The entire world was spinning around in darkness to the point that I no longer knew where I was. My best guess was that I was floating, yet I did not understand how. The shouts and screams of the man and woman's voices had vanished, and now the only thing that remained was a lingering dull ache in my forehead.
Panic struck me. The fear of not knowing where I was began to overpower me. I searched the surrounding darkness, trying to make sense of where I was. I could no longer feel the presence of my brother as I continued to spiral down into darkness. Where could he have gone? Was he safe? The horrid thought of something awful happening to him overpowered me as I slipped further into the dark pit…
"HALEY POTTER, WAKE UP."
I opened my eyes and the dark ceiling of the closet came into a fuzzy focus. I was drenched in sweat; filled with terror of the nightmare I had dreamt. The shouts of Aunt Petunia hammering outside my door had rescued me from this horrible dream. For once I was glad she was loud.
"Are you up yet?" she barked.
"Nearly, Aunt Petunia," I answered, half aware of my surroundings and rubbing my face, as my eyes tried (and failed) to adjust to the darkness of the closest.
"Well then, get a move on! It's Dudley's birthday today!"
I groaned under my breath.
"What did you say?" Aunt Petunia shrieked.
"Nothing…" I said quickly. The Devil's birthday… How could I have forgotten?
"Well, get moving! Dudley's friend Piers will be here soon, and I want you to set the table for breakfast."
I fought another urge to groan as I listened to my aunt march to the kitchen, and the sizzling sound of frying bacon filled the hall. I knew what had to be done; Get up, keep my head down, and suck up the courage to face a day filled with Dudley's vile. Another horrid day with the Dursleys on Number 4, Privet Drive had begun.
Putting aside the thoughts of the dream, I pushed back the hair covering half of my face. I rummaged around the dark closet, eventually finding my beat-up glasses on the shelf above me. I put them on and turned on the overhead light. The dark closet instantly lit up, the light flashing so fast that I had to blink for a few seconds to allow my eyes to adjust to the brightness.
I sat up from my bare mattress and thin blankets buried in a pile on the hard ground. I moved the handy stool from the corner of the cramped closet to reach a wrinkled skirt and stained summer blouse on the top shelf.
"Hales, are you coming?" my brother called from the hall.
"Coming!"
I quickly changed from the oversized nightgown I had slept in into my worn clothes. Once I was done, I moved the stole back into the corner and switched off the lights. Knowing that no matter what I did to alter my appearance, I still looked horrendous.
After swatting away a few spiders around the old, dirty, bronze door knob (the closet had many of them), I exited into the hall to be greeted by my twin brother waiting patiently for me outside my door.
"Morning, Haley," my brother, Harry, smiled. He was dressed in one of our cousin's oversized hand-me-down jeans and t-shirt.
"Hi, Harry. Sleep alright?" I asked, grinning back. My fear had disappeared at that moment. Harry isn't a fan of the mornings due to Aunt Petunia always being a convenient alarm clock, but he always wanted to make sure that we both started our day on a relatively high note, or, at least something better than the average days in our lives.
"Yeah, you?" he whispered back, afraid to be overheard.
"Decent, I suppose. Any dreams?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure what it was. How 'bout you?"
"I was having a good one… we were flying on a motorbike. It was the same one that I had last week, though," Harry sighed.
"At least it was enjoyable. Keep dreaming, Harry. We both need our imaginations," I said.
As soon as we stepped near the kitchen, I caught a whiff of the fresh bacon that was sitting on the table, surrounded by piles of presents, imagining a stack of fluffy hot pancakes. My mouth watered at the wonderful thought of just a whole piece of greasy, slightly burnt bacon reserved just for me…
Uncle Vernon was sitting in one of the chairs that surrounded the table of presents, reading today's copy of Daily Mail. He was large and had the beefiest fingers you could imagine. His purple-coloured face had a thick, black moustache growing across it that made him look like a walrus whenever he was furious.
"Comb your hair!" he barked at Harry when we passed, not looking up from his paper. This was the usual morning greeting for my brother due to how messy his black-jet hair was. No matter the numerous times that he has been to the barber, Harry's simply just, well… too hairy. Sorry, Harry! Luckily, my hair was long enough to braid out of my face.
"You, girl, get moving and set the table! And you," Aunt Petunia turned to Harry, "watch the bacon, eggs, and ham!"
As my brother scurried over to the stove, I gathered and carefully placed the dishes in the correct order on the old, rectangular, wooden table. I tried my best to move around the mountains of gifts, which covered almost all of the table, but I finally made it without fail.
Dudley, our cousin, came bursting into the kitchen.
"Oh, my Diddykins!" Aunt Petunia cried as she flung her arms around her large son.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance when Uncle Vernon wasn't looking. Harry looked like he had to kiss a roach.
"You are so grown up! Come here, my pumpkin!" she showered him in kisses as he collided into her arms.
"Happy birthday, Dud!" Uncle Vernon beamed, glancing up from the paper.
Dudley's smile faltered when he set eyes on the table of presents flooding the eating area.
"How many are there?" he demanded.
"Thirty-six! I counted them last night!" Uncle Vernon said.
"B-but tha-at's two-o less t-than l-last year!" he began to wail, and Harry and I knew that danger was coming. I ducked behind the counter, Harry dived behind me, bracing for when Dudley turned over the table, which happened last year. In the exact eleven years that he has been alive, he has been given everything that he could've ever asked for, at no cost.
Aunt Petunia must've known what was coming next, so she quickly said, "How about when we go out with your friends, we will buy you THREE new presents? How's that, my little D?"
Our cousin sniffed, and then said "Okay…"
"Good! Now eat! Piers will be here soon!"
Just as Dudley was about to sit down, the phone rang. Harry and I let out silent sighs of relief and went back to our chores.
"Who's calling this early?" Aunt Petunia grumbled as she headed over to the receiver in the hall.
"Watch it, freak!" Dudley screeched as he pushed past me to go say good morning to my uncle, shoving me into the edge of the table. The plate of hot bacon almost dropped from my hands, but I caught it before it slipped from my grip. Vernon fired a furious glare.
"You pathetic freak, how dare you get in my way!" Dudley cried, holding his fist close to my face.
"Don't talk to my sister like that!" Harry snapped, coming in between us.
"Get out of the way, boy!" Vernon ordered as he snatched the cuff of my brother's collar and pulled him away.
"Apologise to Dudley right now!" Uncle Vernon yelled, grabbing my wrist. "You almost destroyed his day!"
Harry stood frozen back by the counter, with a fearful look in his eyes. He knew that, despite how much he wanted to protect me, he couldn't intervene anymore without getting his own punishment and making mine worse.
All I could do was obey.
"I'm sorry, Dudley," I muttered. Uncle Vernon's pupils flashed. "And happy birthday, too."
"Better. There shall be no breakfast for you. Boy! Where's my coffee? Bring it!" he ordered my brother, who hastily brought a pile of ham and fried eggs, along with Uncle Vernon's coffee, to the table.
Despite how hungry I was, I took the opportunity to sulk over to my usual spot at the very end of the table. I watched my cousin stuff his face while he opened his presents. Dudley's blond hair was perfectly slicked-back with all the hair gel on Earth and was dressed in brown trousers and an ugly sweater vest. He was a million times overweight and had only one neuron in his pea-sized brain stuck in his porky head. Like Vernon, he was large and had hardly any neck, but he did have Aunt Petunia's icy blue eyes and blonde hair.
By the way, have I taken a moment to introduce myself? I'm Haley Lilianna Potter, at your service. As you saw, my life is simply miserable. Harry and I had been living with our aunt and uncle for the past ten years, ever since our parents were killed in a car crash when we were fifteen months old.
Although Harry and I are twins, we aren't identical in every way. It's actually very difficult to tell that we're even related at first glance. Harry is slightly taller than me, has black hair, and is quiet and introverted. He's also right-handed while I'm left-handed. On the other hand, I have long auburn hair that always needs to be pulled back or braided if I want to see properly. I am also rather reserved and like to keep to myself, yet I would appreciate the company of someone I can call a friend other than Harry. Harry's eyes are almond shaped and his face is narrower than mine, meanwhile, my jaw is a bit larger and my eyes are round as heck behind my glasses.
Although I may look skinny and small for my age, the illusion of it is a bit extreme. It's the fact that Harry and I are forced to wear hand-me-down clothes from our cousin Dudley or from the second hand shop. Dudley is three times the size of Harry, so all of Harry's clothes are overly baggy and big on him. I receive most of mine from the second hand shop, and most of them are old and worn. Aunt Petunia says she can't waste money on clothes for us, because we will quickly outgrow them. I find this hard to believe because Dud, on the other hand, grows wider and wider every week that he is growing out of his clothes faster than Harry and I are in height. It's no wonder why I'm laughed at school for the clothes I wear…I was constantly mocked by my classmates for them. In their eyes and in my relatives' eyes, I am just a weirdo girl with her brother as a freak who has no voice and lives by commands, like a robot. Now, before you feel all sad and terrible for me, I at least have the comfort of old fantasy books I have hidden away in my closet I can escape to when things get really overwhelming. Aunt Petunia insists that girls like me shouldn't have their heads shoved into a book, but I don't really care what I do as long as I am in the safety and comfort of my closet.
The most noticeable thing that I share with my brother is our eyes. We have emerald-green eyes and terrible vision, so we wear glasses! My glasses are black and horn-rimmed shaped and Harry's are round and black. Both of our glasses are held together by all the world's Scotch tape due to the number of punches they were given by Dudley. We are both exceptionally skinny and short for our age. I don't like my appearance except for a thin scar on my forehead that is shaped like lighting above my left eye. Harry has one identical to mine but it's above his right eye.
According to Aunt Petunia, we had received them in the car crash with our parents when they died. My earliest vivid memory was when my brother and I were three and we asked her how we'd gotten our scars.
"In the car crash that killed your parents and that was what you were left with. Now, don't ask any more questions," was her reply. Of course, don't ask questions, the utmost most important rule of life with the Dursleys.
I've always been able to make mysterious things happen that I cannot explain, even when I was being punished for them. My brother has as well. One time, when I was six, I somehow levitated my classmate bully, Libby, another time I made all of Uncle Vernon's work papers turn into invisible ink. Last year, Harry and I were running from Dudley and his punching gang at school and ended up on the school roofs together after jumping over some dustbins. (We received a very nasty letter from the headmistress to the Dursleys for that incident). My hair has consistently grown back overnight after the multiple forced haircuts Aunt Petunia gave me over the years and the same for Harry. I just cannot explain this madness! Wait, am I going mad?
Another strange thing that I should note is that I've had some odd encounters with strangers in public. Strange people will come up to us and either bow or shake our hands. One time, when Aunt Petunia took us for a shopping trip with Dudley, a short-looking man with a funny top hat bowed to us, and then left without saying a word. After demanding to know who the man was to Harry and me, she rushed us out of the store before buying anything. Last year, a woman shook our hands while Harry and I took the bus, and similar instances had occurred when we went out for walks around the neighbourhood and to and from school. Before we could get a good glimpse at any of these people, they would vanish in the blink of an eye. Weird.
I silently watched Dudley unwrap his gifts. He had gotten a gold watch, sixteen new video games, and a new racing bike- which occurred to me as being strange because Dudley hated any sport that didn't involve punching. He and his gang; Piers Polkiss, and their friends Gordon, Malcolm, and Dennis, always loved to play their favourite sport; "Potter Hunting." The task is to capture Harry and me and fight us until they defeat us. Luckily, Harry and I are very fast runners, even though we are short and skinny for being ten going on eleven years old, so Dudley and his gang rarely catch us.
Aunt Petunia had hung up the phone and entered the kitchen looking as though she had watched someone being murdered.
"The Figg lady has broken her leg, so now we have to find someone to watch them," she growled to Uncle Vernon, jerking her head towards Harry and me.
Dudley perked up, looking horrified, but Harry shot me a hopeful glance from his seat at the table. I gave a small smile in return.
Each year, on our cousin's birthday, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon take him to Adventure Land, the latest movies, and all those fast-food places that I would see on the television advertising their greasy, mouth-watering burgers.
My brother and I, unfortunately, would always be dumped off at Mrs Figg's house, our mad cat-lady neighbour who lived two streets away on Magnolia Crescent. Whenever we went to visit her, she forced us to look at images of all the cats she's ever had in her cabbage-scented living room. But maybe, we'll be able to tag along this year!
"Why don't we call Marge?" Uncle Vernon asked. Marge was Uncle Vernon's sister.
"Vernon, she hates them, and we can't expect her to drop everything and watch them for the day," Aunt Petunia groaned.
"How about your friend Yuva?"
"On holiday in Florida. However, I suppose we could leave them in the car…"
"No, the car's new. I don't trust leaving them in there. How about we leave them here instead?"
"Vernon, they'll destroy the house!"
"We promise we won't," Harry piped up.
Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't pay any attention to my brother. They never did.
"It looks like we will have to bring them…" Uncle Vernon sighed.
Just as he spoke, Dudley burst into tears. I knew that he was faking. It had been many years since he'd truly cried.
"I-I don't want t-them to c-come," Dudley wailed. "They'll r-ruin it!"
"Oh, my dear, I promise that Mummy and Daddy won't let them ruin your day!" Aunt Petunia said as if she were comforting a screaming toddler. She flung her arms around him again as he sobbed pathetically. I saw Dudley smirk at me as Aunt Petunia embraced him.
As he wailed, the doorbell rang.
"Oh my goodness, Duddy, Piers is here!" Aunt Petunia exclaimed. She hurried out of the kitchen and to the front door, with Dudley trolling behind her; hastily drying his crocodile tears.
Harry and I were about to get up and leave to avoid our relatives when Uncle Vernon leaned dangerously close to us from across the table.
"I'm warning you ahead of time, you two," he growled, "there shall be none of your freaky business today. You watch where you stand and what you slip under your tongues, or else you both will be locked in the cupboard and closet until Christmas."
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry and I muttered.
He glared at us one last time and left to greet our guests. Harry sighed as he stood up and went over to the sink to load the dishes into the dishwasher. I followed suit to lend a hand.
Once we made it to the end of the mountain of dishes, Harry and I started chatting about the plans for today.
"I can't believe that we're going to the zoo!" he said excitedly as he rinsed the last few plates.
"Me either. I'm looking forward to it!" I agreed.
He smiled in return and handed me something wrapped in a napkin from his pocket.
"Here, I managed to grab some for you."
I unwrapped the bundle and there was toast and two pieces of bacon.
"Thanks," I said thankfully as I took a bite of the toast.
"Anytime," Harry replied, and he returned to the subject of today's plans. "We'll need the energy if we're to stay on Uncle Vernon's good side today."