ATTACHMENTS || Twin Paranormal

Eden (1)

Ever since I was little, I'd known that I was different, all starting with my imaginary friend. We'd played together constantly, content to just sequester myself in my room and enjoy her company. Considering I was four years old, no one really batted an eye when I'd babble away to the empty corner in my bedroom.

When I turned ten, my friendship with Alice became a problem. We'd been playing together one day when she'd run into the end table, knocking over my mother's favourite lamp which had been passed down to her through the family. I'd tried to be a good kid and tell the truth, earning only my mother's rage in response.

"Stop lying! You're too old for imaginary friends!" She'd screamed at me before gripping my arm painfully and dragging me upstairs to my room. Once she'd thrown me to the floor, she slammed the door, locking me in for the rest of the night. I'd cried while Alice consoled me. She'd told me that I was the only one who could see her, because she wasn't truly there.

"What do you mean? How can I see you then?" I'd asked. She'd merely replied that she wasn't sure, but she was happy that I could and she wasn't alone anymore.

After having that conversation with her, I'd begun to notice more and more people who weren't really there. I'd learned how to spot the differences, a slight fuzzy quality around the image of some people being the only giveaway that they weren't alive. I knew it wasn't normal and yet I taught myself how to communicate and help them, or block them out if I needed to. I'd kept the secret for years until the year I turned fifteen.

I'd gone downstairs to where my father and mother were sitting around the kitchen table. I'd told them everything, from as far back as I could remember, not wanting to hide this part of me anymore. Being the god-fearing Christians they were, they'd merely looked at me like I was crazy and called in a priest to perform an exorcism. It had been the worst night of my life, being held down as they'd spent hours trying to "exorcise" demons that weren't there. I'd screamed and cried the whole time until my throat was raw and exhaustion threatened to pull me under. It was only then that they'd stopped, releasing their grip and leaving bruises on my skin that had taken weeks to fade. The priest had claimed that the demons had left my body, assuring them that I was their little girl again. For the sake of self-preservation, I'd never mentioned it again.

Life had gotten pretty bad after that. My mom had gotten sick and my dad had blamed me for it, claiming that I was trying to get revenge for what they'd done. Alice had stopped showing up, instead replaced by darker, negative entities. I spent the better part of a year overwhelmed by grief and anger and sadness that didn't feel like my own until my mom finally passed around my eighteenth birthday. My father left soon after, telling me he didn't want anything to do with me. I never spoke to or saw him again.

Seven years later, I sat at the kitchen table in the house I'd lived in my whole life, reading my book as the sun streamed in through the double doors that led outside to the yard. Shadows swirled at the edges of my vision, never daring to wander closer than just outside the entrance to the kitchen. It was impossible to ever feel alone in this big house with so many spirits on the outskirts.

My doorbell rang and I glanced up, my brows furrowing in confusion. No one ever visited me, I didn't know anyone aside from the barista where I got my coffee every morning and the girl at the antique shop where I'd gotten most of my furniture (and a few extra entities). I stood, flipping the book face down to keep my page and moved towards the front door. I pushed the curtain that hung in front of the window to the side, peering out at the young woman standing on my porch.

Her dark hair was barely contained in the hair-tie she'd used to pull it back from her face. She readjusted her thick glasses and straightened her houndstooth sweater vest as she looked around her nervously. What the hell?