The fall in the temperature of the frigid room fell in sync with that of the body which felt like heavy weights against her arms, all indications that she had run out of time.
She shivered as she stared at the body; her vocals seemingly on leash as her brain processed what had happened in the last minute.
Although she was aware of how and why she ended up in the situation she found herself in, it still felt like a mystery which was unraveling before her.
It all started with the moment she decided to fix things.
Vague recollections of her resolve to fix things flashed through her mind taunting her more than the almost lifeless body in her grip.
Fix things!
She shook her head in disbelief, laughing at the thought.
How she could ever think that her 'fixing things' would be a good idea was something she still couldn't understand till that point.
She couldn't fix things; she was only good at wrecking them. Destruction accompanied her like a shadow everywhere she went and her Sidam touch was just like the scars on her arm: a part of her.
In the same way, she had ruined everything from the start. The only mistake she made was thinking she could fix it.
A light chuckle snapped her out of her thoughts as she became aware of her environment.
The chuckle was from none other than the reason she had a paling body in her hands on a chilly Friday night.
She stayed still, not taking her eyes off the body as she heard the footsteps moving towards where she was crouched on the floor.
Realization hit her at that moment as she glanced up to meet the crystal blue eyes staring back at her. If the blue-eyed girl had it her way, she'd be lying next to the body—and that too—in a matter of seconds...
3 months earlier...
Chidiogo examined the sheet of paper pulled between her hands. The paper had almost crumpled underneath her grip but she paid little attention to it and focused on trying to make out what was written.
She gulped, lifting the paper to her face while hoping that she had gotten her thoughts wrong lest her dinner would make a reappearance.
The sound of her door clicking shut halted her action together with her ability to think as she stood, rooted to a spot. Her limbs felt limp, her heart struggling to escape from her rib cage.
The sound of its constant drumming against her chest filled her mind for a moment and it took a while for common sense to kick in and even longer before she felt her muscles coming back to life.
Her eyes darted to the sheet of paper still stretched between her trembling hands. She attempted to steady her hands as she mashed the paper between them.
She took in slow breaths trying to focus on what she had to do next rather than her heavy breathing and the footsteps which became more audible by the second.
In a quick and clumsy move, she tossed the paper in the direction of her bed stand. The crumpled paper fell a few feet away from her, making a few rolls before coming to a stop just next to her bed stand.
The urge to be swallowed by the ground was overwhelming as she stared at the paper, willing that some miraculous breeze would lead it a foot more—just enough to be behind the bed stand and out of sight.
She tried in vain to still her body sure that the rapid increase of her heartbeat would give her away even if her shaking body didn't. The approaching footsteps were painfully slow as she fought the urge to make a run for the door.
Just as she was sure that she would have a heart attack, a cackle filled the air—one she was all too familiar with. She was stunned for a while before turning around to meet face to face with her replica.
She sighed, placing her palm over her chest. She took in deep breaths, her heartbeat assuming its original pace.
She paid little heed to her twin sister's obnoxious laughter until her breathing had steadied.
Finally calm, she turned to face Mmachi with a massive scowl on her face.
"Why are you here?"
In response to her question, Mmachi's laughter only grew louder.
"It's not funny, okay? You can't just barge into my room!" Chidiogo said, raising her voice, "and can you quit laughing?!"
She glared at Mmachi getting more and more pissed by the second as Mmachi tossed her head back, clutching her stomach as she laughed out her guts.
"You should have seen your face!" Mmachi managed to choke out a few words amidst her laughter. "You literally went pale! It was just so funny!"
Her laughter echoed in the room as Chidiogo resisted the urge to squeeze life out of her.
"And when you threw that paper, it was just EPIC! It legit felt like you were trying to get caught!"
Chidiogo's eyes were beginning to hurt from glaring at Mmachi as she wondered if it would be wrong of her to wish for Mmachi to choke on her laughter.
"The way you were shaking sef—"
"Stop!" Chidiogo forced out the simple warning through gritted teeth but Mmachi continued as though she hadn't spoken.
"I didn't need anything to tell me that something was up—"
"Enough!" Chidiogo said, her fists tightening into balls.
Mmachi's voice rang out in the room, louder than before. "And whe—"
"CAN YOU CUT IT OUT ALREADY!?"
The whole room fell silent after Chidiogo's outburst, the obnoxious chirping of the crickets seizing for a while.
"Finally!" Chidiogo said plopping down on her bed.
She closed her eyes for a moment, massaging her temples as she put her next words together.
The sound of something screeching against the floor forced her eyelids apart. She watched Mmachi pulling a chair to where she sat.
Mmachi positioned the seat in front of her bed, with it's back to the bed. She then sat on it, her legs on either side of the backrest.
Chidiogo just watched as she crossed her hands over the backrest, placing her pencil sharp chin on them.
Her eyes settled on Chidiogo once she was done. "Okay, now you can tell me what you were doing before I came in here and why you freaked out like that?"
Chidiogo sighed, leaning back while using her hands to keep herself up. She tried to think of a way to tell Mmachi what she had been doing without having her flipping out on her.
She studied Mmachi for a moment. Her light skin had a glow which could be credited to the amber lights in the room. A smile was also present on her face but Chidiogo couldn't exactly trust that it was genuine.
Ever since she got released from the juvenile prison, it had been hard for Chidiogo to tell what she was thinking.
"You're not gonna talk?" Mmachi jutted her chin out, readjusting on her seat.
The action caused a few strands of her jet black hair to fall across her face and Chidiogo wondered for a moment how her hair was that perfect, even in the middle of the night.
"I'll take a guess then." The smile on Mmachi's face grew wider as she tapped her chin with her finger. At this point her skin seemed to be reflecting the amber light and she looked more like a model posing for a picture.
Chidiogo stared at her. They both had the same face but for some reason Mmachi seemed to be the prettier one. Chidiogo couldn't tell why she'd always believed that but it was an opinion she'd never been able to shake off.
"Boy issues!" Mmachi said, snapping her fingers.
Chidiogo's carved brows pulled together, scrunching the skin between them.
Mmachi clapped on seeing her expression, pumping her fists in the air. "I knew it! Now tell me, who is the guy?"
Chidiogo shook her head as she spoke, "Woah, woah, that's not the case—"
"I'm so happy for you!" Mmachi pouted as she let out a squeal while Chidiogo glared at her.
"Mma—"
"So who's the boy?" Mmachi leaned forward on her seat, causing the seat to swing towards Chidiogo a bit.
"There is no boy." Chidiogo's face was deadpan as she stared back at Mmachi.
"So there is no boy?"
Chidiogo could almost swear that the disappointment in Mmachi's voice was exaggerated.
"Yes."
"Would you now tell me what was up or you really want to keep wasting unnecessary time?"
Mmachi's smile had turned upside down as she waited for Chidiogo to give her a reply. It took about a minute before Chidiogo spoke up.
"So here's what happened. Before you barged in, I was going through this letter I found in your—"
"Letter?" Mmachi straightened up, her eyes widening a bit. "Which letter?"
Chidiogo frowned, not pleased with the interruption. "If you would let me finish my sen—"
"You were saying something," Mmachi said, cutting her off again, "you found a letter meant for me which means you were—"
"Let me finish what I'm saying or you leave my room."
Chidiogo's voice was stern and left no room for arguments.
Mmachi sighed, folding her arms. "Fine! Just make it snappy."
Chidiogo rolled her eyes but continued her explanation nevertheless.
"I found a letter in your jotter. It looked creepy, was written in blood and all. I—"
"Blood?"
There was something in Mmachi's tone which Chidiogo couldn't quite place and even though she had had it with her interruptions, she felt the need to reply.
"Yeah, it looked like a threat or—"
"You don't know what you're talking about."
Mmachi stood up that same instant and headed towards the door.
"I'm not lying! They're coming for you, that's what the letter says."
Her words halted Mmachi whose fingers were already wrapped around the door knob. She turned around and taking quick strides, returned to her initial position in front of Chidiogo.
The room went silent for a while, the chirping of crickets—which had returned, louder than before—and the dull hum from the lazy rotation of the fan were the only sounds left. The silence lingered long enough to make the atmosphere more uncomfortable than it already was.
Finally out of patience, Chidiogo made to break the silence but Mmachi beat her to it.
"I get now."
Chidiogo sighed, about to ask her what the letter was about and why anyone would want to come after her when Mmachi's voice filled the air again.
"You thought I was mum and typical of you to want to get me in trouble, you fucking went overboard with your hysteria! With the way you threw that paper, anyone would have been suspicious and definitely mum would have checked it out. At the end of the day, I'd get into trouble. You just won't stop these childish games, will you?"
Chidiogo gaped at Mmachi, the air around her becoming stiff as she processed the words she just heard.
"And before I forget, that wasn't blood. I always knew your head was empty but I never knew you'd be this daft to not tell the difference between blood and red marker. Finally, stop snooping through my things. Next time, I won't remind you with words."
Mmachi turned around to leave but stopped on hearing Chidiogo's voice.
"What kind of monster do you make me out to be?"
A few seconds passed before Mmachi spun around, her eyes blazing.
"You're just trying to provoke me right?"
"No, I—"
Mmachi was out the door before she could get the remaining words out. She stared at the door for a while. Mmachi wouldn't let go of the past, neither would she let her do the same. She shut her eyes, saying a prayer for Mmachi's safety.
———††††———
Chidiogo woke up, startled at first. It took a while for her erratic heartbeat to steady and no longer for her to identify the shrill sound that emanated from her phone.
Of course!
It had to be the darned alarm!
Grudgingly, she picked up the phone turning off the alarm before getting rid of the remaining thirteen she had set at a minute interval each.
Satisfied, she went back to sleep.
She hadn't fallen too deep when she felt something drop on her. Once, twice and then something cold hit her causing her to jerk up.
She struggled to breathe, coughing and sniffing at intervals while running her hands over her face to get rid of some of the water.
As her blurry vision cleared out she could see Mmachi smiling down at her like there couldn't have been a more pleasing sight for her to behold.
"It's time to go to school princess. Wouldn't want to be late on your first day."
Rubbing one eye continuously with the back of her palm, Chidiogo glanced up to see Mmachi dressed in a white plain short sleeved shirt and a navy blue straight cut skirt, her full jet black hair—parted in the middle—framing her oval face as she smiled down at her.
A small orange bucket dangled from her right hand.
"You can kill me with your eyes later. For now, get ready for school. If I arrive late because of you, I won't find it funny."
"What is your problem!?" Chidiogo asked, crawling down from her bed.
She felt a tingling sensation the moment her feet met with the cold marble floor but she ignored it, holding Mmachi's gaze.
"Go get dressed, princess. If you hadn't decided to switch schools out of nowhere, you wouldn't have had to deal with all this. Besides, unlike you, some people actually care about being punctual."
Chidiogo wanted to respond when Mmachi turned around to leave.
"See you down in five," she said, walking out the door.
———††††———
Chidiogo skipped down the wooden stairs, catching a glimpse of a digital wall clock which told tales of her lateness. Mmachi would definitely be pissed, she thought skipping more steps.
Halfway down the stairs, she started picking up bits of Mmachi's conversation with their mother.
"... did she really have to change... no, she keeps insisting on making my life... it's a quarter to eight... I woke her five on the..."
As she got closer, Mmachi's words became clearer.
"If I had been the one who wanted to transfer to her school instead, it would have been war! But of course, she's your favorite. What else should I expect?"
"I'm here now; you can quit complaining about..."
Chidiogo's sentence was cut midway as her foot connected with an object causing her to lose her balance.
She would have been laying face flat on the floor if not for her mother's intervention in the nick of time.
She winced as her mother helped her get back her balance, her heart still racing as she tried her best to not put much pressure on her right foot.
"Are you okay?" Mrs. Ezenwa asked, her facial features softening as she stared at the Chidiogo.
She managed a nod as she tried to calm her erratic heartbeat.
"How did you even fall? Is that..."
The object which caused Chidiogo to trip came into sight. It was a small lilac box which belonged to Mmachi.
"MMACHINEMEREM!"
Their mother's high pitched voice filled the house causing Chidiogo to wince while Mmachi remained seated next to the dining table, apple in hand, face straight.
"Is it time to go to school?" she asked, stifling a yawn.
"What is your box doing in the middle of the staircase?"
Mrs. Ezenwa's calm tone didn't match the storm brewing in her eyes.
"When you asked me to drop the box somewhere, you didn't specify. Isn't the staircase also 'somewhere'?"
An eye roll accompanied her answer and so did trouble.
"So you're telling me that you deliberately kept the box on the stairs just so your sister would fall? She could have lost her life you evil child! Or do you enjoy taking lives? Was Katherine not enough for you? Will you only rest when I am childless?"
Mmachi remained silent as she watched tears welling up in her mother's eyes. She didn't try to make subtle her glare as her clenched fists almost mashed the apple between them.
"I want an answer from you!"
Her body racked with sobs as she stared at Mmachi waiting for a response.
"Are you for real?" Mmachi asked, the inner parts of her eyebrows quirking up in an irregular fashion; causing the skin between them to crease.
"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!? Have you also forgotten that I am your mother?!"
Mmachi stared down at the cutlery arranged on the table. Chidiogo followed her line of vision. The forks, knives and spoons were arranged on a serviette in threes next to each ceramic plate. She stared at them for a while with an amount of fascination which surprised Chidiogo before looking up to see their mother glaring at her.
"I haven't."
There was a small pause before she spoke again.
"Unfortunately it seems like I am the only person who hasn't."
With those words, she headed straight for the door and was out before anyone could utter a word more.