"I just touched him… I didn't mean to… I just touched him… just get away from me!"
Martha heard these last words screamed in her sister's bedroom. She sprinted down the hall as fast as she could. What she saw was alarming. A boy was on Marie's bed convulsing and gasping for breath while her father attempted to hold him and yelled for someone to get a doctor. Her mother almost ran over her trying to get to the phone downstairs. Marie, Martha's twin sister, was rubbing her hands and mumbling incoherently while tears of fear ran down her face. Martha didn't know what was going on or what to do. It scared her to see her family so frightened. She walked into the room and sat down next to where Marie had now curled up into a ball on the floor, crying. Martha tried to rub her back and make her feel better, but when her hand made contact Marie screamed and slapped it away.
"Don't touch me!" she yelled. Then she went back to sniffling and mumbling. Now Martha was truly frightened. Marie had never denied her twin's touch before. She couldn't see Marie's face because her long auburn hair hid her but she knew she was frightened of something and it had to do with that boy.
"Marie? Marie, what's going on?" Martha asked gently. Marie's shoulders heaved up and down as she sobbed. "Marie, please tell me. Why can't I touch you?"
She looked up through her tangled hair and replied, "Because I don't want you to get hurt."
Martha was confused, "What do you mean? You've never hurt me before."
Marie glanced at the bed where the boy was still lying. "I'd never hurt him before either." Then she curled back up in a ball on the floor and started rocking back and forth. Martha heard sirens and then Mom directing men up the stairs, but she never left Marie. Even when the EMT told her she was in the way, she refused to move. It finally took the combined efforts of her mom and dad to get the both of them out of the room. Marie still screamed when someone touched her. Dad laid her down on the couch in the living room, where she promptly curled up with her face to the back of it, and Martha sat down on the floor by her head. She didn't speak just sat watching and listening, waiting for who knows what. All she knew was that Marie needed her, now more than ever.
~
The next day was Sunday and Marie refused to come out of her room or let anyone in. When Mom called and told the girls it was time for church, they both answered that they weren't going.
"What do you mean, of course you're going! Now get out of bed and get ready!" Neither of the twins listened. Martha, still in her PJs that consisted of a pair of Scooby-Doo boxers and a white tank top, locked her door, sat in front of her mirror, and shook her short curly hair just like Shirley Temple. Only her hair was a dark auburn like her mother's and sister's, not golden blonde. She heard her mother beating on Marie's door and knew that she would be coming to hers next. She picked up her brush and began to run it through her hair carefully.
"Martha!" There she was, "Martha, get out here this instant and tell your sister to come out of her room! Martha, unlock this door!" Ouch, a tangle, "Martha, I mean it young lady! If you're not out here in two seconds I'm going to send your father up here!" There was a pause outside and then loud stomping down the stairs. Martha sighed and ran her fingers through her freshly brushed locks. She heard Mom and Dad mumbling downstairs and then surprisingly she heard the front door slam and the car driving out of the driveway. She waited until the sounds of the engine had entirely faded away, then she snuck a peek out her door. The hall outside her door at least was empty. She ventured a little farther and found that the stairs were deserted and it was dark downstairs. They really had left. She sighed and turned back down the hall toward her room. As she passed Marie's room, she heard sniffling. She paused and listened, and then timidly she knocked on the door.
"Marie? It's me. Are you OK?" Martha heard a click and Marie's door opened slowly.
"Are they gone yet?" Her face was tear-streaked and she had dark circles under her brown eyes.
"Yeah, I guess Dad told Mom it was a lost cause." Martha replied, trying to extract a smile from her twin. A small grin passed over her face and then disappeared as quickly as it had come.
"Yeah, guess so."
"Didn't you sleep last night? You look awful." Marie opened the door wider and Martha took it as an invitation and walked in. She grabbed a chair and, turning it around backwards, took a seat. Marie sat on her bed. She was still in her PJs too, which was a long nightshirt with a big picture of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet on the front.
"I couldn't sleep. I could hear him in my head. He kept screaming that it hurt. It kept me awake."
"What happened yesterday? How did he get like that? I mean, he was pretty screwed up."
"I don't know what happened. One minute, I'm telling him my plans for after high school. Ya know the big trip we've been planning. The next, he kissed me and after that, he started doing all that weird stuff. Then, I screamed. I've been hearing him ever since."
Martha didn't know what to make of it. It was like nothing she'd ever heard of before.
"Hey, you don't think… you don't think you could be… ya know, like one of those people on TV with the weird powers and stuff. A mutant?" Marie looked at her with horror in her eyes. It was of course the only idea that made sense.
"No… no I can't be!" Marie stood up and started pacing the room holding her head and moaning.
"Come on, Marie. It wouldn't be that bad, would it? I mean, how bad could it be?" Martha was trying to reassure her, but apparently, it wasn't working.
"What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do?" She could see that Marie was starting to panic. Without thinking, Martha reached out and grabbed Marie's arm. She started to feel a tingling sensation in her hand and let go immediately. She shook her hand out to get rid of the feeling. Marie had stopped pacing to watch her. Martha took advantage of the opportunity.
"First things first." She said and with that walked briskly back to her room. She rummaged around for a few minutes in her closet and found a pair of tan leather gloves. She brought them back and handed them to Marie, "Here, try these on." Marie took them and put them over her hands gingerly. They fit. "Well, that's a start. And it's getting close to winter anyway so no one will think it's odd if you start wearing them now."
"What are you doing?" Marie asked.
Martha smiled, "Preparin' you for school."