The Mirror Image

It was like looking in the mirror, but seeing a face that wasn’t quite hers.

The gaunt face and ragged brown hair of the woman who had tried to physically become Rosie was starring back at her.  Even though the two women were seemingly identical twins, the differences were stark. Jane was wearing another outfit she’d stolen from Rosie’s closet, but her body didn’t fill in the clothes as much as Rosie’s had. The jeans were a little too baggy, the shirt’s collar hung askew.

“How long have you known about me?” Rosie asked. The two women were sitting at the kitchen table in Rosie’s damaged house.

“Since you’re dad got shot. I saw you on TV and wondered why you looked like me. I didn’t know I was adopted until then. So thanks,” Jane said, looking straight at Rosie. Though she had willingly shown up to meet Rosie, Jane wasn’t planning surrender.

The sisters sat in a tough silence in the space where the collision of their lives had happened. Rosie got up and paced the kitchen floor.

“Why did you do this,” Rosie said. Though she was asking a question, she demanded an answer.  Her anger was flaring. “Why did you come into my life and turn it into this. I was fine not knowing you. And then you came and screwed it all up.”

“You think life was easy for me? My parents couldn’t tell me why I had a twin sister or why my birth mother had chosen to give me up. They didn’t have answers. They just kept telling me your mom must have known I’d be the troubled daughter and wanted someone else to raise me.” Jane was standing now too, but maintained the space between her sister. “You were right in your little newscast. I don’t know how you knew it, but my life was harder than yours.”

“Twin’s intuition,” Rosie said.

“Lies. You don’t know my life,” Jane retorted.

“I know what you did—,” Rosie started.

“I don’t believe you,” Jane whipped back.

“—then why are you here?” Jane questioned. She slammed her fist on the table. “You’re afraid of that small chance that I might actually know what happened. And you’re even more afraid I’ll tell someone who will do something about it. My father died in a tragic accident. Tell me, Jane, how did your parents die?”

“I did what I had to do.”

“You saw me on TV after my father’s death, in a press conference, I’m assuming. And then you thought, ‘Huh, I have a way out of this life. I’ll just become my twin sister.’ I realize we weren’t fortunate enough as children to play ‘let’s switch lives for the day to see if anyone notices,’ but I thought people grew out of that as they became adults,” Rosie said, tauntingly. She had had enough of mind games from Jane and it was time to ensure Jane understood.

“At least you thought you were crazy,” Jane said. Her confidence was regaining strength. “I almost won. You would have been committed just like your mom and I would pretend to be you. Not in this town, of course, but I could have gotten away with it somewhere else.”

“You killed your parents, didn’t you,” Rosie said. “Did you kill those two cops whose uniforms your men borrowed?”

“I returned those police officers this morning. But they won’t say a word about me,” Jane said. “And as for the couple that adopted me, you would have done the same.”

“Just because evil runs in your veins, doesn’t mean it pulses through mine.”

“I made it look like an accident,” Jane said. “No one suspected I set that fire.”

“Then why did you run?” Rosie was curious.

“I wanted freedom.”

The next few moments were a blur for Rosie, but they were all in the plan. Once Jane had revealed her motive and her secret, she was arrested by police who were standing just outside in Rosie’s backyard. Jane was taken by surprise and fought the officer who read her the Miranda rights and enclosed her delicate wrists in handcuffs.

The screams of Rosie’s twin sister echoed as she was escorted to an awaiting police car. Her words were inaudible. But when the car pulled away, there was a sense of relief.

Rosie was free.

The end.