Once, long ago, twin perfect little girls were born. They were a pair of beautiful babes anyone had ever seen. The parents couldn't be any happier. And for a happy ending this was what anyone could have hoped for. But happiness wasn't the destiny for this family.
It happened one day when the family was out. The mother and father had only looked away for one moment only to return to find one of their children missing from their stroller. The parents looked around, but she was nowhere to be found. The father ran off with his brother to find his child while the mother stayed with the one that remained in order to keep her safe. They never found that precious baby girl.
The parents never gave up. The days that followed they worked effortlessly to find the treasure that was lost. Days turned to weeks. Weeks into months. And Months into years. But they never could find her.
Years passed and another tragedy came. The mother, overcome with grief, committed suicide. She was found in her bed overdosed. The father, drowning in his own darkness, continued to work. He continued to live for what remained "pure" in his life, the life of his daughter. As for the daughter that remained…
"Dad?"
"…" the father turned to look over his shoulder to see his daughter. The deep dark circles, that seemed almost to stain his skin, emphasized his sunken eyes. If you were to mistake him for the dead, no one would have blamed you. "Nora? What are you doing up this early?"
The young girl shrugged as if she hadn't any idea, "I couldn't sleep." Nora looked over at her father, "Are you going to work?" she brushed her long black hair behind her ear, as if she were trying to watch her father carefully.
The father nodded, but it was nearly impossible if he was simply answering or if it was simply out of exhaustion. "Yeah," he said in a dyspneic breath, "Gotta go out and make ends-meet…" He laughed, but it was clearly taking his breath away.
"…" The daughter turned her gaze away from her father. This wasn't the first time she had seen her father like this, he had been working himself to death for as long as she could recall. And it wasn't like she didn't understand. He was once doing it for his wife and his only remaining daughter. But now… "…Tch…"
"Nora?" while it was unintentional on his daughter's part, the father took notice of his daughter's irritated disposition despite him barely able to stand. "What's wrong, sweetie?" he asked. "Is everything alright?"
The daughter was taken back, it was then she realized exactly what she had done. But quickly she recovered. "It's nothing dad. I think I'm just tired." She smiled, but it was clearly forced for the atmosphere. "I'm think-"
The father embraced his daughter. "I'm sorry."
"Dad?"
"I'm so, so sorry…" he repeated, tightening his grip around his daughter's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Nora…" It wasn't like he was blind to his daughter's own problem. But rather it was that he didn't believe that he was stable enough that he could do anything for her. It was just like he couldn't do anything for his late wife.
"…" The daughter didn't know how to respond; all she could do was just reach out and cling to the back of her father's shirt. For the first time in forever it had seemed as if she had been reduced to a child that was always dependent on their parent.
For the next few moments the last survivors of this family stayed like this. Neither spoke a word a word to one another but it seemed like their thoughts were getting across to one another. At least that's what it had seemed-
The father was the first to pull back, begrudgingly of course. He looked his daughter over and into her eyes; she looked back with a smile that seemed kind of weak. "Tell you what," the father spoke in order to lighten the mood, "I'll stop by on my way home tonight and pick up some pizza, if you are still up around midnight when I get back how about me and you watch a movie? Does that sound good for you, Nora?"
The daughter looked up at her father, at first not saying anything. But she smiled slowly, as if she were holding something back. "That sounds wonderful."
The father patted his daughter on top of her head, as if she was a child that needed a playful touch. "Then it's a date." He smiled softly.
"… yeah, it's a date." The daughter hugged her father one more time. "I love you, Nora."
And with that, the father left for his long day that was ahead. But now he had something to look forward after his back breaking hours.
The daughter said nothing as she watched her father get into his car and waved from the window from the front of the house. She watched as her father saw her back and smiled as he began to back out of the drive way. She watched as she drove down the neighborhood. She watched as he disappeared until that night.
The daughter pulled the drapes of the window closed. That was until she looked at her hand, the same one that she had grasped her father's shirt tail just a moment ago. She brought that hand to her face; she could still feel that man's body heat. She closed her eyes, she could still see him there in her mind; the kind, almost perfect father that truly loved Nora. She inhaled slowly.
Her nose flared up. She clenched her fist tightly as she let out a deep breath. The kindness in her eyes had now been washed away by an unwavering hatred. It was like a switch had been flipped inside in mind.
She turned away, showing her back to the door that her father left the house through and proceeded out of the living room.
"…Nora…" "Nora…" "…Nora?" "Nora" "I love you, Nora."
That name made the daughter sick to her stomach. It was the one thing that she hated more in this world than any other. After all these years it seemed that the words of her uncle filled her head with was still true.
She opened the door to the basement; the stagnant air rose up to meet her nostrils. She stared down into the darkness that the stairway led down into. It had been years since her mother had committed suicide. And since the basement had been a place that her mother had worked from back when she was alive, her father no longer wanted to be in the place where his wife lived. The only living person to take a step down the stairs these days was the daughter.
"It's far too late, they will never see you. You were simply replaced." the words of the daughter's uncle repeated themselves in her head. Those words, as well as similar ones, were what was pounded into her mind since she was growing up. As a child she never understood why her uncle held such animosity towards her father, his very blood. But as of current she didn't care why he hated him. In a way she could understand him.
Click!
The daughter pulled the chain string in the middle of the room. The buzzing above came to life as the dreary light came alive revealing the dust and dirt that floated in the dead air. The room showed signs of no life, even the spiders had seemed to abandon their homes that lined the corners of the walls and the ceiling. The only thing that was left down here was a bunch of boxes filled with holiday decorations for Christmas and Halloween, and an old sowing machine that hadn't been used she the death of her mother.
The daughter stared at the sowing machine. She remembered sitting on a stool watching as her mother would work on the cloths, she had custom-tailored for her customers. Even during the darkest times for these past years, she remembered how her mother would always make time for her.
The daughter sucked her teeth as she remembered her mother. She was a kind woman, if only…, she thought.
The basement was bare, but this one room wasn't what the daughter was looking for. In old houses like this one there are often many secrets left behind by the original owners. These little places won't be found for generations. All it would take just a child to find one of these places. And in this house, there was a place like this, one that only two people knew about.
The daughter made her way to the corner of the room. In the little corner was stacks upon stack of boxes that was she had placed years before. Removing the boxes revealed a small makeshift wooden door. On this side of the piece of plank a small odor could be picked up, but the daughter was used to this stench. She opened the door and ducked into the entrance of this secret room.
"Good morning, Nora." The daughter said as she entered the room. But there was no reply. Instead the daughter's nose was attached by a rancid stench in the air. "It's good to see you well," she said in a most mocking tone.
In the room there was no life present except the daughter's. But instead what existed in the room just no longer could be human, let alone called living. From a first glance it had seemed like some deformed animal's carcass.
The daughter stood straight up in the room; she could feel the top of this secret room touch the back of her head. This place used to be bigger, she retorted to herself. "Dad called me by your name today." She spoke to the disfigured form in the middle of the room.
She paused as if she was waiting for a response. She of course didn't get one. The daughter started to giggle, "Still, he can't even tell us apart-"
The truth was that "The daughter" was the twin that had gone missing all those years ago. Nora was left in this room, left to be forgotten and rot away under the house.
-The daughter stopped laughing. "I guess that's fine though." She said, in an almost accepting manner. "I don't have to worry about him as I had to with our mom." She said as a memory of her mother's face twisted in fear flashed in front of her. It was her mother that figured out the truth.
"Hey, Nora." The daughter asked the lifeless form on the floor. "Can I ask you a question?" the figure, with a face that could at once be considered human, said nothing as it laid there contorted and disfigured by agony.
"…" of course, the corpse couldn't answer. The dead silence was the only one listening to the daughter, like it always does.
"Why did she act the way she did?" she asked the stiff on the ground. "I would have thought mother would have been happy to know that I was me. But…" her voice trailed off.
The memory of that day, like a record player, replayed in her mind. It was so ingrained in her memory that it had almost felt like it had happened the other day.
That day, in the basement, watching her parent do her sowing, the daughter looked at her mother as she faltered backwards. Her mother had always been taking because anti-depressant since she had lost one of her children. But that moment she had a look of fear and agony in her eye.
The daughter had told her the truth. She had dropped her act the first time since she started to play the role of her flesh and blood. She had been expecting her mother to welcome her with open arms-
"You aren't my daughter," the daughter's nose flair as her cheeks turned red as her blood started to boil. "You are a monster."
Why? The daughter slammed her foot into the chest of her dear old sister. Why? After years of rotting away the bones fell apart with out even putting any kind of resistance. Why? She slammed her foot again, this time breaking a part of her left hand. Why? She slammed her foot again, this time she could feel what felt like the remains of an organ explode. Why? This time she slammed her foot in a spot that she had broke in a fit a few weeks back.
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Had her mother just played her role right and welcomed her with open arms then everything would had just been fine. But her mother didn't see it the way she saw her. She didn't see her as her own daughter. All she cared about was Nora, and only Nora.
Had her mother just played her part, then the daughter would never have to poison her mother that morning.
"DAMN!" The daughter slammed her foot one last time, this time shattering the jaw of the decayed corpse.
Her blood boiling over. Her heart beating miles and miles a minute. Her chest repeatedly going in and out as she was having a hard time keeping up with her breathing. If she kept this up, surely, she would pass out from the over exertion. Then her uncle's voice rang in the back of her head.
"Play your part. For now onward you are 'Nora.' If you do that, you will have the family that belongs to you. Don't ever faulter."
The daughter closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And then she let out that deep breath. Took another breath. And then let that one out. In. Out. In. Out. 1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4.
That's right. The daughter thought to herself as she inhaled. I am Nora. She exhaled. Mom may no longer be with us. She inhaled. But as long as dad was around, she still had her family. She exhaled and opened her eyes.
Nora looked at the corpse on the floor. Now, to her, it looked like a mannequin. Just a broken doll with no real role in this play. Then she looked at her foot. She chuckled to herself.
"Looks like I have to clean up a bit, before dad gets home tonight." Nora's foot was caked in the remains of the lifeless doll in front of her. It was going to take Nora a while to not only remove the remnants on her shoes but also the smell that had no doubt seeped itself into her cloths and her skin. After all she had to have everything look perfect and normal for her father's return later that night.
Nora turned to leave the secret room of the house. But turned to look over her shoulder and look at the mess on the floor that could be barely qualified as human remains. "It was good talking to you again, sister." She smiled at the corpse. "Let's do this again real soon." She said as she left the room and shut the door behind her.
Years would go by and events like this would repeat themselves repeatedly for Nora. When ever she would get agitated with a situation or angry with her life, or simply feel like she was failing her role, she would come down to the basement and "talk" to the corpse of her twin sister. It would always end with her taking her stress and anger out on the girl that no longer could move. And it would always end with her taking a piece away with her.
Eventually Nora would grow up and leave her childhood home behind and no one would ever find the truth. Even after Nora's father's death, reportedly suicide, no one would find the lying body under the house. Even the next generation of homeowners would find the secret room in the basement. Even the generation after that.
By the time that the secret room was discovered by a curious young child, and would in turn find the body, it would be far too long. After finding what little remained of the young girl's body was no longer considered human and was mistaken that an animal of some kind had seemed to crawl up into the room to die.
The mother of the child, for one reason or another, seemed to take pity on what had simply seemed like the carcass of some poor unfortunate bird, and buried the creature in the backyard of their home.
The child couldn't help but imagine what the animal could have once looked like. But it imagined that it once looked like a beautiful white swan.