Marshall Twins [2 - Twins Series]

7 - God's Gonna Trouble the Water

Book: Marshall Twins
Chapter 7
Word Count: 3083

The next morning...

Voices.

Whispers.

No. Shouts.

Fire.

Burning. Brighter. Hotter.

Screams.

No...

No!

NO!!

A loud gasp filled the room as Miracle jolted awake, the voices swirling through her head numbing down to a dull throb that gave her a headache to last a year.

Her hands shook. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She knew it...

"Mom?!" Miracle's brown eyes darted around the room for any sign of her mother. The last thing she remembered was passing out from the powder that Greta had blew on her and Hope. She didn't see what happened to Avery. She began to panic. "MOM?!"

"M..." sudden voice caused Miracle's head to snap towards Hope's bed opposite hers, where Hope sat with a look of pain evident on her face. By the way that Hope's eyes were filled with unshed tears, the dampness of her cheeks from the tears that had already spilled, the way her breathing was short and shaky, and the clear misery in her eyes... Miracle knew that something just wasn't right.

"What happened? Where is she?" Miracle questioned, her hands still shaking and her head still throbbing.

"Breathe... we're both safe now." Hope reassured, stumbling off of her own bed to come and sit beside Miracle on hers. "We're finally back together."

"Please, Hope... where is mom...?" But Miracle was already dreading the answer, fearing what was to come. Hope hesitated tremendously before finally uttering an answer, her voice shaking and stuttering.

"W-when I woke up, dad... I hadn't seen him in seven years, b-but he came in here..." She began, and with each passing word, Miracle's heartrate increased more and more. "H-he told me that he... saw it and... and--"

"Hope!" Miracle exclaimed, tears now flooding her glassy eyes. "Please just answer me! What... happened? Where is mom?"

A sob broke past Hope's lips.

"She's gone, M... I'm so sorry..."

And that was when Miracle felt her heart stop in her chest, dropping all the way down to her stomach. She was frozen in place, trying to process those words... but she couldn't focus on anything.

But when those few words finally rang clearly through Miracle's mind, something inside her broke.

A distant ringing floated into her hearing range again, growing louder and louder as the seconds went on, as if she were hearing someone flat line. Hearing a person's breathing halt in their throat forever.

Like she wished hers had done.

But instead, she was stuck there. Motherless. Broken, just like her dad said...

Shattered beyond repair.

It came all too soon. The tears, the cries, the sobs. In seconds, Miracle was wrapped in Hope's arms, with the eldest of the two not wanting but needing the comfort.

Inside of her, she knew that she was just being selfish. Hope had lost her mother, too. Miracle had no right acting far worse than Hope when the latter was most likely just putting up an act to be strong. Like Miracle should've done... she was the oldest!