Being Twins

"Give it to me," one of the girls cries out.

"No, it's mine," the other one says.

"You lost yours. This is mine," comes the retort.

"No, the one that's lost is yours. Let go of my Princess," her sister screams.

I watch from the bottom of the cupboard as they start to pull at the doll. I have a clear view of them. I begin to feel pain in my arm as they pull on her arm.

I look at the doll they are fighting for. My poor sister.

*****

An old man had bought us from a toy store. We had been exactly alike. There were only two of us at the store. The store owner had told him that we were twins.

We each had on a blue dress. There was a white sash around our waists. We also wore white socks and black shoes. We had black curly hair, tied up with a blue ribbon, and brown, twinkly eyes.

The old man had taken us to this house. He had presented us to two girls who, like us, were identical to look at. I remember hearing them speak of us.

"There you are, twins! Twin dolls for you," the old man had said.

"They're beautiful, Grandpa," the girls had said.

The old man handed me to one of the girls, and gave my sister to the other girl.

"There, one for Sandra, and one for Sophie," he said.

"Do they have names, Grandpa?" Sandra asked. She was looking at me fascinatingly.

"You can call them anything you like," the old man said with a laugh.

"Mine's called Princess," Sophie said.

"No, I want mine to be Princess," Sandra argued.

"They can both be called Princess," the old man interrupted before they could begin to argue.

From that day onwards, my sister and I lived in the nursery. Sandra and Sophie treated us well. They could not always tell us apart, but that did not matter as there were two of us. Sometimes, I played with Sophie and sometimes with Sandra. When they didn't play with us, we would sit together and talk to each other.

Things went well until the twins' birthday today. There were a lot of boys and girls coming into the nursery for tea. A small boy kicked me under this cupboard. I've been here since then.

After the party, Sandra and Sophie had played with their new toys for a little while. Then, they began to look for us.

Sophie found my sister easily. She was sitting on a chair. Sandra looked for me. She could not, however, see me under the cupboard.

Sandra asked Sophie to let her have my sister. Sophie would not. Then, they had started to argue.

*****

They are now beginning to pull on both arms. My arms begin to hurt. Then my sister's left arm finally gives way. She screams.

The pain is incredible. I can feel my whole left arm hurting like crazy. I cry out once. The pain shoots like fire through my arm. I try to focus my gaze to see what is happening.

Sophie throws down my sister's arm. Both girls are crying now. Sophie tries to grab my sister from Sandra, but she cannot quite manage to get a hold.

Sophie screams, "Look what you've done!"

Sandra screams back, "Me? If you had let go, this would not happen!"

Sophie grabs at my sister again. This time, she manages to get hold of her head. I feel my head hurting as Sophie grabs my sister's hair, trying to tear her from Sandra's grasp.

I begin to scream. I am beginning to feel faint. Both my sister and I know that this cannot last much longer.

I take one last look at my sister. She is crying out in pain, and I am still screaming, but the girls do not seem to hear us. I look into her eyes one last time before her head gives way. The world goes blank.