Anna tied back her hair, grabbed her handbag and mobile phone, and went out into the hallway.
The sun beamed through the window at the bottom of the stairs, her left hand grabbed the wooden banister. As her left foot descended onto the first step, her right foot followed, sinking deeply into the soft beige carpet. Slowly and carefully, she slid her hand down and her body would follow, passing the black-and-white ancient photographs of her great grandparents. As she descended more and more, her eyes focused on the photos of their family tree. Her father had hung them up purposely so that the youngest of their family was at the bottom of the staircase and the eldest was at the top. Anna picked up her pace and reached the final step. As she laid her foot onto it, it creaked loudly.
Anna stood there, motionless and silent. As soon as they had heard the creak, silence fell upon her parents in the kitchen. All three of them stood still, each person waiting for the other to act. Finally, Anna crossed the landing, closing her eyes from the powerful rays of the sun.
She entered the kitchen, her boots clinking on the ceramic floor tiles. At last, the strong aromatic scent from her dad’s pure Brazilian coffee entered fully through her body. She closed her eyes and took the smell in slowly. As she opened them, she saw her mum and dad staring at her. Quickly, they fussed around the kitchen table, hoping Anna hadn’t noticed.
“Happy Birthday, dear!” they both chorused.
“Have you seen the snow outside? It’s going to take me ages to dig it all out the driveway,” her father said, hopelessly trying to start a conversation.
“I saw the banner outside,” Anna muttered. “Thanks, but you really didn’t have to.”
“Nonsense, it’s your sixteenth birthday and you should enjoy it!” her dad insisted.
Anna’s mother remained silent, her back turned to everyone so that they couldn’t see the expression on her face. She busied herself with frying some eggs.
Anna turned round, grabbed a nearly burnt toast from the plate on the table and quickly started munching it. Anna moved to the hallway now. As she put on her coat, she overheard her dad furiously telling her mum that she could have at least made an effort.
“I’m going out to get some fresh air, okay? I should be back in time for lunch,” she shouted towards the kitchen. Before her parents had a chance to ask her where she was going, she slammed the front door shut. She didn’t want to hear them going into another argument about her.
Anna pushed the front gates open and fought her way through the snow. She didn’t know where she was going. All she could think about was the tension in her family. It was affecting everyone. Anna thought it may be her parents wanting to split up, after all they were arguing around the clock or there was something they were keeping from her.
After a while, she found herself standing outside her grandfather’s house. Anna knocked on the door and her granddad opened it.
“Oh, what a lovely surprise!” he seemed pleased to see her, “Happy Birthday.”
“Thanks.”
Her granddad sensed there was something wrong. He explained that he was about to go and buy some teabags. He asked Anna if she wanted to come along, and they could take a stroll through the park on their way. Anna agreed, and so they set off on the pavement.
“Is there something wrong, love? You can tell me anything, you know?” her grandfather tried to comfort her.
“Well, I had a very strange dream today and I just can’t get it out of my head. You might think I’m crazy, but I don’t know whether it was a nightmare or real-life.”
Anna explained all about the river and the conversation with that girl.
“Well…I mean…it could have just been a nightmare, I mean, we do all have them from time to time,” he suggested.
Anna could see that he hesitated when she told him about the girl in the river. She asked her granddad if he knew something and wasn’t telling her. She explained about how she knew her mum was hiding something from her.
“Nowadays, she’s distancing herself from me. It’s like she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
He didn’t know how to answer her.
“Well how do you mean?” he tried to change the subject from him.
“Every time she looks at me I can see it in her eyes. Even today, she couldn’t face me. All she said was ‘Happy Birthday’ and that’s it. There are times when she doesn’t realise that she’s staring at me so affectionately. I know she’s hiding something from me and she doesn’t want to tell me. I’m her daughter for goodness’ sake! I have to find out! I’m beginning to think you know something, too.”
Her grandfather suggested they sit down on the bench so that they could talk properly. Anna hadn’t realised it, but they had arrived at the heart of the park. They sat down on a wooden bench and granddad started.
“I’m not supposed to say anything, you know.”
Anna begged him to tell her.
“Please granddad!” she pleaded. Anna looked around at the little children, each one playing with their parents or having a picnic. She pointed to them. “Please don’t take that away from me! I feel so abandoned!”
After ages and ages of begging and pleading, she got through to him.
“Your mother is going to kill me with her bare hands if she finds out I’m going to tell you. I suppose I should though, seeing as I was going to say this on your eighteenth birthday.” He began.
“When you were born, your mother had no idea she was pregnant with twins.”
He paused for a second, waiting for a response from his only granddaughter who stayed focused on him.
“She gave birth to two girls, one of them being you. However, you were Siamese. You were joined at the head. When you were around eleven months old, the doctors said they could separate you by surgery but there was a great risk that both of you wouldn’t come through. We all talked it through and your mother decided to go through with it. It was a very complicated procedure that took hours for them to complete, but there was a problem. There was only one brain, and both of you couldn’t survive on it. So, your mother had to choose who to save, and that was you. That’s how you got that scar at the back of your head.”
Anna’s granddad was unaware of Anna’s reaction. He had been staring at the grass beneath them for quite a while. He couldn’t face his granddaughter. He felt deceitful and guilty. How could he have kept something like this from her?
He looked up at her. Anna was staring blankly at her granddad. Her eyes were swelling up with tears.
“No, I don’t’ believe you!” she started.
“Let me explain, Anna,” her granddad tried to calm her down. “I was going to tell you, but your mother made me swear I wouldn’t tell anyone. I mean, if it was up to me, I would have told you. I think that’s why she’s been avoiding you, what with today being your sixteenth birthday, it must have all come rushing back to her.”
Anna was hysterical. Her mother wouldn’t keep something like this from her, surely? Anna immediately stood up. Her grandfather caught hold of her arm. She tugged her arm away until she was free. Anna couldn’t trust anybody at the moment.
“No! It’s not true! He’s lying!” she screamed. She started running on the grass, through the park. She ran as fast as she could. She felt the wind stabbing her face coldly. The only warmth she felt were her tears streaming down her face.
Anna couldn’t believe it. There was no way her mother and father would lie to her like that.
“MY WHOLE LIFE IS A LIE!!!” She screamed. She was furious and wanted to empty all that rage inside her. But what if it was true? That would piece everything together, she thought. That’s what her mother was keeping from her.
Anna sprinted ahead. She had no idea where her legs were taking her, as long as she could get away from her dishonest grandfather.
Anna approached a river. It was frozen. Have I been here before? Anna thought to herself. She didn’t worry about it. She had other things on her mind. Anna stood on the edge, looking down at the sheet of frozen ice. Most of it had been shattered and water was flowing through it. There were a million reflections on the ice like a window on a rainy day.
Anna pieced everything together. So that was why she had a scar at the back of her head, it wasn’t from a bicycle fall. Anna looked down into the river. The same frosty blue eyes were staring back at her, even though this time, there were thousands and thousands of them, all magnified. Although, hang on a minute - her reflection started to float to her right. At first, Anna ignored it, she was confused and she was staring at a maze of mirrors.
“AAAAAAAAAARRRGHHH!!!!!!!” she screamed in horror. Her voice pierced through the city. That was a DEAD body, not her reflection!
“But she looks just like me” Anna thought to herself.
“I have to get away before somebody sees me, then I will be named a suspect for murder!” Anna thought quickly.
“How is it that she looks like me? Is that her, my own sister?” Anna questioned herself. With every question came a voice in her head telling her she was crazy and she should be getting back home before anyone sees her.
Anna took a deep breath. Thoughts rushed through her head. Will she go down for murder? Anna was confused. She was searching for an explanation.
“GET OUT OF HERE!” the voice in Anna’s head shouted.
Anna turned around to make her way home. Just then, she felt something tugging her right leg…
The End
By Reem Al-Hassani 10CW