take it down when you’re finished.”
Still dumfounded, I change into the suit. Quickly, as soon as I’ve stuck my foot in, the fabric begins to stretch to mold around it. As I pull the rest of the suit on, the fabric continues to mold itself to me, becoming like a second skin.
Completely on now, the suit continues to take shape. Boots solidify on my feet, stopping at my calves, raising me off the off the ground an inch or two. The material at my left wrist seems to liquefy and spill down it, to cover my hand and form a glove. However, not before something falls out of the sleeve, landing at my feet. Noticing my bandaged arm, I tentatively pull off the gauze of my right arm, and [even more cautiously] pull out the stitches, to find my arm… completely healed?
How is that possible? Oh well… many formerly impossible things have been happening to me lately haven’t they. At once, the sleeve of my right arm drips down to cover my exposed hand.
And that’s it, right? No, of course not! How could you think that would be it?
The marks that were on my arms and stomach, I now realize, were not the only places that markings were. How do I know this? Oh… because the markings are not only showing from those areas, but also from every other area on my body.
However, am I surprised? No, I’m not. I don’t think I can be surprised anymore from this point on.
I sigh. “Okay, Jenna. I’m done.”
I hear slight rustling, and then the sand just starts pouring down on my head. “Hey! Jenna!”
It keeps on pouring and I cover my ears, and squeeze my eyes shut.
Once it’s on the floor, it all just rolls back into the grass. Jenna collapses onto the porch swing. “Sorry,” she breaths, her eyes closed, “I’m good at getting it up there, but I still need practice when it comes to getting it back down.”
Zoë jumps up and down and squeals some more, and the boys gape at me. And when Jenna opens her eyes, I can tell she’s impressed too.
“You look so pretty Kyra! Like the invisible woman except your suit is white, and you’re not invisible. I have one too you know. We all do, underneath our clothes.” Zoë starts to show me, but Leon stops her.
“Zoë. You weren’t supposed to tell her that. Not yet. But now…”
Zoë’s face falls a little bit, and I’m quick to cheer her up. “But hey,” she looks up, “I won’t tell anybody. My lips are sealed.”
She smiles, brightening up her whole face, and glances down. Bending down, she picks something up, and after looking at it for a second, quickly drops it. “That’s yours Kyra!” She backs away from it.
Startled, I reach down to the thing, but before I can touch it, it flies up by itself and attaches itself to the back of my hand. I jerk back in surprise, actually stumbling so that Ryan has to steady me.
He holds my hand up to the sun, and whatever is on it glitters.
“What is that?” He sounds genuinely confused.
I take a good look at it. It’s a little sliver of some sort of… “Crystal,” I breath. “Some sort of crystal. Not one I’ve seen before though.”
Ryan looks at me, his eyebrows raised. “What’s it doing on your hand?”
I roll my eyes at him, exasperated. “How should I know, Ryan? What, you think I planned this or something?”
Taking another good look at it, I notice that it’s fused on top of some sort of metal plating. I try to pry it off by sliding a nail underneath it, but as soon as I do that, I feel a prick and feel something bury itself in my hand. Slightly terrified, I look up at Ryan. But he’s busy watching some car pass by. A Mustang.
“Kyra! Your crystal!” Jenna yells, pointing at my hand.
I look down to see it glowing a pale bluish color. Running my finger over the surface, I think I see something pop into my vision for a second, but it’s gone faster than it appeared. I’m about to test it, when all the parents, except Ryan’s, and mine call their kids inside.
When we try to follow, Zoë’s mom stops us. “You guys can come in when everything’s ready okay?” Not waiting for an answer, she goes inside and closes the door behind her.
Ryan and I stare at the door, dumbfounded.
“Kyra? You okay?”
I don’t answer, but sit down on the railing next to him in a huff. He just looks at me, waiting for me to say something I guess. But I don’t, and he eventually seems to drop it.
Suddenly uncomfortable, I shift on the rail… and lose my balance; falling off the back and landing on my back in the mud, [it rained this morning]. I pick myself up, but don’t look at Ryan, because I know he’s trying not to laugh.
The mud seems to simply slide off my suit, but my hair is ruined. Shaking my head and mumbling to myself, I get the hose and start to rinse out the wet dirt. It’s not easy though. ‘Cause it’s so long, my hair keeps dipping into the mud again, and the hose is already stretched to its limit.
Finally, Ryan comes over and holds the ends up for me, and I’m able to get the rest out.
“You really need to cut this. It must be a huge hassle. You really do this every day? By yourself?”
“Well I don’t do it outside with a hose, next to the mud, Ryan,” I snap back at him. He chuckles, obviously enjoying my discomfort.
When all of the mud is out, I pick up the black t-shirt that Ryan let me borrow earlier, and wrap my hair up in it. Ryan grimaces.
“I don’t remember giving that to you so you could use it as a towel.”
I stick my tongue out at him, squeezing my hair dry with the shirt. “Too bad. This is what you get. And BTW, you owe me a new iphone.”
“What?! That’s not the phone you had! You had some other touch-enabled phone! One that was a lot less expensive.”
I shrug. “Well you really owe me anyway. I want that phone.”
He shakes his head, wiping a hand down his face. “Unbelievable.”
Leon opens the door. “Come on you two, everything’s ready. You are going to flip.”
With a quick glance at each other, Ryan and I step inside, him first, then me…
…
…
Into my living room… packed with kids.
Ryan’s face goes blank, and he turns to me, obviously expecting me to lose it.
All of the kids are wearing suits, like me, except they’re all in different metallic colors. Zoë, Jenna, Treyvon, and Leon, have all changed into suits as well, but they’re all black.
How in the world did they all get in here? Were they all hiding somewhere? This is not a happy surprise. Leon thought I was going to flip, and I am, but not in the way he wanted.
Everyone must notice the rage behind my blank expression, and how bad I see this as, because every one of their smiles fade.
“What is going on,” I say loudly, “Why didn’t anybody tell me about this? Why in the world are all of you here? How…?” I shake my head in frustration and anger.
Why doesn’t anybody ever tell me about things like this? Things I need to know.
Zoë tries to come over to me, but I hold my arms out in front of me like a barrier to stop her.
At once, the kids all start talking, but I can’t hear because I’m covering my ears. Ryan steps forward next, and I step back, away from him. He takes another step, so do I.
“Kyra,” he says soothingly, “they’ll explain, I’m sure, if you’d just calm down. Come here.”
I back up still, until my back is against the screen door. I turn to run out, but Ryan grabs my shoulders and spins me around to face him. He stares down at the top of my head and I’m forced to look up at him.
“Please calm down. Just breathe.” I continue to stare at him, my breath coming rapidly. His hands tighten on my shoulders.
“Calm. Down. You’re scaring everybody.”
I look around. There is a mix of older and younger kids, and the younger kids look like they want to cry, whereas the older kids look rigid as if they’re waiting for me to explode or something.
I force myself to take some deep breaths, and Ryan bends down to whisper in my ear, “Better now?”
I nod slowly, feeling my face get hot with his closeness.
“Aaaawwww,” the older kids say somewhat mockingly.
My eyes narrow and I really wish that I could hurt them all. They must see this, as their taunts stop abruptly.
Ryan lets me go and steps back, looking a little uneasy himself.
Zoë bounces slightly on her toes, looking excited. “You have to see this.”
She stands up on a chair, and beckons someone from the back of the crowd.
I hear muffled excuse me’s from the middle of the crowd as someone makes their way to the front. Then, a girl steps out from the mass of kids to stand in front of me.
She stares at me, and I stare right back.
“Oh… my… gosh,” we say in unison.
She looks just like me! But on the other hand, I look just like her? But... wow! The only difference is that her silver hair is short, stopping right below her ears, and he eyes are a few shades deeper then mine. She even has on the same suit as me.
Treyvon nudges her closer until she’s right in front of me. It’s like looking in a mirror.
“Your parents told us that she’s your twin, if you can’t tell already. They have known all along. Apparently, you were separated when you were just two months old. That’s why you’ve never known.”
It’s obvious that the girl had no idea about this, so I don’t lose it on her. Instead, I hold out a hand, somewhat obligated to make a good first impression.
“Hi, I’m… Kyra. Or Loli, I guess. Call me whichever you want.”
Instead of shaking my hand, she steps forward, somewhat hesitantly, and hugs me. Okay… I was not expecting this. Nevertheless, I hug her back, not wanting to seem rude.
“I’m Lana,” she says back, a huge grin on her face. She’s obviously much more excited about this than I am.
I’ve heard about a Lana at my school. People are always asking me if I know her.
Lana kicks into overdrive, her former shyness gone. “This is so cool. I have always wanted a sister, so to have a twin is even better! Plus I’m happy to have someone really related to me by blood. I have been depressed 'cause I really wanted a sibling, and now, not only do I have a sister, I have a twin! Hey! I hear that twins have similar brain patterns, thoughts, and stuff! What are you thinking about? MP3 players? That’s what I’m thinking of. What-”
I cut her off sharply. “Listen, I’m kind of happy about this too, but I have some things to figure out before I start to bond with you okay?”
Her face falls dramatically, and she bites her lip, the same things I do when I’m about to cry. She turns to go back into the group of kids again, but I grab her hand and pull her back to stand next to me. She doesn’t try to pull away either, so I don’t let go.
Standing where everyone can see me, I clear my throat loudly, to get their attention.
“Excuse me.” Everyone keeps on talking. I put my fingers in my mouth and blow a shrill whistle like grandpa taught me, which shuts them up immediately.
“Thank you. Now I want you all in groups according to age. Five and six year olds in one line, seven and eight year olds in another, nine and ten year olds in another, and everyone older than my sister and I in the last group.”
The room is suddenly buzzing as kids move into their designated lines. Slowly. Ugh… I finally know what teachers have to go through every day. I will never disrespect them again.
Okay… I guess I can handle everyone until I can find out what to do. I look over at Lana and smile. She smiles back, and it’s amazing how much effort it takes for me not to reach out to make sure I’m not dreaming and/or looking in a mirror.
The parents come out of the back room, all of them smiling at Lana and I. Lana looks at my hand and lifts her own to show me. She has the same crystal that I do. However, hers is slightly smaller than mine is, and it’s shaped like an oval. Mine is a sliver of a gem.
My dad steps over to me and hugs me. “I am so proud of you, Kyra. You are going to do great things, I can tell. We’re very sorry for all of this, but we do not regret taking you into our family one bit. We’re going to miss you.”
I pull away. “What are you talking about? What is going on, dad? Where am I going? Please tell me something.” I feel tears come to my eyes, and I hold them back, angry all over again.
Dad sits down on the edge of the sofa, and motions for me to sit next to him. I do, bringing Lana with me [she wont let go of my hand].
“Sweetheart. We do not really know anything. All we were going to tell you was that you were in some sort of accident, and that you had a twin sister. No one told us anything else. I know that is hard for you to believe, but it is the truth. We don’t know anymore than you do.”
Lana squeezes my hand reassuringly and leans her head on my shoulder, and I can’t help being so happy to have her. We seem to have already bonded, without saying anything.
I’m about to question his answer, when an ear-rattling siren stops me in my tracks.
♠ ♠ ♠
Good? Tell me.