Swapping Around

Chapter 6

Priscilla sat within the confines of the desk in her guest room, her eyes firmly fixed on the piece of paper in front of her. The older children had barely just left for school when the housekeeper told her that she was going to the market- without the twins. Of course Mooney still basked in alcohol soaked dreams, which meant that Priscilla was solely responsible for Peggy and Patsy. Priscilla did the only thing she could think of- she turned on the TV for them and fled the room.

This terrible day she was having seemed to be gaining speed on her faster than she could run away from it. Priscilla didn't know what to do to get rid of that feeling within her. It was a feeling she couldn't describe, something that seemed entirely new to her. The urge to scream until veins popped out of her neck and her blood pressure rose to a level that threatened an aneurysm was overwhelming, but she knew that she couldn't. So instead she had chosen to channel her frustration in the form of a letter- and so far it wasn't working.

An echo of an ominous crash reverberated off the walls, making Priscilla jump. She began to collect an excess of oxygen into her lungs through a series of deep breaths as the crash faded into complete silence, which was followed by a second, even louder crash. Priscilla pushed her body away from the table with such force, its contents toppled to the floor like a waterfall. She released the white knuckled grip she had against her pen, tossing it onto the table before rushing out of the room.

The first thing she heard upon stepping into the hall was hysterical crying. Her heart hammered in her chest and her legs felt like jelly as she descended the staircase, following the sound until she found herself in the kitchen.

Her eyes locked onto the crying figure of one of the twins, who sat huddled on the floor. The other stood there, looking to be in a state of shock. Scattered across the floor were a plethora of cooking utensils. Priscilla took in the chaos, feeling a sudden headache coming on. The pain originated at her temples, pulsating through to the back of her head where it was left to radiate all the way down her spine.

The little girl's crying only made her head throb harder. Priscilla's eyes scanned the twins for the name tags she had fashioned out of tape and paper early in the day, but found that they were no longer attached to the fronts of their identical shirts.

"Are you alright?" Priscilla finally managed to ask.

"She fall." The other twin found her voice. "She fall down. There." She pointed toward the still open cabinet.

"What did you fall on?" Priscilla asked. She wasn't holding her head, which Priscilla took as a good sign. Making her way over to the freezer, she went through things until locating a pack of frozen peas.

The twin who was currently not crying screwed up her nose at the sight.

"Hold that to what hurts," Priscilla instructed.

"Patsy," the none crying twin piped up, once again solving the riddle of their identity to Priscilla- at least as long as they remained in their current positions. Patsy continued to howl as she pressed the peas to her knee, allowing Priscilla to address her twin sister. "Peggy, what were you doing up there? I told you to watch TV."

"We want cookies," Peggy said. "Daddy say yes."

Which meant that Mooney was awake and currently doing something that did not involve his children. Before Priscilla could storm out of the room to confront him, it hit her that the twins could very well be telling the untruth.

Priscilla began to gather the items that had fallen to the floor. Meanwhile Peggy sat down beside her twin sister, stroking her hair the way Priscilla assumed their mother would. Priscilla's eyes scanned the shelves for the cookies they had been looking for.