twin chaos

chapter 5

The neon lights of the underground club in London were blinding, but I wasn't looking at the crowd. I was looking at the guy across the table who thought he could cheat me out of fifty thousand dollars.

He didn't know who I was. Nobody here did. To them, I was just a crazy, reckless rich girl living fast in a city that never slept.

Before he could pull his hands back, I slammed a broken glass bottle onto the wooden table inches from his fingers, leaning in real close with a cold smile. "Try that again, and you won't leave this basement."

My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I stepped away from the crowd, wiping a smear of red off my leather jacket, and answered.

"Ophelia," my father’s voice came through the line, heavy and trembling. "You need to fly back home. Right now."

"I'm busy, Dad."

"It's Aurelia. She's in the hospital. It's... it's really bad."

The noise of the club faded into total silence. My heart dropped. Aurelia was my soft twin. The sister who wore pink, baked cakes, and couldn't hurt a fly. The one our parents kept sheltered while I ran wild across Europe.

Twelve hours later, I stood in a private room at the hospital.

Aurelia looked so small in that large white bed. Her face was pale, covered in dark purple bruises, and a thick bandage was wrapped around her head. Machines beeped quietly around her.

I pulled a chair next to her bed, sat down, and picked up her phone from the nightstand. I unlocked it and started scrolling.

My blood turned to pure ice.

I saw the video of those girls ripping her clothes in the bathroom while she sobbed on the floor. I saw the text messages from Jeremiah calling her trash. I saw the comments from the whole school calling her names. They had broken my soft sister until she tried to disappear.

I looked back at Aurelia. Her eyes slowly cracked open, fixing on me.

"Ophelia..." she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Don't talk," I said quietly, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I saw everything."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be sorry," I cut in, my voice deadly calm. "You stay here and rest. I'm taking your place."

A tiny, weak smile touched her lips, and she nodded once before closing her eyes again.

That night, I went to Aurelia's bedroom at our estate. I locked the door and stood in front of the full-length mirror.

I cut my dark hair until it matched her soft shoulder-length style. I washed off all my heavy makeup until my face looked bare and innocent. Then, I opened her closet, full of light pink sweaters, white skirts, and delicate shoes.

I put on a pink cashmere cardigan and buttoned it all the way up.

I looked in the mirror and practiced. I softened my eyes. I tilted my head. I forced my lips into a gentle, shy, porcelain smile.

To the world, Ophelia was gone.

The next morning, the vintage family car pulled up to the iron gates of Saint Jude’s Academy. The driver opened the door, and I stepped out onto the cobblestones, smoothing down my pink cardigan.

Students turned and pointed, whispering like vultures waiting for a weak girl to fall. Vanna was standing at the top of the marble steps with Jeremiah right beside her, laughing.

I kept my head down, holding my books tight against my chest, and let out a soft, nervous breath.

Enjoy your laughs while you can, I thought behind my innocent smile. Because I'm going to ruin every single one of you.