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Snug in your plush bed you allow your mind to begin to drift in an attempt to fall asleep. Your muscles relax, your breathing getting slower and deeper, and the pleasant fog of an approaching slumber settles over your mind and body.

That is when you notice the silence. Not the regular quiet of before, when you could still hear the breeze across your window and the occasional wood creak of the old house, but a deep and total silence. The complete absence of noise outside of the sound of your breathing. Something was very wrong here.

Fear grips your heart as your eyes snap open. You blink once, twice, three times to be sure your lids had opened such was the absolute unnerving darkness you found yourself within. Though you could not see a thing you could somehow sense movement in the black abyss. Slithering crawling tendrils of shadow within shadow. Your sister had come.

Never in your life had you been more afraid as you are right now alone with this creature, yet your curiosity could not be denied.

Careful not to make any sudden movements or noises you gradually sit up. There, hovering at the foot of your bed, is the pale oval face of your twin. Her six eyes, still showing a glassy glint despite there being no light to reflect from them, stare at you, into you, and through you. You had no doubt she could see you perfectly despite the total lack of illumination. On and around the bed you feel her tentacles slide.

You lick your lips and swallow your fear. In a soft voice you say. “Hello Vespera.”

The haunting pale face, with those strange combination of features both alien and human, tilts ever so slightly. You wait a time for a response but none comes.

“Did you hear me talking to you earlier?” You say a bit more confidently. Just like the light the sound of your voice is muted as the darkness seems to swallow everything that touched it. There is no answer. You shift a little closer and put your hand to my chest. “My name is Jacob. Your brother. Your twin. It is nice to finally meet you.” You get no response so you continue. “Did they tell you about me? They didn’t tell me about you. I never knew I had a twin. I never knew I shared a birthday with someone.”

The face then tilts slightly to the other side and a chorus of unearthly voices rises up sourceless and everywhere. Each voice as faint as falling snow but combining into a mosaic of audible meaning. “Jacob.” She says though her thin mouth doesn’t move.

“Yes!” You smile. “That’s right. My name is Jacob. Your brother.”

“Brotherrrr.”

“Yes, yes!” You nod. The weight of one of her appendages glides over your leg. At first you believe it is above the covers but when you reach to feel it with your hands you feel the shape of it beneath your blankets, shifting and flexing between your pajamas and sheets. “I am your brother Jacob and you are my sister Vespera. We are twins.”

Then, just loud enough to be heard but all around you, you can hear the sound of low steady heartbeat. A moment later two more fainter swifter heartbeats that seem to beat in unison join the first.

“Togetherrrr.” She says in that strange multifaceted voice of hers. “Twinsss.”

“Yes.” You look around, searching for the source of the heartbeats but seeing only utter dark. The only thing visible in the whole room was your sister’s pale face. You listen as the fainter heartbeats slowly get louder and stronger. “Is that…is that Mom’s heartbeat? Are those ours? Is this…the sound of our womb!?”

“Togetherrr.” More sounds join the three beating hearts. Voices. Muffled and indistinct but recognizable in tone and cadence. Father’s voice, grandma’s, Devany’s, Ciara’s, and others. “Together.”

“Yes, that’s right. That was me. That was us! We were together.” You look back to her. “This is incredible!”

All at once the sounds stop.

“Separation…Light…Pain…Light…Mother.” As if echoing through a canyon from a great distance you hear a howl of horrendous agony, the voice is your mother’s. “Pain. Painnn.” A moment later comes the sound of a wailing infant to join the insufferable screams of your mother. “Painnnn.”

“Is that…? Do you remember our birth?”

The face straightens up and quivers, the thin mouth now frowning and the glassy eyes sparkling like jewels. “Separation. Taken. Alone…alone…alone…alone…alone.” The tentacle beneath the cover suddenly coils around both of your legs and another whips around your arm and grips it tight. “Alone.” You sense more of her limbs closing in around you.

You grimace at your sister’s tight hold and you hold onto the tentacle beneath the blanket. “No. Not alone. You are not alone Vespera. Not anymore.”

“Shame…Fear…Confusion…Suffering.” More voices join the chorus with each word bringing the volume up and up. “Banishment…Alone...alone…alone…alone…”

“Nnngh.” You grit your teeth as the tentacles squeeze tight and another snakes around your chest. “Ves…you’re hurting me.”