Chapter 2

2

Before I could ask anything else, Mom slipped back inside and locked the door.

The fear inside me grew until I could hardly breathe.

I stood there, staring at the closed door.

The house was deathly quiet.

Eventually, I worked up the courage to peek inside.

I checked the living room, the kitchen, and the bedrooms, but they were empty.

My gut told me someone was in the bathroom.

When I pushed the bathroom door open, I saw Mom.

She was using a thick rope to strangle Dad.

He was struggling weakly, his eyes bulging as he reached out a hand toward me.

It was his final plea for help.

But I stood there and did nothing, just as he had done nothing when Mom drowned my sister.

My first thought was that if he died, my secret died with him.

I wouldn't have to live in fear anymore.

Once he was dead, I asked Mom why she did it.

She told me she had known for four years that he wasn't my father.

He was actually my father's twin brother, Silas.

I was shocked.

Wasn't Uncle Silas supposed to have died when he turned eighteen?

That's when Mom revealed a massive secret to me.

Mom and Dad were both born in Blackwood Falls.

Naturally, they both had identical twins.

That is the curse of our town.

Mom was the one chosen to live, while her sister was sacrificed at eighteen.

Mom and Dad were childhood sweethearts, their marriage arranged by their families.

My father was a simple, quiet man who didn't say much.

His brother, Silas, was charming, funny, and talented.

But Silas was the one marked for death; he was supposed to have no future.

Mom married my father as planned.

She thought her life would be peaceful and predictable.

Until four years ago.

Mom's face twisted with anger as she remembered.

"I was cleaning the windows on the sixteenth-floor balcony when I slipped. I almost fell to my death, but he caught my wrist with lightning-fast reflexes."

"I knew right then. My husband was never that fast or that observant. The man standing there wasn't him. Something went wrong years ago."

Silas had taken my father's place and lived his life.

I couldn't believe my family was built on such a massive lie.

I asked Mom, my voice shaking, "If you knew, why kill him now?"

After all, he had played the role perfectly for years and only exposed himself to save her life.

Mom's expression turned cold and dark.

"He was the second-born. He was supposed to die. He has no right to be in this world."

Her coldness terrified me.

I started to tremble uncontrollably.

If Mom ever found out my secret, would I end up like Silas?

Mom thought I was just shaken by the sight of the body.

She shifted from a cold killer to a loving mother in an instant.

She stroked my hair gently and said, "Don't be scared. Everything will be fine now."

I nodded stiffly.

Mom looked at Silas's body with a sense of relief, and as I turned away, I let out a hidden smile of my own.

After he was gone, it was just the two of us.

Nobody else bothered us anymore.

To the neighbors, we were just a poor mother and daughter who had suffered too many tragedies.

People were kind to us, offering help whenever they could.

Days turned into weeks.

One afternoon, I was cleaning Dad's room when I found a hidden letter in the desk.

I opened it and found only two words written in red ink.

"Be careful."

The words hit me like a physical blow.

I remembered him saying those exact words to me before.

What was he trying to tell me?

To be careful of Mom?

I felt a sudden chill.

Then, I felt a pair of eyes watching me through the crack in the door.

"Mom?"

I panicked and tried to hide the letter before she could see it.

She was standing perfectly still in the shadows, her eyes boring into mine.

Slowly, the door creaked open.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

I watched her hands, waiting for a weapon to appear.

She wasn't holding a knife, though.

She was holding my heavy Aerospace Engineering textbook.

She looked at me with a terrifying, accusing glare.

I broke into a cold sweat.

I had hidden that book under my mattress; how did she find it?

I was finished.

Mom's voice was like ice. "Why are you reading this? You told me you hated science."

I stammered, trying to find an excuse. "I... I just used it to level my bed frame. The floor is uneven."

Mom's gaze remained sharp, and I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff.

Suddenly, the phone in her pocket started ringing loudly.

She gave me one last look and stepped away to answer it.

I slumped against the wall, tears of terror streaming down my face.