My Twin Flame

by C C Simeon

  “We weren’t allowed to play together the entire time. We either had to entertain ourselves or help around the house. Now, it might not seem like a big punishment, but to us it was. We were each other’s best friend, and not being allowed to play together was very cruel. Needless to say, we never did it again, but our parents did bring us to the fair whenever we exhausted them enough and they needed something else to keep us busy.”

  “Oh my God,” Amelia said, cringing. She couldn’t imagine having children like those. She couldn’t even imagine Hunter doing stuff like that. Sure, he was a fun guy, but he was also stoic and well put-together. But then again, she hardly knew him. That was the point of this date, though, wasn’t it? They wanted to get to know each other better, and Amelia was determined to know everything he had to offer.

  ***

  Amelia had gone on every single ride she could fit into. She wanted to go on some of the kiddie rides, then huffed when they told her that no adults were allowed. Hunter thought it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. He knew that there was a missing piece to her childhood, and she was desperately trying to get whatever she had missed out on in her life. Hunter was determined to give it to her. He wanted her to live the childhood that she’d never enjoyed—the childhood that was taken from her without any form of compensation. She deserved to have that childhood, even as an adult. And if Hunter could give it to her, he would.

  There was just something about Amelia that made his stomach turn. The curve of her neck that disappeared into her woolly jacket, the slope of her nose, her eyes that sparkled whenever she saw something exciting. Hunter wanted to fight it. He’d never wanted to cheat on Hayden, but this felt right. Amelia felt right in a way that Hayden never had. Yes, he had started a family with Hayden and had a beautiful little boy, but somehow, his life still felt hollow.

  He’d realized that when she’d accused him of cheating. He knew that, in some way, she felt it, too, and she was afraid that he was going to fill that void inside of him in another woman’s arms. Call him crazy, but he knew that Amelia was the one to fill that void. Hunter wouldn’t have exchanged his kid for the whole world, but he regretted marrying Hayden so fast. They had only been dating for a few months when he was in college, and she was in the police academy. They’d married too soon, committed too soon, and here they were. Here he was, unhappy and cheating on his wife.

  “I am starving,” Amelia complained, pulling him toward the pizza cone stand she had been eyeballing earlier. The smells made his stomach growl and he didn’t protest being pulled into the line. Soon enough, they both had a pizza cone in their possession and he watched in awe as Amelia attacked her dinner.

  She moaned when she took a bite, grinning shyly at him when she noticed him staring at her. He took a bite of his own. The flavors exploded in his mouth, just like he remembered from his childhood. When she took another bite, chewing happily and smiling that goofy smile of hers at anyone who looked her way, Hunter knew that he was in trouble. Because it would be so easy to fall in love with her. It would be so easy to leave his wife for Amelia. Amelia was the sort of woman he would have left his entire life behind for. It terrified him to think about it. It terrified him to the bone. Hayden was his wife, but Amelia was without a doubt, the person he was meant to be with.

  Hilton pressed his lips to her head, breathing in her scent. Yes. He had no doubt that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.

  Chapter 25: Brother, Brother

  When Hunter came home the next day, Hayden was already waiting for him, a cup of coffee in one hand and her head in her other hand. She didn’t know what she was going to tell him. She didn’t know what there even was to tell. All she knew was that it could all just have been one big coincidence—but if it was not, well, that was one giant horror show and things were much worse than she originally thought. Much, much worse.

  “Hey,” he said reluctantly, wearing the same suit as the day before. The look on his face when he opened the door told her that his meeting went well. He was never that happy when he got home from meetings. But the expression dropped as soon as he saw hers. “What’s wrong?”

  Hayden sat back, sighing. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know how to tell him that she thought his brother was still alive without sounding insane. The numbers could have meant anything. Thousands of people died every day. And that date could have meant anything. But still, Hayden had a bad feeling. She knew that Hilton was somewhere out there. She couldn’t say why she was feeling that way, only that she did and it terrified her.

  Was he the one that had attacked her? Was he angry that she’d ended up with Hunter?

  “It’s the killer,” she said, shaking her head. “There was another body yesterday and...”

  Hunter took his jacket off and tossed it over the back of the chair. He looked relieved, almost. Probably because he thought there was something wrong with her or Levi. “And?”

  “And the victim had a number etched into his bone, Hunter,” Hayden shook her head and closed her eyes. “0605.”

  When Hayden opened her eyes, Hunter had turned gray. His skin looked clammy and he looked as if he was going to be sick.

  “The day of the crash,” Hayden continued. She didn’t know why she was explaining. He already knew what she was getting at. She thought, maybe, if she said it out loud, it would have sounded less or more crazy. If it was less crazy, she would have been able to accept it and if it sounded more crazy, she would have known to scratch that idea off her list of clues. But it didn’t sound crazy. It didn’t sound crazy at all.

  “That’s impossible. I buried him!” Hunter was pacing back and forth, his hand in his hair.

  “We all buried him, Hunter,” Hayden said, shaking her head. “But his face was so mangled, we—”

  “We couldn’t even see his face and have an open casket, I know,” Hunter snapped, his nostrils flaring.

  “It could have been anyone else, Hunter. I think I’m still not over his death yet and the number just yelled at me. It could be anything. It could be a lock combination, it could be a time. It could be anything. I just—” Hayden’s voice broke when she spoke again. “I just can’t shake the feeling that Hilton is out there.”

  Hunter shook his head. “I watched him die, Hayden. It can’t be him.”

  ***

  It was impossible, it was actually impossible. Hilton couldn’t be alive. Hunter had watched his brother take his last breath. He’d put his brother in the grave, lowered the casket himself. There was no way that Hilton was still alive. If Hilton, his crazy-ass brother, was still alive, he was coming for Hunter and he was not going to stop at anything. If Hilton was alive, no one around Hunter was safe. Hayden might have been the one person he wouldn’t have hurt. But Levi and Amelia?

  No, he had to cut ties with Amelia. He wasn’t going to put her at risk. Not while he was unsure about Hilton. He was not going to put any more people in Hilton’s path.

  Hilton was a crazy son of a bitch. He was unstable. He always had been. Hunter couldn’t bear the thought of Hayden ending up with someone like Hilton. He would have destroyed her completely. But, then again, Hunter was cheating on her. Perhaps she wasn’t better off with either of them. A broken heart with Hunter wasn’t much better than broken bones with Hilton. She would have been much better off alone.

  Hunter stood under the steaming water of the shower. The water was a little too hot, but his skin got used to the heat and eventually went numb.

  He hadn’t meant to go off at Hayden. He really hadn’t. The look on her face was heartbreaking. She was just as scared as he was. At least, that was what she thought. She didn’t know Hilton like Hunter did. She had no idea what she was suggesting when she said he was still alive. She had no idea what sort of mess they were all in if that were true.

  Honestly, if she’d suggested that Hilton was the butcher, it wouldn’t have even surprised Hunter. Hilton had choked their neighbor’s kid once. He said he wanted to see how p
urple he could make his face go. He said he wanted to see if it could become a blueberry. He was eight. He was twisted from childhood. His death had done the world a favor. If he was not dead, then he’d bamboozled the world into thinking it was safe. Nothing was safe with Hilton around. Nothing and no one was safe.

  Hunter turned around so the water could scorch his back, closing his eyes as it did. It was painful at first, but he didn’t flinch away, only groaned as he soaked in the pain. Hunter loved his brother. He hadn’t lied when he’d told Amelia about him. There had been good times with him. There had been more bad times, though. Hunter chose to remember the good instead of the disturbing, but now—now, all of those bad times were rushing back, and it made him lightheaded. It made him sick to the stomach.

  Hunter hit the wall of the shower, splitting the skin of his knuckles instantly. He hit it again and again, hoping, praying that Hilton wasn’t around. Hoping, praying that he was still six feet under where he belonged.

  Dead men didn’t just come back to life. They came back with a vengeance, and Hunter was the first one on Hilton’s list. That much, he knew.

  Chapter 26: Unwanted Visitors

  As per her usual Wednesday night, Amelia sat in front of her television, a dog on either side, watching some stupid reality TV show that she couldn’t stomach and yet couldn’t stop watching. That was what reality TV shows were, right? They were so stupid, you literally couldn’t stop watching because you wanted to see what dumb thing happened next.

  A particularly steamy scene was playing when Amelia’s phone buzzed. She didn’t check it immediately, intrigued by what was going down on the screen. When it buzzed a second, then a third time, Amelia groaned and grabbed the phone. The texts were from an unknown number.

  Her heart sank when she opened the messaging app. There were two images attached. One was of an apartment building on the other side of the city. It was a little run-down, but well looked after. It was tidy enough, for the money they had in the area to look after it. It was Joy’s apartment building.

  The second picture was clearly taken through a window. Amelia covered her mouth, gasping. It was a picture of Joy, sitting in front of her television, stroking the cat on her lap.

  Amelia knew exactly where that picture was taken from. The fire escape just outside of Joy’s window… the one they’d had to climb to get into her apartment after a particularly wild night at the bar. Joy had left her keys at home that night and then proceeded to force Amelia through the tiny window.

  Amelia read the attached text.

  Time’s a-wasting, Amelia. If you like the skin actually on your friend’s body, you might want to hurry along. Prove to me that you have Hunter in your pocket, or else Joy will pay the price.

  Amelia stared at the messages for a good hour, until her battery died and she was left with nothing but a black screen. She closed her eyes, hoping that it wasn’t true, hoping that by some small mercy, it was only a dream and she would wake up from it. She pinched herself and waited for her bed to appear beneath her. Nothing changed.

  Her heart began to beat in her throat and her stomach turned. Tumbled and squeezed. Her chest felt as if it was caving in on itself and her eyes grew wider, realizing what was happening. She was having a panic attack.

  She hasn’t had one since she was a teenager. She had anxiety, yes, but it typically stopped just before panic attacks. Not tonight, apparently. Apparently, the demon that called itself anxiety had decided that it was time to relive some old memories.

  Amelia had flashbacks to when she was a teenager, huddled in a corner of her room, rocking back and forth, crying and singing to herself. There was no one around to comfort her. No one knew about it; not even Aunt Helena. She was afraid that Aunt Helena wouldn’t want an even more broken thing. Afraid her foster mother would kick her out, she had endured it by herself, telling herself that everything was fine. Telling herself that everything was going to be all right. She just had to push through it. She just had to get through this one episode, and then she was going to be totally fine again.

  That was what she’d told herself, but she was never truly fine after that. No, she’d needed a day or two to recover. She was so exhausted afterward that she just slept for hours. She’d play it off as being sick, pretending to have a stomach bug or a migraine.

  What was she going to tell herself this time? That everything was going to be all right? That everything was going to work out in the end? That was bull, and she knew it. She knew that everything was not going to be all right, because either way, she was going to lose someone she cared about. The only thing she had a choice in was who and how. Was it going to be Hunter? Was it going to be her twin flame, disappearing from her life with a broken heart? Or was it Joy who was going to lose her life. Both broke Amelia’s heart, but she knew which one she was going to pick. She knew that the decision she was going to make, the option she was going to choose, would leave both of them alive.

  Amelia shot to her feet, starling the dogs. She yanked on her tank top, pulled on her pants. She was hot, she was hyperventilating. Amelia’s breaths were shallow, and she peeled her shirt from her body, leaving only underwear and shorts. She paced back and forth, her hands in her hair, then on her hips, then in her hair again. She chewed on her nails and twitched her head, a tic she hadn’t had since she was in the foster home. Tears escaped Amelia’s eyes and she didn’t bother wiping them away. There were still many, many more tears to come. To wipe it away would be like using a bucket to empty the ocean.

  After another few paces, she grabbed her remote and switched the television to music, cranking up the volume until she could no longer hear her own thoughts and doubts.

  The neighbors were going to complain, but who the hell cared? Amelia sure didn’t. She got angry at the thought of them complaining. There was a serial killer on the loose, and they were complaining about music? Amelia had to remind herself that no one had even complained yet. Her mind was making up all sorts of crazy scenarios. Her thoughts were in overdrive, jumping in a million different directions all at once.

  She tried to hum along with the music, hardly able to hear herself. It was an upbeat tune, one she had only heard once or twice on the radio. She didn’t know the words to it or even the name of it, but it was catchy and she knew the melody. Amelia felt the edge of the attack melt away, though she knew that once it started, it wasn’t going to end so easily. She was bound to have one or two more attacks that night in bed. Perhaps she wasn’t going to be able to sleep at all.

  And perhaps that was a good thing, because when she dreamed, she dreamed about Hunter, and she couldn’t bear the thought of waking up and knowing that there was never a future for the two of them. Hilton had brought them together, and he was going to be the one that tore them apart. He was going to be the very thing that ruined every dream she had with him. She hated Hilton more than she had ever hated him before. Even her dreams weren’t a safe place to go anymore. That minute of dreaming was not worth the agony that was going to dawn on her when she awoke the next day. It just made it worse. It gave her a taste of what could have been before taking it away and keeping it out of reach, like a bully.

  Amelia turned the volume down, took deep breaths, and forced her thumb out of her mouth. Her finger was already raw and bloody. She swore, wiping it on her shorts. She hated chewing her nails. It was such an easy habit to get into but such a difficult one to break.

  This was what Hilton did to her.

  She was not going to let him get away with ruining her life. She was going to do what he wanted her to. To save Joy… But then she was going to get her hands on him, and she was going to kill him. He was going to regret the very day he’d arrived at the foster home. No, he was going to regret the day he’d survived that car crash. Amelia hoped he was ready for the storm that she was going to bring.

  It wasn’t going to be easy, and Amelia knew that as soon as morning came, her bravado would be nonexistent. But she knew that she was going to make it thro
ugh. And she was going to kick ass when she finally did.

  Chapter 27: Drifting

  Amelia chewed on her nail, chipping away at it until her flesh was raw and bloody. She didn’t even notice the sharp sting as her teeth cut through skin. Only when she tasted the blood in her mouth did she notice what she had done.

  She swore under her breath and reached for her drawer, grabbing a tissue to wrap around her finger, then glanced over at Joy, who was still ignoring her. Amelia contemplated telling Joy that her life was in danger but thought better of it. If Hilton could sneak up the fire escape and stalk Joy, if he managed to get into Amelia’s house without any trouble, chances were that he had a bug somewhere. Or at least a spy on the inside. The thought made her blood chill and she looked around the office, trying to find someone suspicious. No one that even looked at her, but if there was a spy worth their name, they wouldn’t have been suspicious at all. No, they would have been someone Amelia least expected. It would have been someone who was her friend, or someone who stayed quiet. How had Hilton even gotten Amelia this job if he was avoiding his brother? Yes, surely there was someone on the inside. Surely, there was someone who had helped him. Why hadn’t she thought about this earlier?

  Maybe because, earlier, Joy’s life wasn’t in danger. Maybe because, earlier, Amelia didn’t give a damn about Hunter or what she did to him. There wasn’t as much at stake as there was now, and Amelia wanted to kill Hilton for what he was forcing her to do. She wanted to murder him, because he was ruining her entire life—and for what? Some petty revenge story? What the hell was that even about? Nothing that either of them had told her about the other warranted a revenge saga. But she didn’t know the whole story. All she could piece together was that Hilton had died, but not really, and then he’d ended up in a foster home after pretending to be dead? He’d pretended to be dead, then barged into Amelia's life to ruin it, as well? Screw Hilton. Screw Hilton and his diabolical plan.