At The House

Aurora was talking on the phone with her friend, Amy, when Yvette walked in. "All right. I'll see you Friday. Bye."

Looking at Yvette, she said, "Where have you been? My bed needs to be made and I have a huge pile of laundry waiting for you in the laundry room."
Yvette looked at Aurora. "Get lost," she said harshly.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard just fine."
"How dare you talk to ME in that way."
"Honey, you need to get a grip on reality. Do you honestly think that everyone is going to bow down and do your every wish when you talk to them? Yvette asked.
"Why wouldn't they?"
"Because that's not the way this world works."
"Whatever," Aurora said and left.

Friday at Seven

"It's about time," the woman said, pulling the man into the house. "Were you followed?" she asked closing the door behind Jonathan's assistant.
"No. Will you chill out?" Jonathan said strictly."
"All right. Follow me," she said. They followed her into a small room.
"Look through here." She pulled a small, sliding wooden door sideways to reveal a little square hole. "You can see the whole room from here. Now, just keep your eye on me and wait for me to give you the signal."
"Okay."
"All right. I have to go setup the party." She looked down to see Aurora bossing everyone around. "I can't believe her, the woman mumbled.
"Chill out, Yvette," Jonathan said lighting a cigarette.
"Uh, Bye."
"Bye," he replied.
"Oh, and don't forget when I tug my ear."
"I know. Jeez," he said annoyed.

During the Party

Jonathan and his partner were keeping their eyes on Yvette. She was wearing a black dress that was almost identical to Mrs. Kensington's. Her hair was up the exact same way. When Yvette found this out, she would always turn to them and mouth "It's me." Everything was going fine when Yvette ran into Mrs. Kensinton. They talked for a while. "It is such a lovely party," Yvette commented.
"Why, thank you, Yvette," Mrs. Kensinton replied. During this conversation, Jonathan got bored and decided to look around the room. A few minutes later, he looked back to where Yvette and Mrs. Kensinton were talking. They were starting to walk away. He then noticed which one was Yvette.
She started to look for Elizabeth. "Oh, Aurora, are you having fun at your party?" Mrs. Kensinton asked.
"Oh, yes mother," Aurora said excitedly. Suddenly, Mrs. Kensinton's ear started to itch.
"Look, the signal!" Jonathan exclaimed. He aimed the gun and bang. He shot Aurora.
Everyone looked around frantically. Yvette looked at them... and they were not there. She knew where they were. Yvette ran into the woods where Jonathan and his accomplice were packing the van quickly. "Why did you do that? She asked angrily.
"Do what?" Jonathan asked confused.
"Kill Aurora," Yvette said.
"What are you talking about? We killed the girl that looked like the girl in the picture," Jonathan stated.
"Yes, you killed the girl that looked like the girl in the picture, but you didn't kill the girl that was in the picture," Yvette said.
"Huh?" Jonathan asked confused.
"Elizabeth has a twin."
"Great," Jonathan said sarcastically. "So, I'm guessing the other woman was your sister?" he assumed.
"Yep."
"What are we going to do?" Jonathan's accomplice, Justin, asked nervously.
"Just go," Yvette said.
"Are you sure?" Jonathan asked.
"Yeah, I can take care of this. Thanks for your help, guys," Yvette said.
"No problem," the two men said and left.

Back at the House

The police and an ambulance were already there. The police were investigating the place and asking questions. "What happened?" a policeman asked.
"I don't know," responded Arianna Spano, one of Aurora's best friends. "We were just talking and then she was shot."
The paramedics loaded her into the ambulance and left. Everyone followed the ambulance to the hospital.

At the Hospital

Everybody was praying for Aurora to be okay, even Elizabeth. No matter how hateful Aurora had been to her, she was still her sister. It was now visiting time. Aurora was lying down in her hospital bed talking to her friends, Amy Reinke, Arianna Spano, and Karoline Patterson. "How are you feeling? Amy asked concerned.
"Fine," Aurora said.
"When are they going to let you out?" Karoline asked curiously.
Aurora sighed playfully. "Not soon enough." Everyone laughed.
"Hey, Aurora," a familiar voice at the door said.
"Hey, Elizabeth," Aurora greeted warmly. "Girls, would you mind leaving my sister and myself alone so we can talk." The girls agreed and left, leaving the two in an uncomfortable silence. "So.." Aurora said trying to break the silence but just making it worse. Five minutes later, Aurora just said out of nowhere, "I'm sorry."
"What?" Elizabeth asked shocked.
"I'm sorry," Aurora repeated.
"For what?" Elizabeth asked.
"For everything. For plotting to kill you, for being so nasty to you, for putting poison in your drink, for stealing your coloring book," Aurora confessed sobbing.
Oh, it's oka." Elizabeth stopped in the middle of the word. "Wait. When did you put poison in my drink?"
"It wasn't your drink. Remember the last dinner we had with Grandpa?"
"Yeah, why?"
Well, before dinner, when the kitchen was left unsupervised, I put poison in one of the drinks, but I didn't know whose drink it was. So, you get the point."
"Oh. So that explains why you didn't drink your drink until everyone else did," Elizabeth concluded.
"Yeah," Aurora said. She looked ashamed.
"Oh my God! You killed Grandpa!" Elizabeth realized shocked.
"Well, look who decided to wake up and smell the coffee," Aurora exclaimed sarcastically. "Look," she said starting to get serious. "I'm really sorry and I want to help you," Aurora said honestly. This is probably the most honest thing she had said to her sister in a long time.
"Okay," Elizabeth said inaudibly and almost in tears. She was so moved that her sister didn't hate her and that they could rebuild their relationship. They hugged and caught up.

A few days later, Aurora was released from the hospital. When she got home, she took Elizabeth into her room. "I know where the box is." She moved the rug aside and opened the door when her mother walked in and saw Aurora and Elizabeth.
"What's going on here," Her mother asked and walked over to them and looked in the storage box built into the floor of her daughter's room she saw the box. "You've had this darn box the entire time!" she said enraged.
"Come on. Let's get the key," Elizabeth said out of nowhere.
"There is a problem with that idea," Mrs. Kensinton said.
"What's that?" Elizabeth asked.
"It could be that WE DON'T HAVE THE KEY!" Mrs. Kensinton exclaimed.
"What are you talking about? You said you already had the key when we went on the walk," Elizabeth said.
"What walk?" Mrs. Kensinton asked. "I never went on a walk with YOU," she said.
"Well, when you went for a walk with Aurora," Elizabeth corrected.
"I never went on a walk with Aurora either," Mrs. Kensinton said. "Yes, we were plotting to kill you," Mrs. Kensinton admitted. "But I never went o n a walk with her during the time we were plotting."
"What?" Elizabeth said confused. "You know, what? Never mind. I never even wanted to know," Elizabeth said giving up. Suddenly, there was an uncomfortable silence. Here were three women who hardly had anything in common, who, at some point in their lives, hated one another, who tried ignoring the problems within their family. Here they are now in the most uncomfortable experience of their lives. It was so silent. They just looked at each other. What were they supposed to do?
"Okay, before we move on, I think that we should have a nice, long discussion," Elizabeth declared.
"About what?" Mrs. Kensinton asked.
"About EVERYTHING! About how screwed up this family is! About the relationships in this so-called family! That is what we need to talk about, Mother!" Elizabeth yelled at the woman who is supposed to be her mother.
"So, where do we start?" Aurora asked in a tiny voice.
"I know. Why do you hate me?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't hate you," Mrs. Kensinton said.
"Yes, you do," Aurora and Elizabeth said simultaneously.
"Well, I was the second born twin, so I never got to do anything first. My sister, Marie, got to do everything before me. It doesn't matter if she was five minutes older. She still got to do everything first. I had to wait a year before I got to do anything and I didn't want that for Aurora," Mrs. Kensinton said.
"So, you didn't have to hate me," Elizabeth said.
"I know. I shouldn't have held my feelings about Marie against you just because you were first born," Mrs. Kensinton said. Elizabeth hugged her mother and caught Mrs. Kensinton by surprise. This is a new beginning. Finally, Elizabeth was accepted by her mother.
"So, what do we do now?" Aurora asked.
"We open this darn box," Elizabeth declared.
"How?" Mrs. Kensinton and Aurora asked.
"Well, I have the key," Elizabeth revealed.

They went to get the key. They didn't even think about closing the door. When they came back to the room, they saw Yvette there trying to pull the box up. "Yvette?" Aurora asked. "What are you doing?"
"Eighteen years! I have been working for this miserable family for eighteen years! I deserve something," she yelled trying to pull the box up. "How did you get this thing up here?" Yvette asked.
"Francois helped me," Aurora replied simply.
"Francois!" Everyone in the room yelled in shock. Yvette dropped the box.
"Yes?" Francois said from the doorway.
"Francois, did you help Aurora carry the box up here?" Elizabeth asked pointing to Yvette who was trying to lift the box.
"Oh, so that was what was so darn heavy," Francois said.
"Francois, you didn't know what you were carrying in the box?" Elizabeth asked in total disbelief.
"It was in a trash bag," Francois defended.
"So you weren't curious?"
"Mmm, no," he said simply.
"They heard a crash and looked at Yvette. She had finally gotten the box out of the hole.
"Well, we should at least open it," Mrs. Kensinton said.
They put the key into the keyhole and turned it. They heard a click. Slowly everyone lifted the lid to reveal trinkets and old pictures of their families. Gracie, Aurora and Elizabeth looked at the items in the box with awe and amazement. Yvette, however, looked at it in disbelief. "I don't believe this! I centered my life on this box and this, this is what I get! I killed my mother so I could get this box!" Yvette, or should I say, Marie, screamed.
"What?" Gracie yelled in shock.
"What? You don't believe it's me, dear sister?" Yvette said. She had gone mad.
"It's me. Your dear, sweet sister Marie!" She was raving like a lunatic. "It's me! And guess what? I faked my death. I killed mother. I hired the guy who shot Aurora. It was ME! It was ALL ME!" she screamed ending with a crazy laugh.
"Mrs. Widstaff, you're under arrest," stated a policeman in the door. They took Yvette to the police car and drove away, taking her to a women's correctional facility.

Epilogue

Yvette was given a life sentence. After her fifth year in the women's correctional facility, she hung herself. Francois, Lucy and the Kensinton family grew closer each day. They became a family. They treasured the gifts the box gave to them and found out that family is more important than money and riches. How Elizabeth's name came to be in the will before she was born remains a mystery. If she had never been in the will, they would never have become a family. For this, Elizabeth is forever thankful.
This lesson was taught through generations after this. It is terrible that it took over 10 years for this family to learn to love each other.
Jonathan still gets hired to kill people and his accomplice still helps.

The End

Dedications

This book is dedicated to all of the wonderful people who have helped me with this book. I did not write this book by myself. I had a lot of help from Meagan, Dew, Mary Kournelas, Krista Barnett, and my teachers.

Mr. Woosley, if it wasn't for you, I would have never learned clauses, phrases and verbals. My punctuation would really be bad.

Mr. Cali, you are probably one of the greatest teachers I have ever had.

Meagan, all of those brainstorm sessions at lunch finally paid off.

Mary, you are one of my best friends. Thank you for reading.

Sara Blue, you came up with the "poke" idea. That actually helped the book move along. Thank you.

Amy, Jillian and Arianna, thank you for volunteering to be Aurora's friends.

To my family: Mom, Dad, my brother Kevin, Uncle Jimmy, aunt Tammy, cousin Dominick, Uncle Sal, Aunt Lynne, and my cousins Laura, Corey, Erica, Josh, Anthony, Angelina, John, and Cris, Uncle Bob, Aunt Debbie, cousin Carly, Great Grandma, Uncle Joe, Aunt Donna, and a special thank you to Aunt Laura. Thank you Melanie, Jenny, Earlean, Amy (welcome to the group).

Melanie, you have known me since I was three years old. You are like a second mother to me.

Aunt Laura, you are the coolest aunt ever. You have supported me so much.

Jenny, your are like an older sister to me. The shop is going to be so boring with you all the way in Atlanta.

To all the readers, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, I would have never finished this book.

If there is anyone I forgot, I'm sorry.

Thank you and God bless,

Vincenza