The Twins and The Black Rose

This story starts like any other story would start, with a couple of eleven-year-old brothers who are identical twins, physically identical that is. Their names are Ezekiel and Billy Austin. They might be twins but their behavior is completely opposite from one another. That’s not a bad thing if you ask me, they compliment each other very well, and that’s how they go about life.

It was a beautiful morning, Mr. Austin and Mrs. Austin decided, before the summer began, that they will start a tradition every June of every year. They will rent a house by any lake, and they will spend a weekend in that house, creating memories, and doing the normal things that families do. The Austins went into one of those internet websites where you rent people’s homes for a certain amount of time. Sometimes you would stay with the owner of the place, sometimes you would have the whole place for you. The one that they chose read like this:

THREE-STORY HOUSE WITH A LAKE FOR A BACKYARD, TWO HOUR DRIVE FROM THE CITY. I LIVE IN THE THIRD FLOOR BUT I WILL NOT BOTHER YOU.

The Austins and their kids Billy and Ezekiel were excited as any other family on vacation. When they reached the house, they instantly fell in love. The dirt roadway to the house was bumpy but adorned with roses, giving the aura of a gothic or mythical time that didn’t even exist. Ezekiel loved that, he’s always been a fan of the animated movies where the characters, created out of plasticine moved in awkward and creepy ways, and his mind was already running. Billy was excited as well, but not for the same reason. He just wanted to explore the forest that surrounded the house, hunt and do some fishing at the lake. Where Ezekiel was all mind, Billy was all hands-on.

The house was old, three floors like the website stated, and although it was a late Victorian-era house, it was immaculate. Red bricks and sky blue colored wood all around. It was beautiful. Billy and Ezekiel immediately went to the second floor, where they discovered a small library with dusty books, old and weird as the house itself. The book that was most intriguing for the twins was one that contained a black burned rose on the first page and on the cover:

HOW TO OPEN THE DOOR TO THE IN-BETWEEN.

Ezekiel, being the curious one, took the intriguing book outside of the library and suddenly the door slammed itself closed behind him and on the door there was a large sign that read: OUT OF BOUNDS. He shivered and dropped the book on the ground. I’m never touching that book again and I’m never going into a library again in my life, he thought. He knew he was lying. He loved things that kept his mind running, and books were the ultimate mind running machine. He said nothing to anyone about what had happened; he convinced himself that it was just the wind or the house doing funny things as old houses do. He left the book on the floor and went into bed, trying to replace the memories of the library with happy thoughts.

The next day Billy woke up after midnight to use the bathroom, and he saw the book on the floor. He picked it up and went to bed to lie down. He just wanted to catch the sleep again. He read with no comprehension:

THREE BLACK ROSES COME INTO THE LAKE

BURN THEM LIKE COAL

THE HOUSE WILL SHAKE AND

AGAIN SHE WILL BE WHOLE

The twins finally got out of bed. It was midday and in the air the smell of oven-roasted turkey filled the halls of the old house. Ezekiel and Billy went down the staircase, and their parents and a beautiful lady met them. ‘‘They are out of bed, the two sleeping beauties,’’ their mother said humorously. ‘‘I want you to meet Mrs. Brumisabel, the host of the house.’’

The kids were glad to see a new face and a beautiful one as well. The lady named Brumisabel was wearing a black coat with a black skirt with purple accents. Pale skin and red hair with two braids. Her outfit was out of place, out of time. But the Austins couldn’t care less about what she was wearing, for some odd reason.

‘‘I am glad to meet you,’’ Mrs. Brumisabel said. ‘‘It’s very rare to see twins around these parts. It’s always a pleasure to meet new people, especially kids. I’ve always liked their ingenuity.’’

Billy replied, “I am glad to meet you too, madam’’ and bowed like a sir. Ezekiel did the same thing, but he added more finesse to the bow, and he imagined himself as a knight with shiny armor. They ate and talked about life and how exceptional it was to be out there in the lake house in the middle of summer.

‘‘What do you do for a living, Mrs. Brumisabel?’’ asked Mr. Austin.

‘‘I am a writer. I write for children but my biggest income would be this house, renting it to families like yours. The biggest accomplishment of my family this house is.’’

‘‘Wow, you write children’s books. Ezekiel has a talent for coming up with stories. He just struggles on the writing part. I bet he would love to sit with you and learn how to write them,’’ their mother said. Ezekiel felt ecstatic about the idea and he immediately asked, ‘‘when can we start Mrs. Brumisabel?’’

Mrs. Brumisabel now was looking at Billy, ignoring Ezekiel, ‘‘what about you? What do you like to do?’’ Billy, now feeling that it was his time to impress the lady, said, “you know. I run fast and I can do genuine stuff, unlike Ezekiel. I’m the best eleven-year-old hunter. I once hunted a rabbit all by myself. Cook it by myself, and ate it by myself.’’

Mrs. Brumisabel acted impressed and said, ‘‘that’s good to know. You may come in handy later. I need to get rid of some vermin in the garden and you may be the perfect person to help me.’’

‘‘Oh yeah, I know vermin.’’ Billy said without really knowing what a vermin was. Mrs. Brumisabel finished her food and out of her purse took out a leather note pad with a pen. She wrote something on the notepad and gave it to Ezekiel. Now standing, she said, “it was nice to meet the Austin family. I better get going. I’m working on a novella right now that I need to finish. Deadlines, they will kill me.’’

Ezekiel took the notepad and ran toward his room. He read the first page: Meet me by the lake at 9:00 PM, bring two black roses, this notepad, and the pen. Tell Billy to come along as well, we will learn how to write together. Her writing was beautiful. It made him feel like a medieval lord receiving a letter from the Queen. Ezekiel was imagining things already, making stuff up on his head. He needed a new story in order to convince Mrs. Brumisabel that he was the real deal. But then he saw the weird book on Billy’s bedside. Ezekiel screamed from the top of his lungs, “BILLY!” His mom went up to their room and asked, “what’s wrong with you Ezekiel? Billy is outside trying to figure out what a vermin is.”

Ezekiel, shaking like a chihuahua, said, “mom, that book over there scares me, it gives me the creeps, and I think Billy was reading it. Yesterday when we got here, we went into the library by the bathroom and when we went out, the door closed by itself.”

“Nonsense, you’ve got to stop making up stories, you know that. Keep them to yourself, write them, but don’t scare us.” She opened the book to look at it and said, “it’s just an empty book, page after page without words. Why don’t you use it to write your little stories?” She seemed furious. “And by the way, there’s no library in this house.”

Ezekiel didn’t bother to tell her the truth, he knew she wouldn’t believe him. Adults never do.

Ezekiel spent the evening waiting for the clock to hit 9:00 PM, siting on his bed, looking at the book that, in fact, was empty. No black rose, no title—which he already forgotten—on the cover. Nothing. “I’m going mad,” he said to himself.

Billy came up to the room a quarter before 9:00 PM. All muddy and disgusting, saying, “six hours and not one vermin by the garden. They must’ve heard that the mighty Billy was around, and just to be completely sure, what’s a vermin?” Ezekiel shrugged his shoulders and said, “we need to be by the lake in 15 minutes, we’re taking a class about writing with Mrs. Brumisabel.”

“Oh yeah, I can write too.”

The twins went to the lake. On their way, Ezekiel grabbed two black roses. The sky was crimson, not yet night. From the distance they can see some sort of log burning and Mrs. Brumisabel dancing around the flames. She was almost naked, and singing in a weird language. She was breathtaking, and the twins were in love for the first time. As much as an eleven-year-old kid can be.

“Don’t mind me. Sit by the fire. I’m celebrating the middle of the summer. It’s a tradition from where I come from.” The kids were without words, enchanted like. “Time for the lessons. Did you bring the black roses Ezekiel?”

He said nothing, just gave her the black roses. “Right, thank you for the gift of life,” she said. “Your first advice, just write, write your life on the notepad. Both of you. Billy, you write on this book.” She put the roses through the fire, slow, like marshmallows on a stick. The kids writing nonstop, Ezekiel on the notepad and Billy on the book. “Now, take one rose, each of you, put them on the first page of your book, and give it to me” the roses burned, like coal. And the fire stopped. She gave each kid a kiss on the forehead and they came back from their trance.

“Thank you for the class, Mrs. Brumisabel,’’ they both said it like nothing happened.

Back in the house, the kids went to the master bedroom to say goodnight to their parents. ‘‘How was the class sweetie pies?’’ asked their mother.

‘‘Very good, we wrote a lot, and she kept it. She said she will give it to us tomorrow with some corrections if needed,’’ said Ezekiel.

Mr. Austin was finishing brushing his teeth. He interrupted, ‘‘hey guys, I got something for you,’’ while holding a paper towel. ‘‘It’s my golden tooth. It broke while I was eating popcorn. I know you guys are a little old for these kind of things but take it, put it under your pillow, one of you, you never know what it may bring you.’’ The twins were uninterested. But Ezekiel took the golden tooth, just in case, he thought.

The brothers went up the stairs to their bedroom. With each step they took, memories about that night were slipping into the nothingness. Ezekiel put the golden tooth under his pillow and they slept.

It was three in the morning or four in the morning, sometime in between. Billy felt something in his head, a feeling he described as ants running inside my head. He opened his eyes, and he saw a tiny figure by the door, smaller than him and skinnier than Ezekiel. ‘‘Wake up, brother!’’ he said. Ezekiel was already up, scratching his head like he had some type of scalp problem, and he said, ‘‘I was dreaming about beetles taking away all my memories, all of me.’’ Billy, who had the same dream but couldn’t remember the details said, ‘‘it was her, she’s trying to take all of our memories.’’

Ezekiel looked at the door and saw nothing, just two dirt boot prints. He wanted to go to his parent’s bedroom, but he knew Billy didn’t want that and for the first time he stopped being a coward, or at least he tried to. Billy said, ‘‘let’s go after her.’’ And they went outside their bedroom, following the boot prints down to the dining room and out to the backyard.

The Moon was as close as it can be to the Earth. If the lake was an ocean, the ocean would be out and drowning the two brothers. The lake was a mirror, a double of our world. And there she was, standing on top of it. For the eyes of the eleven-year-old boys, this girl looked younger than them, smaller than them, but they knew she was old as old one can be.‘‘She might be Mrs. Brumisabel’s daughter,’’ said Billy.

‘‘Impossible, she’s a ghost. Look how weird she looks,’’ said Ezekiel. And he wasn’t wrong, at least about the weird looks. Just like Mrs. Brumisabel this girl looked out of place and out of time. She was wearing a black-brimmed-hat, red plaid shirt, jeans and leather cowboy boots. She walked toward the boys with something in her hands, and said, ‘‘I believe this is yours.’’ Handing the thing to Ezekiel. He took the thing, looked at it, and said, ‘‘My dad’s golden-tooth! Are you the tooth fairy?’’

She laughed and said, ‘‘I wish… My name is Chrysilla. I believe your names are Ezekiel and Billy, and I also believe that you are in great danger. Just like I was maybe two hundred years ago, when I was eight-years-old. Well, I’m still eight-years-old but you know. I don’t age or grow anymore thanks to the lady you called Mrs. Brumisabel. That golden-tooth is the only reason I found you. I used to pan for gold back in my days and that thing glows like the sun in Arizona.’’

Her voice was the voice of a child, but it sounded wise, like a person who had lived multiple lives. Billy, for the first time in his life, was shaking and scared. Ezekiel, for some strange reason, felt at peace when close to Chrysilla. Billy said, “you are not real, you’re just part of our imagination. Yeah, we’re dreaming. I know that.’’

Chrysilla with a smile on her face said, ‘‘I wish I could tell you I am a ghost, that I am in your imagination. I will tell you this though, imagination is more powerful than you think.’’

The brothers had so many questions, so many doubts. Ezekiel asked, ‘‘how is that you can float? How is that you can walk on water? How is that you look like a girl, and sound like a girl, but know so many things?’’

‘‘I’ve lived so many lives, I’ve learned how to travel through places you can’t see. I’ve learned how to control the weather even. I’m still practicing but I can do it.’’ She was now playing with the water, the water splashing and dancing, without her touching it. Billy, now calming down, said, ‘‘you said we’re in danger, but why? Mrs. Brumisabel has been the best part of this trip. She’s sweet.’’

Now the girl was playing with a firefly. The kids thought it was a firefly, but it wasn’t. It was a star. ‘‘You’re right, she’s sweet, but only because she wants you, and she already has you. Do you remember the black roses you gave her? With that, you gave her permission to take away your life, you wrote your life down and now is hers to take. That’s how she stays alive and beautiful. Do you remember the beetles inside your head? Those are her minions, taking away your essence. And soon enough you will be here with me. Nor alive or dead. Stuck in time. In the in-between.’’

Ezekiel was already giving up, we’re just kids, he thought.

“I can hear your mind as well, just in case, and yes, you are kids. I’ve seen how she beat anything and anyone who tries to stop her. I’ve seen kids using love, using witchcraft, using violence, and none of them had been successful, but you may have an opportunity…’’

And before she finished her sentence, the Earth started shaking, the house moving like gelatin. And there she was, out of the lake she came, The Black Rose. She now had a black halo over her head, eyes black as raven, beautiful as always, but her voice thunder. ‘‘Chrysilla!’’ She screamed, and Chrysilla was no more.

Billy and Ezekiel started running for what it seemed like ages, but they ended up back where they started.

‘‘First, I take the weak,’’ The Black Rose took Ezekiel with a hand that had a thousand thorns and she submerged him in the lake.

Billy took a stick from the floor and started swinging at her. And he remembered what Chrysilla said about the power of imagination. He dropped the stick, closed his eyes, and started using his imagination. Imagining about the good times with his brother, with his family, he imagined sticking the stick through the lady’s heart. And The Black Rose started screaming like a witch in pain. He opened his eyes, and she was spiraling down the lake, going down the drain, he thought, and fainted.

It was Sunday morning and Billy wakes up, he’s back up in his bedroom. Ezekiel was already up and he already made both of their backpacks. He goes out the door and he notices that there’s no third floor in the house; he goes downstairs and his family had packed up everything. Once in the car, Ezekiel gives the golden-tooth to Billy and says, ‘‘what a crazy night, huh? I think you deserve this.’’ They both look at the rearview mirror of the car and Chrysilla was there, following the golden-tooth. Imagination can do anything, thought Billy, it’s a superpower.