Chapter 16

A narrow path opened and knew she must go alone. There was no need to say anything to either of them, since they could see it for themselves. Her feet carried her to the chill that caused her breath to pierce the air before her.

She stepped into the path, which caused her nipples to harden without fear of the sound of crunching beneath her feet. The dark thing neared and called to her, but Donna kept moving without slowing her steps. An oppressive cold cut across her body, which almost slowed her steps.

Snow filled the path as she turned a corner and came across a fork in the road. Each one looked identical, but knew only one was safe to take. The dark thing taunted her as her body stilled from indecision. Her heart beat in her chest as her feet sank into the snow past her ankles.

Donna closed her eyes, since staring from one to the other wasn’t helping. A warmth touched her body from the right and knew that was where she needed to go. Closing her eyes was the only reason she noticed the change, since the identical paths were causing her mind to tax itself.

The snow had passed her calves before she opened her eyes, and leaned forward to pull herself out. She trudged deeper into the jungle with the dark thing doing all it could to stop her. Other splits came with the same warmth coming from just one direction, which she took every time.

The snow and cold vanished as she felt carpet beneath her feet. Scents from her parent’s bedroom flooded her nostrils as Lucas and William smiled at her with their legs parted. They were equal distance on the edge of the bed with no idea what to do next. There was no taunting from them, only their smiles calling to her.

Hot breath touched her ear as her mother whispered so only she could hear her. “You always were indecisive, Donna. Ever since you were a little girl, you never could make up your mind. You just had to have all or nothing.”

Donna knew she couldn’t deny what her mother was saying, and knew what she had to do, but stood frozen in place. She had to choose one twin or the other and her mind refused to cooperate with her body. Her mother’s soft fingers touched the small of her back, which made things even more difficult.

The hot breath was making it difficult to speak as another whisper pressed against her ear. “All you have to do is pick one, but you can’t do it. Nothing but a spoiled girl who wants to have everything. You can’t have it all, Donna.”

Her mother’s fingers wrapped around her wrists from behind like icy talons as hot breath reached her other ear. Donna’s eyes moved from one twin to the other with a hammering heart. It was a multiple-choice test, which she hated. Just like in school; there was no sense of one answer being better than the other, but those other tests never had anything as costly as the one she faced.