Chapter 6

Present Day...

The harsh light of the early morning blazed through the window, casting its golden beams straight across the couch. It shone across Sophie's face and awoke her instantly, her eyes opening quickly and then desperately screwing shut as they watered furiously. Painfully blinded, she rolled over to face the back of the couch and buried her face into the darkness. Above her, she could hear the movements of a family beginning to wake up to face the day. And on the other side of the room, she could hear someone else beginning to stir.

Cautiously, she rolled over and sat up. Alan was picking himself up from the nest of blankets he'd wrapped himself up in on the floor by the TV table. It looked like a horror movie where the first wave of zombies was rising up for the first time. Except there was just one of him. And Sophie knew he was perfectly fine to say hi to.

"You mumble in your sleep." He picked himself up and dusted off before stretching to work the stiffness from his back. It reminded her too much of the apartment and she grit her teeth internally. She also remembered to desperately hope she hadn't said anything compromising. "You sounded pissed as shit at whoever you were talking to. Mind if I ask what happened?" Sophie let out a sigh. Of course her mad ravings would attract questions. She had no problem with answering, provided she didn't have to reveal anything too secret about herself.

"It was a few years ago now." She checked herself over to make sure the bed shorts Ali had begrudgingly loaned her- using her dad as a middle man- were still in place since the elastic had mostly perished on them before deciding to throw off the blankets. Come to think of it she didn't even remember changing. She guessed she had to have at some point, though. "My sister and I were at a party. Neither of us were good with other people and so I danced with her to keep everyone else off her. Some drunk asshole didn't realise we were twins and completely misunderstood the situation. Then started making a scene because he thought we were a couple. I guess in hindsight, it's actually pretty hilarious. Or it would be if she were still here to laugh with me."

"Huh." Alan gave a half-grin and walked over, sitting down by the couch and resting his back against it. Somehow, the place he'd picked was perfectly chosen so as not to appear invasive while she was lying on there. In a weird way, she had to applaud that. "I read the file on what happened. I never did get chance to say sorry for your loss yesterday. Then again, I bet you've had that from most of America at this point."

"There's a lot you didn't get chance to say yesterday." Sophie replied, sitting up. "Like telling me who the fuck you are! You showed up with a USB stick, bloodied hands and armed killers after you, and I don't even know why you're here!"

"Does anyone?" Alan shrugged infuriatingly. "It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it?" With that, he let out a heavy sigh as Sophie debated the pros and cons of reaching out to kick him in the face. Luckily for him, he pressed on. "Seriously though, I figured with all that you'd dug up you'd want to see what we had. My brother was compiling it before a guy with a gun ended his journey. I bided my time and spent at least a month and countless resources to seek you out because you'd made yourself such a public spectacle. If there was anyone to go to, you were the obvious choice."

Sophie let out a sigh and got to her feet. Her own back screamed in protest, the memories of that hellish mattress from seven months ago still burning strong. Something told her that her spine would be burned out before she was thirty and she'd be in a wheelchair by fifty. In all honesty, she didn't care. As long as she could be alone at the end of it all and disappear into the shadows with nothing but conversations with Katie for company, that was fine by her. Her body was just the shell that allowed that to happen. For the pair of them, that was the way it always was. Nothing else had mattered provided they'd had each other.

"I'm getting a drink. Do you want one?"

"No thanks." Alan shook his head and turned to face the TV. "I wonder if the twins would mind if I hijacked the Xbox..."

"If they're anything like me and my twin- and I know they are- the next thing they'd play is rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets to hold you down and who gets to drill through your kneecaps." Despite herself, Sophie actually managed to smile slightly. With that, she turned and headed in the direction of the kitchen. That way, no one would see the tears that were beginning to leak from her eyes that she furiously swiped away.

"Look at you actually managing to speak to people." The intrusion was sudden, but since Katie was already permanently living in her head now, it didn't hurt like it used to when she barged in.

"Fuck you." Sophie shot back, bursting into a grin as she opened the cupboard and tried reaching up for a glass. Unfortunately, they were on the top shelf and she was nowhere near tall enough for that. She grabbed a chair and dragged it over to stand on it.

"My name's not Ali." There was no missing the bitterness in Katie's tone and the glass instantly slipped from Sophie's fingers where it shattered against the counter top. She fell back, only to land in a set of strong arms that lowered her to the ground gently. Looking up, she saw Brandon looking down at her with a similar look of scorn to yesterday while Brian busied himself by grabbing the dustpan and brush and sweeping up the glass. Brandon stood her up on her feet and from the look on his face he'd heard what Katie had said. She might as well have just poked an infected splinter.

"How fucking crazy are you, Sophie?" It was a direct question and she didn't really take time to think about her answer before she gave it.

"Pretty fucking crazy." Then she realised what she'd actually just said. "Wait... That didn't come out right. Can I try again?"

"It came out honestly, which is what we needed." Brian said as he finished sweeping up. "Now look- Our sister is older than us. Her business is her business and we don't care what either she or her friends are doing as long as no one gets hurt. She got hurt. Now we can feel everything that's going on in your head and four consciousnesses in one brain is just asking for trouble. But what happens with that is on you. What we care about is our sister."

"I get that." Sophie nodded.

"Do you?" Brandon asked. "Did you know how interested she was? Did either of you see the signs?"

"How would we even know what the signs were?" Sophie protested. But something was nagging at the back of her head. She could feel Katie and the other two siblings trying to push something forward. They wanted her attention.

"We kind of thought that might be the case." Brian added from the sidelines as he reached a fresh glass down. As he did, the thought that everyone had been fighting to bring to her attention suddenly came forward. When it did, the pieces fit together to form a horrible picture.

"Wait a minute- what the hell did you mean when you asked if either of us noticed the signs?" The moment she spoke, she could see the answer written on the twins' faces. She may not have been able to read minds like they could, but as a twin herself, she could work out the answer. It was written all over their faces and she knew exactly how to decipher it.

"Why did they have to notice that?" Brandon sighed. Sophie barely heard him. She was storming from the room feeling probably the most livid she'd ever felt. Alan cast a questioning look at her as she blazed past him, waves of heated anger almost visible, but if there was one thing she knew about him it was that he was smart enough not to ask. She threw open the door to the passageway and started up the stairs, not even trying to be subtle. It set off a round of barking as the labradors heard the almighty crash from the door, but she carried on regardless. She was absolutely seeing red.

"Sophie?" Steven asked groggily, sticking his head out from the bedroom door. "What's going on?" Sophie didn't even acknowledge him as she turned around and smashed her fist into Ali's bedroom door.

"Get out here, you colossal bitch! I know you're in there! You've been hiding there since I got here!" Her ears picked up on a tell-tale whirring noise and she was able to duck out of the way in time. There was a soft noise followed by the splintering of wood as a silenced bullet pierced the door.

"Allison Grace-Garcia!" Steven bellowed in shock.

"You come in here, that's your head!" Ali yelled.

"You just hit your dad, you fucking idiot!" Sophie screamed back. The door hurriedly opened and Ali peeked out to check he was okay. By the time she realised she'd been duped, it was too late. Sophie booted the door open and darted into the room, ripping the drone controller from her hands and bringing the heel of her palm up into her chin. She staggered back dazed as Sophie swept her legs from under her and dumped her on the bed in a heap. Her fist began repeatedly slamming into Ali's head as the taller girl tried to squirm away, only burying her face deeper in her own duvet. By this point Steven decided he'd had enough and stormed in, ripping Sophie away from Ali as she kept kicking and screaming.

"Enough!" he roared. It was very rare for him to lose his cool and it stopped both girls in their tracks as they debated whether to continue their fight now that they had a chance to be on equal terms. "I don't often get angry, but you two have just pushed all the wrong buttons. Now what the flying fuck is going on here?"

"Remember what we were talking about yesterday?" Sophie asked, trying to subtly loosen his grip on the collar of her shirt. It was getting stretched out of shape and the bottom was hitched up almost all the way to her bra line at this point. Sophie resisted the urge to cover herself. As angry as she was, she didn't even care that some of the lasting damage from when her ribs were smashed was now visible.

"I told you I'd talk to her about that!" Steven snapped.

"You did." Sophie nodded, deceptively calm. "But that was before I found out from her brothers that this fucking harlot wasn't actually crushing on me at all." With that, she turned to Ali with a venomous glare. "It was Katie, wasn't it? You loved Katie and when she died, you settled for the one who looked just like her!" Steven's expression shifted to one of horror. He let go of Sophie's shirt numbly and turned to Ali, who'd lapsed into a catatonic expression.

"Deny it." From the tone of his voice, Sophie could tell he wasn't expecting her to say anything. "Alison, please... Deny it." Magdalene had also been awoken by the chaos and had come in to see for herself what was going on. She also stared at her daughter as though she was now looking at a total stranger. Ali didn't say anything. Sophie, on the other hand, was far from done.

"That was my first time, Ali. My first time was with someone who was just settling for me! How do you think that makes me feel? I didn't even care that I got disowned over it because I felt it was worth something!" A horrible silence settled over the room. No one wanted to be there yet no one could bring themselves to leave.

"Alison..." Her mother seemed to be struggling for words and Sophie couldn't say she blamed her. "I think it's about time you gave this young lady an apology, don't you?" Ali opened her mouth to speak. No sound came out as everyone stood there waiting for her to say literally anything.

"I-" Ali faltered and Sophie found herself hoping she chose her next words very carefully. "I don't have one." Suddenly, Sophie felt herself falling. It was like she'd been shunted back in her own head and was no longer in control as the body darted forwards of its own accord, hands closing around Ali's throat.

"Is that you?" Sophie called out using the connection. "Katie, stop it!" She could feel Ali's parents trying to pull her off their daughter and she herself was fighting to regain control. Just as suddenly as it began, it was over. Katie retreated and Sophie was able to release Ali as Steven dragged her back.

"Bitch." Katie snapped. In spite of it all, Sophie had to fight back a laugh and tried to hide it as Ali collapsed into a coughing fit. Steven pushed her towards the door hard enough that she almost lost her footing. Magdalene caught her and helped her stand as his murderous glare alternated between the two girls.

"Sophie, head downstairs. I need to have a word with my daughter here."

"Got it." Sophie nodded. Magdalene stood aside to let her out as she left. She trudged down the stairs as Steven's voice began to hit a nuclear level. The couch looked very inviting despite her night sleeping on it. She laid herself back down, rolled over to face the back of it and closed her eyes. She was damned if anyone would hear her sobbing, but she was at least going to take the chance to let out her tears with some privacy.