Chapter 1 - "A Walking Study of Demonology" -Tweedle-Tay's Story
April 1st, 2000 - Tulsa, Oklahoma

"That'll be $12.55," the taxi driver said as the taxi pulled up outside the 'Mae Ashton Hospital'.
Michaela hastily went through her purse and pulled out $15. "Kept the change," she said, flashing a winning smile as she jumped out of the car.
As I climbed out of the car I took another look at the driver. A Leonardo DiCaprio look-a-like. Straight out of 'Romeo and Juliet'. It figured.
Michaela and I had flown to Oklahoma City this morning, then taken a bus to Tulsa and a taxi to the hospital, all in an effort to find Grubbery. I looked at Michaela and frowned. "I hope the coma isn't too bad," I said softly.
"I've never heard of a good coma," she replied. She gave me a little smile. "I'm sure he'll get better really soon. He might even be out of the coma already," she said, nodding as if to convince herself.
"Can they be that short?" I asked, surprised, as we walked up the steps to the hospital door.
Michaela shrugged. "I think so. Remember when we used to watch 'General Hospital'? People were always going in and out of comas."
For some reason her words did little to comfort me. "Maybe we should have waited for Grubbery before we left the house. Maybe then this wouldn't have happened......"
Michaela frowned. "Maybe...." she agreed. "But we weren't to know that." She stopped walking and took my hand. "Grubbery is going to be fine," she said. "The chances of him dying are so slim -"
I shook her off me. "Yeah, but they're still there, aren't they?" I walked ahead more quickly.
"Tweedle-Tay!" Michaela called, running after me. "You haven't even seen him yet. Can't we at least wait until we see him?" she said, pleading with her eyes.
"Whatever," I replied. We walked over to the reception desk. "Um, excuse me," I said to the old, matronly, nurse. "Can you please tell us where Grubbery Manson is?"
The nurse groaned. "Not more children!" she said impatiently. I looked at Michaela and raised my eyebrows. We were seventeen and we hardly looked thirteen. "Don't you have anything better to do than stalk ex-child stars?" the nurse continued.
I flinched. If Grubbery was an ex-child star, then so was I. Was there anything more pitiful than that? Being a has-been was, in some ways, worse than being a never-was. Michaela smiled sweetly. "Actually, we don't have anything better to do. You see, that 'ex-child star' is our little brother, and we'd like to see him," she said. I had to stop myself from laughing. Michaela was flirting with a sixty year old nurse to get her way. This wasn't going to work.
The nurse laughed. "Nice try honey. The Manson family are already up there with Grubbery. If you were a Manson, you'd be there with them."
Michaela still held her fake smile. She held my face in her hands and said to the nurse, "Look at this boy's face! Does it look familiar?"
The nurse shrugged.
"It should! He's Tweedle-Tay Manson.... you know, everybody's favourite Manson?" Michaela raised her voice slightly. I kicked her in the shins. We didn't want to attract the attention of everybody in the reception.
The nurse laughed. "Girlie, believe it or not, I'm not really all that interested in '90's pop music. Would you please leave? You're causing a bit of a scene."
She wasn't going to let us in? We had to see Grubbery. "Please," I begged, "We have to see our brother. We haven't seen him for two and a half years....."
Michaela was going through her purse. She pulled out an old photo of Manson and showed it to the nurse. I hadn't know she's carried that around with her. "Look," Michaela said, leaning over the counter. "See this picture?? That's Grubbery, that's Neuton and that's my brother Tweedle- Tay. Doesn't it look like him?" The nurse nodded. "Now, I'm not in this picture but you have to admit the picture of Tweedle-Tay looks quite a bit like me too," Michaela folded her arms triumphantly.
The nurse nodded. "I guess it does..... Look, I can't be bothered arguing with a couple of teenagers with such a ..... convincing case so.... He's in room C17. On the third floor."
"Thank you so much!!!" I said, leaning over and kissing the nurse in my excitement.
"Thank you," Michaela smiled, a little less enthusiastically. As we walked towards the lifts she gave me a little smile. "Bet that made her year," she whispered to me.
I smiled back. We were going to get to see Grubbery. We walked into the lift and went up to the third floor. We walked along in silence, looking for C17. I tried to think of something to say to Michaela, but nothing was coming out. I thought of Alisha. I was supposed to see her today. "I'll have to call Alisha," I said to Michaela.
Michaela raised her eyebrows. She shook her head. "I can't believe you'd think of Alisha at a time like this. Really," she said. "We do have more pressing matters."
"Yes," I agreed. "We do."
We came to the door of C17 and opened it, making our way into the room. It was a pretty nice room, L-shaped, our parents must have paid for it out of Grubbery's trust fund. I walked around the corner, Michaela close behind, and saw Grubbery lying pale of the bed. He looked quite similar to how he used to, taller, maybe Michaela's height or a little taller than that. He'd kept his hair the same. He looked so young and innocent, like a little child. But Grubbery wasn't eleven anymore. He was fourteen. Fourteen must be a cursed age at our house.
"Well, well, well," a deep voice said.
I heard Michaela gasp. She too must have been entranced by Grubbery. I looked up and saw our father and Neuton. I gulped. "Hello," I stammered. Michaela came to stand beside me and gave a little wave.
"Tweedle-Tay," our father said. "Would you please ensure the girl does not come too close to your brother? She's caused enough trouble in this house as it is. She's probably the reason your brother went into the coma in the first place."
Michaela whimpered. It was strange. My sister who was almost always happy and certainly always confident, was reduced to a wreck in the presence of our father. I was not much better. "Michaela," I managed to choke out, "Did not make Grubbery go into a coma. She didn't have anything to do with it."
"Oh really," said Neuton. "And I don't suppose you were here to tell?"
Michaela's hatred for Neuton was stronger than her fear of him. "And I don't suppose you were here either," she said.
"Tweedle-Tay," our father said, walking over to Michaela and I, "Look at what your sister has done to you. Look how skinny you are."
"I've always been thin..... father," I said nervously. I couldn't bring myself to call him Dad. I looked at him and realised that I was almost an inch taller than him. That meant I was taller than Neuton, something I had always looked forward to. Why didn't that excite me anymore?
"Your sister," our father said, stroking my arm, "She seduced you, didn't she. She forced you to go against God's will." He laughed. "When will you children ever learn? Grubbery is in a coma because he disobeyed his parents -"
"You put Grubbery in a coma?" I cut in.
"Don't interrupt!" Father yelled. "Your mother and I did not put Grubbery in a coma but if he had obeyed us - and God - he would not be in this condition. You and.... Michaela.... are in the condition you are now because she seduced you. Look at your sister Tweedle-Tay," my father said, looking into my eyes. "Look at that skirt she's wearing. Eight inches above the knee. Why would a girl wear a skirt that short when she's only going to be around her brother?" He paused. "Because she want's to seduce him. If you had thought of God instead of sex when you looked at your pretty twin sister you'd be far better off. Neuton obeyed God and he's at college studying accounting. Your mother and I obeyed God -"
"No you didn't!" Michaela yelled. My father took a step forward and she took a step back. "Abusing your children and marrying your sister is not the sort of thing a good Christian does!"
Neuton gasped. "It's not true!" my father said, turning around to face him. "Who are you going to believe? Me, or that little whore?"
Neuton just stood there, looking confused. Michaela and I ran over to Grubbery's bed. "Grubbery," Michaela said, stroking his hair.
"It's okay. Tay and Kay are here now," I said, taking his hand.
"Can you hear us Grub? If you can, just know that soon everything will be okay. We'll get you out of here and we'll save your soul," Michaela added.
"You won't have to live like this much longer," I went on.
Neuton must have agreed with our father because at that moment I was grabbed by our father and Michaela was grabbed by Neuton and we were thrown out of the room.
We stood outside, smoothing down our clothes. "Grub's not dead," Michaela said cheerfully. "He's going to be fine. I can feel it. God won't let the most pure member of our family die."
I was surprised to hear Michaela spouting all this religious talk, especially since she'd never been to church in her life, but I nodded. "Yeah, we'll get him out of there before he tears himself apart." I felt around in my pocket for change. "Do you have a quarter?" I asked Michaela.
"Sure," she said, going through her purse. "Why?"
"I have to call Alisha," I said, taking the money and running towards the nearest pay-phone.