One Plus One Doesn't Always Equal Two

Blair:

I opened the window until I heard a crack. I swung my legs over the bottom part of the window. I hit the ground hard and heard the crunch of the branches and leaves below my feet from the impact.

” Ouch” I mumbled.

I threw my bag over my back and started running into the forest. As I was sprinting into the forest before mom could catch me, I peered up at my sister’s lit up room window. I saw her peeking her head through the curtains. I kept running knowing that she wouldn’t tell. Lacey is too nice and knows that I already hate her enough. Telling Mom would make our situation worse. I turned towards the forest and didn’t look back. I kept sprinting into the distant forest until I disappeared in the menagerie of trees.

Jumping over logs and finding great hangout spots is my specialty. Every time I sneak out, without a doubt I can find a new hangout spot. The noise of the nearby river is so relaxing. I feel trapped in my house with my perfect family sometimes, and It is nice to leave. After getting up from the rock I was sitting on I decided it would be cool to walk over the bridge. The bridge has been there forever. Lace and I would run over it laughing and chasing each other when we were little. That ended a long time ago though. One foot in front of another, I balanced on the rickety railing of the bridge. It didn’t cross my mind too much that this was very dangerous. In addition, if I lost my balance in and Instance I could fall to my death. But this is the type of person I am. Mom and dad always yell at me for not thinking things through. The wind picked up and I got a bad feeling but I still kept my eyes closed and walked on the thin wooden ledge. Fear. Fear. Fear. That is all that ran through my head. I turned my body toward the other direction as I felt a push. My whole body felt weightless as I fell the 50-foot drop. I reached my hands out to signal help but the dark shadow just stood there like they had pushed me. I let out screams. “Help!” I cried “Help me!” I plummeted to the ground until the impact of the shallow rushing water and sharp rocks hit me like a brick. As soon as my limp body hit the ground everything went black.

Lacey:

Lacey Lennon Bellamy. I signed my name in the upper left corner of my journal along with the date. My hand flowed with the cursive font. I ripped off a piece of tape and pasted the flowers that I collected from outside into a book. I peered over at my door as I heard noises. I quickly realized that it was Blair sneaking out again and kept focusing on my flower journal. My curiosity ate away at me though and I began to wonder where she went every night. I tiptoed over to my window, not realizing she couldn’t hear me and pulled back the curtain. It only revealed my eyes and a few strands of my course, wavy blonde hair. She quickly turned around somehow knowing I was watching her. It must be a twin thing, I thought. I wouldn’t tell mom. There was no point. When she turned around and kept running I closed the curtain as if nothing had ever happened.

“Lace!Do you want a snack?” said mom

“Sure,” I said with slight hesitation.

I am surprised she is up. Mom is usually asleep by now. I walked down the hall of my house and down the stairs until I found my mom frantically making desserts. She had dozens of cookies and cupcakes sitting on the table, along with dirty bowls overflowing on the granite tabletops. She sometimes did this. Whenever she and dad got into a fight she would cook and bake all night long to just avoid him.

“Pick what you want Lace. There are cookies, cupcakes. Oh, and I also have some cake batter if you want to lick the spoons!”

“I am fine,” I said in a gentle voice.

“Why don’t you go ask Blair if she wants something?”

“She is asleep,” I said.

I don’t like lying. I am not good at it nor do I ever have a good reason to do it. I exited the kitchen leaving things awkward between me and mom. I went into my room to go to bed. As I crawled into my bed, I kicked off my slippers and laid my head down on my cold pillow and started to drift off to sleep. As I was counting sheep, I started to worry about Blair. Ever since I was little I was always looking out for Blair. But this time was different. I felt sick to my stomach and at certain moments, it felt like someone was punching me in the stomach. I only felt like this when something happened to Blair. Something was wrong.

Blair:

I slowly opened my eyes and could hear the river rushing in my ear. As I lifted my head I noticed that I was laying in the river.My first reaction was that I was cold, I wasn’t. The rain fell hard and from looking at the sky I could tell that it was early morning. Why was I in the river? How did I end up here? I didn’t give myself any time to dwell. Home is where I need to be and I can think about this on the way there. As I climbed up dozens and dozens of rocks I saw the bridge. Last night there was fog but I do remember walking on the guard railing of the bridge. As I started walking over it to get back to my house I remembered the shadow. I didn’t fall. I got pushed. Who? Why? I began to get frightened by my thoughts and as a result, I sprinted home. There were multiple cop cars lined up in front of my two story home. The red and blue flashing lights hurt my eyes and I had to cover them with my hand. As the police were knocking at the front door I ran through the grass. I started flailing my arms and screaming to get their attention. They didn’t look at me though. It was almost as if they couldn’t hear me. I saw Mom open the door in her turquoise robe and her confused look when she saw the police.

“Hello officer how can I help you”

“Ma’am I am so sorry to tell you this but, we found your daughter’s body in the nearby river this morning. She has passed”

It took Mom a moment to process the news. As soon as she did, she started screaming.

“Doug! Doug!” Said Mom with tears streaming down her face.

She started to hyperventilate. I saw dad running down the stairs when he peers at Mom's face. He only has to look at her for a second before he starts crying. Mom tried to tell dad what had happened but could barely get a word out. I stood there watching. Tears started running down my face. I reached my arms out holding Mom’s face. “I’m here mom. I'm right here. Please don’t cry Mom. Dad, I’m right here. I am still alive.”

I surprised myself with the calm tone of voice I had. I begged for them to see me but I eventually just started full-blown crying. Out of all the questions that I had , the only one I could think of was, where was Lacey?

Lacey:

sick to my stomach and I couldn’t get Blair off of my mind. I checked her room and she still wasn’t in there even by 3:00 am. I climbed out her window and ran into the forest ready to find her. I knew my anxiety got the better of me but I would never forgive myself if something happened to her and I did nothing. I was hopping over random logs and tripping over loose rocks in the dry dirt. I looked everywhere and I still couldn't find her. I came across the bridge where we used to always run. When I was thirteen I used to spend hours writing in my journal here. I would write dozens of poems and stories. I’d always flee while Mom and Blair were fighting, or worse Mom and Dad. Then we switched. She started leaving at least once a day, skipping school, and spending the night here. It gets lonely when part of you is in and out of your life. I hope she didn’t feel like I do now when we were younger.Then I saw her. Was it her? It was her. I saw her balancing on the side of the bridge. She had her eyes closed and reached her hands out trying to balance.

“Blair! Blair, come off!”

“Lace?” she responded in a confused and quiet voice.

I was speechless.I saw a black figure walking up next to her. They went to push her off, but before Blair could turn around to answer my calls they pushed her. I reached out my hands as if I could catch her although I was a solid 30 feet away. My body jolted forward trying to run after Blair as she was falling but I quickly stopped myself. I must have rustled the leaves because the next thing I knew, the dark shadow was staring right through me. I stumbled over branches and loose dirt trying to run from the black figure. I Pulled my phone out of my gray sweatshirt and struggled to dial 911. I put the phone up to my ear. As soon as I heard the still voice of the operator I tried to frantically explain the situation. I attempted to calmly unravel the situation but I was so tired and out of breath I could barely speak.

“Stay calm sweetie help is on the way” said the operator but before I could say that the person was still chasing me.

I tripped. I fell face first and smashed into the ground. My whole world went black.

Blair:

I put my hand on Laceys pillow and rested my head on it. How could I be dead? I heard noises coming from the window but they were probably mom and dad. They couldn’t have been though. They went to the sheriff's office to try to sort stuff out. What was the point? I was dead. Who cares who pushed me. I then thought of why someone would push me. My first reaction was to want revenge but what good would that do. I buried my head in Laceys pillow until the noise became louder and louder. I saw Blaire’s signature gray jacket and blonde hair as her back was to me.

”Mom! Dad! she is gone, she is dead” Said Lacey not knowing mom and dad weren’t there.

Lace climbed in through her window and when she turned around her green eyes saw me. Her pupils grew big and she ran toward me putting her arms around me.

“Blair you're here! You're alive!”

“I must be going crazy,” I said in an annoyed voice.

Lacey turned her head up at me and although her face was hard to read over the tears, I could tell she could hear me.

“Lace can you hear me?” I responded

“Yes of course blair”

I put my arms around Lacey and hugged her tight. She could hear me. I let go of her and I began to ask her questions.

”Where were you this morning? The police told mom and Dad I was dead,“

“Blair,I saw you fall.”

“You were there?”

“Yeah. I also saw that someone pushed you,”

“Who could it be?”

“I don't know B but we need to figure out who it is.” Lace said using my nickname.

Lace and I paused after she said this. I am still so shocked that I'm dead. But I need to stop. Trying to figure all this out is giving me a headache. I thought that Lacey would never see me again. I rested my head on her pillow and wrapped my arms around her. After all of this, sleep is what I needed. We then both drifted off to sleep holding each other tight.

Lacey:

I planted my hands in the wet dirt and slowly hoisted myself up. I reached my hand up to my head and felt a large bruise on my forehead. The last thing I remember was falling and a person chasing me. I got up and started sprinting home. As I was running I started crying and everything that had happened started unfolding. Blair getting pushed, the person chasing me. With tears streaming down my face I started hysterically wailing. After pushing myself up into the window I started screaming

“Mom,Dad, She is dead. I kept screaming their names until I turned around and saw Blair laying in my bed.

“Blair!”

I hugged her tight and wanted to never let go. She started to ask me questions but I wasn’t really there. I don't remember anything she said because I just missed her. We then drifted off to sleep. I squeezed her hand as she wrapped herself around me.

“Lace, wake up sweetie.” Mom said with her hand on my shoulder shaking me.

“Hey mom,” I said, just waking up from the nap.

“Honey, we have something to tell you,” said Dad.

They started crying and I was so confused. Why were they tearing up?

“Blairs dead Lace”

“What?”

From the looks on their faces I could tell they were shocked that I wasn’t hysterical like they were. But I wasn’t upset or sad, but I didn’t really care. Blair was alive,she was laying right next to me. They looked at me like I was crazy. I wanted to tell them. I wanted them to not feel pain. But I couldn’t.

“Lace we are so sorry”

“Yeah, can I just have some time alone.”

“Sure honey, whatever you need. If you have any questions feel free to ask us. We both love you very much”

As I turned over to look at Blair I hoped she was sleeping stil.

“Phew”

I didn’t want her to hear the conversation.

“B,wake up. We need to find who did this to you.”

She slowly opened her eyes and stretched out her arms.

“You are right Lace, maybe we can start by going to the bridge.”

Blair:

I led Lacey to the spot where I was hanging out. But as we were walking there I thought about the conversation between her, Mom, and Dad. I knew Lacey had thought I was asleep. I wish I was.

“And here is where I fell”

We both started digging around in the rocks and sifting through the dirt. I got on my knees. After 30 minutes passed I was walking around the spot where I fell. I immediately spotted a sparkly silver earring in the dirt. That could be the killers. I bent over and picked it up. It looked like an average earring. It can't be the killers. It could be a random person's earring. I examined the diamond on it until I noticed that there were letters engraved in it. It couldn’t just be a normal earring.

“Lace come here,”

“Does this look familiar?” I said knowing that she had a better view of the killer.

She paused. I could see in her eyes that this was one of the pieces to the puzzle.

“Yes! Yes! They were wearing earrings. I don't know exactly what they looked like but they had them!”

I put it in my pocket knowing that it was a start.

After hours of looking for clues we decided to go back to the house.I am scared to see mom and dad. It is beyond painful watching them hurt even though I'm right here. I just hope that we find the killer, yet I also don’t know what to do once it is over. Will I just sit around and watch Lacey live her life? Will I be around forever? I don't know how to feel nor do I know who pushed me but I think that I should focus on one problem at a time.

Lacey:

While Blair was taking me to the spot where she was, I was shocked. It looked so different in the daytime. I started getting flashbacks and could suddenly remember the whole situation much better. I remember I had fallen and hit my head. That means that the person chasing me was able to catch up to me. Why didn’t they kill me? As I was looking around plants and under rocks I heard Blairs voice.

“Lace, do you remember this?”

As soon as I saw it, I was able to make a connection. The person had been wearing earrings and since they were engraved we could use it as a clue.

It had been thirty minutes and I was tired.

“Blair, maybe we should head home”

“No! We need to find more clues.” Blair screamed.

“Blair, please calm down.” I responded in a calm and collective tone.

“No! We need to figure out who did this because I don't know what the next step is.”

Genuine fear filled her eyes.

“It is ok Blair. Everything is going to be fine, I am with you every step of the way.”

She rested her head on my shoulder and I hugged her tight.

“Ok Lace let's go home then”

Blair:

As Lace and I were walking home we had both noticed a car in our driveway. Who could it be? I felt bad after yelling at Lace. The last thing I wanted to do was watch our family move on with their lives while I was dead.

As Lace and I approached our house we both looked at each other with a confused look on our faces. As we walked through the front door mom and dad both went up to Lacey.

“Hey Lace, sit down.” Said Mom

I almost wanted to be mad that Mom didn’t say anything to me until I remembered, in her mind I was dead.

“Is there someone here?” Asked Lace

“About that, we have a new neighbor. His name is Spencer. We invited him over for dinner. It has just been so hard lately, Dad and I wanted to get our mind off of things.”

Lace just sat there quietly until the guest walked out of the bathroom. As soon as we saw him we could tell he was familiar. That is when it clicked for me. He was the person who pushed me.

“Lace! Come in your room with me! Now!”

“Blair hold on” Lace said in a whisper.

“Hi, you must be Lacey. A pleasure to meet you. I am Spencer.”

He began to shake her hand and I wanted to push him away from her.

“Excuse me for a second,”

Lace walked into her room and slammed the door behind her.

“What was that about?”

“Lace, that is him. He was the one who pushed me.”

I tried to explain myself but that was when the killer walked in Laceys room. I saw that he had only one earring in. It was definitely him.

Lacey looked terrified. Why would he come in here?

“I know that you know what I did to your sister, and you are next.”

Right when he went to grab Lacey I hit him over the head with her lamp. The lamp shattered to pieces as he fell to the ground.My hands were cut up from the shattered glass and the killer was knocked out on the ground. Lacey and I both stared at each other. Then I heard her scream my name.

“Blair! Blair, where are you?”