Twins in the Garden

Stop! Don't continue to my story until you catch up with the previous episodes of the great VCS Halloween Spooktacular

Part 1: A Mother's Undying Love by Untraditional Mother

Part 2: Abigail's Truth by Tiandra, The Lady Poet

Part 3: Charlotte's Sorrow by Natasja Rose

Part 4: Unveil by Sofia Duarte

Okay, now you can continue with:

Part 5

Camille hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in years.

There was something perverse about harboring such a large load of guilt over something she’d not even been directly involved in.

The evening of the phone call, she’d been busy helping her pre-teen daughter with her Halloween costume. Eyeliner required artistic precision, and Jill wasn’t there yet, so Camille was carefully crafting batwing lash lines when her cell chirped.

She said hello and hit the speaker button in time to hear her sister’s shrill reprimands regarding makeup and preteens, all because she’d had a heated argument with Charlotte.

“Look, Abigail,” she’d replied waspishly. “You deal with your kid however you want, but don’t you be calling, yelling at me and trying to tell me how to deal with mine. I don’t think a little makeup is a big deal.”

Abigail had started to say something else, but interrupted herself with a terrified shriek. There was the unmistakable sound of metal on metal, more screaming, squealing brakes and then—

—nothing.

Nothing, because the phone had been crushed.

Camille would never forget it: The Day She Heard Her Sister and Nephews Meet Their Deaths.

The whole event had taken on an upper-case title position in her brain, and she wasn’t able to shake it.

She and Jill were screaming and crying as she tried, unsuccessfully, to call Abigail back. Finally, she called her brother-in-law to find out what had happened.

(She knew perfectly well what had happened, but she was hiding the acknowledgment from herself, shielding herself from the pain for as long as possible.)

Now, years later, she was still dealing with that pain. Her last words to her sister had basically been “Mind your own business and piss off.” How does one live with such a thing?

Still, it wasn’t as bad as things had gone with Charlotte. Her last words were more like, “You’re so mean! I hate you!”

Poor Charlotte.

The fight was the only reason Charlotte wasn’t buried in the garden with her mother and twin brothers, though. She’d refused to go with Abigail, insisting she’d ride with her father instead.

The family was divided, and it ended with tragedy.

All these things had driven her to seek some help, which was what had brought her to this meeting tonight.

Amanda No-Last-Name (To protect her progeny, no doubt, Camille thought in a moment of mean-spiritedness) was a renowned medium who had apparently traveled the country seeking out and helping trapped souls complete their journeys from this realm to the next.

Burton had insisted she come to this meeting after she told him that Charlotte insisted she’d seen her mother and brothers in the garden numerous times over the years, mostly as the Halloween holiday neared. Camille had scoffed at the idea, but last week—

Well…suffice to say, it was enough to make her confide in Burton, who was a bit of an odd duck.

The worst of it was seeing the twins in those identical devil costumes.

They hadn’t been dressed in those costumes on the day of the accident. Abigail never would have made costumes like that. They’d been dressed up as Mario and Luigi from those silly video games, and they’d looked adorable.

What she saw last week was…NOT adorable. They looked quite unlike the little boys she’d known and loved, and from the brief glimpse she’d gotten of her sister, she knew she was not the only one who thought so.

Abigail had stared at the boys with terror in her eyes, and then looked at Camille with helpless pleading written all over her translucent face.

Amanda seemed distracted throughout the meeting, and someone asked her, “Do you have something on your mind?”

“I saw someone,” Amanda replied, and then waved her hand dismissively. “Never mind.”

Camille spoke up: “I was hoping you would say that.”

Brief introductions were made, and Camille told her she’d like to speak to her about her sister. She told her about the accident and about seeing Abigail and the twins.

“Where is this place?” Amanda asked.

Camille gave her the address. Amanda’s face lost all color, and her companion moved quickly to her side, just in case she fainted.

After several moments of silence, Amanda said. “I stopped there on my way here tonight.” She looked Camille in the eyes. “I saw someone.”

Camille nodded, tightened her jaw and took a deep breath. “My sister is in trouble, isn’t she?”

“Oh, yes,” Amanda agreed. “Your sister is in trouble.”

“Is it the twins?”

“Oh.” Amanda looked surprised. “Those…er…little devils? They’re not what you think. The twins have moved on. Little children almost always do.”

Now it was time for Camille to lose all color from her face, and Burton pulled her into a protective hug. “What are they?”

“Imps.”

Continued in Part 6:

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