Chapter Two
"Twins..."
"Identical dreams..."
"Identical deaths..."
The room was dark, almost too dark to see. A small candle stood in the center of the floor. a dull red flame flickered slowly, casting tiny shadows. Slowly, cautiously, she stepped towards the flame. She knelt down next to the candle and extended her hand to touch the small dancing fire. As her fingertips grew closer, the fire grew larger, engulfing her hand and spreading throughout her entire body. The girl screamed, rolling around on the floor trying to put out the brilliant flame that enveloped her body. She soon came to realize that she felt no pain. Her skin was unburned, and the fire felt cold. The girl stared at her hands with a puzzled expression.
Just then, the wall in front of her started moving, revealing another room on the other side, where a creature stood, engulfed in a bright fire. Panicking, she backed away, staring at the creature in horror. The creature slowly approached her, a small object in its hand. The girl backed against the wall, looking around the room for anything she could use to defend herself. She spotted a small dagger on the floor, next to the small candle. The creature was now getting closer, its flame illuminating the entire room. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the object in its hand was a small dagger. Taking a deep breath, she ran to the center of the room and quickly grabbed the dagger on the floor. The creature was now directly in front of her. Without hesitation, she lunged towards it, stabbing it straight in the heart.
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her chest, and looked down. A small dagger was sticking out of her chest. She staggered back, coughing up blood. Her vision became blurred, and she fell to the floor, unable to stand. The flame surrounding her died down and the disappeared. As she looked up, she could see that the flame surrounding the creature was also extinguished, and she stared at the face of her twin sister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A small section of the wall opened up, and a young girl with black, shoulder-length hair and honey colored eyes stepped into the room. She wore a bright, yellow dress full of laces and frills. In her hair rested a golden rose. She walked over to the two twins lying on the floor and knelt beside them.
"Targets 44 and 45," she said, a red X appearing on their backs, "Terminated."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aryl stared at her breakfast. A small piece of bacon sat on her plate, cold and hard. Slowly, she picked it up and nibbled on it, only to spit it out afterwards. She looked over at her mom, who was busy trying bundle up her brother for the harsh weather outside.
"Mom, my bacon's no good," she complained. Her mother sighed.
"If you had gotten down here sooner, it would've been nice and warm," she said, wrapping a scarf around her brother's neck. Aryl grumbled and pushed away the plate. She then grabbed her bag and headed towards the front door.
"I'll just eat something at school," she mumbled. As she walked past the living room, something caught her eye. She glanced over at the TV and rushed over to the couch. Three pictures appeared on the screen. One was of a young boy, and the other two were of two twin girls. Beneath the pictures was the headline: "Three mysterious deaths in the past week." Aryl stared at the pictures in horror.
"Come on, you're gonna be late!" Her mom said as she walked by. Aryl still stared at the TV. Her mom sighed and grabbed her arm, dragging her away from the couch and shoving her out the door. It took her a few moments to realize that she was now outside and her brother was dragging her down the sidewalk. Annoyed, she shook him off and walked ahead. The whole time she walked to school, she couldn't help but think about what she had just seen on the news. She was wondering if it was just her imagination. Not paying attention, she bumped into Kari.
"Oh," Kari said, "Hi Aryl! Did you see the news this morning?" Aryl nodded. "It's hard to believe that three of our classmates are actually dead..." They walked the rest of the way in silence, not saying a word as they reached the school. There was a huge commotion on the school grounds. People were talking about the deaths, spreading rumors and theories on what they think happened. In the hallway, students were placing flowers and gifts in front of portraits of the three victims. Aryl ignored it all and just went to class. During lunch, she picked at her food, stabbing random pieces of corn with her fork. Kameshi was sitting with them again today, talking to Kari about the deaths.
"I just don't understand how someone's heart can stop," Kari snapped her fingers, "Just like that. It's unnatural."
"Maybe, they died in their dreams," Kameshi suggested. Kari looked at her curiously.
"What does that have to do with it?" she asked.
"Think about it," Kameshi continued, "Have you ever noticed that in a nightmare, before the monster/bad guy/booby trap kills you, you wake up?" Kari nodded. "That's your body's way of protecting you from death in real life. Some people believe that when you die in a dream, it's such a shock that your brain can't take it and you die in real life." Kari looked at her food, lost in thought.
"Death in a dream equals death in real life," she whispered, stroking her chin. At this point, Aryl looked up from her corn and stared at Kameshi.
"Did you get contacts?" she asked. Kameshi blinked.
"What are contacts?" Kameshi asked, puzzled.
"Nevermind," Aryl sighed, and went back to her corn.
