Prologue: Time Bomb

July 28, 2010

"You've got my heart in your hands, like a time bomb ticking. It goes off, we start again. When it breaks, we fix it. I got your heart in my hands, like a time bomb ticking. And we should know better, but we won't let go."

There is nothing special about me. Do you know why? Because there are two other carbon copies of me. Two other 20-year-old girls with straight brown hair and jean blue eyes. The only difference? Our personalities. Or, should I say, theirs and mine. Abby and Lizzie have always been identical. But not me. It's odd. The three of us, born the same day. June 6th. Abigail Marie Harris at 6:01, then Elizabeth Jane Harris at 6:10, and then me, Katherine Grace Harris at 6:17.

On top of that, we have two older brothers and an older sister. William and Daniel are fraternal twins, and they're turning 30 soon. (My mother got some special treatment, which is why there are two sets of multiples.) Clara's the oldest. She's 32.

I don't really talk to Clara; she lives in England somewhere near the father I refuse to talk to. I'm closest with Will and Danny. Danny lives in China, but I still talk to him as much as possible. Will moves around a lot for his job, but he makes an effort to visit me and Mum, which is more than I can say for Abby and Lizzie, who both go to UCLA. They visit Pops in England more than they visit me and Mum in Boston.

I've never been close with Abby and Lizzie. I don't know why. I don't even know if there's a reason. In high school we had separate cliques and played different sports. I was in a party band and loved music while they did cheerleading. They were off at spas while I was off at concerts. I think the three of us never got along because of one humungous difference. They favor Pops; I favor Mum. Mum favored me out of the three of us and since we lived with her during the school year, they saw her favoring me a lot. We've never been close. And honestly? I can't say I care.

But the day I was the only one at our mother's bedside while she was on her deathbed was one of the worst days of my life. Out of six siblings, I was the only one there. I don't hold anything against Will or Dan. It was sudden and they were across the world. Clara was in England; Abby and Lizzie were in California. Yet they didn't show up. Now the only question that remains is who shows up for the funeral and wake.