Chapter 26- AMY AND VAN

Back in City Z, it was almost midnight.

A young man stood out on the porch of a mansion, gazing at his phone. The soft cold wind blew at his face, swaying the stray strands of rich brown hair hanging over his forehead. The phone's screen came on with a notification sound. It was a chat responding to his previous message.

"Lol, still ever protective aren't you? Fine, we're on our way. Will be home soon."

The screen light reflected in the man's beautiful hazel eyes as he read the message, then he heaved a tiny sigh of relief as he pocketed the phone after replying to the message.

Somewhere in the middle of a road, a red car that showed off a decent wealthy impression moved in a way that wasn't too fast, nor too slow. The car jerked suddenly, swerving to the right lane as a scream came from someone inside. If one were to listen closely though, one would discover that it wasn't someone really screaming. It was just someone laughing wildly.

"Vanessa can you just stop laughing? My ears are hurting so bad." A lady smartly dressed in black bootcut pants and a white, fitted cotton t-shirt, complained as she slightly drew her eyebrows together and tried concentrating once more on driving. Her vibrant red hair was drawn into a ponytail adding to the air of seriousness she gave off.

But the one she was talking to didn't hear. Or perhaps she did hear but just didn't want to answer, so she kept laughing.

The car screeched as it skidded on the highway, earning a real scream this time around from Vanessa, before coming to a halt.

"What the hell was that Amelia? Do you wanna get us both killed??" Vanessa who looked like she just had a close shave with death and was anything but laughing just a while ago, yelled.

"Right," The door on the driver's side opened and closed with a slam as Amelia got down and walked round to the back passenger's side where Vanessa sat.

Opening the door and getting in, Amelia continued,

"So I don't get us killed for real, why don't you drive us home...sister." She finished, emphasizing on the word 'killed' and leaning in at the last part where she said 'sister', smiling like a Cheshire cat .

"I think i'ld rather drive than see that creepy smile of yours." Vanessa said, dropping the book she was holding before crawling into the driver's seat from behind.

She started the car and they resumed their journey, albeit moving at a pace that could be considered not too fast but at the same time slow all the less.

Amelia started grumbling in a low-tone and it wasn't hard to hear what she was grumbling about.

"Don't know what she was thinking laughing in the middle of the night like - she paused as her eyes landed on the cover of the book lying on the seat beside her. - Oh. A BANSHEE it is." She finished, clicking her tongue before looking into the rearview mirror that showed a face much identical to hers. The only difference was their eyes.

A pair of crystal green eyes met Amelia's violet ones in the mirror before the owner moved them back to concentrate on driving.

"Didn't notice you removed your contact lenses." Amelia observed from their brief eye contact.

Groan. "Amelia are you trying to look for my trouble?"

"Trouble? Pfft. I'ld rather spar with you."Amelia replied in a tone that implied incurring her twin's trouble was something she wouldn't even harbor the thought of.

"Tssk. Well, you know, I'm trying to get used to exposing my eyes now." Vanessa said as she drifted round a turn.

'PFFTTT!!!:

Amelia who had been in the process of gulping down water spurted it all out.

"What did you say?" She exclaimed in a disbelieving tone.

"You heard me, Amy. I know you've been saying exposing my eyes in private doesn't count, but you ain't the one who's always earned children's screams and people's gasps you know. You get 'wowed' at while I get screamed at. So it was not easy getting back into the open with my real eyes then. But now, I'm not giving a shit."

In response, Amelia only nodded with an "ohhhh", like she was processing Vanessa's word. The only thing that could be heard was the low-humming sound of the car's engine.

Amelia crossed her right leg over the left one, interlocked her fingers and placed it on her right knee before looking into the rearview mirror to see Van's pair of crystal green eyes following every one of her movements.

"Spill."

"There's nothing to say Amy." Vanessa replied, moving her eyes to check the sideview mirror before running her left hand through her full wavy red hair.

"I'm listening." Amelia insisted.

"Fine! Dominic dumped me for some bimbo, that's totally it, and I'm not affected." Vanessa rushed, drifting as she made another turn down the road.

"You're not affected? That sounds more like you broke a bone of his. A couple maybe."

"Nah, Van's all grown up now and doesn't resort to such means again." Vanessa replied with a smirk and a hint of an evil gleam in her eyes.

"Alright. If you say so." Amelia replied, looking out into the midnight sky as her thoughts unconsciously wandered to the period when they were little kids and were still in elementary school. The fellow kids stayed away from them at first before deciding to approach carefully. It was all because of their rare features- the vibrant red hair and colourful eyes standing out the most.

As they grew and leveled up in school, they were later put in different classes and why Amelia was admired while Vanessa was almost ostracized spiraled from that point onward.

Amelia's classmates admired her whereas Vanessa only got bad words hurled at her. At first, she endured but it got to a point where they started getting physical to the point of bullying her and as someone with a fiery temper, Vanessa finally lost it. She started retaliating and would beat her oppressors black and blue.

Various parents started filing complaints and an old woman the twins grew up knowing as their grandma would come to school to solve the issues.

The situation calmed down and Vanessa didn't get suspended based on the countless fights she's had.

Nonetheless, the twins brother sent orders to sign her up for martial training and she started developing her fighting skills. Amelia joined her too.

Puberty kicked in early for both girls making them stand out more. Somewhere along the line, based on her foundational relationship with others, jealousy made others start setting her up. Vanessa wasn't dense as she was fast in getting to the roots of the various setups. What followed was a pulpy beating of both accomplices and masterminds.

Their brother, Raymond, came back on completing his studies overseas to start working as a doctor and as if on cue, the old woman died.

Raymond being the sole heir to her wealth and possessions took on the role of parenting. On learning about what had been going on with the twins, he withdrew them and placed them in another school. To avoid similar problems from occurring, he asked if they would like to make use of contact lenses. Amelia didn't want it but Vanessa wanted it and even started dyeing her hair too. Since then, she had been using lenses and was able to live a reasonably normal life with less trouble. If fights ever broke out, it wouldn't be about her eyes or her hair.

Amelia was jolted back to the present as the speeding car came to an abrupt halt.