Dark As Night

Re-Twin

The email was probably the strangest birthday present I'd ever received. Claudette Maud. I didn't recognise that name. Not one bit. Her words seemed friendly and kind, so she must be a family friend.

Hi Megan. Happy birthday! 15 is a big number! Too bad Hannah isn't there to share it with you. Give Trisha my love. xxx

I frowned as soon as I'd finished reading. She obviously knew my mum. She knew my date of birth. But....Hannah was a name she didn't know.

"Mum?" I called as a reached the bottom of the staircase. "Meg, I'm meant to be leaving to help Sarah-"

"Who's Claudette?" I said quickly, knowing mum would be to stubborn to reply if I left it any longer.

"Claudette Maud?" My mum looked at me strangely, the frowned and laughed. "Never say that name again, Megan. I'm not in the mood for games. See you after work." Her disappearance and her cold, sarcastic laugh had made me shiver a little. I wasn't used to mum acting like that. But I was still curious. On the brink of asking dad, when I remembered he was at a friends. I wasn't going to be able to leave this until the morning.

Hi Claudette. Thank you for the birthday wishes. Do you know my mum? Who is Hannah?

I felt butterflies in my stomach after sending the message, as if I shouldn't have done it. Of course I shouldn't, she was a stranger. But I wanted to know. Luckily, it didn't take long for a response.

Megan, stop playing games. Tell Trisha to stop ignoring me. I'm not going to answer anymore stupid questions.

I sighed at the suddenly harsh reply. Then again, she was an adult, and I'm sure my mum ignoring her was going to make her mad. I guess it was something to sleep on.

"Dad?" I asked as my dad straightened the mirror on the wall.

"Hey, Meg, does that look straight to you?"

"Yeah, yeah, Dad, who's Claudette? Claudette-"

"Maud?" Dad spun to face me, sounding shocked. "I'm surprised Mum mentioned her."

"She....didn't. I got an email from her on my birthday." I responded, wondering whether it was the best thing to do. "Well, I guess that's nice. Just don't tell Mum." "

I already did. She got mad." I said honestly. "Claudette mentioned Mum ignoring her. And a girl called Hannah?"

Dad looked around the room, obviously struggling with how to continue the conversation. "Claudette was our doctor when you were a baby."

"Okay...." I began. "But who's Hannah?"

"Hannah was your twin sister. You were... Conjoined. Claudette believed you would both survive but other doctors said it would be hard, and be best to save only... One." he answered, looking slightly guilty and depressed. "Ohh...." I said, realizing why Mum would have been annoyed or upset about this. "But why is Claudette contacting us now?"

"She was a strange doctor. Told us things after we made the decision to save you. She wasn't nice about it, so we changed doctors when you were three months."

In my bedroom I began to slowly feel betrayal. My parents never once told me about this. I was sat with my laptop discovering things about myself from a stranger over email. Yet somehow, it was oddly satisfying knowing I could get the answers I wanted from someone other than my stubborn parents.