Love Him, Love Him Too

Chapter 1

This is dedicated to my sister Jennifer who is the one who suggested the storyline to me.

Ally’s silver necklace sat in the palm of my hand. With my other hand I reached it up to my neck, my fingers running along the silver chain of my own necklace. I held the T attached to it in my hand. Ally had an A for hers. Mum had given the necklace to us for our tenth birthday so people could tell us apart.

I don’t know how I’m going to be able to live without her now that she is no longer here. Ally and I do everything together. For the past few days I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror because all I see is Ally. She was my mirror image. Our dark brown hair was long and wavy and we liked straightening it. Our wavy hair often annoyed us. We also had dark blue eyes. We were into sports, surfing being our favourite.

Surfing. I hate the sport now. I ripped all of the posters of surfing champions that I had on the walls of my room. I even broke my surfboard. I didn’t want it anymore.

I guess I shouldn’t blame the sport on Ally’s death, but that’s what we were doing the day she died.  I don’t even want to think about it, but I can’t help it.

I still hear her screams. Sometimes I wanted to believe that it was some kind of nightmare, but it wasn’t. Everything happened. We were supposed to enjoy that Saturday with our friends. We decided to go surfing at the beach we live near. But everything went wrong. Sometimes I wish we didn’t go surfing at all. Sometimes I wish we decided to do something else, like go to the movies or something.

The shark came from nowhere. We were just sitting on our boards, waiting for the next wave. Ally screamed as she was dragged into the water. At first we didn’t even see the shark and we didn’t know what happened to my sister. Her blood floated above the water as she struggled to hang onto her board. I remember my leg began hurting and I couldn’t really move it because the pain was so intense. Mine and Ally’s senses are connected together and we feel each other’s pain. At one time when I was twelve I broke my arm and for a couple of days Ally’s arm would hurt too.

And then my friends and I saw the shark’s fin as it emerged from the water. We tried not to panic or put ourselves in the same position as Ally and become the next victim to be attack. My friend Abby helped me to lift Ally onto her board. I felt nausea when I shot a glimpse of my twin sister’s left leg. The shark had ripped off her leg from her knee, only leaving her thigh. We rushed to shore, hoping Ally’s blood wouldn’t attract other sharks.

Some people were on the beach and came to our aid. My leg felt numb. I couldn’t feel it at all. I crawled over to Ally. She was pale and was struggling to keep her eyes open. Ally’s boyfriend Troy was asking if anyone on the beach had a phone. Abby was tying Troy’s shirt over my sister’s leg.

Troy and Abby then lift up Ally’s board, carrying her to the street so the ambulance could see us. I couldn’t really walk but I tried to as I limped alongside my sister, hanging onto her hand.

“Stay with us, Ally,” I remember saying to her.

I wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance with Ally, but the paramedic thought it was best I didn’t. Troy drove behind the ambulance. I sat in the front seat beside him, keeping my eyes on the ambulance, scared of what was going to happen to my sister. I could feel my arms being prickled. I’m guessing the paramedic is probably sticking needles or something into Ally. I had trouble breathing a little.

My parents were already at the hospital. They rushed over to the ambulance as Ally was carried out. They ran alongside her. I tried to followed, but the pain in my leg was so intense now. I couldn’t stand on my leg at all. Abby and Troy helped me inside, heading to the emergency room where Mum and Dad were waiting impatiently in the waiting room. Mum was crying and Dad’s arms were wrapped around her tightly. I sat down and put my leg up on the seat. I rubbed my leg. My chest started hurting. It felt like it was getting zapped by electric.