Chapter 6 - The House Without Our Mother
Aunt Beth gave us separate bedrooms.
It should not have mattered. Chloe and I had shared a room since birth, even after the house had enough space for two. Arthur said twins who slept separately became secretive.
At Beth’s house, my room had a yellow quilt.
Chloe’s had blue curtains.
The first night, we dragged our mattresses into the hallway between the rooms.
Neither of us mentioned it.
The emergency dependency hearing happened three days after the hospital visit. A magistrate approved our temporary placement with Beth while Children Services investigated. Mother was allowed supervised visits. Arthur was ordered to have no contact with us or appear at our school.
No final decision had been made.
Arthur’s attorney called the allegations “an emotionally charged misunderstanding involving two concussed teenagers with a history of exchanging identities.”
That history existed.
When we were nine, Chloe took my spelling test because I had a fever and did not want to lose perfect attendance. At thirteen, we switched places during a school talent-show rehearsal as a joke.
Arthur had saved those stories.
Now he used them to suggest that the medical confusion belonged to us.
The accusation drove a wedge between Chloe and me.
“You told them about the talent show?” she asked.
“I answered a question.”
“You made us sound like liars.”
“We were children playing a joke.”
“They’ll say we always did it.”
I wanted to snap back. Instead, I saw what Arthur had always understood: identical twins could be turned against each other by making identity feel like a limited resource.
At Mother’s first supervised visit, she brought one bag of clothes.
Most were mine.
She handed them to Chloe.
“I packed quickly.”
Chloe held up my green sweater. “You know this is Maya’s.”
Mother looked at the supervisor.
“They share everything.”
“No,” I said. “You make us share everything.”
Mother’s lips parted.
I asked why she switched our medical records.
She folded her hands in her lap.
“Arthur said one investigation could destroy all of us.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I knew what foster care could be like.”
Beth leaned forward from the corner. “They had me.”
Mother looked away.
That was the moment her explanation stopped being enough.
She had not believed there was no alternative.
She had chosen the alternative that allowed Arthur to remain.
At the end of the visit, she asked Chloe for a hug.
Chloe gave her one.
I did not.
Mother left with a face that made me feel cruel.
An hour later, Denise called.
May you like
Arthur had told investigators that Mother designed the identity-switching plan without his knowledge.
He was beginning to sacrifice her.
