Suze Appleton

My Sisters' Birthday

People often ask me what it's like having twins for sisters and I never know what to say to them. I've never known anything else, you see, because they were here when I arrived. In fact, the babies had mum and dad run ragged when mum got unexpectedly caught with me, so in a way we've been like been triplets really. Very often there's no difference between us, except that I don't have their special bond. 

It's true, they really can know each other's thoughts, but I got pretty good at joining in this game. Until their last birthday party, that is. It wasn't my fault, I didn't ask them to play that trick, they just decided it would be fun to sneak up on someone and they didn't let me in on the joke or I might have been able to stop them.

I went to visit them last week, took them some food that they like. They don't like it in there. I think it's really creepy and Sally wasn't coping very well with it. Sarah was doing better but I could see that even she wasn't happy about it. She just puts a bit more bravado on, our Sarah, but I know her better, better than she does herself I think. I knew it was stupid to do what they did, but like I say, they didn't tell me what they were doing beforehand. If only they had known that Uncle Donald had a weak heart, they may never have done it.

It's been very lonely for me since they went. I feel like I've lost my whole family and it's not fair. I'm sure I'm just as clever as they are but no one's interested in me. Oh no, I'm not a twin I'm just a single person, nothing special. Still, I suppose I get mum and dad all to myself now. Well, I would if they were around more but since the twins went they're having to work all the hours they can just to keep the money coming in. I understand that it's expensive, having kids, but having twins is more than just the cost of two kids, it seems. Now they're in that special institute developing their 'special' skills and it's costing mum and dad an arm and a leg to pay for it. 

I wish they'd never showed off at that birthday party. If they hadn't shown off in front of Aunty Irene she might have left us alone, but when they played that trick and poor Uncle Donald fell down she was watching them while everybody fussed him. Mum and Dad never told us that she was some kind of educational psychologist. I wonder now if she is really an auntie. Dad said she had been married to his brother James once and she'd always been good to us when we were little but I don't remember seeing her. Dad said she just hadn't been around much since her and Uncle James spilt up, but I don't know, seems funny to me. She's a bit clever for our family and I can't see anyone that clever marrying Uncle James, who's a bit thick really. And he's never mentioned being married. 

Poor Dad's never been quite the same since they took the twins away. I think he wonders if he did the right thing. I hear them arguing at night, him and mum, trying to convince themselves that it was right to let them go. I know they'll be out soon but I can't tell anyone. The twins have sworn me to secrecy. All that food I've been taking them in, right under the noses of the doctors, that's part of the plan, and next week when it's their next birthday they'll let everyone know what they think of that institute. Let's just say it won't be there to make any more kids suffer, not after Sarah's got to work with the stuff inside the doughnuts. It was really tricky getting the filling inside those doughnuts, not as easy as jam, that's for sure.