Sisters

Karen is a cop. Live by the rules, die by the rules. Her twin sister Katya, is not. She instead lives by feelings and intuition; seems to almost move with the wind wherever it took her. They are nothing alike and prefer it that way. When they were younger, they were the best of friends. Two sisters that were the best of friends. You never saw one without the other. Which they needed since their home was the stuff of horrors. Locked in their room together, they were forced to survive…together. However that all changed on that fateful day so long ago. Neither remembers exactly how it happened, but just that it happened and it forever changed their family, their love and their bond.

Katya dreamed that one day someone, maybe her prince charming, would find them in their upstairs room and whisk them away to forever happiness. Karen however, knew that the chances of them ever escaping were slim. The locks, the heights, the fact that no one ever seemed to hear them or even know they were there; how could two people be saved that no one even knew existed?

The girls were 15. They had spent most of their life locked away and were ready to escape. While Katya talked to the mice and dreamed of a better life, Karen was planning their escape. Food was brought up two times a day. On days when their mom could, she would slip them something extra like a cookie or a brownie. On the days when dad was around, they got whatever their mom could quickly make and get to them. Sometimes on those days, they only got one meal. Karen knew that on the days a brownie or cookie appeared, mom was alone. And so she plotted.

Mom had to unlock the door and bring the food in as the door was locked from the outside. On the good days, she also changed out their buckets and left a small tub of water and soap. This naturally took time; time when the door was unlocked. Karen didn’t want to hurt her mom, but on the day it happened she saw her chance. She just didn’t realize that her mom was in the way, and as she came barreling down the stairs with just a fork out for protection, she stabbed her mother in the eye. Her mom’s screams pierced the silence and Karen knew she had to run as her father would surely hear her cries and come running. Karen ran as fast as her legs could carry her, hoping upon hope that she could make it somewhere, anywhere before dad found her. She made it to the main road but stayed close to the trees, afraid to be found. However finally after walking aways she saw a van, nothing like her dad drove, and popped out of the trees waving frantically. A woman stopped and asked if Karen was okay. She explained she needed help and the woman quickly called for police. It was on that day, Karen saved herself and her sister. However this was also the day her sister stopped talking to her.

Once they were settled in a foster home, Katya revealed what had happened at the house after Karen ran. It took Katya a moment to realize what was happening as everything happened so quickly. She finished her cookie, because it was a good day and she loved mom’s cookies…and was also scared to find out why mom had screamed and was crying. Just as she started to walk down the stairs, she heard dad and ran back up to the room and quietly closed the door. She DID NOT want to be caught out of the room without permission, because that meant bad things happened. She was also scared for Karen; where did she go? Why did mom scream like that? Was Karen okay? Was mom okay? She sat there and listened but couldn’t hear much. She knew dad had to be angry, but he also sounded scared as he tended to mom. Finally things got quiet again, but the scary feeling never went away. Where was Karen? Why did she leave Katya? Would she come back? A little bit later, she heard sirens. They were getting louder. She looked out their small window and saw flashing lights everywhere. And she was terrified. What if they never found her upstairs, so alone? But also, what would happen if they did find her? Katya heard foosteps coming up the stairs. She knew dad would be very angry and so she hid in the only place she could, under her bed. Big boots kept coming up the stairs…but she realized they didn’t sound like dad. Or mom. Who was there? Her door swung open and there in front of her was a man with a flashlight and gun. She was terrified; was he there to kill her? She shrunk back even further under the bed, pressing herself to the wall. The man was looking for something, was looking for…her? She didn’t make a sound, too scared of what might happen if she was found. She heard a strange crackling and her name…Katya. And her sister’s name. Wait, was that also her sister’s voice she could also hear? Karen? Where was Karen? The boots got closer, the man called her name. “Katya? Katya it’s okay. I’m here to help.” She was still so scared. The moment she saw the blanket rising up, she shut her eyes; maybe if she didn’t see him, he wouldn’t see her. But he did. “Katya! Katya. It’s okay. My name is Tim. I’m a police officer. Your sister Karen got help. You’re safe now. Come on out and I’ll take you to Karen.” The officer then talked into the crackling thing, stating he had found me. More boots came running up the stairs, a female this time. She seemed nice and Katya found herself falling into her arms.”Let’s go” was all she said and Katya walked down the stairs.

As she walked down the stairs, she noticed blood midway down. Was that Karen’s blood? Or mom’s? “Wh-Where’s mom? Is she okay? I heard someone scream and was scared so I ran back to my room.” The female officer, who she later learned was named Kit stated softly “She was really hurt and lost a lot of blood, but she’s on the way to the hospital now.” Katya started crying at this, wondering what Karen did to her mom. As they descended the rest of the stairs and went outside, Katya suddenly pulled back to the house afraid. “Dad! Dad can’t find me outside! He’ll hurt me. Please take me back; I don’t want to be hurt.” But Kit calmly pulled her back into her arms, telling Katya that dad would never be able to hurt her again. As Katya sat in the ambulance, she realized that Karen must have done something to mom to hurt her. “Why hurt mom?” Katya thought to herself. I loved mom. Mom should be here. With me. “I want my mom” she wailed as the ambulance doors closed and took her somewhere she didn’t know.

At the foster home, Karen was cold to Katya. She seemed almost angry. “I had to do what I did. For both of us.” She never told Katya exactly what she did, but when Katya saw mom a few days later she understood what had happened. Her anger grew towards Karen. “How dare Karen hit mom! She helped us when she could; there was no need to hurt her!” Karen tried to explain, but the bitterness grew inside Katya. And while the bitterness grew in Katya, the hardness grew in Karen. No one would ever tell her what to do. She would never be defenless and unprotected. Eventually they were separated and moved into different homes. Karen went off to college and became a cop; defending the innocent, putting the bad guys away, making sure no one was treated like she was ever again. Katya, while still bitter, was also more gentle. She moved back home at 18 with mom and took care of her as mom did when she was a kid. She was kinder and gentler to mom, making her the meals she wished mom had made her as a child. She grew to love mom even more, realizing that mom was as much a victim as she was. But the sisters never spoke again. Karen never went to see her mother; in her mind, she kept them just as captive as dad did all those years. Maybe one day they will meet again, or maybe they won’t. Only time will tell.