WITCHES and FREAKS

March 31st

I went down to look at the pictures again today. I keep feeling like I know them from somewhere. Like I've seen them before. They're so familiar, but I just can't get a grasp of what they are. They're all so weird and I know there's nothing like them that actually exists, but I feel like I've seen it all before. Maybe I just dreamed about it. I told Bastian about the familiar feeling and that's what he said, that I probably just dreamed about it or I'm getting deja vu or something. He's usually right so I'm not as freaked out as I was before, but it's still creepy. And the eyes haven't gone away since we took the box out. And I keep feeling like my hands are getting really hot for no reason. It's so WEIRD. Maybe we shouldn't have messed with the box, because that circle gives me the shivers and I don't think we should be messing with it even though I'm super curious as to what's in the box.

Of course Bastian ignored me when I said we should leave it alone. And he's probably right. I'm just getting freaked over nothing. We took the box and found four of the keys needed to unlock it in the drawer. It was so easy. We just found four that looked really old and stuck them in the holes, and they clicked and popped off. Like we were supposed to find them. It was really something else. But we don't know where the last key is. It's not in the drawer because we even tried the one Mom put in there last week and none of them worked on the last one, so we think it's probably hidden somewhere out in the woods. We'll never find it if it is, because the woods are really huge, and even just my journal is going to be impossible for the boys to find without help, and it's a lot bigger and more obvious than an old key would be. We could always just smash the last lock but it looks really hard to break and if we break it we might break the box, and then we would probably break whatever's inside and we don't want to do that.

But that's just the box. I'm super frustrated today because Verge is being extra dumb. There's a play at school and Verge signed up and got the lead role for guys, and he's too proud of himself and I'll probably punch him later if he doesn't shut up. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he was made into bird food. At least then it would be quiet. But he's just strutting around bragging all the time and it's awful. Bastian can't even stand him. And we went out today to some boring party hosted by one of Mom's new friends and we met her friend's mom and she said the boys were super precious and she bet they got along perfectly because they look exactly the same, but she got a real shock when Bastian ran off to play with me and the little kids and Verge started going off about his life accomplishments. Bastian tore his shirt and Verge looked sharp the whole time and they were so opposite through the whole party that the old lady was completely shocked. It was hilarious. There's another pair of twins at our school named Shirley and Lisa and they're more like what the lady thought twins should be like, perfect mirrors. I bet the old hag would have liked them better. But I'm super glad Bastian didn't end up like Verge. Less glad that Verge didn't end up like Bastian. But it's always so funny when they get mistaken for each other at school. People still haven't learned to tell the difference yet, and since Verge started growing his hair out longer it's getting harder and harder to tell them apart if you don't live with them. Their clothes are really the only difference. And the bruises. Bastian has a lot of them. He trips over things a lot. He's got this really big bruise on his knee shaped like the state of Texas and he got it from banging himself against a wall in the middle of the night when he couldn't see where he was going.

Chance also got caught eating the gummies we bought him today. I knew he would. Mom checked his teeth last night and found the little colored bits and she's brushing his teeth for him again until he figures out how to do it on his own. And she's also dressing him now too, and helping him eat. She says if he won't take care of himself she'll do it for him. She'll treat him like a tiny child until he decides to stop acting like one. Chance is going to just hate that. I'll give him three days before he cracks and just does everything himself instead of putting up a fuss. Mom knows how to manipulate us and he's the easiest. And she manipulated me today too. I was playing with my potatoes at dinner at the party and she started doing the same thing. It was so super embarrassing so I stopped and just ate like a boring adult, and everyone laughed. It was awful.

It's getting too dark to read the journal so I'm going to put it away. I sure hope Chance isn't going to scream tonight. I guess I'll find out.

Hi I'm Annelise and I'm super stupid! Blah blah blah blah something about the funny pictures on the wall! Complaining about Verge and Chance and making Mom look horrible! Awkward note about whatever we did today and terrible grammar and lots of ands and and and and HAHAHAHAHAHA! Bad drawing dumb face something about a book full of people without clothes on. Seriously, who even likes that book? It's great for learning how to draw the human form but what's the point if all of the clothes you draw look like flat paper-doll accessories? You ought to work more on clothes than the body, Annelise. You have so much potential and you're wasting it by working on improving the things you're already fine at. Also, nice handwriting. You'd probably get better grades if you wrote like that all the time instead of just when you feel like it. And you don't make Verge look bad enough. You've painted him as arrogant and self-centered, and he's just so much more than that. Give him credit where credit is due, my lovely sister. Here's my interpretation of him: [Insert Picture]

(You ought to hide your journal somewhere less obvious than right by a great big landmark in our woods. Impossible to find it certainly is not. I'm nice but Verge isn't, and if he finds out you wrote badly of him he will actually burn your journal. Really. And don't yell at me for writing in this thing, I'm just trying to do a sister a favor.)

(April Fools, by the way, since that's when it'll be when you see this.)