“Annie, you are such an idiot! Why couldn’t you just leave us alone?” Charlotte slams the door as hard as she can and flings herself onto her bed. Of course Annie just walks into the room without knocking or even batting an eyelash.
“Don’t you ever knock?” Charlotte grumbles into her pillow. She’s sure Annie can hear her, even if her voice is muffled by the fabric she’s pressing her face into.
“We share a fucking bedroom, remember?” Charlotte rolls over onto her back and glares at the ceiling. “Yeah, I remember. But most people would take a hint and stay the fuck away when I’m upset.”
That’s one of the few qualities the twins share, except appearance; they both curse like drunken sailors trying to maneuver a ship through a thunderstorm. “Well, it’s my bedroom too. You moping around over some guy isn’t going to change that.”
Charlotte knows Annie is just trying to irritate her. It’s sort of her thing, trying to get her to snap back. But Charlotte isn’t going to take the bait this time. “Close your eyes, count to ten, and take a deep breath.” She goes over the steps in her mind, created for Annie’s little outbursts. She succeeds in calming herself slightly, before retorting through clenched teeth: “Marcus isn’t just some guy, and I think I have the right to “mope around” after what you did.”
Tears she hadn’t noticed falling are quickly drying on Charlotte’s cheeks. “What the fuck? I didn’t do anything!” Despite her red and puffy face she still manages to look furious as she sits up in her bed, glaring daggers in Annie from across the room. “You didn’t do anything? You bloody well told him that I’m in love with him, in front of the entire class, before proceeding to tell him that I still sleep with a baby blanket. Which is so not true!”
Annie rolls her eyes, studying her nails and kicking her legs back and forth from her seat at the top of Charlotte’s desk. “Relax, Char. He’s the biggest slut in the entire school. He’ll probably fuck you even if he does think you’re still sleeping with your baby blanket,” Annie snickers. “You’ll get him for free.”
Charlotte’s face reddens, and she growls at her, her anger still raging inside her. “He is not a slut, and I do not want to … sleep with him.”
Annie grins evilly towards Charlotte. “Oh, look at the blushing virgin,” she coos. “You really need to get laid Char. I think it might loosen you up a bit. You’re always so uptight and boring.” Charlotte’s face reddens impossibly even more. “My sexlife is absolutely none of your business!” “Your non-existing sexlife, you mean.” Charlotte ignores her, and lies back down on her bed.
A loud meowing comes from outside the door. Knowing that Annie will refuse to, she stands up and opens the door. Timothy darts inside and jumps up onto Charlotte’s bed. Timothy has grey fur to match his equally grey eyes. She sits back on her bed and begins patting his back.
The patting session is interrupted by her phone, which suddenly starts to vibrate in her pocket. She pulls it out, and sees that “Marcus <3” is calling. Smiling nervously to herself, she tentatively answers, and moves the phone to her ear.
“Hello?” she asks, feeling the weight in her stomach growing heavier with each second that passes. She was sure that Marcus would never want to talk to her again after the stunt Annie pulled. “Hey, Charlotte? I just wanted to tell you that I don’t care about what you said. We all say stupid things when we’re nervous, and – ““What? No, no, no, I didn’t say those things, Marcus. My –“
At that exact moment, at door slams downstairs, and a voice carries up to the room. “Charlotte, are you coming, we’ve got to go.” She looks at the clock at her nightstand and curses. “Sorry, Marcus, but I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” She hangs up before he has the chance to answer.
She puts the phone back in her pocket and stands up. Looking expectantly at Annie, who merely raises her eyebrows, she asks: “Are you coming? You’re just as big a part of this as I am.” Annie sighs. “I guess I’ll come. It’s not like I have a lot of other options.” “Drama queen,” Charlotte snorts, before walking out the door and down to their mother, who Is waiting in the hall.
Soon enough, they’re all sitting in the car and racing towards their destination. “Mom, I don’t really get why we need to see a psychiatrist. I mean, of course we were all shocked when dad… when he died, but I don’t think we need to see someone about it.
Their father had died in a car crash two years earlier. It had been completely unexpected, and they had all needed grief counseling afterwards, but it had made them come closer together as a family. It’s sad to say it, but Annie and Charlotte had bonded over their father’s death, spending a lot more time at home, together.
Charlotte glances sideways at Annie, and she can tell that her mom does the same thing. “Yeah, we definitely need this,” says their mom after a few seconds of silence.
When they arrive at the doctor’s office they sit in the as-quiet-as-a-waiting-room-can-be waiting room. Finally, after what seems like an eternity of waiting, they are shown into an office. Three high-backed chairs stand in front of a deep brown, wooden desk. They each take a seat.
A middle-aged woman with grey streaks in her brown hair and equally old eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses walks into the room. She introduces herself as doctor Heibaum and sits down behind the desk. She looks down to straighten some papers and write something in a little black book, and then her eyes go immediately to Charlotte. She smiles, and opens her mouth to speak. “Charlotte, do you know why we are here today?”
Charlotte looks first at her mom, who looks nervous and worried, and then at Annie, who looks bored and uninterested. The doctor’s eyes follow Charlotte’s and stay at Annie for a few seconds before looking back at Charlotte with a reassuring smile tugging at her lips.
“Because of my dad?” she asks, a sudden feeling of uncertainty creeping up on her. “No, that’s not why we’re here.” Her mom sniffs a little and a glance at her tells Charlotte she looks like she’s on the verge of tears. “Would you mind telling us… who Annie is?” Charlotte frowns. “What do you mean? Annie is my sister…”
Her mother wipes away the tears that have begun streaming down her face with the back of her hand. “What’s wrong mom?” Charlotte is beginning to worry. “I don’t – I don’t know what’s wrong with you Charlotte,” she sniffs.
Charlotte stares at her mom. “What? There’s nothing wrong with me!” Charlotte’s mother shakes her head a little. “Yes there is. You don’t have a sister, Charlotte.” Charlotte blinks. “What? Of course I do, she’s sitting right there!” She points to the chair next to her.
“No, she’s not, Charlotte,” says the doctor, sounding sad. She looks towards the empty chair next to Charlotte’s seat. “There’s no one there.”
Tell me what you think?
