Dark lurker
When something or someone begins stalking Betty, can Billy help his sister escape the shadow haunting her footsteps when he has shadows of his own?
Betty was worried. I didn’t even need to be her twin to know that; supposed mystical bonds and other claptrap aside, it was obvious to anyone with eyeballs. Helped that she told me, too. I wasn’t one of her clique, not one of the shallow hangers on that flocked around her at school. I was unthreatening, safe.
So, she told me about the stalker.
“He’s following me,” she hissed, slurping up my smoothie. Hers was already empty. I glanced around the little diner, its kitschy sepia paintings and rusted old roadsigns hanging crooked on the walls. The place was empty – we were going to be in such trouble for skipping out on school. Well, I was, anyway. Betty had a free period, and she’d insisted.
“Who? There’s no-one here.”
“Don’t be so stupid.” Her voice dripped with disdain, in sharp contrast to her syrupy golden eyes. Sweet was the word people used to describe Betty, but it sometimes seemed like there was an underlying rottenness to her words, like fruit left too long in the sun. There was certainly fear tainting her words now, and her nerves sent a frisson of shared worry climbing up my spine. “Not right now. I see him at night.”
“Where?” I couldn’t hide my excitement, a thrill of morbid curiosity making my words light. She gave me a weird look, and I tried to curb my enthusiasm. I tried again. “Where do you see him? Is it definitely a guy?”
“Ugh, you’re useless!” With a last, pointed slurp, she pushed herself away from the cheap laminate tabletop and turned, storming out of the diner. I checked the cup, but there was barely even a dribble of smoothie remaining. Pushing my chestnut hair back and away from my forehead, I leaned back in the old padded fixed-bench chair. A spring, still covered by the vaguest hint of material that did nothing to soften its pointed end, dug into my back just under a rib.
A small slip of paper, the bill, was slid onto the table in front of me, and I looked up to see Mavis giving me a pointed look. With a sigh, I started looking for my wallet amongst my school things.
***
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY AND BETTY
It’s a tacky, old banner that dated back to our third birthday party, but it got trotted out every year anyway. Bulging eyed giraffes leered down from the fabric, watching the proceedings with unblinking interest.
“I saw him again last night. Creeper.”
The faint buzz of purloined beer made me braver than usual, and besides, I knew what she’d been up to last night. “You sure it wasn’t just your dumbass boyfriend?”
“Shut up.” She punched me in the shoulder. Hard.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“You’re not taking me seriously,” she whined, pouting so that she looked like a petulant duck. “And shut up about Andy. I don’t want mum and dad to know about it.”
Which was understandable. When she told them about Fiona in sixth grade, I got grounded for a whole semester and they read me the full riot act, plus a couple of constitutional amendments. And I’d barely even held her hand; I can only imagine what they would have done if I’d kissed her, let alone done the kinds of things Betty’s done with Andy. But of course, she knows I’d never tattle on her.
The brown glass bottle in my hand was snatched away, and Betty peered into it, inspecting the contents. Distaste creased her features as she scowled.
“Can’t believe you drank so much, you pig.” Her face was flushed with the pinkness of five beers, the empty cardboard sixpack container standing denuded of its alcoholic fruits. “You’re going to have to clear up this mess before mum and dad get home.”
The now-empty bottle clattered to the floor near the bin, bouncing once on the tiles. Twice. It shattered on the third bounce, sending shards spinning across the floor to slip under the table and slide under the fridge and the gap beneath the kitchen counter.
“Fuck. Missed the bin.” As she stumbled through the door towards the rest of the house, leaving me alone in the dimly lit kitchen, I kicked angrily at the table leg. It only gave me sore toe, and I went to grab the dustpan and brush.
***
“So what’s it like, being a twin?”
I groaned and stretched back against the sun-warmed concrete wall. “Geez, Ville, what the hell?”
Next to me, also leaning against the wall, Ville refused to meet my eyes when I looked over at him. His long, lanky frame cast a spindly shadow against the bare ground as he picked at a spot on his nose. “Jut curious. Heard twins get, like, magical powers and shit.”
“Also used to be omens of bad luck. No-one believes that magic bullshit anymore.”
“So if I make a move on your sister, you’re not gonna be, like, watching us through a mystical bond or anything? Good.”
I pulled a disgusted face. “Oh gross, man. ‘Sides, you don’t want anything to do with Betty. She’s a bitch.”
Ville shrugged and passed me the cigarette, blue-grey smoke trailing in thin wispy tendrils that quickly dissipated in the gentle breeze. “But she’s hot.”
My nostrils flared with annoyance, but I grabbed the cigarette anyway and took a drag. “Whatever.”
***
Frantic knocking on my bedroom door sent me burrowing under the covers in the darkness, my breath catching in my throat in sudden panic. As the cold night wind streaming through the open window sent the curtains flapping loudly, my door slammed open and Betty stomped in, wide-eyed and heavy footed.
I pretended to be asleep, but had to give it up when Betty sat down on top of my legs.
“Ow! What the hell?!”
“I saw him again. He was just outside!”
Typical, not even an apology for waking me up. The faint green light of my alarm clock said it was half-past midnight. I frowned at Betty, who was nothing more than a dim outline in the barely-there moonlight. A shadow within the darker shadows.
“Who?” But I was sure I knew. She only got this worked up over one thing.
“That goddamn creepy arsehole! He was right outside, in the alley!” I could feel her weight pressing against my legs, hear her ragged breathing as she tried to calm herself.
“It was probably just a cat or something. Go away.”
“No! I saw him! He was wearing, like, a raincoat and he was watching me!”
The cold night wind carried the quiet sounds of a drowsing town through the window. A few late night vehicles whined their way down the road, a huge timber truck rumbling past with its heavy load rattling and clunking in its wake. Somewhere in the distance a couple of night owls, or drunk idiots, laughed and chattered before fading into silence.
“Well, he’s not getting inside, is he? Stop worrying about it.”
Betty harrumphed and pushed herself off of my poor, squashed legs. Footsteps thudding like thunderclaps, Betty clomped over to my window. Reaching past the flailing curtains, she grabbed the window and slammed it closed. It rattled loudly in its frame.
“At least keep your goddamn window closed. I don’t want him climbing up the goddamn drainpipe, moron.”
After Betty left me alone in the darkness, I got up and kicked off my muddy boots and pulled off my heavy coat before climbing back into bed with a small smile.
***
“They say twins always know when the other one’s in danger. And you know what, I think it’s true.” I watched Betty squirming and wriggling, trying to loosen her bonds or get off the conveyor belt. The grinding screech of the huge logging saw blades nearly drowned out my voice, but I wasn’t really talking to her, anyway. “You always knew when I was in trouble.”
Tears were streaking her face, leaving smears and smudges on her clothes as her makeup ran in thick, sticky rivulets down her cheeks. She was making small, pathetic hiccupping noises deep in her throat, but the gag meant she couldn’t make anything louder sounds. She was completely helpless.
I tugged the thick black fabric of my trenchcoat around my shoulders. A sudden small gust of wind whipped it up around my legs, sending it streaming out behind me where it merged with the shadows, so that I looked like I was stepping straight out of the night. Staring down at Betty, meeting her dark brown eyes for the final time, I gave a grim smile.
“After all, you were always the one behind it.”
