True or False

Chapter 18: To be or Not to be

Of course Lea had to be secretive about the ritual, and luckily we had come up with a plan. The plan was for Lea to pretend to be too upset to go anywhere but her bed from Jake breaking up with us. Then when all was clear, she would sneak out and buy the supplies at a local shop close by that she had found on the internet. Oh, and I can't forget that every once in awhile check up on her, so I got creative. I told Lea to grab every single blanket she could find and stuff it under the covers to look like she was in the bed sleeping. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book. I stayed cover at home making sure everything was going smoothly. To my knowledge nothing had happened until I saw an old piece of mail to my aunt Sophie, that was signed. Her last name was addressed to Sophia Rits. The thing is, my late friend Rosy's biological parents had the last name Rits. I remembered because she had received a letter from her father, Jose Rits. It had said:

Dear Rosy,

I regret giving you up for adoption. Your mother and I were not ready to care for a child. Whenever you're ready I would love it if you came to visit me. I regret to inform you that your mother and I have moved on. I do believe she kept the last name if you ever would want to meet her. We did get married and have a baby girl. Your mom hasn't talked to me in such a long time, but I think you deserve to know why we made the decision to give you up. Your mom's dad did not like the idea of having a child at age nineteen. I had finished college, but your mom on the other hand had not. Your grandfather would have made your mom have an abortion if she didn't give you up for adoption. It was very hard, both of us tried to convince him to let us keep you. It just didn't work. Your social worker, who probably will have this, has my cell phone number. I am so sorry you haven't found a home yet but I send all my love to you.

P.S. I wanted to call you Elizabeth

Your father,

Jose Rits

He sounded sweet, but it sounded like her mom had moved on completely. It made me curious, but I was happy because I could ask the questions after my return from the other side tonight . . . I hoped.

My sister returned at 11:38 a.m. with a binomial scented Yankee candle, a bottle of holy water, and kumkuma. I really hoped it would work. It was only around noon so we couldn't do it now, it wasn't dark enough. Outside, I saw a girl who was playing in the backyard of our neighbor's house. She had long brown hair, freckles, and really cute pigtails. She looked around Ilyn's age. I couldn't do anything very well because I was still dead. As ironic as that sounds, it's true.

10:00. Perfect. Lea knew it too, so she took out the ouija board. She began to say, "You ready?" I moved the planchette to yes.

Lea spoke out loud, "Serena. Try to hold my hand and stand in the cross when I finish placing everything." She started to make the cross on the floor with the kumkuma. She placed candles around it and lit them.

I spelled out "ok" with the planchette. I held her hand the whole time she set up everything for the ritual. Then she checked her instructions to see if she had everything correct. 

"Now!" she yelled. I stepped in the cross and stood in place trying to hold her hand. She said, "Now Serena Ann Williams, repeat after me. 'In God we trust to give death life, and we hope spirits will understand.'"

I repeated everything and suddenly, I felt wind fly past me and my body got warm and my eyes began to close. It was hard to keep them open. Then I blinked and everything went black.

I woke up on the floor not able to breathe. I saw Lea standing up. I noticed right away that her eyes were pitch black. It petrified me. I could finally move and breathe properly. It felt good. I yelled, but not too loudly, so I could test out my voice but mostly because of Lea. I moved over to Lea anyway; I was scared she was going to go back to her own body and become a ghost yet again.

Our dad walk in and said, "What's wrong? I heard yelling." He looked at me, then Lea, then back at me again, looked puzzled and confused. He tentatively took a few steps closer towards us.

I thought Dad was sleeping! I thought. "Dad, I need help! Lea isn't waking up! She was just standing there and then she collapsed on the floor. Her eyes were black too. I don't know if they still are or not. Her eyes are closed and I'm to afraid to touch her in case something happens to her again!" I started sobbing until my vision was blurry enough to see that my dad looked like a spirit. I stood up and ran towards my dad with open arms. I hugged him tight, still shedding tears.

My dad's eyes popped out of his head. He hadn't noticed the other twin behind me and the name Lea. "Wh-what?" he stammered. He hugged me back slowly until his head was on my shoulder. We stayed like this for a minute.

I let go of my dad and kneeled on the floor next to my unstable sister. I felt around on Lea's neck and wrist looking for a pulse. I finally found a faint one, but it grew stronger the longer I held it. I gingerly shook Lea and bent my head down to her left ear. "Lea. Please wake up. You did it! We did it together. We're both fine now. We both have bodies. We can finally both live together. Please Lea, wake up," I whispered. My voice faded into silence in the room until you could hear a pin drop. I sent up a quiet prayer to God in my head that she would be okay.

After what seemed like an eternity, she opened her eyes. They were dark gray, but they were dwindling back to her normal eye color. With her head still on the ground, she tried to speak. "Did we do it?"

I helped her sit up to face me. "Yes. We're both alive. We really did it. The end's beginning, " I said. I wrapped my arms around her and embraced. She hugged back. We held each other tightly, gripping each others warm backs.

"I am so sorry about putting you there in my place. I felt so guilty after I did that. Can you ever forgive me?" she said, her voice growing stronger as she avoided eye contact with me.

"Lea. Look at me." She locked her stare with my eyes. "Of course I forgive you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be hugging you. And I saw Mom on the other side too. I think she's doing fine. She's happy watching over both of us."

My dad was now almost to the point of fainting. His hand was on the eastern wall for support. Lea stood up and walked towards our dad slowly as she said to him in her sweet voice, "Hi daddy. Remember me? I'm your daughter Lea. I died in the car crash, but now," she paused. "I'm back. I'm alive."

"What? You're my little Lea? Oh my gosh, I thought you were dead."

In the strange speaking unison that twins have together we said, "Yeah, and we thought you or Mom wouldn't lie to us." All the memories fled back all the ice cream outings we had together. Playing on the playground. I realized that the girl I saw in the backyard playing next door must of been my imagination because it was probably me or Lea when we were younger. Lea said, "Do you remember the handshake?" I shook my head. She showed me. It was shake hips side to side then a butterfly made with our hands.

I still had questions that needed to be answered.

Now.

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Ok. Sorry it took me so long to post this. I had to edit it, and couldn't really find time. I finally did though. But, I have a reason for that.

 I went to the doctor for a check-up, and when I had to bend  down and touch my toes, she checked to see if my waist was straight, and...ya. I had to take  an x-ray of my spine. I found out that I have scoliosis. Scoliosis is where your spine doesn't grow great, and can result with uneven hips, or having one leg longer than the other. Now, don't freak out. It's not as bad as you think.  There are over 13 million cases a year in the United States alone. It's pretty common. Usually, it fixes itself, if not, you can get a back brace, or may even need surgery. I'm 13. I'm growing. This is 'normal.' I have to see a specialist. He just wants to check my back.

So again, I'm sorry this took so long. Also, I put in a reference or two in the story from the song up above. It's a good song. I also edited most of the dialogue in it. It's still not my story though. This is the LONGEST chapter in the book, and there only a few chapters left.

That's all I have to say right now. See ya later Alligator! After while Crocodile! Bye Bye Butterfly!

~TT