Surprise.

For K & Rachel-

You're welcome ;)

-Cori

"Has your sister been question about your dad's murder?"

Have you ever been to a magic show? The dim low lights, the wonder surrounding you. A childlike amazement hanging about the air, holding its breath and waiting. My dad took me to a magic show for my seventh birthday growing up. Dani was begrudgingly dragged along, whining and complaining the entire time. I don't remember much of her sour attitude, for my attention was fixed on the wonder and splendor of the tricks in front of me.

There is a trick, which revolves far more around science than magic, where the magical pulls a tablecloth off a cluttered table, yet still none of the objects move. Sadly, seven year old me was not a magician and was not able to replicate the trick when I got home later that night. A crash and a bang, my dad running into my room to find me on the floor crying, surrounded by shattered glass and chipped wood of my jewelry box and mirror which had not stayed on the table, as was advertised in the show. He had helped me clean up, bought me a new jewelry box and mirror and had reminded me that not everything is always as it seems in life.

Standing in the sand with an idea forming into place, I was now the trinkets with the cloth ripped out from under them.

Could Dani have murdered our dad?

I suppose, maybe, that time will tell whether I was able to stand, unshaken, or fall and shatter on the ground when the tablecloth was gone.

"Hello...?"

I snapped back to the moment and shook my head to clear the swimming, racing thoughts. "Yeah, sorry, um... no I don't think so. I don't know."

Cole gave a quick glance to Lloyd, sharing a look I was unable to interpret. He frowned, head tilted. "If your sister is treating you like that on a regular basis..." he trailed off, nodding in the direction where Dani had stormed off, moment before, "...maybe it would be best to not stay in your house."

I frowned, meeting his eyes. "She's a jerk but she's not a murderer."

Why are you defending her?

I huffed at the thought and crossed my arms. Nope. Nuh-uh. My life was falling apart, but I could not entertain the idea of my twin sister murdering our dad. I shivered at the thought.

A picture swam before my eyes. Dani and I were identical. Our personalities easily told us apart, but if she were the one to kill him... Our dna is identical. Not only that, but my dad would have seen my face, my sister's face, us, before he breathed his last breath.

"Well, murderer or not she is a jerk and doesn't seem the safest to be around," Cole continued, unaware of my wobbling as the tablecloth moved, "If you need a place to stay, away from her... you could come stay with us."

"Yeah!" Lloyd piped up, happy to be of assistance. "We can make Kai sleep on the pullout couch and give you his room! Actually, hold that thought. Maybe you could stay with Nya. Kai is not the cleanest..." Cole snorted at the remark, but I was barely listening.

"Yeah, maybe," I said absentmindedly, looking out over the sea as the sun began to light the ocean orange as it set. The wind tousled my hair, gulls flew overhead with shrieks. I snapped back to the conversation, giving my best people-pleasing smile. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine. Home is home, and I can't leave the shop unmanned!"

Cole and Lloyd were not convinced but with some encouragement, and bribery with ice cream, they finally left me alone. Upstairs in my room, the gentle blue light of the fading day from the window was the only thing to see by. Salem wove between my legs as I wandered around, needlessly tidying things that were absolutely fine the way they were. Any slight noise made me jump, my teeth knocking together and the hairs on my arms standing straight up.

"Oh my word, I'm such a baby," I chided myself and gave a grumble. Salem gave a soft meow before he jumped up on my bed and curled up into a tight ball. I rolled my eyes at myself and my being an absolute chicken before changing into my clothes and crawling into bed.

Sleep was fitful. Tossing and turning, barely drifting to sleep but still awake enough to throw my eyes wide open at the first sound of something amiss. Which is why when I was woken, groggily, to the sound of a voice in the house, I was first surprised, then subsequently horrified.

My heart thundered in my chest and I clapped a hand over it, scared that it was beating so hard and so loud that it could be heard from whoever was speaking. My hearing felt fuzzy and my ears rang, but slowly I could make out the voice as I woke up fully. I bit my lip to hold back a whimper when I finally recognized the voice.

Dani.

Perfect.

It sounded like she was in the bathroom we shared a few doors over. Like an absolute idiot, I had left my door cracked, though for the moment I was grateful I could makeup whatever snippets of the conversation and what she was saying. She had to be on the phone telling from the quiet remarks and the long pause of silence between sentences. I shuffled upright as quietly as I could and focused hard to listen in.

"Thats not what I'm saying," I caught briefly, a snipping tone in my twins voice. She scoffed and something clattered on the ground. Her voice muffled a bit as she must've leaned over to pick up whatever she had knocked over.

"Whatever." A Pause. Shuffling. A bang which made me jump.

"You can't just not pay me! I did what you asked!"

Okay, maybe I was a chicken before, but I had gone full blown scaredy cat now. I slid out of bed, unlocked my window as quickly and quietly as I could. I heard Dani yelling at whoever was on the phone in the bathroom and slid the window open, hoping she wouldn't hear the ominous low creak over her outburst. I snagged Salem off the bed, held him tight, and began to wiggle out the window and onto the roof ledge. The last thing I heard before the window closed was

"I don't want to go to jail!" A whine, a plea, a sob forming with those words.

"Absolutely not," I whispered into the silent night air around me and vanished before I had a second thought.

Getting off the roof was tricky, but thanks to an old oak tree which was thinking about leaning on the side of the shop, Salem and I were able to manage. The streets were quiet and ominous, the only sounds heard were that of the waves crashing against the shore and the occasional yip of a fox as he ran through the brush on the dunes. I held Salem with one hand, his front paws placed on my shoulder as he looked around, happy to be out of the shop and on a little vacation. Though my trip was only minutes of walking down the quiet streets of our town, it seemed to last forever, minutes stretching into hours. My pace was as quick as I dared without being too loud for fear of drawing unwanted attention. After what seemed like a century, I finally caught sight of Julie's old jeep parked in front of a quaint beach house. I double and triple checked that it was his, down to the license plate number, before finally having enough courage to climb the steps and knock on the door. I bounced on my toes, antsy as I waited. Glances were cast over my shoulder, but there was nothing there. No one was following me, but that didn't put my worries at bay. After knocking three more times, the doorknob jostled and my heart sunk to my stomach.

"Hi, I'm really sorry its the middle of the night but I think Cole was right and my sister is a murderer and I cannot sleep in my house, please help me."

Julien rubbed an eye and looked down at me with a confused look before sweeping me in the house and locking the door behind him. "Are you alright? Are you harmed?"

"I'm fine," I said quickly. "I mean maybe mentally harmed but thats fine." I smiled as if to show him before a laugh rose up from within me, unprompted. And once I started, I couldn't stop. "Yeah really it's fine that my sister murdered my dad and that evidence could tie back to me instead of her but it's fine Julie, Im so fine." Words rushed out of my mouth, and I was unable to stop them. Soon I was heaving for breath and sobbing, the fear and surprise and everything of the night finally catching up to me. Julie caught me in his arms, holding me close, though Salem protested.

"You're safe. I promise."