AXIS

Chapter Two

Opening the front door to the house the twins set their bags down on the floor near the entrance. The living room is calm as can be, the lights off and the air on. The kitchen is a different story. Music comes from the room, a joyous mariachi toon that carries directly into the living room. Loud, off key singing rises up after it, obviously not from a native Spanish speaker.

Carter shivers, sixty-seven degrees was the absolute worst temperature. Polar bears, she lived with polar bears. Of that she was sure.

Delin shakes his head, his pony tail swinging back and forth as he does so.

"He's at it again."

"Yep."

Silence hangs for a moment, not awkward at all. In fact it's quite a warm silence, full of family love.

"...Shall we?"

"We shall my dear sister, after you," He says with a practiced old time flourish from three years of theater. He had the hand gesture down and everything.

Dan Schifrin is a bear of a man. He's intimidating and rough, making quite a scary first impression when you meet him. With his amber eyes and tall stature he is the picture of unease for a stranger. However he is the exact opposite of how he looks. There is not a person in the world more generous and caring than him. So as both children walk into the kitchen to find him excitedly running about, cake batter on his face and jeans while he's singing loud foreign language music they just grin to themselves. Their father was an eccentric man who owns the only bakery in town. Bliss, or rather it's full name Blissfully Sweet, was one of the most popular spots in the small town. Named so because of how his late wife would describe his sweets when they were younger.

The twins, as they always do, wait a few seconds, simply enjoying the sight of their fathers chaotic work experiments and god awful singing, before they shout out a unison Dad!

He jumps about an inch off the ground and whips around, messy batter spoon pointed at the two in defense. Seeing it's just them,he sets the spoon on the table and presses a hand to his heart.

"Oh thank god it's just you two. I was worried it was the bakery serial killer or something."

"The... bakery serial killer?" Carter questions, her head tilted to one side and a grin on her face.

"Yes! The bakery serial killer!!" He pauses for effect and his expression is nothing but contained pride for what he's about to say.
"You could say he's killing the baking business."

"Pfft, Dad no we just got home, spare us the pain of the puns," Delin comments, his smile growing every second his father holds that dopey grin on his face.

Their dad just shakes his head with fake sadness. He raises one of his arms to dramatically drape it over his forehead and leans a bit behind him for effect.

"I'm sorry son, I cannot. For the puns are in my blood, my soul, and also on most websites that I visit so shush." He gives them a warm smile, full of love, and opens his arms for a hug that the twins divebomb for. Dad hugs were the best. Never turn down a dad hug. Specially when they come from Dan Schifrin.

Their dad releases them and puts a hand on each of their shoulders. His hands are covered in flower and the action results in a smidge of it on Delin and Carter's shoulder.

"So! What have my two lovely, wonderful, great-"

"Dad, you're doing it again." Carter says, stopping his compliment chain.

"Alright, alright, sorry I just like telling you guys how good you are. It expresses love and pride. Almost as much as eating dinner with the family does! Let's do that shall we!"

They nod their heads, stomachs growling in anticipation. Not only could dad make a mean sweet, he was a whiz in the kitchen.

"Alright then kiddos, grab your silverware and let's get eating!" he laughs to himself before adding "After I clean myself up of course."

---

Dinner,for them, often meant that the small family of three would be eating an all over the place meal at their dining room table. The table was set with the fanciest of Mcdonalds collectible plates with Disney's Hercules characters on them (Carter's favorite was the Megara one, Delin prefers the one with Pegasus.) The meal itself consisted of mash potatoes, a brown sugar glazed spiral ham and candied carrots.

"How was school today?" Their father asks, his fork stuck with about four carrots.

"Ten points for the generic dad conversation topic," Carter says as she reaches for another spoonful of mash potatoes.

"Ha, seriously though, how was it?"

"We had a gigantic test without any warning and I'm pretty sure one of the janitors is an alien."

"Carter you think everyone's an alien," Delin interjects, his fork spearing a piece of ham and popping it into his mouth.

"Only because it's true!"

"Your logic is astounding Car. Thank you for giving me a well thought out and well conceived rebuttal to your original hypothesis."

"Oh shush mister science. There's proof. Have you seen what he does with the dirty mop liquid?"

Their debate is interrupted by their father chuckling at them, his fork long forgotten on his plate in favor of watching his children heavily debate the extraterrestrial qualities of the school janitor.

"You guys are completely ridiculous you know that," he chokes out in between laughs. The twins just blink at him for a bit before giggling themselves.

"That's the way we like it," They say together in reply.

"Now what's this about a test."

"The AXE Exam," Delin informed, " They said it was to sharpen our instincts...?"

Carter grunts, "What a weird thing to test. My alien theory is still there for an answer you know."

Their father grows quiet at the name of the exam, his fork tapping on the plate a few times before he asks "Did you do your best? Answer truthfully?" The mood is off.

"Well... yeah dad, of course we did." Carter pauses, her gaze going from her brother to her father. "Why...?"

The mood changes, suddenly back to normal and their father puts up a smiling wall. They can gain nothing from his face.

He smiles, " Because you should give your all in everything given to you that's why. What did you think it was something dramatic?"

Carter and Delin glance at one another before looking back at their father.
"Yeah we kinda did Dad. The mood changed pretty quickly there."

"Well that's cause it's a serious matter! Test taking is sorta mandatory in schools now you know."

They nod their heads slowly, still unsure of the mood. Dinner continues on without anything too strange.
---

"It was weird right? " Carter questions.

" Definitely," Delin answers.

"I mean, suddenly he was so serious... He's never serious!"

"It started when I mentioned the test. Maybe... Maybe he knows something we don't?"

The two were currently sitting on the floor in Carter's room discussing what happened at the table. Carter's room was probably the smallest room in the house. It didn't bother her though, she liked it that way. The small room was less to keep clean and with it's limited space she was left to come up with creative ideas for storage. Band posters and random pieces of art hang on the purple painted wall. Lanterns and one steam punk lamp are what light the small space, along with one set of partially used Christmas lights. Her bed was pressed up against the wall near the window, similar to how Delin's looked. A small stereo sits on her dresser near the door. It was around midnight and the twins were still up talking. Luckily it was a Friday so there was no school tomorrow.

"He would tell us if he knew something... wouldn't he?"

"I think so... Unless we really don't need to know, in which case I feel even worse about that test."

Carter 'hmms' in agreement, letting the silence fall between them as they both think.

"We could try grilling him tomorrow about it," Delin suggests.

"Grilling? You really wanna barbecue our dad?"

"No Car I mean ask him about it you ding-ding."

"I know... Just trying to lighten the mood a little. It's so serious, like life and death you know?"

"Yeah, I know sis. Good job on the humor. A+"

"On shut up with the sarcasm, one day you're gonna fall in one and your only way out will be to scream "Oh no" In the most sarcastic voice possible."

The two share a moment of silence before they both laugh loudly at each other.

"We've had a long day...," Delin half says, half yawns.

"You think we deserve some sleep?" Carter asks.

"We definitely deserve some. Night?"

"Night bro. See ya in the morning polar bear," Carter says, yawning herself before standing and walking to her bed. She had changed into her p.j's an hour before. Delin had done the same.

Delin turns off the steam punk lamp but leaves the lanterns on. With a wave of his hand and a quick walk across the hall he's in his own room. It's larger than his sisters and certainly more of a mess. He's actually not as neat as his sister, so much for identical twins being alike. Delin's room is painted a light blue and when he flicks the light switch on, it comes to life. His bed is pushed against the center wall, near the window. Just like Carter's. Posters for the latest science achievements and several awards hang on the wall. There's also some on the shelf above his bed. A telescope sits by the window, pointed at some unknown star cluster. To the left of that, on a nightstand, sits his stereo. It's always on, playing some indie music that Carter found. It was supposed to help with night terrors .

It didn't. But of course he couldn't tell her that. So he lied to her every morning when she asked. He was pretty sure she saw through it though.From an early age Delin had had night terrors. They were strange and worrisome terrors that left him gasping for breath whenever they left him. They always involved the dark. The shadows. And in them he always felt like he was being smothered by something. Choked, and struggling for air. When he was younger, his mom used to come in and sing to him. Carter would even join in occasionally, her young vocal chords not quite as developed as they are now resulting in a sound that one can only compare to strangled cat yowling. No matter what though, the terrors stayed. They stayed and they terrified him. He should probably go to therapy and get this whole thing solved, but he can't help feeling like they would label him a freak. Not just them but the world. Making his way to the bathroom Delin makes sure to brush his teeth (he's a good child after all.) With that done he heads back into his room and flips the lights off,plunging the room into darkness. It's very similar to the dark that haunts him in his dreams and he shivers. Making sure to turn up the volume on his stereo he hops into bed and calls it a night.
 ---

When darkness shall rise.
Opening his eyes he sees nothing. It's pure darkness. He's frightened and He feels young again. Defenseless and without knowledge. Completely and utterly alone.
 Then so too will your power.
Gasping out a breath, suddenly there's a light. A glowing,pulsing light that pulls him forward, his legs unwilling. He tries to stop. To scream out words he's known all his life. But they have empty meanings. They have empty meanings and most of them are lies. Hands reach out from the red light, dark hands that pull him closer, faster, to the center of it all. The core where eyes glare at him, horrible, horrible red eyes. The hands grab him with poison touches that consume his being slowly and tortuously.
Unwanted or not. His hands reach out for the darkness that lays around him, one last effort to save himself as the red light completely swallows his form.
You will be consumed by it all.