Falling From Grace

Chapter 1 Twins

Cooper and Lexis Sparks didn't speak as the black Expedition came to a short halt in front of Mt. Horizon school, way up in the mountains of the Northwest U.S. Their father shot them a look in the rearview mirror, before getting out of the driver's seat. Their mother let out an audible, and dramatic, sigh from her position in the passenger seat. The twin sisters didn't look at each other as they gathered their things and stepped out of the SUV. They didn't want to be here any more than their parents wanted to take time out of their busy schedules to make the drive up but there they were, and by the looks of the remote school, there is where they would stay.

"Now girls," their mother spoke, her stern voice lacking the compassion that should be required of a mother of two sixteen year old girls. "This is for your own good. Mt. Horizon has had much luck with helping people like you."

People like you. Identical scowls invaded the girl's features, the first sign of emotion since they'd began their journey from Montana six hours before. They looked to their father, for the words of harsh realism that he was known to deliver.

"You'd better behave, and do your best to get yourselves back on track. Your mother and I have enough to worry about besides the troubled actions of our selfish daughters."

It would have been hard to tell which of the twins was angrier as two people immerged from the log cabin building marked "Office", and joined the group, saving them from hearing anymore encouraging words from their parents. "You must be the Sparks family," said one of the two new comers, the man. He offered a hand to Mr. Sparks, who shook it with false enthusiasm. "I'm Peter Scarborough." He gestured to the blonde woman standing next to him. "This is Sophie Becker. She'll be one of the girls' counselors."

"Its a pleasure to meet you both." The girls scowled again at their father's friendly nature. Surely he and their mother would piss and moan about the two counselors the whole way back to Montana. Why are they dressed so casually? Why are they so happy looking, aren't they dealing with numerous kids just like our daughters? "This is my wife, Emily." He turned, and gestured to the twins. His false smile faltered as he introduced them. "This is Cooper." The one on the left, with blue streaks in her long, dark hair. "And this is Lexis." The one on the right, she had red streaks. The streaks were the only way to tell them apart, short of taking their fingerprints.

The girls didn't even attempt to feign enthusiasm or friendliness as they shook Peter and Sophie's hands. The counselors didn't seem fazed. They were, after all, used to dealing with troubled youths, and their parents, usually part of the reason their children were troubled. "Glad to meet you, girls," Peter said, smiling broadly as if he didn't even see the twin's looks of boredom and genuine displeasure at being at the school. "If you've got all of your things, Sophie will be showing you to your cabins, and I'll have a word with your parents before they leave."

Cooper and Lexis didn't respond, though they noted how their parents shared a look that very obviously stated: this had better not take long, we need to get back to the office. Sophie motioned for them to follow her and they picked up their duffels, motions in complete sync.

Peter Scarborough tried not to notice the look that Mr. and Mrs. Sparks shared before they followed him into his office. They very obviously didn't want to be there, which was nothing that Peter wasn't used to, but he tried not to notice it just the same. It was really amazing how many people had children that they didn't raise. Didn't nurture. "If you'll have a seat, this really shouldn't take long."

"What is this about, Mr. Scarborough? I thought we'd signed all the necessary papers?"

Peter didn't look at the woman as she spoke to him. Instead he opened the manilla folder that had been sitting on his desk all night. It had been sitting there since he'd recieved it, he hadn't been able to stop looking through it. It wasn't complete. "Yes you did, Mrs. Sparks. I needed to speak to you about Cooper's file."

"What about it?" Mr. Sparks didn't look very impressed that the conversation was drifting towards the younger, by four minutes, of the twins.

"Its incomplete," Peter explained, taking a mental note of the hostility the subject of Cooper brought out of her father. She obviously wasn't a daddy's girl. "See, Lexis' file contains a complete mental and emotional analysis from her therapist. Cooper's doesn't. It has barely anything at all."

Mrs. Sparks sighed. "Cooper keeps a low profile, she didn't speak as openly with the therapist as Lexis. He wasn't able to diagnose anything for Cooper, because she wouldn't tell him anything."

Peter looked down over the file. In the notes about her personality, it said she was normally very low-key, very content, but was prone to outbursts of anger. But she wouldn't speak with a therapist. Lexis' file contained pages of confessions about substance abuse, violent behavior, and even date rape, and her sister's was just the bare essentials. "So...there's no information in these files, because there is no information, at all."

Mrs. Sparks nodded. "That's correct."

Mr. Sparks shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Is there a problem, Mr. Scarborough?"

Normally, Peter would have insisted the man call him by his first name, but he hesitated. He didn't like this man. "No, I was just checking to make sure that we hadn't misplaced files, or if they were just late in arriving or something."

"Is there anything else, Mr. Scarborough? We really must be getting back."

Peter didn't think these two would be hanging around to bid their daughters a sweet farewell. "Just one more thing. Is there anything about your daughters that we should know, things that aren't in thier files?"

Mr. and Mrs. Sparks looked at each other, then turned to Peter, and shook their heads. "You have everything."

Peter nodded, though he doubted he was recieving the whole truth from them. "Thank you. We're done here. I should catch up with Sophie and your daughters, make sure everything is going alright." He stood, shook hands with both of them, and led them out to their car. They didn't offer to say goodbye to Cooper and Lexis, just sped off, leaving Peter with a very bad impression, and a deep curiousity about the personalities of their children.

Lexis Sparks was talkative, once she was away from the strict watch of her parents, Sophie concluded, as the twin with red streaks in her hair finished up the long, and troubling, description of why they were there. "In the end, we're the biggest accident in our parents lives."

"And on that happy note," Cooper said sarcastically, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans as she turned to face Sophie. "Can I go to the bathroom?"

Sophie blinked in surprise, these having been the first words Cooper had spoken so far. "Uh, sure."

Cooper disappeared into the bathroom as Peter entered the Cliffhanger Girls dorm. He grinned at Lexis, who didn't seem impressed by his perky nature, then looked at Sophie. "Where's Cooper?"

"She's in the bathroom."

Peter did the smallest of double takes. "Did she empty her pockets?"

Sophie shook her head. "No, we had no reason to assume that she would be a danger to herself when left alone...Did we?"

Peter turned to Lexis, who's blue eyes had drifted to the floor. "Do we?"

Lexis didn't answer.

Peter went to the bathroom door and tried the knob. Locked. He glanced questioningly at Sophie. They didn't want to assume that Cooper was doing something wrong in the bathroom, but Peter remembered how her file had said nothing about her problems, and this was just the tour. The twins hadn't been searched yet. Cooper could definitely be taking advantage of the situation. "Cooper?" He knocked politely, pressing his ear to the door. He could hear her breathing, which didn't seem normal, as there was a door between them. "Cooper?!"

Lexis said heavily on a bed, and Sophie kneeled front of her. These two certainly wasted no time in testing the rules. "Lexis, do we have reason to believe that Cooper is hurting herself in there?"

Lexis took a deep breath, and opened her mouth to respond, but before she got the chance, the bathroom door opened and her sister reappeared. Cooper looked amused as she turned to face Peter. "What the hell is all the commotion about? Is that gonna happen everytime I go pee?"

She tried to brush passed Peter, but Peter saw how she was holding her sleeves tightly over her hands, and caught her arm. "I think we should see the infirmary next."

Cooper arched an eyebrow at him sarcastically. "Why?"

"Because that's where we take people after they cut themselves."

Cooper scoffed, but Sophie caught the glance that she threw at Lexis, and how Lexis looked at the floor. "Lexis didn't sell you out, Cooper."

Cooper sighed, and turned back to Peter. She peeled off her sweatshirt, revealing the tank top she wore beneath. She extended her left arm, showing a nasty gash just below her bicep. "Do I at least get to walk there myself? Or do I get cuffed?"

Peter wondered why she was being so open about it, where she said nothing to therapists, and no one, but her sister apparently, had known about what she'd done to herself, but didn't dwell on it. He took her by the arm, and after giving Sophie a meaningful glance, led her out of the room.