The Twisted Fate of Annie Jay

Prologue: The Hospital

The door opened, and then swung shut with a light “whoosh”. 4-year-old Annie and her twin sister Carina looked up from their picture books to see who left the room. Annie gave a small gasp to find her father standing there, tears in his eyes. He slowly walked over to where the girls were sitting, trying hard to stifle his deep sobs. Carina ran up and clung to her father’s leg.

“What’s wrong, Papa?” she asked softly, looking up at him with her deep black eyes.

“How’s Mommy?” Annie asked, getting up and reaching for her father’s large hand. He smiled down at his daughters.

“You two have a baby brother.” He said, reaching down and picking up Annie. “Mommy named him Timothy.” Carina’s eyes lit up.

“Timothy!” she said happily. “I like that name!” She let go of her father’s leg and stood back a bit to look up at his face, smiling. But, Annie could see that that wasn’t all that her father had to tell. She wiped a tear off her father’s face with a dainty finger.

“Then, why are you crying, Papa?” she asked, pulling the end of her sleeve over her small fist so she could wipe off more of the tears.

“Oh, girls.” Their father said, putting Annie down and crouching so that he could look at the twins at eye-level. “I’m sorry.” A fresh stream of tears was flowing from his face. “Mommy’s not coming out of the hospital with us.” Carina gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?” she asked. Their father bit his lip. “She... she... oh, girls.” He sobbed. Annie cupped a hand to her mouth and gasped.

“No...” she whispered. She ran down the hall, and burst into one of the hospital rooms. “Mommy! Mommy!” she cried. Doctors looked up from the figure lying on the hospital bed. Annie did her best to push them out of her way. “Mommy, it’s me!” she screamed, sobbing uncontrollably. Her father entered the room, carrying Carina.

“Annie, stop!” he said, raising a hand to reach out to her. One of the doctors picked Annie up despite her kicking and screaming.

“It’s all right, Sweetie. Shhhh... Everything going to be okay.” She cooed to her. But, Annie’s screams and cries drowned out all the words of comfort. She reached out her arms to the woman lying still on the bed. A look of discomfort and pain was permanently plastered on the woman’s face.

“Mommy, wake up!” she cried. After one last desperate effort to reach out to her mother, Annie slumped into the doctor’s arms, exhausted. She was breathing heavily, and her tears kept flowing from her eyes. She felt herself being transferred into the familiar strong arms of her father, and she heard a baby crying softly in the background. Then, Annie felt everything go black.

The last thing her father heard that escaped her lips nearly broke his heart.

“I love you, Mommy. Please wake up...”