Tethered Twins

Chapter One

Copyright Mike Essex 2014

Emmie Keyes

I felt everything.

A thousand nerve endings in my arm set on fire, as I felt the knife cut through flesh. I felt every inch of skin tear open, as blood seeped to the surface and emerged through the rapidly forming cracks.

I saw everything.

As I watched on in horror I saw blood pour to the floor. Drip by drip, life seemed to be seeping away, time seemed to be running out.  

My heart rate paced faster and faster. It felt like a beating drum pounding away, harder and harder as I struggled to cope with the situation. It felt like my heart was trying to escape from my chest, to escape from the reality that was unfolding.  Unable to control my breathing I felt a panic attack form, my lungs struggling to cope with the anxiety.

I heard everything.

Trying to hold my breathing steady I heard two figures talking. I had no idea what they were saying and yet their voices echoed with rage.

Almost as if their words were not their own.

As if they were muttering orders from a higher power.

And then they turned in my direction.

Twins. Their bodies had the same silhouette and facial structure, with them both sporting shaved heads. Yet there were subtle differences. One man had a scar down the right side of his face and his jaw was slightly offset, probably from years of violence. He had a belt of knives around his waist. The other man was slightly taller and he had no scars and no bruises and yet his face still had a warped, evil quality about it.

They were both heavily built and seemed unbeatable. The scarred man seemed to be twice my width. His shoulders were so broad and his muscles so big that fighting back seemed like suicide. He walked forward and those muscles of his began to tense, anticipating their next cruel action.

My head was forced backwards and the man stared directly into my eyes. I closed them, not wanting to look back at him, trying to hide from this nightmare but his face remained. I could feel his breath tickling my face. He wasn’t going to move.

Reluctantly I opened my eyes and was overwhelmed by the colour orange. Dark pools of an orange liquid were formed in his eyes, circling menacingly around his dark black pupils. The strands of orange twisted and danced like moths around a naked flame.

 He whispered something which I did not understand, although every word seemed to drip with malice and rage. There was no reply and then his arm lunged forward grabbing my neck and squeezing the life from me. The ring on his index finger started to cut into my neck and I felt the metal dig and scratch away on my skin.

 His fingers gripped tightly and my mouth opened trying desperately to gasp for air. As the pressure increased my eyes began to open wide, forcing me to stare at him. A smile was formed on his lips. Was he enjoying this? What man would enjoy this?

The other man, the one who had no scars, shouted a single word and his twin stopped. So this is how you remained scar free, I thought to myself. By getting your twin to do all your dirty work. As I looked at him I saw that his eyes were just as orange and distant as his twin.

Air began to fill my lungs again and I inhaled a giant breath. My lungs pumped quickly to gather as much air as they could, knowing that this wasn’t the end of the assault. My chest lifted up and down, contracting and retracting in a rapid pace.

For a brief moment I was thankful to the twin with perfect skin and then I saw the knife once again.

Please, not the knife.