Prologue
His voice had been telling Lucinda to do this. And she had always pondered about the subject of death, but he had brought her to this point in her sixteen years of living. The knife was clutched tightly in her pale hand as she continued to ascend to the attic door. Finally, she grasped the cool, glass doorknob, which caused a shiver from both the sudden chill in the air and her own excitement to be sent down her spine. After taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
"Think about Lucas, your twin," a lyrical voice whispered, desperation in its tone. "He'll be devastated. You don't need to be sent to the Attic!"
"Don't listen to her," his voice ordered. "Come on, darling, I thought you wanted us to be together? All you have to do is-"
"No, don't do it!" the other voice interrupted. "You can't be sent here! You-"
Lucinda snapped; she dropped the knife and clutched her head with her hands, screaming. "Leave me alone!" Lucinda sobbed. She began to run back towards the door, but it locked itself. With desperation, she clawed at the door before collapsing onto the floor-curling herself into the fetal position-with her red hair pooling around her. Her hands covered her ears-trying to block out the voices-while tears streamed down her face.
"Leave me alone," she sobbed, "leave me alone!"
Then the knife picked itself up and hurled itself at her before stopping an inch away from her freckled face. She felt pressure on herself as she began to sit up against the door and when her hand lifted to grasp the knife. A blurry image began to form in front of her of a young man, so pale he was translucent. His dark hair fell into his merciless, brown eyes and his sadistic smile sent chills down her spine. The tears stopped and she held her breath as he moved closer. In a minute, they were face to face; his icy breath tickled her skin. It's all my fault, Lucinda thought, I shouldn't have listened to him.
"Actually, my dear, you shouldn't have gone to the attic in the first place," he chuckled.
She plunged the knife into her chest.