Chapter 28

                                    

                                          
~Maya~
My heart hammers in my chest wildly, that there's hardly any room to breathe. Though, throughout my life there had been numerous occasions when my heart hammered this fast together with the feel of my impending doomsday, but none of them came along with such dread of finality. 
Living in fear for almost a decade of my life, I somehow got used to the feel, but now as I sit in my room after I heard Landon tell my father that he knows who is the culprit of my twins life, I can it feel it in my bones that its time that I tell my family one last goodbye and vanish forever.   
Shoving my clothes in a bag, I immediately search for my mobile which is by the windowsill. My gaze lands out of the window and the scene in front of me knocks the living breath out of me. The worst of the monster stands there with her gun pointing at Mia, no no no no no no this can't be happening. This is complete bullshit.  
I slap my face, my cheek burning and tingling with the force of the impact, but the monster still stands there. I slap my other cheek, but the monster isn't disappearing. I pull at my hair, but she is standing there.  
"WAKE THE FUCK UP, MAYA!" I scream loudly in my room, begging myself to open my eyes and wake up from this horrendous dream. I am not ready to let go of my family yet. I am not ready to let go of my twin yet. It's still too early, please don't do this to me. 
Tears trickle down my cheeks as I watch the monster unlock her gun. Mia's frame is stiff and frozen, and she doesn't move a muscle. Fuck! She is going to kill her! 
Even if it's a dream, I am going to save my sister. Everything else can go to hell.  
Running down to where Mia and the monster is, they finally appear in my line of sight, but my legs froze suddenly. My brain paralyzing me in spot, what if she touches you? What if she hits you again? Don't go Maya, she will hit you again.  
My fear paralyzes my body as I stand there watching her say something to Mia.  
Snap out of it!  
You're nineteen, not nine. She won't touch you again.  
Please, snap out of it, your twin needs you. For once, do something good in your life.  
SNAP OUT OF IT, MAYA! 
"Mia!" I scream at the top of my lungs; both of their heads snap up to me and my face pales when I Mrs. Pratt eyes land on me and darken.  
No, I whimper my eyes, scars, heart and my entire body burns as if I have been physically lit on fire.  
Don't look at me, don't fucking look at me. I beg mentally, but she does nothing to turn her face away. Instead, her eyes turn more cruel, sinister, they are a fucking void.  
I run down the street, I am pretty sure I look like a mess, with my clothes disheveled and my hair flying all over the place. As soon as I am in the touching distance of my sister, I grab my sister by her shoulders and push her behind me. Facing the monster head on.  
From now on, I don't care what happens to me, because honestly, I gave up the will to live long before. I now from this moment onwards Mia will hate me, my parents would hate me, my brother would hate me, and I'll turn into a laughingstock.  
Mia pushes me away, "Maya, go. Just go." She signs with trembling fingers, but I hold onto her tighter. Wrapping my arms around her tighter and confirming myself that the monster hasn't taken her from me again. That Mia is standing before me in flesh.  
People say that other halves are supposed to protect each other but I am responsible for the pain of my other half. This time I'll do the right thing by her.  
Turning to Mrs. Pratt, I scream at her, "Go away!" I take in a deep breath, wrapping my arms around Mia tighter, "You said you'd never show your face or come before Mia again. So why are you here?"  
"I would've if you kept your part of the deal and kept your mouth shut." I think I was ready to face her, but nothing would've prepared me for the emotionless tone in her voice. My brain goes numb, and my heart rate spikes up to a dangerous level. I can hear voices around me, but for the life of me I can't listen to them. The only part I can listen to is where she says I willingly gave the route, because I didn't. She is fucking lying. Fucking liar.  
So, I lie too, "That's not true, I only told you the route because you said you were going to pay us a surprise visit." There's not an inch of surprise on her face when I lie, in fact she looks please as if she knew I was going to lie. And I have never felt more disgusting in my own skin.  
"Then no. But after the kidnapping yes. My husband said you saw him and recognized him, but you still didn't say a word. Why Maya?"  
BECAUSE YOU BOTH COUPLES ARE DISGUSTING PIECE OF SHITS WHO RUINED ME. YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF SHITS WOULD TOUCH ME. 
I scream in my head, unable to get the words out of my mouth. Mia might have lost her voice after the kidnapping, but I lost it too. I lost my voice, despite having my voice. I lost myself, despite being here in piece. I lost so much, that nothing could ever get me back what I lost. No one would've known what happened to me, but the scars I carry are all because of the nights I was being touched in places I never wanted them too.  
When I wanted to tell mom and dad and suddenly got caught by the boogeymen, I was silent forever. They might haven't touch me like Mr. And Mrs. Pratt, but the fear they instilled in me was enough to make me mute forever. The boogeymen were the final nail in the coffin for my trauma but yet they never held as much impact as the disgusting Pratt couple did.  
I don't what I say, I don't know what I hear, I don't know where I am. I am thrust back into those sleepless nights where I was being touched again my will, even when I begged them to leave me alone. No one ever listen to me crying, no one ever saw me hurting. They did and they reveled in it, they derived pleasure out of it and hurt me more.  
Someone pushes at me, the voices too loud for me to understand and I don't know what is going around me anymore. Whatever comes out of my mouth is years of rehearsing those words. All I know is that I want to be freed from the touch, I want the time to resume I want someone to get me out of my body, someone to snap me out of the memory of their hands because I can't breathe.  
A loud bang echoes in the air, and finally the voices go away. Clarity starts to settle over me and my legs give beneath me. My eye lids threaten to shut and within the narrow slits I watch Mia go for Landon, no idea when he appeared, and Mrs. Pratt come to me. When her hands touch me, I know my sanity has hit its rock bottom.  
Eleven years of unable to fight and forget their touch and now I am nineteen, and I still can't fight it off.