4

The sound of the phone ringing is what had Carmen rushing out of her shower so fast that she nearly slipped and smacked her head on the porcelain sink in her bathroom. She managed to wrap herself in a towel before she grabbed the cell phone off the counter in the kitchen to answer it, as soon as she looked at the caller ID, she realized that it was her mother.

"Hello?"

"Hi, honey," her mothers soothing tone echoed over the receiver. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, Mom. Not at all." The shampoo still stuck to her hair said otherwise. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you could come over?" she asked.

When she said this, an uneasy feeling settled in Carmens stomach. She detected something off in Stellas tone and instantly worried that her mother was having one of her panic attacks.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, of course. Everything is fine. I just need your help with something."

Carmen chewed on the inside of her cheek. Her mother said that everything was okay, but Carmen couldn't help but remember the one time that her mother tried to hide her emotions from her in a vulnerable state and it caused an episode. Maybe Stella was trying to subtly ask for help without alarming Carmen?

"I'll come over."

"Thanks, sweetie. You don't work do you?" Stella asked.

Carmen was in fact scheduled to work in about 2 hours. Her and Jane had finished their run only about an hour ago when Carmen returned to her apartment, but she knew that if she called off and explained that it was a family problem then they wouldn't mind.

"No, not today," Carmen lied.

"Great, so I'll see you soon?"

"Yep. I'll be on my way over in a few minutes," she agreed.

They both hung up and Carmen rushed to the bathroom to finish showering. The clock on her beside table read 11:48 pm, so she quickly called the cafe to let them know that she wouldn't be able to make it. Of course, they were understanding as always so as soon as Carmen got off the phone with them and changed into her outfit for the day, she grabbed the chip that she would need for her deal tonight off of the stand. She knew that she would have to linger in The Grave District for longer than expected given that she had to meet Carston at 7 for the money delivery that Marcus was supposed to give her. After that, she would meet up with the mystery buyer for the sale at 9.

She placed the chip and a slip of paper, with the custom sequence written on it, into a protective plastic casing. Once Carmen shoved the chip into her back pocket, she left her apartment and headed to her mother's house.

-

"Carmen!" Stella exclaimed when she saw her daughter walk through her front door. She was instantly running to Carmen, who had barely gotten the door shut before Stella threw her arms around her in a tight embrace.

"Hi, mom," Carmen managed to breathe. Stella released her grip and pulled back to see her face.

"Sorry, sweetie. Force of habit."

Stella had a similar face shape to Carmen, and Carmen most definitely got her hair color from her mother. But Stella could take no credit for the black eyes that her daughter inhabited, that would be from Carmens father, Kent. Nevertheless, Carmen liked to think that she had gotten so much from her mother, not just looks but personality as well.

"I really appreciate you coming over to help me. I just didn't want you to drop everything to come here," Stella said.

"Of course, I don't mind." Carmen smiled but this smile soon faded as she realized that her mother was wearing her work scrubs for the hospital. "Are you going to work?"

Stella nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's why I didn't want you to rush coming over here. I was going to ask you tomorrow in case you were busy."

"Ask me what?"

Stellas smile disappeared and her hands dropped from her daughter shoulders. She tried to clear her throat subtly but even Carmen could sense the uncomfortable tension in the room.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Carmen asked as she furrowed her eyebrows.

Stella inhaled deeply. "I was going to ask you to clean out Ainsleys old room and bring her stuff to the attic."

At the name Ainsley, Carmen had completely frozen. It had been months since either of them had actually spoken her name. Despite all these years, hearing her name still managed to stop Carmen in her tracks.

Stella could see Carmens hesitation and continued on, "I'm sorry I know that it's not fair of me to ask. I've tried, but every time I try to clean it out myself I have an anxiety attack and your father wanted this done long before...

"It's okay, mom," Carmen cut her off, then straightened and blinked a few times, trying to bring her brain back to reality. "I can do it."

"Are you sure?" Stella asked.

Carmen nodded and swallowed hard. She proceeded to force a fake smile to ease her mother. "It'll be fine, really. Go ahead and go to work, I've got this."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Stella finally gave in. "Okay. If you change your mind, it's okay. We can always ask for the neighbors help."

Carmen tried to imagine her changing her mind and getting the neighbors help instead but it left an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She could never imagine a stranger touching any of Ainsleys belongings. Carmen couldn't be sure that she wouldn't flip out if anyone other than family went near Ainsleys room.

Stella grabbed her bags and left the house. Carmen stood motionless at the doorway for a few seconds before she finally gathered the courage to go down the hall and to the forbidden second room on the left.

Turning the door knob to step inside was difficult, but stepping inside the bedroom and shutting the door behind her felt impossible. Carmen was scared to move or breathe as she looked around the room. She hadn't been in here for nearly 3 years. She stopped coming in here when the smell of Ainsleys perfume that once coated the walls, floorboards and objects in the room had faded away. No one could manage to take anything out or remove anything from its locations for years. They kept the room just as Ainsley had left it over 5 years ago.

Carmen slowly made her way over to Ainsleys bed and pressed the palm of her hand into the mattress before she slowly sat down. It felt alien to her to be sitting in this room again. Deep down she always knew this day would come but she still had trouble coming to terms with it. The picture beside the bed had caught Carmens eye and she held her breath as she picked up the picture frame, wiping a layer of dust off the glass and stared at the picture before her.

In the frame were two girls. One had black hair tied into a side braid, and the other had blue hair that had been trimmed down to a pixie hair cut. They both were wearing matching outfits, except the girl with black hair who had on a white halter top and the one with blue hair had on a red halter top, although their jean shorts were the same. Carmen smiled hard as her finger brushed over the face of the girl with black hair.

Because the girl with black hair was her own face, it was 15 year old Carmen in that photo. Standing beside her was 15 year old Ainsley.

Ainsley was not just Carmens sister, she was her identical twin.

From the age where they could truly express themselves, Ainsley always voiced that she had wanted her hair dyed. She loved vibrant and bright hair colors, she never liked anything that looked natural, including her own black hair that made her look like a carbon copy of Carmen. The first hair color that she ever chose to do was a bright purple. For the longest time, Carmen took this as an insult. She believed that Ainsley didn't want to look like her, that she wanted to be separated from her twin. But as time went on, Carmen realized that it hadn't been that at all. Ainsley simply wanted to stand out, to be different. Her wild-card personality played a huge part in this. She loved to draw attention to herself, not in a condescending way but in a way that she could truly feel that people could see her. The real her.

This was very ironic considering this was how Carmen saw it one day, but the very next her twin disappeared into thin air.

That's a night that Carmen will never forget. She woke up at 3 in the morning to find her mother in the living room sobbing and holding a note while her father cried on the phone to the police.

Carmen took the note in a panic and read it. To her worst fear, Ainsley had run away in the middle of the night and left behind nothing but a slip of paper.

She still remembers the moment she ran outside screaming and crying Ainsleys name, hoping that she wasn't far enough to not hear her. It was only when the police car pulled up in front of the house to see a frantic Carmen screeching on her front lawn did she truly understand that Ainsley was long gone.

That was 5 years ago. Ainsley was never found. Carmens father admitted once that he didn't believe that Ainsley was alive anymore. She was so young and was god knows where? But Carmen knew better. Carmen and Ainsley have had a connection since birth that no one else could understand. If Ainsley were dead, Carmen would feel it.

A tear slipped from Carmens eye and down her cheek. She laid the picture frame on the bed facing down and wiped her cheeks. After taking a look around the room, Carmen realized that there was no one better to clean out Ainsleys room than her. She wouldn't want anyone else to do it, even if she had to do it alone.