The Curse of The Gemini

Father

There are spiders tickling up my neck, ravens clawing at my hair, and sheep stampeding over my bloody body. I scream out into the darkness, but there is nothing. No one to hear my cries. Although my body aches and burns, what hits me hardest is seeing the faint glimpse of my brother and my father in the distance. Through teary eyes, I watch them reach out to save me, then be whisked off into the powerful wind. I see their bodies crumble into black sand. Then I wake up.

It's always the same nightmare. I should know better by now. I should know not to be so terrified. Know that it's just my imagination. But how can I when it feels so real?

And I can never shake the confusion when I wake up. Every time it comes, I see my brother and my father, but I don't have a brother or father. Well, I have a father of course, but I've never met him. I live with my mother and sister in a small house in Toronto.

I notice this particular morning that unlike the confusion and the goosebumps, something is different. The world is sort of distant looking. Everything feels unreal. Am I in another dream?

No, because I feel very much conscious right now. More than I normally do, if that makes any sense.
It's a little scary actually. My body doesn't feel like mine. Now all my memories don't feel like they're mine. What the hell is going on with me?

I attempt to shake off the strange sensation by doing everything I normally do. I get dressed, eat breakfast, brush my teeth and head to school. I've just begun high school a few months ago at Ferndale High, which is across the city, so I take a bus to the subway, then ride for about ten stops.

I sit down on the blue, velvet seat and plug a pair of ear buds into my head. Every time I look around, I feel as if the subway is zooming through time and get dizzy, so I simply close my eyes and do my best to adjust to this odd world I live in.

But why do I need to adjust to this world? It's been all I've ever known for fifteen years, hasn't it?

After exiting the underground, I take in a breath of cool, icy air. It's February, so living in Canada of course, the whole city is under a sheet of crystal snow. I don't mind. It's cold, but also very peaceful and graceful looking. Though today I can't seem to grasp that beauty. It's as if I'm watching the whole universe through a television screen.

Even though I've been at Ferndale for almost half the school year, I still feel a bit self conscious when I walk through the halls. It's not that I don't think I fit in, or don't think I'm pretty enough. Its because of the awkward Y shaped scar just above my left eyebrow. My hair would cover it pretty well, if it weren't for the fact that my locks are practically transparent, nearly as light as the snow that coats the trees. They just arn't much good at hiding my imperfection.

My mother told me that it's a birth mark because I've had it since the moment I was born, but birth marks are usually more blotchy or patchy. I've never heard of anyone else with a scar as a birthmark.

Well, there is one person.

I hurry down the west end of the school as the bell rings in my ears, find my class and throw myself into the chair as Ms. Aida enters the door at the other end of the classroom. My friend Andrea locks eyes with me and we exchange grins.

"Samantha Dugan?"

"Here!" I yell automatically at the calling of my name.

As Ms. Aida lectures to the class about positive and negative attraction, me and Andrea whisper to one another occasionally.

"You should come with me and Max to Verona tonight. Are you free?" She murmurs into my ear. Both our eyes are fixed on Ms. Aida, now marking papers at her desk.