Chapter 16

After all that went on that day, and the long talk with Amy, I could not sleep that night. I went down to the basement to watch TV, hoping to fall asleep on the couch. But all I could think of was that look on Katie's face and in her eyes. I hoped she was ok.

I was daydreaming and deep in thought so I did not see Katie standing there until she spoke.

"Hi."

"H ... Hi Katie. What are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep. Can I watch TV with you?"

"Sure. Pull up a rock."

She sat down next to me. She had on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt, and looked squeaky clean, girl next door fresh. Her long hair was tied up in a ponytail, making her look so cute. She cuddled in close, I put my arm around her, and she laid her head on my shoulder. We watched some nonsense for a while. It was obvious neither one of us wanted to watch TV.

"So, you want to talk, tell me about it?" I asked.

"Talk about what?" she stalled, with that 'deer in the headlights' look in her eyes.

"Oh, I don't know. About why you hate your dad, and why you would never go back to him again. About why you would kill yourself before you would move away from Amy. About why you almost came unglued when you found out about Cindi's rape. All those would be nice. But, let's start with this one, the one I really want to know — about how you inserted yourself into and filled up the empty space in Amy's mind that Cindi used to occupy." I smiled gently, trying to put all the love I could into that smile and my eyes.

I expected a reaction. That was the idea. I did not expect the one I got. Katie turned white as all the blood left her face, and the look in her eyes was now the 'deer in the crosshairs' look. She tried to talk twice, but could not. Finally, she tried to act dumb.

"What ... I don't know what you are talking about." She swallowed hard. She really was not a very good actor.

"Really? Then let me tell you what I know. Amy and Cindi had a mental connection since birth. They possessed mental abilities that brought them much closer than two normal sisters. They could sense each other's presence and emotional states. They could sometimes communicate with each other. Victoria and I never knew this was going on, even though there were many clues. Then, Cindi is killed. Amy becomes pathologically depressed and loses the desire to live, to the point that Victoria and I fear suicide. Amy has this area in her mind where she could always sense Cindi, and now it is empty.

"When I picked her up at your house that night, she already knew something was wrong. There's no possibility that anyone could have told her. You came running out of the house, said 'I'm sorry, is there anything I can do', and never once asked what the problem was. Why? Because you already knew.

"After two weeks of Amy falling apart, you walk into our house one day, walk into Amy's room, and six hours later Amy is back to her old self. There is only one way that could happen; someone filled up that empty place in her mind. She treats you just like Cindi now, loves you just as she loved Cindi, even though neither she nor Cindi were close to you before. Only one thing can cause that, Katie; you occupying the place that Cindi once occupied. I just can't figure out how you did it. Most importantly, how you did it without being a twin. This mind connection exists almost exclusively in twins." I smiled down at her and kissed her cheek.

Katie looked at me in panic. She was so scared she forgot to lie.

"Who are you? How can you know these things?" she whispered, her voice trembling.

"How am I doing so far, sweetheart?" I asked softly. She gave up trying to deny it.

"Please," she begged. "You can't tell anyone about this. How do you know all of this? They will take me away, I will be a freak, and I will live in a government facility for the rest of my life. Please, I don't have much in my life, but I don't want to lose what little I have!" Tears poured down her cheek.

My heart melted. Perhaps I had been too hard on her. However, after the way she acted tonight, I had to do something to shake her up, make her talk. It was clear to me she could not go back to how she was after tonight. It was either uphill or downhill from here on. I was not going to lose another daughter, or soon to be daughter, if I could help it.

"Katie, calm down. Think about it. Amy is the same way. Do you think I'm going to do something that will hurt her? Not to mention that I would never do anything to hurt you anyway."

For the first time that night, I saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Maybe she could trust me. I watched as she visibly forced herself to be calm. Finally, she looked up and smiled at me tentatively.

"Ok. What do you want to know?" she asked.

"How did you do it? And how can you do this without being a twin?"

She stared at me solemnly, thoughtfully.

"You know, for being a really smart person, and the father of the smartest person I've ever known, you can be pretty stupid sometimes."

"And ... what do you mean by that?" I somehow sensed something traumatic was coming.

"You said only twins can do this?"

"That's what I understand."

"Well... ?" She sobbed, her voice trembling, tears running down her face, her lip quivering.

Suddenly it hit me! How could I be so stupid and blind?

"You're a twin!" I said softly.

"Was," she sobbed, and buried her face in my chest.

I held her, stroked her hair, tried to calm her down. I felt even stronger now that she had to talk about what was eating her up, but what had I done to this special girl? I felt so bad for her. When she calmed down some, I asked her if she wanted to talk.

"I'm not sure I want to," she said sadly.

"Katie, you have to. This is killing you. You're dying inside. If you can't talk to me, find someone else you trust to talk to, but you can't go on like this."

"You're the only one I can talk to, the only one I trust, except for Amy, and I can't dump this on her." She smiled tiredly at me. I waited.

"My twin's name was Becky. We were identical twins. Becky was the sweetest person I ever met. She existed only to make others happy, to make me happy. There was not a mean bone in her body.

"Like Amy and Cindi, we had a connection from birth. Ours was probably stronger, because we were identical twins. We didn't have the close, wonderful family that you have here. Dad was a drunk, and Mom was dependent on him and unable to leave. Things were not good.

"I was eleven when Dad raped me the first time. I fought him as hard as I could, but I was even smaller then. For six months, he raped me almost every night, at least several times each week. He wasn't a good, kind man as you are. All of us cheerleaders would gladly let you make love to us if you wanted to. He wasn't a nice man. For six months, I fought him as hard as I could, every time. I never gave in, never! Not once did I ever even come close to enjoying it. I hated him.

"One night, I just couldn't take it anymore. Not that night. I told Mom repeatedly what was happening, but she didn't believe me, or didn't care; didn't want to fight him. I had to leave. Becky told me to go spend the night at our friend's house. She would have gone with me, but she had the flu and had to stay home. But she saw how desperate I was, so she told me to go.

"I was so mad, so upset that night, that it interfered with my ability to read Becky. I didn't think anything about not reading her; that sometimes happened when she was asleep. I knew she had gone to bed before I left. Consequently, I never felt it when he, not finding me, went in to Becky and did to her what he had done to me so many times." Katie was openly weeping now, her eyes wild.

"She fought him, just as I did. She fought him so hard, he knocked her out and broke her leg. She also had internal injuries. I don't think he knew he had injured her that badly. He wouldn't have cared anyway. He was drunk. After he was done with her, he left her there and went down to the bar to drink.

"No one knows what happened after that. Somehow, the house caught on fire. By the time Becky regained consciousness, she was almost overcome by smoke. She couldn't move anyway. She called out to me in her mind. It was the only time we were able to talk mind to mind. She told me to stay calm and call the fire department. She knew they wouldn't get there in time.

"I called, and then I panicked anyway. I started running back home. Becky, that sweet sister of mine, in her last moments alive, spent all her time staying calm, telling me how much she loved me. Never once did she panic or express any fear for her life. She made sure that the last thoughts I ever had from her were of love.

"I was responsible for her death and she told me how much she loved me! I swear to God, I never would have left her there had I known that might happen!" Katie couldn't talk anymore. She buried her head in my chest and cried her little eyes out. My heart ached for her. After awhile, she started talking again.

"During the investigation it was revealed what my father had done to Becky and what he had been doing to me for six months. My father left town one night, disappearing just before they were going to arrest him. They took me away from my mother.

My mom's sister took in foster children for the state. They placed me as a foster child with her. That's the 'mother' I was with until a few days ago. She has five other children; her husband is never around. They just take the children in for the money. He shows up when the state comes to visit. When they come next time, they will probably just tell them I ran away.

"If you can imagine what Amy went through, mine was ten times worse. I walked off and left my sister in the same house with that ... that bastard! He wouldn't have hurt her if I was there.

"Imagine what it was like to talk to your sister in your mind, knowing she was dying. I had the same black, empty space Amy had. After two weeks of enduring the emptiness, with no home life, with the guilt of being responsible for her death, I decided it wasn't worth living anymore. I decided to end it all.