"Three questions," said Chase smiling and she smiled back, were they really going to do this?

"Number one, how is it possible for someone to burn a cake made from a box, it has instructions on the back Florence!" 

"I fell asleep" she giggled

"Number two, how is it possible to fall asleep at midday!" he gestured to the window where bright summer sunlight poured in.

"You know me" she replied "I can sleep anywhere at any time it's a talent of mine"

He raised an eyebrow "Well baking certainly isn't"

Florence felt overwhelmingly sad, sadness flooded through her entire body and she couldn't quite place her finger on the cause of this sudden wave of complete agony and grief.

She reached forward and stroked Chase's hair trailing her finger down his face trying to memorise each and every freckle though she knew she would soon be seeing this face, just not as him.

"What's wrong?" he asked 

"Your not real" she replied drawing her hand away 

"I love you"

And then she was tumbling down, down, down like Alice falling down the rabbit hole and waking up in a bizarre world where nothing made sense.

Florence woke up drenched in sweat and already crying, she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in" she croaked

Cole's hair was swept to one side and he looked like he hadn't slept all night, she was surprised she had been able to sleep herself in this flat that seemed to haunt her.

"You were screaming," said Cole, shifting awkwardly with half his face visible through the door.

"I had a nightmare, they happen, I'm fine Cole" she looked outside to the darkened window lit only by the dim streetlamp.

"You were shouting like you were in danger," he whispered after a pause.

Florence reached for the tissue box beside her

"Yeah I was, my dream was about him, it was a good dream at first while I didn't remember, and it turned into a nightmare when I remembered and now its a living nightmare because he's still not here"

He still wasn't there, Chase was still gone, she was still stuck in his flat for a week with his seemingly bipolar brother.

"I wish..." Cole shook his head and then smiled wanly.

"I wouldn't blame you for hating me right now Florence, you're stuck with me, and Chase was always so much better than me at everything, you probably wish I was the dead twin, at least you and him would be together"

She was utterly thrown, she didn't know what to say, in the darkest corners of her mind she had wished this a few times but immediately dismissed the thought, it wasn't his fault, Chase's illness had been nobody's fault, and something he said about Chase always being better than him resounded with her, so this was one of his insecurities.

She patted the corner of her bed, telling him to sit, they might as well talk to each other rather than being miserable alone in separate rooms.

"Why would you say that Cole? Why would you say that he was better than you, you shouldn't compare yourself to people, especially not your family"

He sat down with a heavy sigh.

"I know my parents always preferred Chase, he was their golden boy, he never got into fights, had an A* average. They wouldn't ever admit it if I'd asked them because they were good people and he was the all-around nice guy, people liked him before they'd even met him because they'd hear such good things. And then there was me his polar opposite with an underage drinking problem, bad reputation, and some really bad habits. I reasoned with myself back then that no matter how good I was Chase would always be better so, in the end, I just stopped trying to be good, why not be bad if bad got me attention."

Florence had to take a moment to process all of that, Chase had always been nice always been good to her but she hadn't realised the amount of pressure that would put on his twin. The way Cole spoke with sadness and bitterness sounded a lot like her before she had gone to Oakwood, desperately craving love and attention from her parents. She might not have had a sibling to compete with, instead, she was overshadowed by their work.

She placed a hand over his hesitantly and he looked surprised. 

"Is that why you were in prison?"

He nodded.

"Organised robbery, I was part of a group of us but it turned nasty when the owner of the shop woke up and discovered us, one of the others punched him hard on the temple, he should have been the one done for grievous bodily harm, but they all ran, I didn't want to give any of them up but I stayed with the man, called the ambulance and I was the one who was arrested, who wouldn't give the police their names, it sounds stupid know but those guys they were my family when no one else was, I didn't want to throw them to the wolves"

"But they threw you to them!" Florence protested "They committed the serious crime and just left you there"

He nodded

"Yes I guess they did, but I served my time anyway, there's nothing anyone can do to change that" he smiled slightly at her angry expression 

"Not even you Florence Elizabeth Clarke"

She suddenly had a painful jolt back to the past, when Chase had found out her middle name, he had smiled at her with that exact same smile.

Don't think about that now Florence, that's Cole in front of you, this is the present, not the past.

"So then Chase came to work at Oakwood I guess?" she said trying to keep the conversation going and block out her unwelcome thoughts

"Yeah, I guess he did, I was arrested six months after our parents died, when he came to visit me it was the first time I'd ever seen him angry, he barely talked to me and then I didn't hear from him for a year, he sent me a postcard telling me he'd moved to Phillipson, got a job and found a place, he didn't mention anything about an illness"

Florence knew that sounded like Chase, he wouldn't have wanted to worry Cole even though he was angry with him.

"So..." Cole said, "That's the backstory over, now when am I going to get the non-googled history of Florence Clarke?"

She smiled "Soon, but not yet"

"Why?" he asked

"Because right now I feel like pancakes, so I'm going to go make some if you want to join me"

"Its 4 am," he said raising an eyebrow

"And you only live once" she replied, "So live a little Cole!"