Musings From A Demented Mind (13 page)

                         
Twisted Twins

Alina stared at all the antique jewelry that was hanging on the rack in the dusty cluttered booth at the flea market.  She was looking for something that would go perfectly with her black leather dress and fishnet stockings she wore every Friday at the local nightclub.  There were several earrings, but she already owned so many.  She was looking for something cool to go along with her gothic wardrobe.  There were several necklaces, but none of them seemed to speak to her.

“Can I help you?” an elderly man who looked like Jerry Garcia asked.

“Just browsing through your jewelry.  I haven’t seen anything beckoning me yet.”

“I do have some other necklaces in a box over there.  So many antiques and not enough room to display them.”  He grabbed a large box and placed three necklaces on the table in front of her.  One of them was black with a gargoyle shaped medallion with ruby red eyes.

“How much is this one?  It’s exactly what I’m looking for.”

“I can let that one go for ten dollars.”

“I’ll take it,” Alina said excitedly. 

She pulled out a ten from her purse and handed it to him.  He smiled sinisterly as he took the money from her sending a shiver down her spine.

“Take good care of this one.  It will take good care of you.”

“Ok.”

Alina walked away from the booth as fast as she could.  She glanced back to make sure he wasn’t following her.   After stopping by the food truck outside the flea market to get an elephant ear, she drove home.

She walked into her apartment.  Her answering machine was blinking.  She pressed the button and listened to her messages.

“Hey, Alina.  It’s Lucas.  Just wanted to know if you wanted to hookup this weekend.  Give me a call.”

“Just because I slept with you once, doesn’t mean I want to do it again. You weren’t that great. Been there done that.”

She walked into her bedroom and placed the necklace beside the other five she owned.  She looked in the mirror and admired herself.  She had raven black hair that came down to her shoulders and pale white skin.  Her black lipstick and eye shadow matched the black outfit she was wearing.  She grabbed the whip she had hanging on the wall and held it in both of her hands.

“On your knees, slave!”

She placed the whip back on its hook and walked into the living room and turned on the television. “American Mary”, one of her favorite movies, was on.  Katharine Isabelle was so sexy in the movie even she was drooling.  After it was over, she took a shower and headed for The Devil’s Due where she was a waitress.

“Alina, looking sexy as ever,” Skulls, the bouncer, said as she entered the bar.

“Love the new tats.” 

“Women dig the serpents.”

“Maybe you’ll score with some hot chick tonight.”

“Happily married.”  Skulls pointed at the wedding ring he wore as a charm on his necklace.  He couldn’t wear it on his finger because he had a habit of punching rowdy customers in the face when he threw them out of the bar. 

“Alina, Lucas is here,” Rozalina said in a thick Russian accent and stuck her finger in her mouth in disgust.  “How you could have slept with such a troll.”

“Lack of self-respect.”

“More like bad vodka.”

“I don’t drink that much.”

“You slept with him.  You drink too much.”

“Ok, I drink too much.  Can’t party without alcohol.”

“Girls, I pay you to serve tables, not jibber-jabber,” Mikhail, the bartender, said.

“Mikhail, you are a pridurok,” Rozalina said angrily.

“Call me that again and I’ll beat your ass!”  Mikhail threatened.

“With those tiny hands of yours?  I’m so scared.”

“Hire Russian women.  What was I thinking?  Could’ve hired American women.  They have more respect.”

“Mikhail, they won’t do the things you have us do.  If you get my drift.”

“Touché.”

“I guess I can’t avoid Lucas,” Alina said.

“If he gives you any trouble, Skulls can beat some respect into him,” Mikhail suggested.

“I can handle him ─ as little as there is of him to handle.”

“Ouch,” Mikhail said, laughing at the insult.

Alina tied her hair into a bun and sluggishly walked over to Lucas.  She wanted to be as unattractive as she possibly could.

“Alina, it’s been a while,” Lucas said. 

He wore a black leather jacket with the Sons of Anarchy emblem on the back.  He was a biker wannabe.  He was no tough guy.  He was as harmless as a little kitten.

“Yes, it has. Why do you frequent a place like this?  Applebee’s is more your style.”

“I come for the wonderful service.”

“From Russians?  We are all rude here.  You, American boy, are just fooling yourself.”

“I’ve missed you.”

“Lucas, stop.”  She stopped using her accent to signify she was being serious.  “You are a nice guy.  I’m not the get to know me type of girl.  I sleep around and that’s how I like it.  I never sleep with the same guy twice.  You understand?”

“Unfortunately, I do.”

“Good,” she said with her Russian accent.  “I’ll get you some vodka to make you feel better.”

After her shift had finally ended, she purchased a bottle of Vodka from the bar and headed home.  She walked into her apartment and quickly shed all of her clothes.  She stood in front of her bedroom mirror, completely nude, admiring her body.

“I see why men like me so much.”  She took a swig from her vodka and stared at her new necklace.  “Might as well try you on.” 

She put it on and admired how it looked against her pale skin. The gargoyle’s ruby red eyes glowed brightly.  She felt like she was spinning in place and then she passed out.

“Wakey wakey sleepy head,” she heard a female voice that sounded like her’s say.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked straight at herself.  She wasn’t looking into her mirror, but she was looking at a spitting image of herself.

“Who are you?” she asked, still feeling very groggy.

“It’s me; it’s you ─ however you want to describe yourself or myself.”

“Huh?”

“I’m your twin.”

“I don’t have a twin?”

“You do now.”

“I don’t understand.” 

Alina tried to shake off the headache she was feeling.

“Take a sip of your vodka.”

Her twin handed her the bottle.

“Is this some sort of Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”

Alina lifted the necklace toward her face and stared at it.

“I’m not here to kill you or take your place.  You’re the one who put on the necklace.”

“I just bought this at the flea market.”

“I guess Mr. Grateful Dead should had warned you about its magical powers.”

“He said…”

“Take good care of this one.  It will take good care of you,” they said in unison.

“He didn’t say anything about it cloning me, Alina.”

“No, you’re Alina.  I think I’ll call myself Athena.”

“Athena?”

“Yes, as you can tell, I’m a goddess.  Guys will fall at my feet like they do for you.  Put some clothes on.  Let’s go out and have some fun.”

“Fun?”

“More like let’s go out and get into some trouble ─ twin style.”

Alina stared at her in disbelief.  She wasn’t sure how to react. 
Was this girl really a clone of her or was she something more evil pretending to be her twin?
  She’d seen many horror movies in her lifetime and she became skeptical about what was going on here.

Athena, sensing her skepticism, grabbed her arm.  “To your laptop.  We’ll look up the necklace online.” She dragged her into the small dining room where her laptop was sitting on a small table.  She did a search for the gargoyle necklace. On the Cursed Relics website, there was a small article about it. “The necklace has the ability to create a complete clone of those who wears it.”

Alina read the article over Athena’s shoulder.

“Says nothing bad about the clone.”  Athena smiled at her.  “Now let’s go have some fun.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Party!  Get wasted!  Pick up some men! The usual stuff!”  She danced around the kitchen.

“Not too much fun.  We have to… I mean I have to work tonight.”

“Do you think Mikhail would hire me?” 

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell anybody I know about you.”

“Why?  None of them really know anything about our family in Russia.  They don’t really know if you have a twin sister or not.  You’ve never told them anything about your personal life outside the different guys we’ve, I mean you’ve, slept with.”

“Ok, I’ll introduce you.  He’ll probably get a kick out of having two of us working there.  Twin Russian gothic chicks will probably bring in some more clientele.”

“Some guys have twin fantasies.”

“Athena, maybe we should set some boundaries.”

“No, Alina.  We aren’t at that part of our relationship yet.”

“Athena!”

“I’m kidding.  I know you have a better sense of humor than that since we share the same sense of humor.”

“We better get going.”

“Maybe you should put some clothes on first.”

Athena pointed toward her naked body.

“That would have been awkward,” Alina said and walked into her bedroom.

They walked into Death Metal Hell, the nightclub down the street from The Devil’s Due.  The music was loud and the place was filled almost to capacity with metal heads.  The place smelled like marijuana.  Within seconds, they were hit on by several guys as they squeezed through the crowd toward the bar.

“Two vodkas,” Alina said to the bald, muscular bartender with tattoos all over his neck and forehead.

“Look at all the man meat out there.  I guess we won’t be needing any toys tonight,” Athena joked.

“You’re bad.”

“Alina, you’re thinking it, too.”

“You’re perverted.”

“So are you.”

“Can I buy both of you girls a drink?”  A tall, muscular, blond man with skull tattoos all over his arms asked.

“You can pay for our vodkas,” Athena answered. “This one’s mine, Alina.”

“You two interested in a private party?”

“What type of private party?” Alina asked.

“Booze, drugs.  Only the best stuff.”  As he was talking, his friend dropped a roofie in both of their vodkas.

“Sounds like our type of party,” Athena said.

Alina took a large gulp of her vodka and began to dance around in a circle while Athena cheered her on.  As she was dancing, she began feeling lightheaded and passed out.

Alina opened her eyes and was back in her apartment.  Athena was sitting on the chair next to the couch smiling at her.  As her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see that Athena’s hands and clothes were covered in blood.

“What happened?”

“Alina, the guys thought they could knock us out and take advantage of us.”  The smile on her face grew bigger.  “What they didn’t realize was the drug had no effect on me.”

“Whose blood is that?”

“Why theirs.”

“What did you do?”  Alina asked angrily.

“Come, I’ll show you.”

She followed her into the bathroom.  She stared at the horrific sight in shock.

“Beautiful isn’t it.  I was going to go for the human centipede, but decided Siamese twins were more appropriate.”

From a scene right out of “American Mary”, the two guys were sown together with black thread.  Lying on the floor besides them were two of their legs and arms.  She brought over a giant glass jar filled with liquid and their appendages.

“Their family jewels,” Athena laughed sinisterly.

“You’re sick.”

Alina stepped backward out of the bathroom.

“Where are you going?”

“Away from you!  You’re insane!”

“Alina, you’re just as sick and demented as I am.  You would have done the same thing.”

“No, Athena.  I could never harm someone like that.”

As Athena moved toward her, she continued to step backward. 

“Why are you so afraid of me?  We are one in the same.  Identical down to the last cell.”

Alina ripped the necklace away from her neck as she continued to step backward, not realizing the window was opened behind her.  She tripped backward.  Athena ran forward to grab her before she fell out the window.  She grabbed her right hand which slowly began to slip away since her hands were still covered in the blood of the two guys she operated on.  As she lost her grip, Alina fell to her death; her head splattering on the pavement below.

“Oh crap,” Athena said as she watched her own body slowly disappear.