Dedicated to NaijaBae

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Two police officers were at the crime scene. One acted like the head and the other like his assistant with a notepad in hand and a camera around her neck. On the floor was a drawing that showed the exact position the body was in before being rushed out, and in a transparent mini bag was a note and a knife that had the victim's blood tinted on it. Outside the press club was the principal of the school and the guidance counsellor. They were both ordered by the officers not to step in.

The police officer with the notepad had everything needed for the investigation written down. Name of victim, age, class, weapon used, manner of death, and estimated time of death. After getting everything they needed, the officers stepped out of the room to meet the principal who was patiently waiting for them outside. The shocked expression on the young counsellor's face and the grief on the principal's face was shown. This sort of thing had never happened before at Greenville High. This wasn't only going to cause traumatic toil for the students; the reputation of the school was also at stake.

"What is it, inspector?" the principal asked once the officers stepped out of the room.

"I need to interrogate each student in her class," said the inspector, while motioning for the female officer to take note.

"Interrogating the students without consent from their families—is that allowed?" The principal asked.

"You are the guidance counsellor, are you not?" The inspector asked, his gaze moving to the young lady standing beside the principal, and she nodded. "Then it's allowed."

Silence followed as the principal made a call to the class teacher of the selected class.

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It's about your sister . . .

It'd been over a week since Mrs. Emma had relayed the news of my sister's death. I couldn't believe it back then, and I still can't believe it now. Danielle was a cheerful person with a lot of plans for the future. I remembered the last call I had with her and how she was eager to see me during the break so we could film lots of TikTok videos together. According to her, we were twins and extremely beautiful, which would instantly give us likes and followers. I smiled a bit, remembering her words.

. . . she committed suicide.

Someone with so many hopes and plans couldn't just take her on life. It was impossible. I cried so hard to let Mrs. Emma talk to the school authorities about letting me go home. After so much consideration and a pity party from the school board, I was asked to go one week later.

I'd asked Seidi to help take care of my stuff this morning, and she'd hugged me tightly before freeing me to get into Mrs. Emma's car.

I wiped my eyes after seeing some passersby give me uncomfortable looks. I was at the airport with my backpack hanging on one shoulder as I glanced around for any sight of my big sister Deborah, also known as Sis Debby by Danielle and me.

'Make sure you don't think too much of the situation,' Mrs. Emma had said, 'and contact me often, okay?'

I sniffed and decided to find a place to sit when I spotted a familiar silhouette. "Sis Debby?"

The person turned a bit, giving me a clear view of their face. "Sis Debby!"

A few people around me turned to give me looks, but I was only interested in my sister, who was now looking in my direction. Wiping my eyes, I ran over and hugged her tightly while crying on her shoulder. Danielle and I were an inch taller than Debby, though it didn't look that way because Debby was more endowed than my twin and me.

"Hey, don't cry." Debby tried patting my shoulder soothingly to stop my non-stop waterworks, but it wasn't working. Instead, I wailed louder. Seeing my big sister and knowing that we'd never be complete as siblings tore my heart to pieces.

"Come on," Debby said, holding me to her. She reached for my backpack and pulled it from my shoulder to hang it on hers. "Let's go home."

The ride home was quiet. I stared out the window the majority of the time. I noticed my big sister looking at me, but she said nothing, which I was grateful for. Debby sounded the car horn, and a few seconds later, the gate was opened by the gateman.

Home.

How much of a home could this be? We lost our parents at an early age, and now it was Danielle. What sort of misfortune was this? As Debby rode into the car tent, I noticed there was a missing car.

"You sold it?" I asked while watching my sister pull out her car keys from the ignition.

"Sold what?" She inquired. We both got down, and I opened the back seat to get my backpack.

"The other car," I responded, hanging up my bag. Debby looked at where the car would've been and then shook her head.

"No, Trust has it." She reached for me to help with my backpack again, but I stopped her.

"Trust's still here?" His name held a bitter taste in my mouth. This man had the biggest irony to his name because I never trusted him one bit. Neither Danielle nor I did.

Trust was my sister's boyfriend, who was currently running my father's company on behalf of my elder sister. My father had a publishing company that was one of the biggest in the country. After he died, my sister was supposed to take over. The thing was, Debby was into makeup. She'd dreamed of being the most successful makeup artist in the country. She wasn't set up to run my father's company and wanted to give the position to Danielle when she came of age since she loved writing and would be happy being surrounded by the things she loved, even though loving writing was completely different from running a company.

Since Danielle wasn't of age and couldn't run the company, and also because Debby wasn't interested because she wanted to turn her passion into her profession, she decided to let her boyfriend handle things, and that was when Trust came in. Trust happened to be someone my twin and I didn't trust, especially when we caught him making secret calls to his side chicks.

It hurt to see our big sister getting used by some man because she was from a wealthy home, so Danielle and I swore to prove it. Knowing my twin and I were unto him, he decided to be more careful, which made it harder to get proof. That aside, I thought he'd be out of the picture now because Danielle had spoken to me the last two weeks through Mrs. Emma's phone, informing me that Debby and Trust had a big misunderstanding, but I guess I was wrong.

"Of course," Debby said. I placed my hands on my temple. I had a lot on my mind right now, to start thinking about Trust. It wasn't like I'd stay here for long. I would go back to school anyway, so I wouldn't feel that Trust was living with us under the same roof.

We got into the house. It was very quiet. I slowly walked down the mini stairs at the entrance of the living room before stepping further to the TV stand. There was a picture of my sisters and me on it. It was taken when Danielle and I were just in Primary 1, and my elder sister had just gained admission to Jss1.

"Delphine . . ." Debby dragged, but I sniffed and turned towards the stairs. I knew she was trailing behind to make sure I was okay—if only I was.

I slowly climbed the stairs and got to the lobby leading to rooms. There was my room, but the door opposite mine was what I couldn't take my eyes off. I slowly moved to it and held the handle before pushing the door open. The door made a squeaky sound, which drew me down memory lane. Danielle hated that sound and had asked Debby to call someone to fix it countless times. She'd complain about how she couldn't leave her room secretly without anyone noticing because of the stupid sound. Debby, on the other hand, usually had things to do that would make her forget about calling someone to fix the door. Either she had a client that needed their makeup done or she had a date with Trust.

I stepped further into the room as a sob escaped my mouth. My eyes scanned the room, and I imagined Danielle in it with her Apple laptop. She told me she was in the press club, though it was a one-man squad club since everyone refused to join. And every time during the holidays, she tried organising her schedule needed for the club for when school finally resumed.

I moved to her reading table, and on it was her laptop, closed and placed at the centre of the table. Her books were neatly piled up, and her pens and pencils were placed in a transparent bag. On her reading table was a picture of the two of us. It was a selfie we took with her phone, smiling brightly. She'd had it framed and had placed it on her desk ever since. A tear rolled down my cheeks, and I quickly wiped it off.

"What happened to her?" I choked. I turned to see my sister hugging herself while looking down at her feet. All this while, she was trying to be strong because of me.

"I guess Danielle was having hard times at school," Debby said, her voice unsure. "She'd looked so cheerful that I never imagined her going through so much pain. Why did she have to do that?"

I moved to my twin's bed and sat down. I knew what Debby meant. But I still couldn't believe Danielle killed herself. I could feel it deep inside that she didn't.

"Didn't they investigate the matter?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. I thought it was a miracle that Debby heard me. I was weak; the thought of my twin sister no longer on this earth felt like something important got ripped out of my body.

"They did last week." Debby moved over and sat beside me on Danielle's bed. "Everything led to her wanting to commit suicide."

"But . . ." I trailed off, fully turning to my sister. "It was just a week. Who runs an investigation for one week and then concludes?"

"She wrote on her death note about ending it all, Delphine. She was tired of the world." I saw the tear escape Debby's left eye. "Please, I'm trying to find closure, and that's why I want to bury her as soon as possible. Danielle wouldn't want this. So I beg: let's lay her to rest."

I watched my sister and bit my lower lips before looking ahead of her. It wasn't like I was looking at something interesting; I just couldn't stand how broken Debby was. "When's the burial?"

"This Saturday," Debby breathed out, letting go of me and then hugging herself. I finally dared to meet her gaze. "After that, you'll stay a week to clear your head and go back to school."

I nodded silently, not saying a word. Debby looked around the room with a sigh, then turned back to me. "I should go prepare something for you to eat; make sure you shower and come downstairs."

I wasn't sure I'd have the appetite to eat anything, but I nodded. Debby patted my shoulder twice before getting up and walking out of the room. I was alone in my sister's room, and all I wanted was to lay on her bed and hug myself to sleep, but doing that would worry Debby. I wanted to express my feelings. I wanted to cry and scream and break stuff up. But why must I have to suppress it because I was considerate of my sister's feelings? I got up because I knew I couldn't sit still forever, and I stepped out of the room with a heavy heart.

Reaching my room, the first thing I did was move to my wardrobe. At the top of it was my phone case. I pulled out the box and opened it to get my phone and charger. I abandoned the box somewhere on the floor and strolled to the extension under my reading table to plug my charger in to charge my phone. Mrs. Emma would be worried. Though I was sure Debby would call her, I also wanted to reach out to her so I could speak to Seidi.

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My shower lasted a long time, and that was because I spent most of it in memory lane. I thought of the crazy things Danielle and I had done over the years, and I just couldn't get rid of the fact that she was so eager for me to come home so she'd start a joint TikTok account. Someone so excited over the littlest thing like TikTok couldn't commit suicide with a note stating she wanted to end it all. End what all? Danielle was happy.

I stepped out of the room with a washed blue shorts and an orange tee-shirt. I could smell the pleasant aroma of my sister's cooking. One would think that would make my tummy rumble, but it didn't. I was sure I couldn't eat more than three spoonfuls of what she was serving.

Moving to the dining room, I was stopped dead in my tracks. If I had the tiniest appetite for three spoons earlier, then I had none now. Seated close to the edge of the dining table was Trust, my sister's boyfriend. He was on his phone and wasn't looking in my direction at first, but eventually did when he noticed my presence.

"Danielle," he called his crooked smile making me frown. Debby, of course, was in the kitchen, unaware of this heartwarming interaction.

"It's Delphine," I said with gritted teeth. "You still haven't gotten the name right."

I sighed to hold my frustration and moved to the dining chair, far away from his. It wasn't like Danielle and I were identical. One wouldn't know immediately that we were twins. Though we had the same height and almost similar body features, Danielle and I still looked completely different. I leaned toward my dad's visuals when it came to resemblance, and Danielle was leaning toward Mum's. Irrespective of these differences, Trust couldn't do the bare minimum of getting our names right. He was ridiculous. What did Debby see in him? He'd been living with my sisters like the freeloader he was, yet he couldn't use his brain to know that I would have a name that wasn't Danielle.

"Oh, you both look alike." I shook my head and focused on the table mat instead. It was better that way than to answer the likes of him.

"Hey," Debby came in with plates and placed them in front of me, then Trust, then at the edge of the table, which was her seat. On the table were already glasses, a fruit juice pack, and a jug containing water. "How are you feeling now?"

"Getting there," I couldn't say I was fine because I wasn't, and I didn't know when I'd be fine or if I'd ever be fine.

"You are here for, er . . ." Trust trailed. "Danielle, right? Too bad she committed suicide."

My hands tightened around the fork I was holding in my left hand and the table knife I was holding in my right. "She was a brilliant kid."

"Can you speak about my sister with respect?" My voice got harsher than intended. Debby watched the both of us, then sighed.

"He didn't mean it in any bad way, Delphine," Debby said, rubbing her temple. "Trust called her brilliant."

I wanted to groan out loud so badly. How much did she love this man that she couldn't see the truth about him? He was her blind spot. I would refuse to fall in love if this was what love felt like. I looked at Trust, who was holding Debby's hand on the table.

"When will you be going back to school?" Trust asked. I refused to look at him and just stared at the jollof rice, fried plantains, and omelette instead.

"Why?" I asked, my eyes still on my food. "Want me gone? Last time I checked, this is my house, not yours."

"Delphine—"

"Gone?" Trust laughed, interrupting my sister. "Trust me, I want the opposite. I want you to stay, at least for your sister."

I slowly looked up at Trust to see his eyes already on me, but his hand was wrapped gently around Debby's left hand. See when I said his name was an irony? I couldn't trust him because there was nothing about him worth trusting.

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We've got to see Debby and her boyfriend, Trust. What do you think about these characters' personalities? Is Debby moving on too soon by accepting Danielle's death and wanting closure? Or is she trying to be strong for Delphine? How about Trust? Is Delphine being too hard and judgemental towards him? Or is it too early to Judge?

What do you think about the second chapter in general?

I'll be updating twice weekly.

The first fourteen chapters of MITC are ready, but updating twice weekly helps with editing the already-written chapters.

I was planning to update twice today but chose not to announce it just in case I disappoint y'all, lol. Expect another update this week.😘

Bye✨