The Silent Falls Twins: Last Post

It's true, all of it, not that I ever doubted it.

The sleepover came, Kirsty and Ava arrived. I reluctantly bought Skye a charm bracelet, that I didn't think she deserved. She bought me some new pyjamas and bubble bath. Mum bought us matching hoodies, even though we don't feel much like twins any more.

The evil trio picked out some random films to watch, mainly films I'd never heard of. Mum made us pizzas and other snacks. The three of them sat huddled together on the livingroom floor, bundled up in blankets, giggling and whispering. I sat alone on the couch. I knew that no one would miss me if I slipped out the door. But there was something wrong. I knew it from the minute the doorbell rang with the arrival of Kirsty and Ava, wearing their almost matching outfits and looking at me with pure hatred. I wondered what their problem with me even was, but my stomach was in knots. They were up to something. I had to watch them. I had to wait for them to sleep before I went anywhere. None of them acknowledged me throughout the course of the night.

I felt myself getting drowsy at one point, and I must have dosed off on the couch. When I opened my eyes, the clock on the wall said that it was just after 1am. Kirsty and Ava were still awake, focussing on the TV, where some woman was wandering around an empty house. There was a gap between them, and looking properly, I saw that it was Skye. She had dosed off, curled up in a ball. I smiled to myself, remembering that this was what happened when Skye stayed up late, remembering all of our late nights and sleepovers over the last few years.

Almost as soon as I smiled, Kirsty and Ava's heads snapped back to look at me. Both of them looked down at Skye for a second, then back at me.

“She's asleep,” Kirsty said, with a smile. This was possibly the first she'd ever spoken to me.

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my own eyes. “She's not good at the late nights.”

“She's not good at much,” Ava said.

“Nope,” chimed Kirsty. “Not late nights, not maths, not being a sister.”

“What?” I asked.

“Well,” said Ava. “She's not been much of a sister, has she?”

I shrugged my shoulders, wishing that they would go to sleep soon, but I felt uncomfortable. Skye snored quietly between them. She looked so vulnerable. She always was the soft one, and I always wanted to protect her. Not now.

Kirsty and Ava were watching me, as if they knew that I was realising my urge to protect Skye was gone. Just like the bond. It wasn't there any more. She meant nothing to me. My only concern was how long it would be before she finally killed me.

“You should hear how she talks about you,” Kirsty said, grinning. “She thinks you're a wimp, always running off to tell Mummy when she's been bad.”

“To be honest,” said Ava. “We thought she'd have smothered you in your sleep by now. She wanted to, so many times she said that she was going to. She was so annoyed those nights you stayed with your friend. Missed opportunities.”

A rage was burning inside me. It felt so bizarre. I'd never felt anything like it before. My body was tensing, my heart racing. I hated Skye. I hated her so much. Why was I just sitting here waiting for her to kill me?

“You could get there first. I would only take a few minutes.” Kirsty said, as the two of them stood up. “We're off to brush our teeth.”

Ava gently tossed a cushion to me as they made their way out of the living room. I heard their footsteps climbing the stairs. I gripped the cushion, looking down at Skye. Horrible waste of space that she was.

I don't remember deciding to kill her. But I remember placing the cushion over her face, and holding it there. I remember how she struggled, her muffled screams, her arms and legs flailing in the air. And then it stopped. Her body lay limp on the floor.

I turned around to see Kirsty and Ava, with smug grins. I was one of them. But I didn't want to be. I let out a scream. Mum and Rose came rushing downstairs. And I told them. I'm a murderer, I don't want to get away with it.

Only they didn't listen. Mum was screaming, trying CPR, Rose calling an ambulance. It was too late. Skye was already dead.

I told paramedics that I killed her, even explained how I did it. But they didn't listen, they were telling Mum it was likely to be some sort of heart failure.

Kirsty and Ava's parents came to collect them, offering their condolences to Mum and Rose, saying that they knew how it felt. I even tried telling them, that I had done it, but it was as if they just didn't hear.

“They won't hear,” Kirsty said. “No one wants to know. Not here. They'll never find out.”

They left. Rose sent me to bed. I wondered if she knew, but even she seems to be under the spell. She stayed up, comforting Mum.

I killed my twin sister. Yet, there is no punishment for me. This town lives in denial. Skye is just another dead twin. I can see her reflection in the mirror. She stands alongside Sarah, who looks at me now, both of them full of rage.

I want the world to know what I have done. I want someone to come here and arrest me. But no one will. No one ever comes here.

The Silent Falls Twins: Happy Birthday

We are turning thirteen. I spent many hours browsing the internet to see if there was any relevance in that for murdered twins, but apparently not. Sometimes I see the blonde girl in the mirror. She always has her back to me. She is just waiting for Skye, of course. Her name is Sarah, Leona told me, like the name embroidered on the blanket. Her surviving twin, Abigail, would be around twenty by now. I wonder if I have saw her, if she is planning to help Skye with my murder.

I haven't been talking to Mum, or even Rose for that matter. I don't see why I should. I have told them, time and time again that I'm not happy, that I think Skye will hurt me. Yet, here I am, managing a night or two at Chloe's, purely because I tell Mum rather than ask. But Mum demands me home eventually. I feel like a sitting duck.

A joint birthday celebration is all that Skye and I have ever had, like most twins. But we had all of the same friends before. I asked Mum if we could celebrate separately. Skye wants a sleepover, with Kirsty and Ava of course. I don't want to sleep in the same room as them. I wanted to go to the cinema with Chloe, and then stay over at hers. Of course, Mum said no. She said that Chloe can come here, and while she was pretty curious to actually visit the place, her mum isn't allowing it. Clearly, she's heard of Silent Falls.

I asked if I could visit Dad, when his card came in the post yesterday. Mum said no, and of course, so did he. He doesn't care. I guess no one does, not really. Maybe this is how it goes. Perhaps the other twins tried to get help too. The sleepover is tomorrow. I have my little stone on me at all times. This may be my last post.

The Silent Falls Twins: The Fight

I've never been one for rebelling, not really. But I've also never thought that Skye would want to kill me. I managed one night at Chloe's.

Mum was pissed at me, really pissed. I'd told her that I was feeling really unwell and that the journey to school was catching up on me. Chloe's mum seemed to think I was looking pretty tired, because she even phoned Mum and said that she wouldn't mind me staying a few nights a week, but as usual, she said no. I had to learn to settle in Silent Falls.

The next afternoon, I got a text from Mum, basically saying that there would be no negotiation and that I had to be home that night. So with my stomach in knots, I got back on the train to Silent Falls.

I got home to find Skye sat at the kitchen table, sulking with her arms crossed. There was a look of sheer rage on her face as Mum and Rose looked down at her from either side. Everyone's eyes looked towards me me as I entered the room. Mum gave me the sigh.

“Oh, finally!” she said. “She returns!”

“Now,” Rose said calmly. “Mirren's not the one who's in trouble.”

“What's happened?” I asked.

“You want to tell your sister what happened?” Mum asked Skye.

“Nope,” she replied bluntly.

“She's been suspended from school,” Mum informed me. “For fighting! Her, Kirsty and Ava attacked a girl, for no reason! Beat her to a bloody pulp!”

A few weeks ago, I'd have been shocked, but I stood and looked at Skye and realised that she was not the same person that she'd been then. She was well and truly a Silent Falls resident, and I wanted nothing to do with her.

I shrugged my shoulders at Mum. “This was what you wanted me home for? My sister wants nothing to do with me. Why should I even care?”

Mum sighed again as Rose gently shook her head. I headed upstairs to the bedroom that I now despised. I looked at Skye's bottom bunk, so neatly made, probably because it was never slept in. I tossed my bag up to the top bunk and climbed up. On top of my pillow, there sat the little stone that I had placed under Skye's pillow, attached to a pale yellow post it. Skye's handwriting read: I don't need this, but maybe you will.

The Silent Falls Twins: Dead Twins

I met Leona today. It took some persuasion, but eventually she agreed. She wouldn't come anywhere near Silent Falls. We met in Glasgow, and even that was a mission. I told Mum I was staying back at school for a study group, and still there was the sigh! We met at a coffee shop just a few minutes walk from the school. I spotted Leona immediately, because she looked exactly how I feel.

While she wore a pretty blue dress, and had her long hair in a very neat plait, I could see the dark circles under her eyes. It had been a long time since her last post, but clearly it was still taking it's toll. She spotted me too, the second I walked into the shop. She gave me a small smile and a wave. I sat down opposite her at the small square table. The waitress came and took our order and shortly after, returned with two hot chocolates.

“You've certainly got the Silent Falls look about you,” Leona said as I sipped my drink.

I nodded. “So do you.”

“I'm not sure I can get rid of it, to be honest. Where is your sister?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don't know. She doesn't talk to me. We used to be so close but now she can't stand me, and she's horrible to me.”

Leona reached into her large canvas bag and pulled out a clear plastic folder. Within, I could see some photos printed from websites. Twins.

“There's something about twins in Silent Falls,” she said, opening the folder and showing me a black and white photo of two identical girls, wearing school uniforms, their dark hair in two long plaits. She then placed another photo beside it, also black and white, showing twin boys. “These are the earliest ones that I could find. I don't know if they're the first.” She placed a finger on the photo of the girls. “The Moran twins. Karen and Josie. They were born in 1952, as were the Langley twins.” Her hand moved to the photo of the boys. “Adam and John. Both sets of twins were best friends. They did everything together, as a pair of even the group of four. When they became teenagers, they became couples. Karen and Adam. Josie and John. The story's a little vague, as are most stories about Silent Falls. Adam and Josie fell for one another, somehow. Neither could bear to hurt their twin, and so one night they decided to take a drive down to the beach. They had some drinks and Karen and John eventually passed out, some stories say that they were drugged. Adam and Josie slit their throats and threw the bodies into the ocean.”

I looked at Leona, touching the little stone under my school shirt.

“It was never proved,” Leona went on. “Because nothing in Silent Falls ever is. But there have been no sets of twins surviving since.” She spread out the other photos. All different twins, most of them identical, but some non identical too. “One always kills the other.”

My eyes scanned the photos. I saw one of two blonde haired girls, with large blue eyes. It looked more recent. The girls wore sparkling tops and jeans. “I've saw that girl,” I said. “In my room. She talks to Skye.”

Leona let out an anxious sigh. “Do you recognise any of the others?”

I scanned the photos, then I saw two sets that looked almost like us. They were in separate photos. But it was Kirstie and Ava, and apparently their dead sisters. “Those girls,” I said. “They hang around with Skye.”

“They both killed their twins,” Leona said.

“They're going to kill me too, aren't they?”

“Can't you stay here?” she asked. “Isn't there anyone that you can stay with?”

I shook my head. “My mum won't let me.”

Leona was silent for a moment before she spoke again. “You don't have to listen.”

The Silent Falls Twins: Surviving

I survived another night... only just. Mum was pretty pissed at me for phoning Dad. Apparently he called her up sounding all agitated. As the school day went on and there was no hope of not going back to Silent Falls, I called Rose and asked if she could meet me at the station. The good thing about Rose is that she doesn't ask questions. She agreed to meet me with no persuasion.

She stood on the platform, exactly where Skye and the others had stood this morning when my train pulled into the station. I felt a bit pathetic, having my aunt meet me off the train. But it's not like I have friends to lose here anyway. There was no sign of Skye, not even when we got home. Rose told me that she had gone to Ava's for tea and that Mum was at work. She heated up some home made soup and asked me to go a walk with her.

I'd never normally walk alone in Silent Falls, given the whole town seems to want me dead. But with Rose, I know that nothing will happen. She used to tell us all of her stories and I wondered how nothing bad ever happened to her, or if perhaps it had and she never talked about it.

“It's not so fun when you're in the middle of the story now, is it?” she asked, as we approached a small grey building.

I shook my head, with a sigh as Rose reached into her jacket pocket, producing a set of keys. She approached the door, which was also grey and bore a sign: “QD Storage Units.” I didn't ask anything as Rose unlocked the door and lead me into a long, pale blue corridor. We walked down, passing some doors with numbers and stopped at one numbered 10. Rose unlocked the door.

“You try to keep to yourself here,” she said as we stepped into the room. It was filled with cardboard boxes. “But sometimes trouble finds you anyway.” The boxes were numbered, with black marker pen. Rose started to look at them, her eyes going from box to box, stopping at number 12. “My friend, Geraldine, was sort of a good witch, and she was pretty good at trying to keep the evil at bay. It never really goes away here.” As she spoke, she opened number twelve, and started to pick through the contents. Unseen items rattled. “But it found her eventually.”

A realisation dawned on me then. This was the Geraldine from Leona's blog. Rose produced a small crystal like stone from the box. She held the pale purple stone between her thumb and her forefinger. “I think this is the one, she was better at this than me, but I tried to take in what she told me. I wish she'd written it down.” She examined the stone for another moment and then produced a long black ribbon. She threaded it through the stone and handed the home made necklace to me.

“It should protect you from harm.”

She then pulled out an identical stone. “For Skye.”

“Really?” I asked. “She doesn't need protecting.”

“She does,” Rose said firmly. “Maybe even more than you. She won't take this. I need you to put it under her pillow. Tonight.”

I nodded, reluctantly. My sister's potentially planning to kill me but here I am, protecting her.

Skye was still out when we got back home and I put the stone under her pillow as Rose had asked. My necklace is under my jumper, safe. I hope it works.

It was possibly midnight when I heard my phone beep with a response from Leona. Skye was silent in the bottom bunk. I didn't know if she was asleep. I read Leona's response, feeling a nervous excitement. “Get out of there now!”

The Silent Falls Twins: Lonely Twin

I am no longer a twin. Skye has enrolled at Silent Falls Academy, and as much as I begged Mum to let me go there too, she wasn't caving. She insisted that Skye needs her space and that this will be good for both of us. The journey to Glasgow felt long enough with Skye being silent the whole way there. But now, I'm actually on my own. I pass the Silent Falls pupils on my way to the station, and I feel them watching me. Alone, I am vulnerable.

No one talks about Skye at school. We are no longer known as “the twins.” I am just Mirren. And while my friends no longer hate me for Skye's behaviour, I still feel like an outsider. After school, they go to shopping centres and out for dinner. But Mum says I have to come straight home. She doesn't like me travelling back at night.

Skye seems to have made friends already. She can come home whenever she likes, and now she wanders around with two girls. They look just like Skye. Well, like both of us, really. The three of them walk to the school, in their matching grey uniforms, their brown hair, their green eyes watching everything. They don't talk to each other, or at least I haven't ever seen it. Skye doesn't need me now. She's a triplet.

Every night, she has somewhere to go with these girls, Kirsty and Ava. And Mum just lets her go. A couple of times, she suggested that Skye invite me along, but that was shrugged off with a sigh. Chloe invited me to stay at hers one night, but Mum made a big fuss about me being in people's way. She told me I ought to start trying to make friends here, to join a club or something. But the kids here don't want me.

I didn't think that it was possible for Skye to hate me more, until last night. She was told to be home for ten, which she was. I had just about dosed off in bed (although that takes some time these days), when I heard her moving. I did just assume that she was going to the bathroom, but she was in the cupboard, finding clothes.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

She gave me her look of disgust, and headed for the bedroom door.

“Skye!” I shouted. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Just shut up!” she said. “Go back to sleep and mind your own business.”

“No.” I dropped to the floor, standing before her. I knew that she might hit me again, or that the ghost girl would come for me. “You can't go out at this time. What is actually wrong with you?” I was shouting louder. I needed Mum to wake up.

“Get back to bed,” Skye said. “Close your eyes and forget you saw anything.”

She was opening the door now, heading for the bathroom with her clothes in her arms.

“Skye!” I shouted in the hall, as loud as I could. What the hell were Mum and Rose doing? “Skye, will you listen to me?”

Finally, Mum and Rose appeared in the hall. “What is going on?” Mum asked.

“Skye's trying to go out,” I said, just as the bathroom door opened to reveal Skye, still in pyjamas.

Mum and Rose looked at her. “What are you doing?”

“The loo,” she said. “Sorry if I woke you.”

“She was planning to get dressed,” I said.

Skye shook her head. “You must have been dreaming.”

“Well, why don't you both get back to bed?” Mum said. Skye was already in the bedroom. I saw Rose looking at her. She knew that she was lying.

She didn't speak to me when I went back in the room, and I didn't hear her speaking to anyone during the night.

She was already gone when I woke up this morning. Mum said she'd gone for breakfast with Kirsty and Ava. I was kind of glad, until I stepped out of the house and started the walk towards the train station. I was halfway down the street, when I felt like someone was watching me. When I looked back, there stood the three of them, Skye in the middle.

I started to walk faster, as clusters of school pupils walked by me. When I turned back again, they were stood in the same formation, but closer. If they ran a little, they would catch me easily. There was a train sitting at the station when I got there. I hopped on as quickly as I could, breathing a sigh of relief as I found a seat. When I looked out the window, the three of them were stood on the platform, looking straight at me. As the train pulled away, I heard Skye laugh.

I don't want to go back home. I asked Mum if I could stay at Chloe's just for one night, but she isn't having it. I tried calling Dad and left some voice mails, but of course, there's no answer from him. I know Mum will be angry when she finds out, but I'm afraid. If Skye wants to hurt me, it's not just the ghost girl that's going to help her. The whole town will.

I have to find out who the ghost girl is. I've tried Google, looking for information on twins killing each other. I found a few stories, most of them with pictures, but there's nothing from Silent Falls. I remember researching Silent Falls, and finding Leona's blog. But that's all I could find.

I wonder if she'll help me. I don't know where she will be staying now, but I don't see the harm. School gets out in a few hours, and I don't know what'll happen if I get on the train home. There doesn't seem to be any means of contacting Leona privately, and it seems a bit odd, begging for help on her blog, but what else is there?

I left the message: “I moved to Silent Falls a few weeks ago, and now my twin sister is acting strange. Can you help?” At the bottom I left my email address and I pray that there's no weirdos reading. All I can do now is wait.

The Silent Falls Twins: Bad Dreams

I had a dream about the girl with the blonde hair. It was very much like before. When I looked at my reflection in the mirror, she was sat on Skye's bed. This time, when I turned around, she didn't disappear. She sat very still, staring at the wall. I stood up from the seat, and moved slowly towards her. I could hear her breathing. As I reached out to touch her shoulder, she spun to face me. I jumped back. There were 4 long slashes running diagonally across her face. Claws. There was a look of disgust on her face as she looked at me from head to toe. I stood in silence, looking back at her until she spoke.

“You're not Skye,” she said, finally.

I shook my head. “I'm Mirren.”

She turned back to face the wall.

“What's your name?” I asked. She didn't respond. “Why do you only talk to Skye? I won't hurt you.”

She let out a sigh, much like the sigh that Skye would do when she was annoyed at me. She didn't turn around to speak to me again. “You are so like her,” she said, still looking at the wall.

“Well, yeah,” I said, looking down at her back. “We're twins.”

“No,” she said. “Not like Skye. You are like my sister. She was exactly the same. Nosey, selfish. Evil.”

“No!” I said. “I'm not. I'm good, I promise. I don't mean any harm.”

“That's what she used to say.” She turned to face me again, standing up in front of me, her scars looked fresh. She was a few inches shorter. “Does this look like something that a good sister would do?”

“Your sister did that?” I asked.

She nodded. “People thought that we were so alike,” she said. “The pretty little twins, so close, so lovely. Well look what she did to me!”

With that, she let out a roar, pouncing on me like some sort of animal. She knelt on top of me, a look of pure rage on her face as she squeezed her hands around my neck. I tried to push her away, but she was too strong. I heard a laugh, and standing behind her was Skye, laughing at me.

I woke up with a start. I could still feel some pain around my neck. Dreams can't hurt, can they? It was still dark, and the room was silent around me. Skye wasn't talking to anyone, or snoring in her sleep. I leaned over the bed to look down. Her feet were hanging off the side of the bed. She was awake.

She's refusing to go to school now. She said that she doesn't like the journey to Glasgow and she wants to go to Silent Falls Academy. I asked Mum if I could go too, but Skye's adamant that she doesn't want me there. Mum's even noticed how much of a cow she is to me.

I hear her talking to Rose at night and saying how Skye's trying to break away from being a clone, and perhaps it's good for me too. I don't think so.

I think that Skye wants to hurt me, and this ghost girl is going to help her to do it.