Ying Yang Magic

*self harm, dark thoughts of murder, mental health, animal harm

Nobody believed in me. That was their first mistake. They did, however, believe in my sister. That was their second mistake.

Boring and perfect Ashley. The light to my dark. Truly ying and yang twins. Everyone loved Ashley. She was smart, beautiful, kind and just so damn boring. She had a ton of friends.

Our dog liked me. That’s about it.

I’m not sure when I became the “evil twin”. Maybe I always was. Maybe it was after years of being the younger sister. The one that was never like the other.

Or maybe it was when I met Jason. Dark, mysterious and intelligent. Every girl dad’s nightmare and every rebel teenage girl’s dream.

I was at the park, sitting on an uncomfortable bench, while reading a book and listening to music. I felt, rather than saw, someone sit beside me. People never got close to me. I breathed in deep, trying to make myself smaller, then glanced over.

He was absolutely beautiful. His long and lean body was relaxed on the bench. His dark chocolate brown hair fell over his forehead. His face was just beginning to take on the look of becoming a man rather than a boy. His eyes were cast down but I could see the straight and narrowness of his nose that eased down to full lips.

Sensing my stare, he looked at me with dark green eyes that were framed by long lashes. Then he did something I never expected.

He smiled at me.

Jason taught me many things; mostly importantly, he taught me magic. And magic is what I used to prove that I was better than my twin.

It all started with basic spells. Lighting a candle, stirring my coffee, laundry folding itself. Completely normal and useful spells.

Then we moved on to more complex magic. Jason taught me to start larger fires; burning abandoned houses and condemned buildings. We tortured small animals from afar so I could get use to the feeling of death at my hands. It was magnificent for me. It was unfortunate for my dog.

“Do you think I’m ready?” I asked him one day.

“You were born ready, Gemma. You just needed my guidance,” he replied in his cool, deep voice. I breathed it in. I breathed him in.

Later that night, I sat at the dinner table with my parents. Ashley wasn’t there since she’d been invited to a party. I was definitely not invited.

I sat there, poking at my meatloaf and ignoring my parents.

“Did you hear me?” my mother’s voice finally pulled me out of my daze.

“What?” I asked.

“Honey, we’re worried about you,” my father said.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” I huffed.

“You’ve changed so much. You are sullen and withdrawn. You just hide in your room all the time or spend time with Jason, whom we haven’t even met yet,” Dad continued.

“I’m fine!” I yell. “And you don’t need to meet Jason. You’ll scare him off with your weirdness.”

Dad sighed and Mom rolled her eyes.

“Now you’re just being dramatic,” Mom said to me. “But something is going on with you. Is it drugs?”

I reeled back as if she had slapped me.

“Drugs? Are you serious?” I asked, laughingly.

“We know it’s something,” Dad emphasized.

“No, I’m not on drugs. I’m fine. There’s nothing.”

“Honey, we just want to help you,” Mom stepped in. “We know that Scout disappearing last month upset you.”

Wrong, I thought. I wasn’t the least bit upset about Scout.

“Ugh, you guys are so annoying. Nothing is wrong!” I shouted in frustration. They sat in silence, not knowing how to respond. I took a deep breath and calmly said, “If I have any issues, I’ll let you know. Can I please be excused?”

My parents excused me from the table, telling me that they loved me and only wanted the best.

The next day, I met Jason at the park. I vented about how my parents were so pushy and terrible.

“They don’t pester Ashley!” I ranted at him. “Only me. It’s all ‘Gemma is weird. Gemma is odd. Something is wrong with her. She must be on drugs.’” I huffed in indignation.

“Completely ridiculous,” Jason agreed with me. He always agreed with me because he knew that I was right. “They don’t understand you. You’re amazing and perfect just the way you are.”

“I hate them,” I declared. “Just as much as I hate my stupid and perfect sister.”

Jason just looked at me. In the way that he does while I work through my thoughts.

“Maybe,” I started, “I should kill them too.”

I looked at Jason to see how he reacted. He only smiled that smile. I knew that’s the conclusion he had been waiting for. Since he was so good to me though, he never rushed me when I was processing possibilities and working through a problem.

“You could,” he agreed again. My heart soared. “How do you want to do it?”

“I still want to poison Ashley. I want to watch her slowly die the death she deserves.”

He waited for me to continue.

“But them,” I said as I mentally went through all the spells he had taught me. “For my parents, I don’t want to do the poison. Maybe I can do it with a fire?”

Jason nodded thoughtfully.

“That could work. Kill Ashley, hide her body and tell them she’s gone for the night. After that, set the house on fire using the spell you learned while they sleep. Maybe barely get out of the house? To keep the suspicion away?” he pondered.

I squealed in delight.

“It’s a perfect plan!”

Jason and I had been collecting all of the ingredients that I needed for the poison. We finally found the last necessity the day of the full moon. It was kismet. I had to brew and give the poison that night. It worked best during the full moon.

Later that night, I put the finishing touches on the brew, adding lavender and lemon to smooth out the taste. I filled two glasses and walked to Ashley’s room.

I knocked with my foot since I was holding both glasses. She opened the door and scoffed at me.

“What do you want, loser?” Gee, wonder why I wanted to kill her. Only I knew how truly awful she was. But I kept myself meek with my response. I had to keep her fooled.

“I found a recipe online for a new smoothie and made too much,” I told her. “Thought I could share with you.”

“Oh,” was her only response. I just held the glass out to her. She hesitantly took it from me and peered closely at the light purple liquid.

“Sure, I guess,” she finally said.

“Cheers sis,” I held up my own glass and clinked it against hers. I pretend to take a sip while she gulped hers down.

I smiled.

--

A doctor and a devastated looking woman stood outside the room.

“Dr. Brink,” the Mother began, “what’s happening to my daughter?”

The psychiatrist sighed. He had seen many horrible cases in his career and thought he couldn’t be surprised anymore. He watched the young girl inside the locked room as she furiously wrote on the dry erase board. It was the same story, over and over.

“Ma’am, your daughter is suffering from a massive split personality disorder. She mainly believes that she’s a teenager named Gemma and that she can do magic. Two other personalities we’ve been able to meet are Ashley and Jason,” he explained. A cry escaped from the Mother but Dr. Brink continued. “As Gemma, she believes that Ashley is her twin sister and that she killed her with a poison. The poison being the concoction of cleaning supplies that she swallowed. Gemma also believes that Jason is her boyfriend and the one who taught her magic.”

The Mother was weeping.

“She did have a twin, named Meera,” the Mother said wearily. “Meera died when they were seven years old. It was a horrible accident but Jayce always blamed herself. They were playing a game of pretend. Their names were Gemma and Ashley in the game.”

“I’m so terribly sorry,” the doctor replied. “But that does explain so much.”

“Will she ever talk correctly again?” the Mother asked Dr. Brink.

“Well, we can’t determine that yet. The damage to her larynx was extensive.”

The doctor was tired. He felt the exhaustion in his bones as they looked back into the room.

Jayce was smiling as she wrote “The End” at the bottom of the board.