by Kim Cormack
Kayn, having missed the end of her junior year and half of her senior year, was offered the option to take her junior final exams and rejoin her classmates. She would need extensive tutoring for her to catch up. An “A” student by nature and as academically advanced as she was, it would still be a challenging feat.
The morning of her release her favorite nemesis, slash, nurse brought her a whole tub of her favorite ice-cream. It was called twisted. Chocolate chip cookie dough and brownie batter mixed together. She had not had it for so long, and was touched that she remembered their first cute little argument over ice-cream. She hugged her and promised to come by and visit.
When Jenkins arrived to take her home, Kayn attempted to walk out using her own two fully operational legs, but she was told she had to leave in a wheelchair. It was hospital policy. Once she was outside the front doors she stood up in the sunshine and took a deep breath of fresh air. Matt pulled up in the car and he was followed by Kevin’s parents and Clay. Jenkins opened the door for her and she slid into the front seat beside her brother. She turned around and said a quick hello to Kevin. He couldn’t stop smiling, but it wasn’t a real smile. It was a plastered on smile. He was trying really hard to look like he was happy. What was going on with him?
Officer Jenkins, Matt, and Kevin were riding in the same car as Kayn. Kevin’s family followed closely behind them in their car. The mood was not that of an excited and happy homecoming as everyone was trying to have her believe. She could hear Kevin’s thoughts now loud and clear. He was definitely afraid to go inside her house. Kayn was guessing he had not been back to her house since that night. Officer Jenkins’ and her brother’s thoughts were curiosity based. He wanted to know if she would be triggered to remember everything about that night. They were stressing her out and almost making her feel dizzy.
She said aloud, “Kevin, if going inside is making you nervous at all you don’t have to come in. I will understand.”
Kevin snapped out of his panic and said, “No, I’m fine.”
Kayn could tell he was terrified. He plastered another toothy, giant, comical smile on his face. He was going to suck it up and be a man.
Kayn started to giggle and added, “If I remember anything, I will tell all of you, I promise. So calm down. You’re stressing me out.”
Everyone had plastered the same smile on their face: the one that said, “See, smiling on the outside,” mixed with “I sure hope she doesn’t walk inside and freak right out.” The car stopped and Kayn shook her head as she hopped out. She looked at the upstairs windows to see if the lights had been left on, but she wasn’t sure why she did. She casually walked up the hill towards the front door of her house, oblivious to anything but the happy childhood memories she had experienced inside of the familiar walls.
Kayn knew what had happened there, but she had been given no details on where anyone had died or been found. Kevin’s family had not breathed a solitary detail to either of the surviving Brighton siblings. This had been a planned group decision that had been made between the police department and the Smith family. They knew that the Brighton kids had no hope in hell of ever selling that house to anyone with a full disclosure of what had happened inside.
As they passed through the front door into a brightly lighted doorway, Kayn could see that Kevin’s mother and Matt had decorated. There was a giant sign that said: “Welcome Home, Kayn,” as well as a new press on light in the front doorway that was strangely out of place.
“It’s a battery powered light. I installed them all over the house, for safety reasons.” Kevin’s dad stated.
“I gave the okay for some extra safety measures that the police department had suggested for when you came home,” Matt explained. Then he added, “There’s also a security system and the downstairs windows are all rigged. There’s a panic button for the security system on each floor as well.”
Kayn walked down the hallway to the kitchen without saying anything. There was no need because she understood that they all were a little afraid that she might still be in some kind of danger. Kayn couldn’t explain the feeling, but she knew she was not in any danger at the moment. She suspected she was not in the kind of danger that they would suspect. She could smell a strange odor in certain places as she walked through the house. Kayn spied the stones on the window sill and realized what the lingering scent had been. It was a scent she had been a privy to once or twice before while at Kevin’s Grandmothers house. Granny Winnie had obviously been here to clear the house of all things dark and twisty. Kayn understood now that her present situation could not be deciphered with any semblance of reason. She should not be walking through these halls. Kayn Brighton knew she had been given a second chance. She just did not know why?
She took in the trays of food Kevin’s mom was placing on the table where they used to share the family dinners. She stood remembering a night long ago when they’d had a long talk about being sisters and what that meant. Chloe and Kayn had been arguing a lot that week and her parents had been fed up.
“Thank you so much for all of this. I’m going to go up to my room for a few minutes,” Kayn said to Kevin’s mom.
Kayn turned around and walked back down the hallway where she saw that everyone else were comfortable in the living room. Kayn climbed the stairs feeling weary from all of the excitement. She walked by the familiar family pictures in the hall to her bedroom where she pushed open the door that had been left slightly ajar.
Memories flooded her mind with moments that they had shared together. The stupid fights that she and Chloe regularly had would always end in a hug. Kayn thought about the many nights where they lay in bed and talked about their hopes and dreams for the future. Chloe’s bed untouched for almost a year was still made to perfection. Her sister’s missing presence lying in that bed would haunt her every night. Kayn walked over to her sister’s dresser and grabbed her bottle of perfume. Kayn began to spray the bed next to hers so when she went to sleep tonight, she would smell her sister. Then she sprayed some of it on her chest as well. Kayn had never liked the smell of her sister’s perfume, but for some reason she did now.
This room needs to be dusted, Kayn thought, as she ran a fingertip across the top of her dresser. She went into the en suite bathroom to get a hand towel to dust the cupboards. She paused in front of the mirror and grabbed the lipstick in her sister’s makeup case and applied it to her lips. She put some blush on and some of her eye shadow. She stood in the mirror looking at her sister’s live image staring back at her. She pressed her hand against the glass willing there to be a hot shock or signal of some kind that her sister was still with her.
Kayn began to wipe the makeup off thinking that if she walked downstairs like that it would freak everyone out. She took her hair out of her pony tail though, letting it flow in beautiful golden waves and ringlets down her back. She would leave her hair out today as an homage to her twin she thought. She grabbed some cleaner from under the counter. She went to work, seeing her reflection in the mirror as she passed by it. She felt like someone was watching her and turned back toward the mirror. She turned around shaking her head, realizing she was being silly, and jumped, letting out a little squeal because Kevin was standing in the doorway.
“You scared the crap out of me,” Kayn said catching her breath.
The lights flickered in her room. She thought is that you Chloe? The air around her became icy cold. She turned away from Kevin and exhaled. She could see that her breathe had become visible rising in front of her. Her heart began to thump wildly. She felt dizzy. The room shifted around her and the lights went out.
Chapter 10
A Door Is Opened
Kevin was still trying to regain his sense of composure after seeing Kayn all made up like her sister standing in front of the mirror in the very same bathroom where he had seen her naked, beaten, and bleeding body. She stood in front of the mirror, makeup on, and seemed to carry an air of sexuality she hadn’t had before. He had been relieved when she to
ok the makeup off, but she still smelled just like Chloe.
“Your bedroom is more than a little chilly. You need to turn up the heat in here. I can practically see my own breath. Jenkins must have had the heat off. You’ll land yourself right back in the hospital with a nasty case of hypothermia,” Kevin said. He turned the heat up on her wall thermostat.
“We should get downstairs and have some lunch. I heard there’s even a cake down there.” Kevin said in an attempt to lure Kayn away from her bedroom and back to her company.
“Cake … I hope it’s cheesecake,” Kayn sighed.
“You mean rice crispy cake. That’s your favorite cake, Kayn. Cheesecake was Chloe’s favorite,” Kevin said with a strange look on his face. Then he added, “You hate cheesecake?”
“I must have just been thinking about Chloe … being in our room going through our stuff,” Kayn answered a little confused. “I’ll be right there. Just one more thing I need to do,” Kayn said.
Kayn started to wipe down the dresser. She looked at the thick layer of dust on the cloth.
“Gross,” Kayn mumbled and scrunched up her nose.
Kevin still stood at the door watching her with a confused expression on his face. Since when did Kayn care about being tidy? Kayn’s side of the room was usually strewn with clothes. Chloe was the anal retentive one who had her side of the room immaculately clean. This is getting a tad weird.
He walked up behind her and scooped his hand around her waist to guide her out of her room and back to her company. The moment he touched her he felt a shock; a strange rush of warmth travelled up his arm.
“You shocked me,” Kevin said and followed his statement with a burst of nervous laughter.
He looked down to see if she were wearing slippers with plastic soles or anything that could have created a shock. She had socks on. Funny socks with cats on them. He stared at the strange and geeky socks and thought, yes, it’s still Kayn. It’s probably quite normal for someone dealing with her twin’s death to emulate certain things her sister once did. Kevin wiggled his finger signaling Kayn to follow him out the door and she did without any excuses.
~
There was a flash of light in the dark sea of nothing she had been momentarily adrift in.
Kayn felt like she had been asleep. Had she dozed off? You don’t usually have a nap and wake standing up in your bedroom doorway. She thought about the feeling of Kevin touching her as she followed him out into the hall and down the stairs. It was the same feeling she’d had when she had touched Chloe in the mirror initially, before it had started to burn. It wasn’t a shock; it was more like a strange surge of energy. She acted normally as they went downstairs and for the rest of the evening. The time came for her guests to leave and she walked them all outside. Her brother stood with her at the door as they said their goodbyes and hugged everyone as they left.
Finally it was just Kevin left at the door so Matt smiled and excused himself and disappeared inside. The sky was beginning to darken and the light breeze tussled Kayn’s hair as she stood close to Kevin. She could smell the pleasurable scent of his cologne. Since when did Kevin Smith wear cologne? Kayn guessed that there were many enticing things to learn about the new and improved version of Kevin.
“I guess I should go home. Everyone’s waiting in the car,” Kevin said.
She caught herself staring at his lips. She had the strangest urge to lean in and smell his shirt. Kayn leaned towards him and smelled his neck. “I like that scent … what is it?”
He grinned and said, “It’s a new one. It’s called scared shitless. Have you heard of it?”
Kayn teased, “It suits you. It’s very sexy.” She hadn’t pulled away from him completely after smelling the aftershave on his neck.
Kevin said, “Glad you like it.”
He looked like he was going to lean in and give her a quick kiss on the lips. He bit his lip and stared at her for a second. Just as he leaned towards her, the wind went from a light, sexy breeze to the wild gusts of a pending storm. The strong wind blew some hair into Kayn’s mouth. She puffed her cheeks out and tried to blow the hair out of her mouth.
He chuckled, “I better get going before they start honking.”
Kevin waved as he ran down the hill toward the car. He hollered, “I’ll come over tomorrow.”
As they drove away Kayn knew she should have at least kissed his cheek. She imagined how alluring she was doing her puffy-cheeked blow fish impersonation. Kevin was looking out the window through the steady rain that pelted his car. She could see him watching her. She closed the door and disappeared from his sight.
Kayn walked down the hall to the kitchen where Jenkins and her brother Matt were sitting at the island on bar stools. They had cleaned everything up and made a fresh pot of coffee. Jenkins had assured them that he preferred being called by his last name, Jenkins, over his first name, Theodore.
Jenkins hopped up from his stool and announced, “Everybody’s gone then, so I’m going to do a perimeter check, then lock up the house.” He grabbed his coffee and the flashlight and strode out of the kitchen leaving them alone together.
“Don’t worry, Kayn. Nothing’s going to happen tonight. Just have a good sleep and enjoy being back in your own bed,” Matt said as he sipped his coffee and flipped through the local paper.
“I know,” Kayn said as she opened the cupboard and grabbed a glass. While steadily pouring a glass of orange juice she said, “How about we get rid of that paper though before I have to stare at that headline over breakfast as well.”
Matt had opened the paper halfway through to skip directly to the sports section and turned the paper over to see what Kayn was talking about. On the front was a full page story recapping the murders and Kayn’s recovery.
He glared at the page and growled, “Seriously, printing this story is like daring someone to come and finish the job.” He looked up.
She could tell her brother instantly regretted what had popped out of his mouth.
He stammered, “Sometimes I am so stupid it’s ridiculous.”
“They can try,” Kayn said, walking out of the room and down the hallway.
The front door was wide open and the wind was blowing through the hallway. Had the wind simply blown the door open after Jenkins had gone outside? Kayn felt as though she should be remembering something important. Kayn paused mid-step in the hallway feeling suddenly wary. Her memory started to flick through its damaged and missing moments again. She should have turned around and gone back to the kitchen; there was strength in numbers. Kayn took a cautious step towards the open front door. What couldn’t she remember? Her soul was screaming at her to remember something. Remember … she had to remember. She took another cautious step towards the door. The front door shifted back and forth in the wind. Kayn inhaled the scent of fresh rainfall. She heard the gentle tapping sound of rain as it fell through the branches of the smaller ornamental bushes that lay flush against the house on either side of the front door. It reminded her of something. Her memory flickered again to a vision of her watching Kevin’s dad’s car drive away and then she had walked up the hill towards a slightly ajar front door. Kayn stopped dead in her tracks as her memory allowed her to reach the front door. The light was out; the front hall light was burned out. She remembered blind terror crawling across her skin; it had felt like millions of tiny spider legs.
Kayn could hear Matt say “Is the door open? Close the door. It’s blowing the paper I’m trying to read.” His voice seemed to be coming from far off in the distance.
Matt stood up. He had noticed her frozen in place in the hallway. “Kayn, are you okay?” he asked as he walked up behind her.
Kayn wasn’t able to answer. She was lost in her mind as she remembered walking in normally. She had fumbled for the light. It hadn’t worked. The wall had been sticky. She had then held her hand outside the doorway, trying to see with the last streams of daylight through the trees. Blood, oh God, there was blood. She heard Chloe screaming in her
mind. She had warned her to run. In her mind she was there in that moment. Someone had been chasing her. She ran into the trails. She had dropped a grocery bag. It had eggs in it. She was now running through the trails with everything she had, driven by blinding fear. What happened next? She couldn’t remember. She had to go into those trails.
Matt walked by her to shut the front door and Jenkins appeared, startling Matt who jumped and hollered. Jenkins hollered at the front door. Matt had startled him, too. Kayn, lost in her memories and needing to know everything, bolted past them into the storm in her stocking feet. The wind whistled ominously as she ran toward the opening to the trails in the back yard.
“Where are you going, Kayn?” Matt yelled as they chased her across the lawn.
Kayn slipped, but got up covered in mud and continued to run. She had to get to where her memory had cut off. She had to know everything. Kayn could hear the steady beat of the footfalls crunching behind her in the trails. Her memory jolted back to that night. She could see a light through the trees; she was going to be okay. She was almost there and then she felt the burning sensation of the blade as it penetrated her back and she crumbled to her knees on the forest floor.
Matt and Jenkins froze as they watched Kayn reenact the moments before her death. Tears streamed down their faces as they watched Kayn in a trance-like state fall to her knees and crumble inwards as if she had been stabbed from behind. They watched as Kayn reached her arms out as if begging to someone for help.
“I can’t watch this anymore,” Matt agonized. He made an attempt to walk towards Kayn.
