“Nigel Woodworth, this is Ms. Marigold Peppins, my fiancée.”
“Enchanted to meet you.” She says with a demure curtsey, dark hair spilling over her shoulder. As she rights herself, Nigel goes to take her hand, but as their hands meet, the lights begin to flicker.
A loud murmuring from the guest’s surprise goes up, before we’re all plunged into utter darkness. Several shrieks cut through the air, while a few, “I’ve nevers.” Interspersed throughout the crowded room.
“Sorry!” I say loud enough for them all to hear me. “Must have blown a fuse, I’ll be right back.” I kiss Marigold on the cheek and notice that the contact feels ice cold sending a shiver down my spine. Breaking away, I stumble over to the door that leads downstairs where the fuse box is housed. The door creaks open in a high-pitched scream, almost as if it’s warning me about heading to the level below.
A black gaping hole greets me as I stare down into the abyss. For some reason, I feel apprehensive about heading down into the darkness, though I’ve reset the fuse box hundreds of times. The thing has given me problems for months, especially after Harriet’s passing. It feels like there was a time period when I was going down there once a day for a few weeks at one point.
My foot hits the first step carefully as I grip onto the rail, feeling around for the next step down. It seems to take me an extraordinarily long time to crest the bottom, but once down there, I know the box is only five steps in front of me. Hands raised I begin to walk until I bump into a solid figure.
Frowning, I feel my hands grip onto small shoulders as they begin to take shape in the dark.
“Did you miss me, Barrett?”
That voice slices into my heart.It can’t be.I yank my hands away, stumbling backwards and tripping over my own feet. My body flails before going down hard. Pain erupts up my spine, shooting out of my toes. I must be out of my mind. Hallucinating again, or perhaps I drank too much champagne.
The temperature plummets around me. I swallow hard, feeling my mouth go dry. I attempt to stand but feel a freezing cold press down onto my chest.
“H-Harriet?” Disbelief courses through my body. She’s dead. I killed her. I buried her body. How is she here?
“You do remember me.” Her voice sounds like layers of a whisper entwined upon itself. As if she’s here, but not entirely. “Do you remember what you did to me?”
“I found your letters. How could you? The children. You made me believe they were ours.” I must be delusional. They’ll lock me up for sure. They’ll take the children from me. My stomach twists thinking of them growing up in some strange home.
“I had to put up with your vile grunts, your paws all over my body when I so desperately wanted to be with my one true love. You were always droning on about your dreary work, as if you just wanted someone to talk at so you could hear the sound of your own voice.”
Her words land as intended. How could I have been so blind, thinking that we were the epitome of happiness. “You were an amazing actress, Harriet. You had me fooled completely. Had I not found that note, I would have never known.”
“Yes, well Ellen left it out for you to find. Meddling menace of a woman.”
“Ellen?”
“I’ll deal with her after.”
“After what?”
“After we gut you like a fish of course.” Marigold’s voice comes from behind me. Light filters into the room and I realize that it’s because she’s holding what looks like a flame in the palm of her hands. “You ever wonder what it would be like to be torn apart bit by bit?” She asks.
The way she speaks to me with such disregard, I know that she’s not my Marigold. That somehow, I’m looking at her twin.
“Did you just figure it out Barry old boy?” She sing songs with a cackle at the end. “Most people are fooled so easily by Marigold’s and my appearance. Twins. Only our father could tell us apart, you know. But he preferred my magic to hers. See, she can create things with the snap of her fingers, but me? I can destroy. And I so enjoy it.” She kneels down next to Harriet’s ghostly figure, crowding me. “I’m going to savor your screams, Barry, so sing pretty for me.”
Her hand grips my throat, and a painful scream is ripped through my voice box, shredding my chords on its way out. Heat radiates throughout my body as Harriet looks on gleefully. I feel as if I’m being flayed apart from the inside out.
My eyes shutter closed and memories of Marigold, myself, the children run through my mind as I quickly begin to fade.
“Say goodbye, Barrett.” Marigold’s twin whispers in my ears as tears spill down my face.
MARIGOLD
Where is it?I search the glass for the fail-safe I designed when I first banished my twin to this mirror prison. My fingers glide against the black edges frantically, knowing that she’ll kill Barrett and anyone else that gets in her way without remorse.
Heart hammering in my chest, my palms become slick with sweat. Everything has turned pitch black, and I can’t see what I’m doing.
I have to get out of here.
That thought becomes a loop in my mind.
