Chapter 7
Twin
Riley still couldn't return to that gym. She told Ruben something broke in her that night. Ruben thought it was the opposite. Something formed in her that night. Something so strong, we won't ever know the capability. She even looks different to him; behind the sadness, a new resolve had formed, along with resilience and strength. He can see it in her eyes—the hard glint they have now, the set of her jaw—when she is practicing. He thanks God that she didn't quit fighting completely. She practices her routines and warmups, and everything Mike has taught her, she does at home every day without fail. He is so proud of his sister.
He has always been proud of his sister. She has never been one to back down from anything, it didn't matter if she could do it or not. It doesn't matter if she is scared, she will do whatever she sets her mind to. Even when they were so young, they told her she couldn't play baseball with Ruben; she had to go to the girls' softball team. She had a tantrum like nobody has ever seen, insisted she could play just as well or even better than the boys, and how much do we all want to bet? Their pops lost $100 to an 8-year-old who proved she was just as good, if not better, than the boys.
Now that Ruben thinks about this, everything that is going on makes total sense now, unfortunately. Whatever is coming, to go up against it, that person needs to be fearless, strong, incredibly intelligent, and wise. That's Ruben's baby sister described perfectly.
He knows they are both gifted, because they have figured out that, as twins, they think on the same brain frequency. They found a professor at Yale who was studying rare twin abilities, sounds cheesy as hell, but he is the real thing, helping twins like Ruben and Riley navigate whatever abilities they may have. He tested them and put them through the ringer, but in the end, he sent everyone home, except Ruben and Riley. He said he had never met a set of twins with so much untapped ability, and he was excited to see what they would accomplish. Ruben and Riley see him every month and "train" for a whole week. It's cool, He's like their own Professor X.
They have seen a lot and learned quite a bit. It was learned that Riley is a prodigy and a genius when it comes to this stuff. She is always the first to discover something new they can do. She was the first to discover that they could talk to each other without saying a word. And of course, Ruben was the one who ruined it for them. thinking about that time, and having to laugh, Ruben smiles to himself, "I'm nothing if not consistent." He thinks back to the first time they found out, and he can't believe it's been five years already.
They had just turned fourteen, and the weather was changing from the hot, sticky summer to a cooler, sunny autumn. Southern California didn't really get all four seasons, but it got some of them. The mornings were cooler, and that was his and Riley's favorite time of the day.
He was finishing tying his shoe, so he could head out and meet Riley for her morning run. It was 4:00 am, and the sun was nowhere near ready to come up, so he ran with Riley every morning. He needs exercise too. They started this so many years ago, he thinks it's been close to five years already, a tradition that has become so routine to him, he doesn't even need an alarm clock anymore.
It has been good. It's a wonderful time to spend with his twin, even if neither will admit they enjoy it. Riley was furious when she realized he was running behind her for the first time. She had woken up at 3:45, changed, and took off out the side door. She had stretched and loosened her muscles up, and then she took off on a slow and steady jog. Hearing the slapping of her shoes on the pavement put her into a comfortable rhythm. Then, when she heard the double slap of shoes, instead of just one, she almost tripped, trying to turn around to see if someone was chasing her. She stopped short when she realized it was Ruben.
"What the hell, Ruben, you scared the shit outta me!" She loudly whispered. He just kept jogging, until he had reached just in front of her and shrugged, still jogging in place.
"It's dark as fuck, Riles. I'm not letting you come out by yourself." He stated simply.
Riley knew she was being a brat, but she couldn't help it. She was frustrated with her brother for always being there, never giving her the chance to do anything.
Groaning in frustration, she wants to stomp her feet, pout, and demand that he goes home, but that wouldn't solve anything but make Ruben laugh at her. Rolling her eyes, she turns and takes off again, and she would never ever admit the sound of the two of them, running in the early morning is nice. It is relaxing to hear the birds and their shoes hitting the pavement at the same time, it doesn't matter if she sped up or slowed down, he knew and matched her stride perfectly.
Riley finally let herself admit that he was right. like he always is. She rolled her eyes again and smirked. He may be a royal pain in her butt, but he is fiercely protective and has proven how much he cares and loves her. Riley finally admits to herself that she is lucky to have him, and she would go crazy if he weren't there.
"Awe, thanks, Ri, I'm lucky to have you too, You're the best little sister a guy could want." Ruben answers her unspoken confession. Riley looks over at him, and it takes a minute for it to click that she never spoke those words aloud, they were her thoughts, and the only place she could admit that he was right, was in her thoughts.
Riley skidded to a stop, her chest heaving up and down from the run. She was looking at her brother with eyes so big, Ruben thought they would pop out of her face. Her mouth is hanging open like she is ready to ask him something but can't get the words out.
"What's up, Ri? Why did you stop? And why are you looking at me like that?" he said, started looking at him.
"I never said anything out loud, Ruben!" she shrieks in a high-pitched tone that Ruben knows all the dogs heard.
"Yes, you did; I heard you. You said that you were "lucky" to have me for a brother, and I was right again. Like I always am." He used air quotes when he repeated the word "lucky."
"Okay, Ruben, yes, you got me; I said that, but there's one teeny, weeny, itsy-bitsy problem there." she said as she put her thumb and index finger about a centimeter apart, sarcastically emphasizing the size of their problem.
"And what could that be, Ri?" He looked at her with feigned interest and curiosity only used to cover the sarcasm hiding underneath. Obviously, they both spoke fluent sarcasm.
"I said those things, Ruben, except I said them IN MY HEAD!" She raises her voice with every word, just to make him see what is going on.
"Wait, what?" He asks, more seriously than before. "You're fucking with me, right? I heard you. I fucking heard you say that. I was right next to you, Ri; I fucking heard you!" Ruben is getting increasingly agitated with every word he speaks. He honestly thinks his sister is pranking him. He doesn't understand what she is trying to tell him.
"Ruben, I put it on mami and papi; I never spoke one word of that. I was thinking about it. "
"No, don't you dare bring our parents into this; you know better than to swear on anything, especially mami and papi!" Ruben says, getting angry at her for doing that.
"I get it, Ruben. I normally would never, except, I'm not lying. I never spoke those words verbally, so you could hear them audibly." she says, her natural love for words coming out.
"Hey Einstein, knock it off already; it's getting old and it's not funny." He spat at her and turned to jog back home. "The sun is coming up; you'll be fine on your own," he says, with his back already turned to her, leaving her there.
"What the actual fuck, Ruben! You suck ass you know that. Just because you don't want to believe me because you're too scared, don't take it out on me, asshole!" She shouts at him.
He doesn't even look back or slow down. He unceremoniously flips her the middle finger and he keeps going, and Riley is there, on the sidewalk, looking at his back as it gets smaller and smaller, until she can't see him anymore. She turns around then and thinks, "What an asshole!" She doesn't know what to do as she glances at her watch. 4:45 am. It's time to go back; she will have just enough time to shower and leave for school. She starts jogging the route back towards her house, and she starts thinking," Why would he think I would lie to him or even joke with him like that? When have I ever even tried to pull off a joke like this? He knows that's not my style. Ugh, he's such a dumb boy! Well, I'm glad he doesn't believe me. That would be all I need—having that idiot brother listen in to my thoughts, or, worse of all, being able to hear him." She snorts when she starts laughing to herself about the last part.
"I can just imagine what's in that head of his. It will be like this: "Run, eat, and drink. Tired people must sleep. Ugh, that Riley makes Ruben mad!" like some Neanderthal caveman. Riley laughs aloud at the visual she gets in her head and literally has to stop running because she is laughing so much. She is laughing and crying, and she is bent over, hands on her thighs, and she just keeps laughing.
A few minutes later, she calmed down, and she continued home, but unfortunately, she wasted way too much time and now has no choice but to keep running now because she lost time with her little outburst and not be late for school.
Running up the driveway, past the cars, and up to the sliding glass door. It enters directly into the kitchen, and then once she passes that, it's a straight shot, directly to the restroom to shower. As soon as she is walking through the kitchen, she hears the shower already going. Obviously by her caveman brother, she thinks and bursts out laughing as she goes past the bathroom door on her way to her room.
"Shut up, Riley, I'm not a caveman!" Ruben bellows from inside the shower. Ruben is fuming. His little sister just roasted him for 15 minutes straight and laughed her ass off about it too. He is focusing on the things she said because if he doesn't and he starts to think about the logistics of it all, like how he even heard her from so far away, he thinks he will lose his mind.
"Ha! I told you, I wasn't lying, your big fat jerk!" she says in his head.
"Fuck!" is all Ruben can think of, and he intentionally just imagines going into his brain, finding the weird ass neuron that sprouted that gave them the ability to do this, and he pictures himself with scissors and quickly cuts the connection from Riley.
He successfully cut off their ability to communicate telepathically.
When Ruben thinks about that time now, he is crushed. Their connection never came back, and Riley cried for three days straight. He felt like the absolute worst brother, not to mention twin, ever. He promised his twin he would make it up to her, and he tried. He tried to reconnect the neuron, he has envisioned it so many times, at first using school glue, then hot glue, then super glue. Then he just gave up on gluing the two ends all together and tried a needle and thread, then surgically sewing them together, then staples, then he tried a hammer and nails, hell he even tried soldering and finally his final effort, he tried welding them together and absolutely nothing worked. He doesn't think he ever felt worse than during that time.
Riley never told Ruben that it actually had worked; every single time he attempted to reconnect the link, it had worked, only Riley would immediately see herself wield a samurai sword and slice that connection in half and it would be gone. She didn't want the connection if his first reaction was to sever it.
Some nights, he still hears that scream of agony in his sleep, and it wakes him with tears already on his face. He doesn't like what he thinks it all means, like someone is preparing her for something else. something we can't even imagine. Ruben is chilled to his core because he knows the only reason Riley needs to prepare for something like this is because she will be by herself. He shakes his head. No way, not even an option; he knows that will never happen. The only way they will let Riley face something alone is over his and his pops' dead bodies. Ruben suddenly stops what he's doing and audibly gasps like a child. He squeezes his eyes shut and wants all of this to go away. He wants to kill Rico for starting this, even though he knows he should thank him. If he had not done that, we would never have known that something was coming. Something none of them are ready for. He suddenly tries to swallow, realizing his time is short because he is going to die. Not only that, but his pops won't make it either. He suddenly feels extreme sorrow and then it hits him like a grenade, Riley is going to be utterly alone, left to deal with whatever is left of humanity, not to mention facing the monsters that breathe and monsters that don't. Tears fall from his eyes, and he hits his knees, as the absolute worst thing he can imagine hits him. Riley is not only going to be alone when they die, but he knows that she will be there to witness them all die. His heart breaks for what he knows Riley will face soon. He doesn't want to think about what this will do to her mentally and emotionally. He doesn't know why he must die, they are a team, a two for one package.
He starts to think, maybe it doesn't have to be this way. He knows they both experienced the training at Yale for a reason. If it were just for her to survive and deal with, wouldn't she have gone on her own to learn? He knows he is grasping at straws, for any chance to skip death. It's sad and pathetic, and Ruben knows he was better than that. He only has one request if he must die, he can accept that, but he prays it isn't painful. For him or Riley.
Once he has settled down, he finds his dad, and with tears in his eyes, he relays every detail to him. He must know so they can figure out how to protect her if this is real. If whatever is coming is real.