Other Half

I was laying in the newly fallen leaves of autumn, holding my sister's hand as we gazed up at the sky that was blocked by nearly bare branches.

"Look at that one!" I said pointing to a white fluffy cloud, "It looks like a heart."

She pointed to another one, "That was looks just like a dragon! It even has fire coming out of his mouth!"

I sat up and looked around the woods that surrounded my small house. Breathing in the fresh air while I could. Momma smoked enough every day to leave a thick fog throughout the house. Kathleen, my twin sister, and I even have a pact that we can't leave our bedroom door open for more than five seconds to prevent the, what we call sog for "smoker's fog," from getting in.

We practically lived in these woods, besides when we were sleeping or at school, we could be found here, in our magical kingdom. We ate the berries here, did homework here, played here, bathed in the creek here, and even went to the bathroom sometimes here. This was our sanctuary.

I picked up a handful of moist leaves and playfully tossed them all over Kathleen. She immediately smiled and quickly stood up, ignoring the leaves that have stuck to her clothing and hair. She bent over and scooped up some of the leaves, "You're gonna get it, Harley!"

Instinctively, I got on my feet and took off running as fast as I could, listening to her giggles as she chased after me. The smile seemed permanent on my face, and my own laughter hurt my back. I got to the creek and leaped over it, knowing that Kathleen has always been scared to do it. I turned around to take my throne as the winner and watch her admit her defeat, but she wasn't there.

"Kathleen, I won! You can't cross over because you're a baby!" I continued to laugh at myself. I figured she was hiding somewhere, waiting for me to cross back over the creek and ambush me. I always have to win at everything in a stubborn manner, so I sat down and looked about the forest. "Kathleen, you know you won't win! Just admit it already, and come out of hiding!"

A few minutes later, I heard the crack of a stick to my left that wiped the smile immediately off my face. I got back onto my feet and looked hard in that direction, scanning for any sign of movement. I didn't see anything, no matter how hard I listened and focused. I started walking over, to get a better view, when I heard a crack to from behind me. I turned around, and from behind a large tree I saw Kathleen motioning me.

My smile reappeared, "I'm not falling for that trick! How stupid do you think I am?"

I looked closer at her face, and she looked terrified. I have never seen her look like that ever, and it made my stomach fall to my feet. She continued to motion me to come to her and I took a few feet her way. Then I stopped. What if this was one of her tricks? I hate losing to her, and I wasn't going to fall for any of her ideas.

Everything that happened next happened so fast, that I can only remember bits and pieces. It started with the sound of a crack from behind me. I froze in place, and Kathleen looked petrified and stopped motioning to me. I was afraid to move, my feet felt like they were stuck in ice and my body was made of stone. I couldn't get myself to turn to see what it was. Then there was another snap, and then another, and another, the sound of them getting faster and louder.

Kathleen got out from behind the tree, and screamed, "RUN!" It was like my body was set up for the moment. And I just started running as fast as I could after Kathleen. She waited for me to catch up and we took off together, holding hands.

I could hear the sound of something or someone running behind us, and it sent me into overdrive. She ended up slowing down with her running, or I was starting to go faster, and it started to become hard for me to hold her hand. I think she realized this and tried to let go. I looked her in the eyes for a second, and she just softly nodded at me. That's when I ran with all of the effort in my body, thinking that Kathleen would always just stay a few feet behind me.

I ran and ran, and didn't stop until I broke out of the woods and reached the house. I turned around, expecting Kathleen to break out in just moments, but she didn't. I waited a little longer, hoping, but nothing. I ran inside the house, praying Momma was home. I searched every room as quickly as possible, and came to the conclusion that she wasn't here.

I ran back outside and went back into the woods. I screamed her name over and over, hoping that she would call back, or that I would see her skipping her way towards me. I only searched for a short while, still terrified off whatever was in these woods with us. I went back to the house, selfishly, and called the police.

Momma came home to the police surrounding the area. Immediately she thought they were raiding her property looking for something. She went up to a man yelling, "You need a warrant to search or even be on my property! What do you even think you're doing?"

The policeman put his hand on her shoulder and spoke to her softly about the call that I had made, and what they were doing to help look for Kathleen. Momma shrugged off his hand, and pulled her purse higher onto her shoulder and looked at me. Her face wasn't one of sadness, but it almost looked like she was mad. Was she mad at me for her disappearance? Is she blaming me for what happened?

I should have held on to her hand. I shouldn't have let her go. I shouldn't have ran so fast out of the woods, when I knew she couldn't. I should have searched the woods better later. I don't remember when she disappeared on me. I wish I heard her footsteps ending behind me. But my all I see and hear are black.

A policeman came to our house a few weeks later telling us that they had found her body in a corn field a few streets away. He was a man with a black mustache and green eyes. He looked about Momma's age and appeared to be very friendly. He was going to continue to talk, but then it was as if he just remembered that I was there and looked between me and Momma.

Momma shooed me away, but I listened in from the other room. Momma started, "What happened to her?"

"The owner of the property was harvesting his field when he saw something unfamiliar. He told us he slowly walked over and as soon as he realized what it was, he ran back to his house to call us. We drove out immediately, and identified her on the spot," the man spoke so softly and slowly, it was as if he was talking to a toddler, trying to get it to understand what it did wrong.

"How did she die? Who took her?" Momma sounded more annoyed than upset by the fact of what happened to her daughter.

The man cleared his throat, "Well, the coroner examined the body and concluded that the death was caused by her bleeding out." He paused for a short time, and I could see the face that Momma was most likely giving him, to force him to go on with his story. "Both of her hands and her feet were cut off, and she has deep cuts all over her arms and legs."

My stomach turned and I had to hold back the vomit that threatened to come up my throat. The thought of Kathleen, my soul-mate, torn up like that horrified me. Momma coughed, maybe she felt the same way I did. She spoke more calmly this time, "Do you know who did this to her?"

The man took awhile to answer again, "Kathleen had traces of sperm in her body. We tested it and came up with a match, Robert Kenmore. We went to Robert's house with a warrant to search, and found your daughter's hands and feet in his basement freezer. We immediately took him into custody and questioned him. He admitted to what he had done, telling us that he murdered Kathleen first before pursuing sexual acts on her body."

I threw up in the sink as quietly as I could. I heard Momma start to sob, "How could anyone do this to such a precious soul?"

"There's also a weird part too, Miss Cather. He claims to have also been romantic with you throughout this time."

I threw up again. Could Momma have been a part of this? Surely she couldn't have known anything about this. Who would allow someone to hurt their own daughter like this? In such a gruesome manner.

Momma started crying loudly, "Yes, yes we were romantic together. Oh god... If I had known. He used me as some sort of sick act, and all along he had my dead daughter in his house."

"That's what we all believe, too. We're really sorry for your loss, and feel terrible having to tell you this information," he spoke as calmly as he could to her.

I could hear Momma gagging, "I'm going to be sick. I need to leave now, goodbye!"

I rushed into my room, so she would assume that I heard nothing. I watched the police car leave and cried to myself, wishing that I actually did hear nothing.