“Car accident,” Vi said. “Eric and I survived, but our parents died. He was fine, but I had internal injuries. One of my lungs was crushed. And my liver and spleen were messed up. I needed surgery—a bunch of surgeries, actually. I was in the hospital for months.”
“Awful,” Iris said, but she didn’t turn away. She sat up, leaned in for a closer look at the scars.
She was so close that Vi could feel Iris’s breath on her skin.
“I don’t remember it. Not really. I have nightmares about the accident sometimes, that I’m strapped down in the backseat and I see the bright headlights of a car coming at us. Gran says our car swerved and went down an embankment, flipping. The front of the car crumpled, and the driver’s seat came back and crushed me. We ended up in the river, and the car filled up with water.” Vi was quiet for a few seconds, could feel the cold water creeping up around her. “That’s in the dreams too. Cold, cold water.”
“How’d you get out?” Iris asked.
“A man came and pulled us out. He saved Eric and me. I don’t know his name. Can’t even remember his face. I don’t remember my parents, either. Not really. I think I do sometimes, but it gets all jumbled up with the pictures Gran shows us, the stories she tells.”
Iris nodded. Then she reached out, touching the scar on Vi’s stomach, and Vi let out a little “oh” of surprise. She trembled, the shock of Iris’s touch spreading goose bumps all over her skin.
“We’re alike,” Iris said, running her fingers over the raised scar tissue, the place where Vi had very little feeling, could sense only the pressure of touch. At last she took her fingers away.
Vi stood, then slowly fumbled to do up the buttons of her pajama top, but her hands were shaking, so it was hard. Iris reached for her hand, pulled her down. Vi lay down beside her, and Iris pressed her body against Vi’s back, spooning her, wrapping her arm around Vi, holding her tight, so tight Vi wasn’t sure she could get away even if she tried. But getting away was the last thing on Vi’s mind.
She listened to Iris’s breathing, fast at first, then slowing.
She could feel Iris’s heart beating against her back, matching the rhythm of her own heart, and it was almost like they were sharing one heart, one body all twisted together; a body of scars and broken memories.
Conjoined twins, separated then put back together, finally whole again.
THE BOOK OF MONSTERS
By Violet Hildreth and Iris Whose Last Name We Don’t Know Illustrations by Eric Hildreth 1978
THE GHOUL
The Ghoul is a humanoid creature. It walks upright, on two legs. It has two arms and moves like a man. It wears a black hood and has a very pale white face with two big black eyes.
We know very little about the Ghoul but believe it to be supernatural. We think it can disappear and reappear.
It’s been watching us.
We believe we might be in terrible danger.
Lizzy
August 20, 2019
THE CABIN WAS in sight, a blue beacon at the edge of the shore.
I imagined Lauren making this trip at night, coming home, guided by the glowing lights of the cabin, listening to the loons, the owls, the frogs and toads trilling as she crept along, carrying her secret stone, the knowledge of her secret friend.
I thought about the weight of secrets.
Promises kept.
Dreams shared.
Do you share the same dream?
Do you dream it with me?
Yes, I thought. Yes.
But what did it all mean?