We all ran in different directions through my old town toward the
closest refuge. The town was like a ghost town that night because of that
bad weather, but to me, it was something completely different, because I
had been in the mines. Life was not the same. And it never would be. Devin
and I ran past our old house. I stopped. He grabbed my arm, "Come on! You
can’t stop!" he huffed at me.

"Devin, there is something I need here," I said quietly. A calm had
settled over me. My chest was heaving but I couldn’t hear my breath. All I
noticed was the look of my house. My old life was staring at me, and I was
staring back from a tortured life that had taken over. "I want my life
back, Devin," I whispered.

"Your life isn’t there anymore, Lysandra," he touched my cheek, "your
life- our life- is in front of us still. We’re out of the mines;
we’re on our way to safety. We’re close to freedom. Just one day of
travel…"

"There is just one thing I need. I just want one piece of my old life.
I want it more than air…" I took a step toward the house. "Just let me get
my camera. My camera was my life. I wanted to be a photographer, remember.
Just let me get it…"

"They’re probably in there!"

"No, no they aren’t. The cars aren’t there. No one is there…" I walked
toward the house and Devin dropped my arm. He followed me as I walked up
the steps and across the porch. I opened the door and found the stairs.

I walked up them slowly, letting my fingers drag along the handrail,
letting memories seep up my hands and into my mind. Then I opened the door
at the top of the steps. The door swung silently open into a dark room. I
could only see the side of the room that used to be mine.

The room had been repainted into a soft shade of yellow, where it had
been blue. All my posters were gone, even my photographs, that Adoncia had
loved so much, were gone. They had probably burnt them. I knew they hated
me now. They must have been so ashamed, so hurt.

I wondered if they had ever even heard a description of the mines.

I walked into the room quietly. I accidentally stepped on the old
squeaky board in front of the door. Suddenly, someone jumped out of the
bed I hadn’t seen on the other side of the room. Adoncia screamed and
turned on the light. She grabbed something that was sitting on her bedside
table.

She squinted at me. "Adele…"

"Lysandra. I always wanted you to call me Lysandra."

"What are you doing here?" she whispered.

I took a step into the room, "I’m only here to get my camera. Then I’ll
be gone forever. Your shame will be gone forever." I slowly took another
step.

She raised her hands and pointed a laser at me, "Nothing here is yours,
clone. Leave now, and I won’t kill you- for Mother’s sake. You killed her…
I’m so glad Father wasn’t alive anymore. I can’t imagine what he would
have thought."

"I lived with you for 17 years, Adoncia, even if I’m not technically
your sister, surely you must have feelings for me. Remember, twins watch
out for twins," a tear ran down my cheek, remembering all those fun times
with Adoncia, even though we didn’t get along all the time- and now she
was pointing a laser at me.

She stood there in silence, and I took a step.

When your life is on the line, when you hear the movement in your
assailant’s hands as they squeeze a trigger, watch their eyes, see the
movement in their mouth- when you know you’re going to die- who they are
becomes a moot issue. Before I knew it there was a burn mark behind me on
the door and Adoncia was lying on her bed.

The laser I had carried in case of emergency dropped from my fingers. I
could hear it bounce twice on the wood floor. I could feel the slight heat
off the wall behind me. I could smell the smoke. I fell to my knees and my
mouth worked with no words coming out. Tears fell.

My chest heaved as I cried. I had killed my own sister.

Suddenly Devin was over me, picking me up. He had something slung over
his shoulder in a pack and he was pulling me down the stairs. I went with
him like a zombie. I saw the house as I passed, the house that had changed
so much in two years, but I didn’t really see a thing. Outside the rain
was worse and I slipped and fell on the sidewalk. For a moment I could see
the blood running off my knee and into the water and didn’t feel the
pain.

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