A is out of the picture.”
“What happened?”
“What happened is even better than I could’ve hoped for,” I said over my shoulder.
“I really think that—”
Quickly I turned around. “We don’t have enough time to sit and chat. Go wait inside. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“Just go.”
Finally, Alice turned on her heels and walked back toward the cabin. I pulled out a set of keys from my back pocket and quickly located the smallest one. Not even the strong smell of the rain could compete with what poured out of the shed. Anyone else would’ve made a face, covered their nose with their hands. Some might vomit.
I did none of the above. I walked forward and stared down at the two bodies. They looked so peaceful, almost as if they were sleeping. Funny how just hours ago they were both walking around, still assuming that they had all the time in the world. But everyone is placed on this earth for a short amount of time. Surely they knew that.
I dropped my bag onto the ground and stared at the girl thoughtfully. She told me her name. I don’t remember it. And does it really even matter?
She was my second doll—a prop if there ever was one.
But my prop was useless now.
I turned my attention to the male body. I crossed my arms and grinned. This body was extremely important. I savored every moment stealing his life away.
Behind me the door creaked open. I turned just as Alice stepped into the doorway. Sure, I could hide the body. I could block her from the sight and tell her to get the fuck out. Or I could get this over with and show her my plan. Her eyes adjusted to the dark. She walked forward and looked beyond me. It was only a matter of seconds until she reacted. She screamed so loudly my ears started to ring.
“Can you not be so dramatic?” I asked. Already she was getting on my nerves.
She took a step forward and pointed a shaky hand toward the bodies. “What did you do?”
“Will you relax?” I turned back around and brushed back strands of the woman’s hair. It was so dark, so shiny. Just like Victoria’s. “She’s still alive. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with her.”
“I don’t care about the woman!” Alice yelled. She pointed to the man. “I care about him!”
“You can care about him until you’re blue in the face, but it won’t change a thing. He’s dead,” I said bluntly.
Alice was shaking. Tears streamed down her face. She looked at me with fear. But for what reason? I was her son. And I was making everything right.
“He was your brother,” she whispered brokenly. “Your twin.”
I stood up and wiped the dirt off on my jeans. “We weren’t raised together.”
If she stopped crying long enough, she might actually hear what I was saying. What’s more annoying than emotions? Tears. They’re just annoying and pointless.
She hurried forward and loomed over Wes’s dead body. She reached out to touch him but at the last second pulled away.
“I had to do it. You understand that, right?”
Alice went pale and moved away from the table and dug the heels of her palms into her eyes as if she could erase the image in front of her. If I could have, I’d have climbed into her head just so I could see why she was reacting so dramatically.
“Fairfax is no place for a baby…Fairfax is no place for a baby…Fairfax is no place for a baby…” She started to mumble over and over.
This was why I had no empathy for Wes. We might have been twins but the similarities stopped there. Alice gave him up. She kept me. Wes had a life in the world. My life circled around Fairfax, where Alice worked and my father was a patient.
But in a bizarre twist, he was the golden boy in Alice’s eyes.
Never once did I feel a stirring of guilt as I watched him and Victoria, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. I just wanted to take something away from him. And take I did.
If there was anyone to blame in this entire situation it was Wes. He turned his back on his wife and I slipped into his life so easily. Like it was meant to be.
I’d love her better.
I’d be the perfect husband for her.
In the end, she would thank me.
Patience ran out and I walked over to Alice, gripping her