Jane & Victoria

prologue : sisters

Jane was born first. Her mother cradled her in her arms, smiling down. "Jane." she said to the handmaidens, Abigail and Claire. "Her name shall be Jane."

Sorrowfully, she handed her over to Abigail as she lay down in her bed. She was preparing for her last breaths - she had no more reasons to live. She knew she wasn't going to be a good mother - Jane would be happy in another home, with a father and a mother. Her husband was dead through a terrible illness. She would be next soon.

She shortened her breath as she prepared to see her husband yet again - until a terrible pain stroke her stomach.

"Another one! Twins!" Claire exclaimed.

"Twins? But - I can't -" she screamed out in pain as she went into labor yet again.

"You need to breath regularly." Abigail told her after she placed Jane in a crib. "Your breath has shortened, come back for this little one ! "

"I can't !" The mother screamed. "I can't!"

Finally, the baby came out, and the mother was dead instantly. She had never looked into the eyes of her second child; nor had she named her.

The baby was silent, and Claire slapped her to see if it were alive.

The baby gave a little cough and started crying.

Better.

Both handmaidens looked at the two female infants - both looking extremely identical even at this age.

"What shall we name this one, Claire?" Abigail asked.

"We shall call her Victoria, after their mother." she answered, looking down at the new person.

seven years later

The twins sat on the edge of the dock, feet dangling over the water, their reflections fuzzy yet still.

"We're not allowed to enter the water, mother's rules." Jane said, clutching her wooden horse toy.

"Why do we listen to her anyways?" Victoria said grumpily to the water. "She's not our real mother."

"Don't say such things! She's our mother - she raised us ever since we were babies."

"No - Claire and Abigail raised us since we were little babies. Emily did nothing but order and punish us."

"Well, she's going to punish us if we go anywhere else near the water."

Victoria stood up. "Fine, I'm not going in."

"Good." Jane said satisfied.

"You are!" Victoria grabbed Jane's wooden horse and threw it into the water.

Jane gaped at the horse as it floated in the lake. "That was evil!"

"What are you going to do about it?" Victoria teased.

Jane had no choice but to dive into the water. Only, she didn't know how to swim, and the horse was floating beyond her depths. She turned to Victoria. "I can't. I can't. I'm scared."

"Then say good bye to your precious horse! You're no fun anyways." Victoria started to walk back to the house, but looked back at Jane who was now standing, looking at the horse.

That was her mother's - their REAL mother - horse. Her mother had it when she was little and would pass it on to her oldest child.

But Jane didn't know how to swim. She was about to turn around and walk away when she felt a push behind her, and she suddenly fell into the water.

She saw dimness blue around her and bubbles before her eyes. She flapped her arms and she caught her breath above the water. "HELP!" she yelled before being sucked into the water again.

She flapped her arms again and was above surface again and saw Victoria just standing there, then later running away. Jane couldn't believe that she just left her like that, without helping her.

She went underwater again and was sure this would be the last time she would see above water. She caught the deepest of her breaths before going underneath again.

Now all she saw was darkness.

"I told her not to go into the water." Jane heard a little girl's voice - much like her own - as she opened her eyes and saw fuzziness. "But she didn't listen to me."

"Liar!" Jane cried as her eyes adjusted on Victoria, telling their mother "what happened". "You threw my horse into the lake then you pushed me!"

"What imagination, I think she drowned pretty bad." Victoria insisted.

"Why would I go into the lake when I don't know how to swim!" Jane cried.

"I don't know, why would you?" Claire said, her arms across her chest.

Abigail wrapped a towel around Jane. "What happened Jane, honestly?"

"Victoria threw my horse into the lake then when I stood to turn back, she pushed me!"

"Why were you two on the docks in the first place?" their mother wanted to know.

"It was Jane's idea." Victoria said. "She wanted to show her fake horse the lake."

Jane couldn't argue. It was her idea, that part was true. She didn't say anything.

"Well, Jane?" mother urged on. "Was it your idea?"

"B-but Victoria wanted to jump into the lake! She was saying mean things about you and -"

"That's enough of your lies, Jane." her mother said standing up, having enough. "I want you to march up into your room and don't come down until you realized what you did was wrong."

She wanted to argue even more, but she knew her mother made up her mind and that Victoria won.

She always won.