Gore by Sarah Ellis
Twins are known to have a very special bond. From the moment of their birth they are so identical they are almost equivalent to soulmates. Their relationship is linked by feelings of love and kinship which makes both halves feel like the same individual. It is said that twins that were separated at birth and meet as adults are able to discover an absurd amount of coincidences in their lives. They have more in common than they think, from the names of their wives and children to the clothes that their best men wore at their wedding. They’ll come to realize that they have the same breed of pets and use the same specific brand of toiletries. Thus, proving that the relationship between twins is one of the strongest connections in the world.
What a load of horse crap.
Soul-mate? Confidante?
God forbid.
Amy can’t even fathom that she and Lucas are in the same family, let alone being twins. To tell the truth, she can’t even believe that they’re the same species. In her eyes, Lucas is essentially an ‘unevolved thugoid’ and a detestable sibling. Amy is almost too sure that Lucas managed to obtain all of the nutrition in the womb, making him stronger, faster and bigger leaving her frail and incapacitated. However, as the years have passed, Amy’s two areas of superior power are her extensive vocabulary and her gift for voice impersonation.
Lucas attacks without provocation. The other day, Amy was sitting reading. She was finally able to read a copy of R.L Tankard from the library. The story is essentially about this girl who has a babysitting job in an apartment building on the twenty-sixth floor. When she arrives at the apartment, the baby is already asleep, so she hasn’t seen it yet. While watching TV, she thinks she hears a noise from the baby’s room….
“She muted the TV for a minute and in the sudden silence, she heard the noise again, but louder. It was a heavy wet noise, like the sound of a big piece of raw meat being flung to the floor. She stared at the door to the nursery. It was outlined in a band of crepuscular light. She stood up and, with her heart pounding in her ears, she approached the room-“
SMACK!
Lucas leans over and snatched the book from Amy’s hands and runs in the bathroom, the sound of the closing door, echoing through the house. Amy pleads to have her book back as Lucas threatens to rip the pages of the book one by one, and flush them down the toilet.
Amy tries to deal with him, even going as far as to doing his chores. However, Lucas, microbrain that he is, isn’t falling for it. After attempting to convince Lucas to return her book, she collapses on the couch in despair. Amy feels weaponless, like a —.
Well, not quite.
Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door. Amy rushes to answer the door, as the knocking grows louder. There are two, no, three of them. Faceless, hooded beings crowded together, pressed up against the door. This is Amy’s first mistake, leaving the door open a split second too late to slam the door. They are inside. They are silent. Amy rushes to the bathroom door, violently pushing at the handle, begging to be let it. Lucas laughs from inside as the hooded figures slowly make their way towards Amy.
A cold sweat breaks out over Amy’s body. The hooded figure’s icy fingers wrap around her wrist, slowly dragging her away from the door, her hand slipping from the handle, nails scratching against the surface of the floor. The door rattles.
Amy’s bloodcurdling scream leaves Lucas silent behind the door. She escapes from the figure’s grasp, beating its masked face. Chairs and side tables fall as she crashes past them. Magazines fly through the air and crash against the walls. She dashes to the telephone just outside the hall and dials Emergency. After a century of rings, someone finally answers.
“Do you wish police, ambulance or fire?”
Amy is choked with sobs as she begs for the police.
Click. The line goes dead. Amy drops the receiver as the cold, wet fingers wrap around her neck. Paralyzed with fear Amy drops to the ground like a stone and buries her face with her hands. The bitter cold courses through Amy’s body, forcing her to become one of them. With her last breath, she begs “Lucas, break the window. Get out. For pity’s sake, don’t come out here.”
Then silence. The only sound is the telephone receiver thudding against the wall.
Lucas calls out to her, to receive no response. His voice shrinks as he calls her name. The telephone’s humanoid voice rings through the noiseless hall.
The bathroom door opens slowly. Amy sits, curled up behind it. She holds her breath. Two steps, that’s all she needs. Two steps.
“Amy?”
Two steps it is. Amy grabs the door, swinging around it, jumping into the bathroom and turning the lock. Success! Victory! Amy settles down on the bathroom floor, holding the book to her chest. She catches her breath and frantically flips through the pages.
So, what was in the baby’s room?
