Twelve years ago.
Ten year old Rowe slaps the back of his twin brother's head as he carefully side steps shattered glass on their living rooms' wooden floor. They stand side by side, shoulders grazing. They're a mirror image of each other, with their golden blond hair and forest green eyes. Anyone outside of their family would have trouble telling them apart.
"How does that even happen?" Rome scoffs, directing his glare from the broken television set to his brother. There's glass dusting the Television stand and floor, a sizeable dent in the center of the screen. "If you get to cuff me on the head then I get an arm punch. This is as much your fault as it is mine."
"Don't -" Rowe cuts himself off with a hiss when Rome punches him in the bicep. "Asshole." He rubs his upper arm, green eyes narrowed.
"Don't curse so loudly, Maya will hear you." Rome sighs. "Last time she heard you curse, dad blamed me when she called him a dick."
Rowe snickers, "Yeah, that was too funny."
"For you." Rome sneers at him, grimacing at the memory, "Dad made me play with her for the rest of the day." Rome mutters as he kicks one of the through pillows that fell from the couch.
Rowe rolls his eyes and gestures towards the broken screen, "What are we going to do? Dad's gonna be pissed."
The twins stare at it and then glance at each other with a grimace. Maybe they shouldn't have wrestled inside, especially after both their parents warned them.
"Oh he's going to be so pissed." Their younger sister by three years, Maya, laughs from where she appears from the hallway. "Have fun explaining that."
Rome fake lunges at her and when she flinches back she shouts, "Touch me and I'll tell mom that you guys sneak out at night to practice magic in the field next door!"
"You wouldn't!" Rowe glares at the smaller girl. She gives a smug smile and tosses her long blond hair over her shoulder.
Rome can't help but think that she's very clever for a seven year old.
"Now, if you don't want me to. . ." Maya trails off, and smiles, "There's a parade outside, I wanna go see it."
Rome groans and throws his head back to glare at the ceiling.
"No," Rowe scoffs at her, "Mom specifically said to stay inside. Besides, it's almost time for you to go to bed." He crosses his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow in challenge.
"Then I guess I'll just-" Maya shrugs innocently, blinking big wide green eyes at them.
Rowe smirks, "Go ahead and tell them-"
"What are you doing? Are you trying to get us into trouble-" Rome grabs his arm but Rowe just smiles.
"She's bluffing." Rowe says, "We have just as much dirt on her as she does us."
Rome blinks and then his mouth opens as he remembers what Maya did last week. Rome smirks, crosses his arms over his chest and stands side by side with his twin once more as they both stare down their scheming little sister.
"Oh yeah? And what have I done?" Maya asks snuggly, because as far as she's concerned, she's a perfect little witch.
"You mean," Rowe takes a threatening step forward. Maya glowers at him but stays where she is. "You don't remember how you snuck in a baby chick because BowBow was trying to catch it?"
At the mention of his name, a grey pitbull comes prancing into the living room. It sniffs at the air, blinking big wide eyes at the kids in front of him. When they continue to bicket among themselves, it turns back around, tail wagging as it prances into the kitchen, food on his mind.
Maya's eyes waters as she glares at her brothers, "That doesn't count because BowBow ate it anyways." Her tears spill over she directs her gaze to their pet dog. "I wanna see the parade!" She screeches, stomping her foot on the floor.
"Hey, hey," Rome rushes forward, hands raising in the air, "Don't cry," He whispers, not wanting to make her tantrum worse than it already is.
"It's not even a holiday, what are they parading for?" Rowe mutters as he watches his brother try to calm their brat of a sister down.
"Nevermind that. Come on, let's get you in bed.' Rome guides his younger sister Maya to her room, as she wipes her nose with her long sleeve shirt and sniffs. "When mom and dad come back, we'll ask them about the parade."
It doesn't take long for Maya to fall asleep and the twins comes back down to the living room. They stop in front of the broken television and sigh in unison.
"We can throw it away and say we were robbed?" Rome suggests, left shoulder lifting in a half shrug. Rowe hums as he thinks it over.
"If we do that they'll never leave us alone at the house again." Rowe says, head tilting as he frowns at the shattered screen. He glanced at his brother, "Is that worth it?"
They blink, "Nah."
Rome flops on the couch and huffs, "Truth it is then. Maybe Dad will be in such a good mood that he won't care."
Rowe snorts, "Unlikely."
A high pitched scream shatters the quiet atmosphere, instilling a fear that the two boys will never forget. Time seems to speed up for them as they race up the stairs and into their sisters room.
Before the two of them could even reach her bedroom door, a feeling of something dark and sinister over powers them. A dark aura so strong that panic settles inside their gut.
Rome slams the door open, and falters, lurching forward when his brother pushes him inside so he could see.
Maya cowers in her bed, her green gaze glued to the ceiling as she cries. What Rowe can only describe as a disfigured human spider clings to the ceiling right above her. Four human arms, big bony hands attached, and four legs protrude from a tightly balled and wrinkled torso. It's head twists, thin mangled hair hanging from its head, and there's an audible crack as it's neck breaks.
It's staring down at her, Thousands of tiny eyes covering its face before it gives way to cracked leather skin with its pinchers of a mouth.