The Silent Falls Twins: And so it begins...

Well, the first week here started off fairly dull. I had hoped for a move to Silent Falls Academy but Mum was adamant we had to still get the train to our old school. While Aunt Rose has been welcoming, there seems to be lots of rules here. Whenever she came to visit us, there were no rules. But things are very different here. We are not allowed to snoop, for one thing. Cupboards and drawers are always locked. Rose even locks her bedroom door behind her. While her visits consisted of late nights going out for dinner and watching films until the early hours of the morning, she sends us to bed pretty early. 9 o'clock and we're in our bedroom, with no TV to watch for amusement.

I suppose we should still be grateful that she took us in, even if we are sharing bunk beds in a little box room. There's barely enough room for us, let alone our stuff.

The town doesn't seem as exciting as I expected it to be. I didn't quite expect to see ghouls wandering around graveyards. But there seems to be nothing here at all. It's so unsociable too. Everyone looks the other way when you pass them in the street.

Even as we head to the train station every morning, we see people heading over to Silent Falls Academy, but they don't acknowledge us, not one of them. There never seems to be much noise from them, no gossiping, no giggles. As we step off the train in Glasgow, and into our own school, it feels like we've gone to a different world.

I was still beginning to think that Mum had been right about Rose's stories being urban legends, until 2 nights ago.

Neither of us have been sleeping great. But there have been a few times when I was sure I heard Skye talking in her sleep, just little mumbles and single words. So when I was stirring from sleep and I heard her telling someone “okay,” I really thought nothing of it.

But then I heard her talking again, properly this time. “I just don't like it here. I hoped that Mum and Dad would get back together. I really want to go home.”

There was silence. For a second, I thought I might have imagined it, when Skye spoke again. “Well, Mirren just takes everything in her stride. Nothing bothers her.”

Slowly, I leaned over the edge of the bunk bed and looked down at the floor. It was dark, but I could see clearly enough. There was nothing there, only Skye's legs poking out the side of the bed.

“Skye?” I asked.

“Yeah?” she answered, with a fake yawn, as if she'd just woken up.

“Who are you talking to?”

“No one. Go back to sleep.”

The mattress of her bed creaked as she lay back down. I lay back down too, but I felt uncomfortable. Something was here, watching us. I closed my eyes, and tried to drown out the sounds of Skye breathing.

I asked her again the next day. And she told me she hadn't been speaking to anyone, that I must have dreamed it. I began to wonder if I actually had.

But last night, it happened again. Skye was clearly awake. I wondered if she'd even gone to sleep at all.

“I didn't believe in these things before.”

There was a moment of silence then Skye spoke again. “Just didn't seem real.”

I looked over the edge of my bed, down into the darkness, and I was confident that there was no one there.

She was still speaking. “I'm sure she's still asleep, but I promise you she won't mind.”

“Skye,” I said, loud and clear.

“What's wrong?” she asked.

“What are you doing?”

She didn't answer right away, and I knew that she was preparing a lie. “Nothing, just thinking out loud.”

A lie, so clearly a lie. I swung my legs over the bed and dropped to the floor with a thud. Skye jumped as I landed in front of her. Even in the dark, I could tell she was startled. I reached to the side of her bed and turned the lamp on. Her green eyes glowed in the sudden brightness. I could see the dark circles beneath them. Her brown hair was still in the neat ponytail that it had been in when we went to bed. I checked the clock. It was 2am.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Skye nodded. I hate it when she keeps secrets from me.

I climbed into the bed and sat down beside her. She shuffled away.

“Are you annoyed at me?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “I just need to sleep.”

“You were talking to someone.”

“Myself.”

We were quiet then, just looking straight ahead into the cramped little room. I could see our reflection in the mirror perched on the dressing table, surrounded by brushes and hair clips. My hair was sticking out at all angles, nothing like Skye's. I was about to climb back up to my bed, when I saw it.

My hairbrush was moving, shuffling to the edge of the little dressing table. I grabbed Skye's wrist, but I could see in her reflection that she wasn't as shocked at this as I was.

“Can you see it?” I asked, my heart racing.

“Yes,” she whispered. “You have to be quiet.”

I obeyed, still gripping her wrist, watching as the brush made it's way to the very edge of the table. The little hair clips started to follow it, little sparkling butterflies, creeping away in a cluster. I couldn't take my eyes off them. There was a bang as the brush dropped to the floor. Both of us jumped a little.

Everything was still, and whatever had been there was gone now.

The bedroom door burst open as Mum came in, wearing her nightdress.

“Girls!” she snapped. “What's going on in here?”

I was about to attempt some sort of answer, when Skye spoke instead. “My phone,” she said, holding it up in the air. “It dropped off the bed.”

Mum looked at us, huddled together on the bottom bunk, and I could tell that she was just deciding to accept this excuse. “You need to get back to sleep.”

We both nodded and Mum waited for me to climb back up to my bed.

Skye turned off the lamp.

“Goodnight girls,” Mum said, closing the door.

“Mirren,” Skye said after a few minutes.

“Yeah?”

“You can't tell Mum, or anyone.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“You can't know.”

We've never been ones for keeping secrets, but Skye just refuses to talk about it. I don't want to go telling people, especially when she's asked me not to. But there's something here, and it's talking to her! Does she not know how much that means to me?

I really thought she'd be terrified, but she's not. She just won't tell me anything. I begged her all the way to school this morning. I wonder why a ghost would choose to talk to Skye, and not to me.

She stayed late at school today for her book club. I've stayed in the bedroom by myself, looking through her things. I know, it sounds bad, but that's really never been a big deal to us. Nothing's ever a surprise.

I don't really know what I expected to find, and it was looking like I wouldn't find anything. I opened up the bottom drawer, where she kept her pyjamas, I didn't want to mess it up too much. Her pink pyjama top was spread over the top of the drawer. Carefully, I pulled it out. Right underneath it, definitely hidden, there were two pink knitted blankets. At first, I wondered if they were ours, even if I hadn't seen them. Skye was always the one who held onto sentimental things.

Then I saw the names in the corner. One was embroidered “Sarah,” the other “Abigail.” I just know that these belonged to another set of twins. And those twins are dead now.