The Tale of Two Sisters

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Penelope handed the pastries to Lisa without showing the paper bag. She was worried she might ask about it. Lisa took the delicacies without any doubt.

"Thank you! Wow, it had been such a long time since I have these!"

Lisa gobbled down the food, as she did not eat for a long time. At some point, she chocked, and Penelope handed her the water. When Lisa was about to take it, with the hand where she wore the ring, Penelope immediately switched her hand, as she worried the same incident might happen again. 

Lisa noticed the small details about it, asked her after she drank.

"What's wrong? You changed your hand when you handed me the water."

Lisa asked out of her curiosity. Though it looked like it was nothing, it bugged Lisa for some reason. Penelope felt uneasy with Lisa's question, as she did not know how to explain to her about the incident that happened before. So, she decided to change the topic instead.

"You know, there is a bakery just opened near our house. Why don't we realized about it before?"

Though it seems like a weak attempt, somehow, Lisa felt for it, as she was obsessed to have more pastries in the future.

"Really? Why didn't I noticed it before?"

Penelope tried to build up the conversation while trying to make Lisa forgot about her question.

"Maybe we are too busy to notice, or we didn't hang out that much nowadays. These pastries are from the bakery by the way."

Until then, both of them continued to chat, forgetting the question that bugged them before.

"So, what happened, Lisa?"

Penelope asked since they already talked too much about other stuff. Lisa looked away from her sister, as she did not know how to explain it.

She cannot tell her sister that she fainted because she saw something weird in the mirror!

Penelope noticed that her sister evaded her eyes, making her felt uneasy with the situation. She tried to make up with the new things to distract her about it.

"So, you're not going to believe me, but yesterday Blaire and her friends take me to the library just to show me a book. And you know what book is it? It is a book about the world beyond the mirror. Hahaha..."

The conversation ended with the awkward laugh from Penelope, as Lisa still did not want to talk about what happened. Penelope felt defeated, and was about to leave, as she thought that her sister might need some rest more. She was about to stand up and leave but stopped as Lisa grabbed her hand.

"That locket...where do you get that?"

Lisa saw an unusual locket, hanging around while Penelope held it. Penelope looked unsure, as she did not know how to tell her sister about it.

"Oh, this locket. Um, I, um found it, in the bathroom at my school. Nothing much."

Lisa cannot help but felt suspicious about it.

"Do you steal it?"

Lisa asked since she did not know the reason why she felt uneasy when Penelope had that thing. Penelope felt offended by Lisa's accusation.

"What?! No! I didn't steal it! It just...someone gave it to me and asked me to take care of it!"

Lisa did not know what had gotten into her. But for some reason, she did not want Penelope to have that locket with her.

"Throw the locket. I don't like it."

Penelope felt something off with her sister. Usually, if Lisa did not like something that Penelope had or wore, she just nagged about it and only rolled her eyes afterwards. However, this time, her tone sounded severe and intimidated.

"Throw it, now! I said I don't like it!"

Seeing Lisa behaving like that, made Penelope startled, but somehow, Penelope did not want to listen to her sister. Deep down, she knew that she had to hold this locket closer, though it was still unclear about its purposes.

"No! Why are you suddenly becoming this aggressive?"

Penelope started to raise her voice when she saw Lisa began to act relentlessly about the locket in her possession. 

Lisa, too, did not know why she felt that way and the reason why she suddenly became that mad about that regular pendant. 

Her subconsciousness told her that the locket must go.

 "I don't like it! Why are you being so stubborn about something that isn't yours?"

Lisa's question finally triggered Penelope. She did not know what had gotten into her sister's head, but she, too, did not want to give in.

"How about you? What about that black ring? I didn't know that you have one of those before. Are you stealing it?"

Penelope started to feel impatient with her sister's behaviour.

"A ring?"

Sooner, Lisa looked puzzled, and then she took a look on her hand. The moment she took a look at the ring, suddenly her head hurt again.

"Ugh! Argh!"

Penelope began to panic when she saw her sister acted up like that. As she was about to call for the nurse, Lisa held Penelope's arm, firmly. Penelope whined in pain, as she never did know that her sister is this strong.

"Ah!"

Lisa suddenly stopped acted maniac, and her eyes had the dead looks in it. She turned to Penelope and said, in a cold tone.

"Don't ever bring that locket to me, ever again."

Penelope scared when her sister suddenly had that change of attitude, but she nodded many times as her sister began to hold her hand tightly,

almost breaks her bones. 

"Y-yes, but please let go of my hand. It hurts..."

Penelope begged her sister, and Lisa let it go, without saying sorry or anything. Feeling that her sister is not feeling well, Penelope decided to just go and returned home.

"Bye."

Penelope said it quietly, did not even care whether Lisa can hear it or not. While Lisa still sat on her bed, feeling irritated for no reason at all.

"Should we make our appearance now?"

Lullaby asked since the three of them had been watching those two from the beginning. Hex shrugged as he did not know what to respond, while Ivy still stared at Lisa, tentatively. 

"Um, Ivy? Hello?"

Hex tried to grab Ivy's attention, but none of it worked. Sooner, Ivy responded when she has done watching Lisa.

"We shall go."

Lullaby and Hex both looked shocked with Ivy's answer. They thought that maybe three of them should greet Lisa since The Lord asked them to take care of The New Black Queen, by always being close with her.

"Aren't we suppose to, like, tell her that she will be the upcoming Black Queen, and we should guide her on how to use her power and stuff, to kill everyone who opposed the Lord?"

Hex asked since he is curious about Ivy's judgment. The Phantom Whisperer always let Ivy take the lead as she is the one who has keen and observant nature around her. Neither Lullaby nor Hex has that kind of leader's traits on them, as they always love to play around and destroy things.

Ivy calmly replied as she started to turn around to leave.

"No, not yet."

This time, Lullaby had to ask since she wanted to be close with the future Black Queen.

"Aww~ Why? I want to play with her. And also, she might be the perfect playmate for my new 'toys'."

Ivy smirked.

"She is still not in the state to learn the truth. Perhaps when her true nature started to show up, we will take the chance to show ourselves and guide her."

After finished her sentences, Ivy immediately leaves the scene, returning to their own dimension, leaving behind the other two.

"W-wait!"

Both Hex and Lullaby looked anxious as Ivy left without them. After that, the two of them followed Ivy, returning to their home, leaving behind Lisa, who is still in the shock state.

Lisa suddenly felt guilty about how she treated her sister, but deep down, she did not like it when her sister had the locket. 

After that, she looked at her black ring, which she did not know where it comes from.

"When-"

Though she already had the bits of the memory about that black ring, still she did not want to accept the truth yet. She felt like it was only a dream.

"I should take this off."

Lisa then wanted to pull the ring off from her finger, horribly, the ring would not even budge, almost like it was glued to her finger.

"What-"

Lisa started to have uneasy feelings about the ring. She even tried to force the ring out from her finger, but it did not work. Her finger indeed turned blue for some reason, when she forced to pull it off. 

Feeling defeated, she let go of her intention to pull the ring off and rested her hand.

"Why? What are you?"

Then again, when Lisa was about to rest her head, the horrifying images, when the big spider was chasing her, running back in her head. She then relentlessly rolled around, as her head is hurting.

"No! Go away! No!"

As the memories came, anger and fear, fueled inside Lisa's body. She is scared, yes, she is.

But she is even mad, as she felt that only she had to suffer the pain.

"Why, why me?"

As both mixed feelings stirred within herself, one prominent emotion started to appear.

Madness.

She grew the desire to destroy everything in her ways. 

She wanted to eliminate everyone who always mocked her, belittle her and treated her like garbage.

Yes, those desires started to engulf her, and her mind got excited just when she thought about it.

Now, the image of the big spider is still lingering in her mind, but she had no longer felt the fear. 

Instead, she grew the feeling to cut open the spider and watched it suffer.

As she thought about how to t*****e the spider, her hand, which wore the black ring, suddenly moved around, as it was trying to summon things.

She imagined how she wanted to kill the big spider.

"No one, no one can longer-"

Suddenly, as her mind thought about black spikes, spinning around the big spider, slicing it open. Lisa did not realize that the black pins arose around her bed. 

Until her mind finished watching the black spider sliced, Lisa smiled, satisfied. She then again rests her head, going back to sleep, without noticing the black spikes around her bed, destroying the hospital's floor.

But one thing for sure, 

Lisa finally found her strength.

And the choice had been made.