Mafia's Mate

Past

The early part of my life was very normal. Well, for me it was. My brother, Clio, and I got along really well. Despite being fraternal twins, as kids, we looked the same. We would wear the same clothes, have the same short hair, and liked the same things.

My mother always seemed a little stressed but my father seemed proud.

We were pretty well off, lived in a good neighborhood, we even had a maid who came in the morning to clean the house and help Mom in the kitchen.

Everything was wonderful, till one fine day there was a commotion on the streets.

My brother and I were playing in the front yard when it all happened.

Men in black came out running to the house to thrash the place while another car pulled up from the opposite side. Some other men came out of that car and we both were scared out of our wits till the time we noticed our Dad.

"Don't you dare," Dad yelled as he came running towards us while the other men came to grab us as well.

It was all hazy and frantic. I can't even recall what happened in detail.

There was so much commotion. I remember running towards Dad with Clio's hand in mine. From somewhere far I heard Mom's scream and turned my head to look back at her.

"NO!!!" She was screaming at the top of her lungs and I only got to turn my head halfway when it all happened.

A loud reverberating sound of a bang that made my hearing go deaf for a moment.

The view of red blood droplets in the air as the bullet tore through my brother's skin and organs, all in slow motion, as if my brain had all the time in the world to see the details.

A pull that I felt as Clio fell to the floor and I was dragged along with him, followed by loud screaming and yelling mixed with confusion and terror.

The next moment, Clio and I were both on the ground but I had only scraped my knees a little while Clio, who lay face down, started to bleed.

His clothes started to dye red and the same thing was happening under him. The green grass around us began to turn red.

My eyes went wide and my heart started to pound in fear and I yanked my hand away as I crawled a step back.

"NO!!!" Dad came, sliding on the grass as he yanked Clio's lethargic body delicately in his arms, "No..." The commotion died for a moment. I stared at them as Dad stared at his son with wide eyes, "No..." A tear dropped down his cheek and for a few seconds, there was nothing else but silence. Then he shot his head towards the man with the gun, "What have you done!!!" Dad screamed as he hugged Clio's body, "You murdered my daughter!!"

It took me a moment

??

Wait, what?

That's not his daughter. I'm his daughter. Why is he saying that?

"Oh my God!!" My mother came running towards me and took me into her embrace before I could say anything. She buried my face in her breast and ran onto the footpath.

She didn't let me peek, or even try to look another way as she firmly kept my head on her chest. I could hear loud yelling, screaming, and arguments fading into the distance but Mom didn't stop till we both reached a hospital.

***

It was a turning point.

Mom and Dad got along very well before that day but after Clio's death, everything changed. There was this weird tension all around them.