“Please…call…ambulance…” he stammers, gasping for air.
I walk into the hallway without a word, leaving him on my bedroom floor, where he collapsed before he could take me to the examination room for my daily round of suffering. My eyes never leave his as I lift the receiver of the phone that hangs on the hallway wall and dial 0. I keep my face blank, listening to the ringing on the other end of the line through one ear and Dr. Thomas wheezing through the other. I want to laugh at the look of relief in his eyes as he watches me through the doorway, assuming I’m stupid enough to help him.
When my call is answered and I speak, I watch the expression in his face quickly change from hope that help would be on the way to wide-eyed panic.
“Yes, Operator? Could you please connect me to the taxi service?”
When I’m passed through and rattle off the address for the taxi that will arrive within fifteen minutes to take me to the bus station, I can’t help but laugh as I hang up and walk back to Dr. Thomas’s side.
Crouching down next to him, I chuckle again as his face turns an alarming shade of red and sweat drips down his forehead. Placing one palm against the left side of his breastbone, I feel the thump of his heart through my hand, the seconds in between beats growing longer and longer.
“Don’t be a chicken, Dr. Thomas. You knew this day would come. You should have spent more time being afraid of me, instead of hurting me.”
The memory of the day I finally got away from Dr. Thomas quickly fades when Mavra speaks again.
“You spent the next two weeks learning everything you could about Ravenna,” she states slowly, parts of the story finally clicking into place. “You already knew a lot about the prison and their lives since you were taken away, but you needed to know more about your twin. Her favorite color, her likes and dislikes, her daily activities…you pretended to be her friend so she’d give you the rest of the information you needed because…”
She trails off, looking at me imploringly to finish the thought.
“Because my plan had always been to come back and take what was rightfully mine,” I continue for her. “Get rid of the good, perfect sister and take her place. It was my turn to have loving parents and a good life. When she was out of the picture, I would slide right into her life and announce to my mother and Tanner that Tatiana left in the middle of the night and things could go back to the way they were. Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite according to my plan.”
What a stupid, stupid girl. I can’t believe how easy it was to get her to climb down into the hole to look for bones that aren’t even there. As I stare at her body floating at the top of the water that quickly filled the hole from the storm raging outside, I can’t help but smile.
Watching her splash and struggle as the water continued to rise above her head was entertaining. Listening to her gurgled screams for help when the water poured into her mouth as she sank was music to my ears.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”
Tanner’s voice fills the room as he rushes to the edge of the hole and looks down at Ravenna, floating lifelessly in the water that has begun to recede.
“NO! NO, RAVENNA! MY BABY, OH NO!”
I watch as he sobs for the daughter he loved more than me, pushing myself up from the floor to stand next to him.
His head whips around, and his misery suddenly turns to fury.
“I should have killed you when you were born!” he screams, spittle flying from the corners of his mouth. “You’re a monster! You’re the devil! I WON’T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!”
“Tanner came back to the prison early,” I tell Mavra, pushing aside the memory of what happened that night in the basement. “My plan was to hide the body so they’d never know. It would have worked, too, if he hadn’t forgotten his wallet at home. He left my mother at the restaurant and hurried home to grab it. He saw the basement door open and came down to investigate.”
Mavra nods, continuing where I left off.
“And that explains the flashback you had when you came out of hiding, overhearing Tanner and Ike fighting about filling in the hole,” she announces with a smile, pleased with herself that she’s able to put it all together. “Tanner threatened to kill you, and you ran out of the basement and hid until you could come up with another plan.”