The Haughts

Connected-Matthew

I sit gasping for air as the blood pours out of my wound. I know I won't die, but I want to. How could I let this happen? I'd been so careful not to let myself be taken off guard but that bastard Sam Owens just gets to me. He's the reason I'm here in the first place and he is the reason my sister Nicole has been on her own since our 10th birthday. Ever since we have both been so careful not to get caught off guard. Sure we've had a few slip ups- paper cuts, minor bruises from fights, small cuts to the head- but never anything as serious as reopening our bullet wound. Let me explain.

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*25 years earlier- to present* *Matthew narrating*

Jonathan Haught smiled down at me and my sister. As our bearer, Jonathan vowed to protect our sacred bond no matter what. Not only are Nicole and I twins, we are a scientific phenomenon. The first ever children to be born with only one parent, the first to be absolutely identical- right down to the fingerprints (only difference is our sex), and the first twins to be born at the exact same time. Jonathan always told us we came out feet first, holding hands, with the umbilical chords twisted together so much that for a while, it seemed we would grow together. We were Jonathan's pride and joy. 

Skip forward to when we were four years old. Jonathan married a witch named Jessica Clootie. She seemed nice enough but we didn't trust her. It was at this age we began to notice our connection. Nic would fall and scrape her knee and I would get the scrape too. We didn't understand it then.

Right before our tenth birthday, Jonathan was gutted and his head torn off. We saw it happen. Jessica took care of us and put a spell on us to ease the nightmares. A few weeks after Jonathan's death, Jessica married Sam Owens. Nic and I recognized him right away and plotted a way to get rid of him for good. 

The morning of our tenth birthday, I met him head on while Nic met him from behind. We both pulled our guns and shot, hers going through the head, mine going through his stomach and into her.

"Nic!!!" I ran over to her murmering apologies.

"I think we have a bigger problem than our gunshot wound."

I look down, noticing that I, too, am bleeding from the lower left abdomen. Nic points behind me and I turn around. Sam Owens is rising back to his feet, no blood to be seen.

"Run, Nic. Run and never come back. Be careful and remember, when you hurt, I feel it too."

She ran and I ended up in Juvy for attempted murder. It was there I began training for revenge. I began building myself up, I even took control of a group of boys. Lucky us, after we were all 18, we ended up in the same prison together, still ready to fight. 

Over the years I've done my research and learned a few things. One, that witch put some spell on me and Nic so we don't die if we are separated so one will never live without the other. Two, Sam Owens is a revenant who somehow got out of some region called the Ghost River Triangle. Three, my sister and I can feel any pain the other experiences unexpectedly. Four, there was one deputy that Wyatt Earp had that never got noted much named Jacklyn Haught, better known as Ruthless Jack. Five, Jacklyn had a child with Wyatt before she left gunslinging behind and settled down.

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*This morning*

I saw Sam Owens across the commons room. I followed him to his bunk to ask him a few questions. One minute I'm asking him why he hates my family so much, the next he has a blade out, reopening the scar in my side yelling something about that crazy witch sympathyzing with the likes of the Haughts and blessing us with some kind of ability.

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I know Nicole could feel the ripping and tearing. I know we have both lost blood and are getting weaker but through all of the pain, I also know we cannot die. I ask myself again and again how I could be so stupid and let this happen. I never wanted to hurt her again. Leave it to a filthy demon to reopen old wounds.

I slip into a temporary pain induced coma.