Cursed Twins

Introduction (Part 2)

From a young age, Emilia had questioned what it meant to be ‘herself’. As far as she was concerned it was always Emilia and Livius, Livius, and Emilia. One could not exist without the other. They were separate bodies but they might have as well been the same person.

    Identical twins. Or mostly identical according to their mother.

    They shared the same light blonde hair, the same mismatched eyes, and the same birthmarks on the back of their necks. But despite all that Livius had been a short child growing up and Emilia had been tall. Emilia had always been adventurous and Livius had always been quieter and more reserved. Livius preferred his hair long to hide his eyes and Emilia preferred hers short to better see the world.

    But they both loved sweet things, and they both loved their mother.

    “Livius momma says it’s time to eat.” Emilia pushed open the heavy door to the library. Their home was massive with enough rooms to get lost in and hidden spaces in the walls that the twins had made a game of finding ever since they were old enough to explore.

    Unlike Emilia, Livius enjoyed spending time alone reading, whenever he got like that she made it a point to leave him alone. Desiring instead to run around outside unattended and see to the frogs inhabiting the creek behind their house.

    She found him in an old thick armchair his eight-year-old body looking swallowed up by the massive cushions around him. His nose scrunched as he concentrated on a passage in his newest book and he didn’t seem to hear her. Fascinated for a moment Emilia slowed her footsteps and quieted her movements.

    He was an extension of her, and she of him. One could not exist without the other.

    “Livi?” She asked him. He jumped startled, his chubby face turning red embarrassment as he realized she’d been staring. “What’s it ‘bout?”

    He shut the book and slid off the seat, “Its ‘bout a princess who kissed a frog.”

    “Ew yucky!” Emilia couldn’t imagine ever kissing any of the frogs she’d befriended. They were too slimy.

    “Damian got it for me.” Livius smiled shyly.

    Damian, the true owner of the house and the twin's benefactor. He’d offered their tiny family solace when it seemed that no one else could give it. They’d known him their entire short life and for all the years they spent together Emilia considered him extremely frustrating and increasingly irritating. The vampire seemed to take any opportunity to tease and make fun of her and simultaneously would steal Livius away from her if she wasn’t attentive.

    He’d been gone the past few days but Emilia had spotted his mop of black hair when she zoomed through the kitchen in search of her brother. The fact that he wasn’t sticking to Livi like an annoying fly was interesting but she was grateful just to be with her brother.

    In her eyes without Livius there could be no Emilia, they would be together forever bound with the same fate. One could not exist without the other.

    “Hurry or momma’s gonna yell!” She tugged him and he giggled alongside her. They raced to the kitchen as fast as their legs could carry them.

            #

At twelve years old Emilia approached the wall for the very first time.

    Of course, she’d seen the wall countless times growing up. The twin's bedroom was a few floors above ground level so from their giant window she could even see past the wall. But she’d never been curious about it.

    Their mother had told them that the wall served as a barrier. A line in the sand that the monsters could not cross.

    The things past the wall were the monsters.

    The wall was their protection and like a god, they feared it. Both Livi and her refused to entertain the idea of one day crossing it.

    But Emilia was twelve now, and all the books in the library had been read. All the secret doors had been explored, all the frogs had been named. Now only the wall remained.

    That night that they’d eaten dinner with the sadistic vampire he’d revealed that he would be leaving again. This time was different than the others as he wasn’t sure when he would come back. Livius had instantly burst into tears and Emilia had followed suit. His emotions were hers, and vice versa.

    Four years in total had passed and Damian still hadn’t returned.

    “We can throw pebbles to see if we’ll hit one, a monster I mean.” Livius was kicking around the ground using the toe of his boot. He was taller now, just a few inches taller than her. His hair had unfortunately been subjected to their mother's seasonal trim and now his eyes were on full display. Their irises were mirrors of one another a crimson left and a coal right. She could see through his eyes and understand things twice.

    “Momma said we aren’t ‘possed to.” She huffed and did throw a pebble but it ricocheted off the stone wall and landed somewhere near her feet.

    In one more year they would both reach maturity and their bodies would begin to change. Under the light of a full moon, they would shift into their wolf forms for the first time. Traditionally they would be allowed to eat as much cake on that day so rather than being excited for their first shift the twins found themselves daydreaming about sweets.

    Emilia had witnessed Livius’s pain in the past four years. She understood him better than anyone else after all so on the nights were he cried into his pillow she would slip into bed beside him and hold his hand. Now she hated Damian more, less for the teasing more for the fact that he’d abandoned them. Left Livius behind and forgotten them.

    “One day,” Emilia muttered to herself. Suddenly a loud gust of wind shoved into them and they stumbled back a bit. A lone whistling sound signaled that it was time to go back inside.

    Grabbing hold of his hand Emilia led them back to the house, her back turned to the wall and all it’s mystery.