TWINS

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Those loud words woke her up from her light slumber, indescribable noises left her lips as she stretched her whole body before sitting up, trying to process the world around her. Her body fell back to the bed once more, wanting to catch more sleep only to be woken up again by another round of loud shouting.

“What the fucking hell is happening?!” Various profanities left the woman’s lips as she threw off the covers before leaving her room, stomping all the way down the stairs and into the kitchen where her whole family and the loud shouting were coming from.

Her fuming was halted when she saw the broken form of her twin sister, hunched over the kitchen counter and crying, cradling her stinging cheek. Their mother was a couple of inches away with her hand still raised in the air, throbbing red.

“What did you do?” Her voice accusing and near dangerous as her sky-blue colored eyes instantly narrowed, zeroing in on their fuming mother.

“Skye, don’t you dare talk to your mother that way!” A stern voice answered her back, and her head whipped to the side to see her father, standing in the corner of the room with his arms crossed.

“Don’t use that voice on me, I am your daughter, not your follower,” she growled out, tone cold as ice as she stared her father down, catching a small flinch from the man before she turned her attention back to her mother.

“I will not ask again, either you guys tell me what the hell is happening here or I will take my sister away and find out myself.” She was at the end of her reason as she kept her hand on her twin sister’s back. She couldn’t help but feel defensive over her twin, it was the first time she had seen her cry in front of their parents ever since they were young.

“Zella Violet Vailant, your dearest older twin sister, decided that it was a good idea to give herself up to a random man and have herself knocked up with his bastard.” Skye felt her twin flinch under their mother’s scathing tone, and almost instinctively Skye held her sister tighter closer to her as if hiding her from a bad person.

“You will cease all of these yellings. Nothing will change no matter how much you shout or call her names,” Skye never really raised her voice, her usual kind and gentle demeanor greatly contrasted her twin’s carefree attitude, yet upon seeing her twin so down, she couldn’t hold back her defensive nature.

“What kind of mother are you? Degrading your daughter like that. Have you ever heard the full story from Zella?” She wanted to say more but the moment a hand grasped her wrist, her mouth suddenly stopped working as she stared down a darker pair of ocean-blue eyes, watching as her twin shook her head with a forced smile on her face.

“I’ll be taking Zella back with me. We, as a family, will CALMLY, discuss this matter during dinner, another shouting and name calling, I swear to take Zella away from this house. She doesn’t need this right now, what she needs are her family and acceptance. If you guys can’t do both, you’re nothing to us.”

Skye kept her back straight and her head held high as she helped her sister off of the stool and out of the kitchen. She escorted her twin back to her room, locking the door behind her in the process. “Zel, go and wash up first, I’ll bring you some water and food. Don’t leave my room until you’re ready.”

Zella stopped her twin mid-step with a hug from behind, the elder’s body trembled as she finally let her tears flow freely. Skye stayed still for a couple of seconds before turning around in her sister’s hold and hugging her trembling body back. She didn’t say anything, nor did she offer calming words, she only held her twin and kept waiting.

Once she felt Zella calming down, she slowly pushed her away, cradling both sides of her face in her hands. Sky and ocean blue eyes stared at each other as Skye wiped her sister’s tears away with her thumb before touching their foreheads together.

“No matter what they say Zel, I am here for you. Now, enough crying, I don’t like seeing my strong sister like this. Go and take a shower.” With a small pat on her back, she sent her twin in the direction of the bathroom before she unlocked her bedroom door and made her way back down to the kitchens.

She stopped once she saw her parents were still in the room, her father now holding her mother close as the elder woman cried. Feeling the fury bubbling back up into her system, she gave her parents a side-way glare as she prepared some food for her and her twin.

“I am not sorry for what I said. I will never be sorry when my twin is being ridiculed. But, no matter what, you guys are still our parents and I respect that title. Please don’t make me lose my trust and respect for you during this time.”

With that said, Skye picked up the food tray before exiting the kitchen, leaving behind their parents. When she got back to her room, she heard the shower running, with a small sigh of relief, she fixed up her room and prepared some spare clothes for her twin.

Skye was there when Zella came out of the bathroom, she was there as her elder twin dressed up, she was there as she finally took the first bite from her food and she was there to listen and comfort her as she listened to the story behind her sister’s accidental pregnancy.

By the end of Zella’s stories, tears were flowing freely from both their eyes, as the twins held each other through all of it. Skye did her best to control her emotions, to be the level-headed one during this situation for her sister’s sake but her cool composure shattered when her twin brought up a dooming matter, one that made Skye’s body freeze as her blood run cold.

“Skye, what about my marriage to Alpha Hakan? If he doesn’t accept me, then you’ll be ne-…”

“We will talk about this matter later, Zella.”