Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Toxic Butterflies ❯ Walking on Cobwebs ( Chapter 1 )

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Toxic Butterflies

By: Revamp

Chapter 1: Walking on Cobwebs

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Cobwebs are such delicate and interesting structures. Contrary to popular belief, cobwebs only form when dust collects on the wayward pieces of silk that are produced by spiders and other insects. Cobweb spiders are known as Tangle Web Spiders. Each piece is intricately designed and once a spider's prey becomes entangled, all it can do is struggle fiercely until the predator comes in and captures it within its grasp.

Today will be that day. The day that I become a predator and unveil my intricate web. Soon, they shall be walking on a cobweb and we shall see if one of my prey happen to become entangled in my wicked, vile web.

……………..


It was a sunny day. They light reflected off of the scenery, painting it in vibrant shades that were reminiscent of the spring fashions everyone adorned. Two girls walked down the sidewalk, engaged in conversation. Their spirits were high as they looked forward to making the next step into a new chapter of their lives.

“Now we can live near each other now, since you're living with Kosei.” One of the girls, with flaming red hair, styled long and wavy and looking in her late teens said with bliss as she clasped her hands together and smiled brightly. Her skin was a creamy ivory and she had a tall, slim figure. She was dressed in a white and red dress littered in strawberry patterns

“Well, he just inherited this place from his parents. They say this is a nice place to live and the neighbors don't cause any trouble at all.” Her friend told her, being of a similar build with bigger breasts and long, black, straight hair. She was adorned in a sleeveless, blue tee and white Capri jeans. The two voyaged down the driveway, to a massive five story mansion with a white, picket fence and large porch that nearly stretched from corner to corner of the bright blue building. The shutters were elegantly crafted and painted a pristine white, along with the other accents of the large abode.

However, that wasn't the sight that had engrossed the black-haired girl the most. Next to the large mansion was a picturesque little house. It was of an older age, but time and weather had been kind to it. The condition was just as good as the mansion's, and for something so small, it was very vibrant with a cheery paintjob of a dreamsicle orange base with dark orange shutters and a small porch where a short girl stood in front, watering her flowers.

“What's wrong, Prada?” The red-haired girl cast a bewildered glance to her friend, who seemed transfixed on the vista next door.

“I wonder who lives there,” Prada said wistfully to herself as her companion now stared at what had been so mysteriously eye catching.

“What a pretty house,” she complimented on how up kept and groomed it was. Whoever lived there had a great sense of pride in the way that they presented their home and there were beautiful flowers in large, geometric clusters. Whoever it was liked to garden or even did it as a hobby.

Standing up from her daily routine of watering the flowers, Suroriya turned to the two girls, who stared at her over the picket fence. A small smile curved on her thin, painted lips as she glanced to the mynah bird who sat on her shoulder. “It seems that they've spotted us, Q-chan.”

“Spotted us! Spotted us! They've spotted us, Q-chan!” The bird repeated its master's sentence in the fragments that it could imitate.

“Why don't you go and greet them?” The lolita was sure that they were new to this town, although she had recognized them from prior locations. She was sure that they did not remember her, however. Well, there was no time like the present to get reacquainted.

“Greet them!” The bird squawked and spread his wings, beak opening wide upon the utterance of those words.

The bird took off, and propelled himself from the girl's shoulder as he flew towards the two taller women. They watched as the black and white bird made circled around them a couple of times. After watching the peculiar animal make a few more passes, the red-haired girl's gaze traveled back to the porch, where the small lolita was putting up her watering can.

“I think I see someone on the porch,” she pointed in the direction of Suroriya.

“Huh? A lolita?” Prada blinked. Now it all made sense, of course a real lolita's house would be so detailed and beautiful.

“She's so pretty,” her friend couldn't take her gaze away. Suroriya dressed in a country lolita dress, made of orange and yellow plaid with ruffles around the neck, sleeves and skirt sections, white thigh highs with lace around the top and orange mary janes. On her head was a frilly, orange and white sun bonnet that her large, spiraled curls stuck out of either side of in the form of ice cream cones held up with sherbet bows. The girl was so doll like and fragile looking, a great beauty to be admired.

The mynah bird landed on the fence, “say hello, Q-chan! Say hello, Q-chan!”

Both girls turned with a `huh' uttered simultaneously as they watched the animal repeat it's phrase over and over. “Say hello! Say hello!”

“Isn't that a mynah bird?” The black-haired girl blinked upon getting a better look at the avian.

“Yes, it is Shana.”

Shana bent down with a smile on her face as she examined the bird with curious eyes. “He's so interesting.”

“So, you're familiar with the mynah bird, huh?” A smooth, mature voice cut into the two adolescent's conversation. They both raised their heads to see that the lolita had stealthily made her way over to them without their knowledge. The girls had both been so engrossed in her pet that they didn't notice her edging up on them. It appeared that they were easily distracted.

Shana peered up, looking into the shaded eyes of the country lolita. They were orange, framed with long lashes but completely void. It was as if staring into them would suck the soul from her body. `Her eyes…they're so lifeless…'

“Yes, is this bird yours?” Prada asked, relieving the tension between the two and turning Suroriya's cold gaze on her.

Holding out her arm without a single word, Q-chan looked to his master and launched himself off of the fence, perching on her limb. “Yes, his name is Q-chan.”

“His name is Q-chan! His name is Q-chan!”

“I'm Prada Yanakoshi and this is my friend, Shana Ichibaru,” the black-haired girl introduced the two of them in formal fashion. After all, it was rude to start talking to someone without an introduction.

“It's nice to meet you,” Shana backed away from the fence and gave a curt bow.

“What's your name?” Prada inquired the beautiful, yet slightly creepy lolita.

“My name is Kabushi Suroriya.”

“It's nice to meet you. If you get the time, come and visit your neighbor Kosei's house and we can all have tea,” Prada invited the girl over. She didn't think that Kosei would mind her presence too much. After all, he was stuck in a house full of women and one more wouldn't make too much of a difference. He didn't usually have a problem with it if they brought over friends, and besides, this girl lived right next door. What harm could it do?

“I assume that you think I live the lolita lifestyle by the way you're talking to me.” These two girls were very presumptuous on who exactly they thought she was. Suroriya studied them for a moment as Shana was looking around at the marvel of her impressive flower gardens.

The buds reflected faintly in her blue eyes as she stared with wonder. Such beautiful flowers had to be raised with the utmost attention. If this girl was not a true lolita, then she was a damned good gardener. “Well, you grow a lot of flowers and you wear the clothes, so I thought that you-“ Shana was cut off in mid-sentence.

“People are so quick to assume one's nature based on the clothes that they wear,” how typically human, and even more naive.

Shana's visage wore humility. “Oh, sorry, we didn't mean anything by it.” The girl's gaze was crestfallen at those mechanical words. This strange girl really was doll-like, right down to the core. A part of her wondered if she truly was, and those eyes…

“You said that you lived next door?” Suroriya questioned, as if making a notes within the cognitive recesses of her mind.

“Yes, my friend Shana is spending two weeks with my boyfriend and I in the blue house next door,” Prada smiled. Something told her that this would be a very interesting experience. In many ways, she looked forward to getting to know Kosei's neighbor. She was very mysterious, and he never spoke of his neighbors before.

While Prada thought that odd, she didn't look too much into it. Not everyone had neighbors that they necessarily wanted to bring up in conversations.

Glancing to the aforementioned house, a small smile crept to her features. `Kosei…So this is how the story will begin. I've been waiting a long time for this moment to occur and I shall seize it with my own two hands.' She glanced back over to the duo before her. “Whenever you'd be so courteous as to invite me over, I will come for a visit.”

“Pay you a visit! I will come for a visit!” Q-chan repeated from his perch on her arm.

“Can you bring your bird? He's awfully cute!” Shana was astounded with the creature. The fact that the bird could talk in general was enthralling, as well as the fact that it was the first of its type she had seen beyond the glass of a television.

“I'll make sure that Q-chan comes,” Suroriya didn't mind entertaining her guests.

Prada turned, bidding her good bye to the lolita with a friendly response of `we'll see you' as she and her friend walked off down the road and began their own separate, unrelated discussion. Suroriya turned from her position at the fence when she saw the girls head towards the porch, turning to Q-chan dark promise etched itself on her visage. “This will be an introduction to remember. Let's go prepare ourselves, Q-chan.”

The first act of this sadistic play would be put into motion. The very thought of her plans would bring gamma burning into her cells. In her mind, she already saw his body falling into a soft and loamy state of soil. Years of mental illness caged in the confines of her form as she viewed her sadistic visual show. She watched him die. She admired it. Suroriya loved to make him suffocate. She gained excitement as she watched his blue eyes roll to the back of his skull. She loved the noises of pain that he cried. Laughing at the thought, she walked back to her little orange house. She could see nothing but darkness ahead, laced with the sounds of Kosei begging for his life.

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Kosei was standing in the front door, greeted by his two visitors. He stared at the girls with a stoic expression as Prada announced their arrival. Shana greeted him with a content smile, and stated that she hoped that he didn't mind that she was going to be spending so much time with he and his girlfriend. In truth, she feared feeling like the third wheel to their relationship. It felt intrusive to be drug along on what seemed like activities that a couple should be immersed in.

“It's fine. Please come in.” However, the blue-haired male didn't acknowledge the subject as a problem. In fact, he seemed to completely ignore her unnecessary worrying over the subject. Maybe she was being fickle about it.

The duo walked into the spacious house, lined with rich interior and furniture lined in the best fabrics. Intricate chandeliers hung from the ceilings, casting a warm light onto the luxurious articles and walls of pictures of Kosei's ancestors of the past. Stepping into such a grand abode felt as if the girls were walking into the pages of a fairytale. It was truly breathtaking and to know that they would be spending time here was more than electrifying. They couldn't help but ogle at every little detail in awe.

“Wow, it's so big!” Shana's large, inquisitive eyes were like that of a child's seeing the world for the first time. Everything was so amazing and she felt like the luckiest being on earth to experience something so great.

“Nice place,” Prada smiled in agreement. She had seen her boyfriend's house before but every time she entered it, she couldn't help but be immersed in the luxe lifestyle he must have led.

“Thank you. I hope that you both enjoy it here,” Kosei let out the faintest of smiles as his velvet voice poured from his lips.

“I'm just a middle-class girl so I've never seen anything so elaborate,” Shana glanced around at the white walls, stenciled with black flowers that seemed to grow up from the flooring, “I feel like royalty.”

“Feel free to use anything you'd like. You may stay in the room upstairs, it's across from Prada's room and you each have a balcony, bathroom, and television to yourselves.” They also had other luxuries, but he wanted them to find those perks out for themselves. It wouldn't be fun if he didn't treat them to a little extra.

“Wow!” Shana was at the edge of happiness as she raced up the black marble stairs, unable to contain her excitement.

“I'm sure this will be the start of a wonderful time together,” Prada turned to her boyfriend. Right now, she couldn't be happier.

“I hope so. I just want to get away from the past.”

“Have you met the woman next door?”

“Woman next door?” He said that like he didn't know anyone even lived there.

“Yeah, her name is Suroriya. She's really nice and she has the cutest black bird. She asked if we could have her over for tea.” That wasn't exactly how the story went, but Prada really wanted to see the girl again and inviting her over would be the best way to get acquainted. She had the feeling that they could be the best of friends.

Kosei looked thoughtful as a serious look crossed his face. `Woman next door? I've never seen anyone next door, so I've never met her. I wonder why she decided to make an appearance all of a sudden.' The recent turn of events was more than odd to him. He could have sworn that the house was vacant and caught in some dispute, deeming it unsellable. Granted the place was up kept, but perhaps that was the work of the housing community or perhaps someone who knew the original owner and kept the grounds at hours he was away.

All of these factors made him inquisitive, and since his girlfriend liked the thought of engaging her, he didn't see what harm it could do to say no. “Well, I don't want to be rude. I don't see the harm in it. Besides, I've never met her.”

Prada's eyebrow arched and confusion infected her visage. That was really odd. She actually didn't expect that answer from him. “Really? She's your neighbor and you've never even met her?”

Kosei shook his head, “I've never seen anyone at that house but it was never for sale and it looked quite kept up. I could never figure it out. Then again, that house has always been strange.”

“What do you mean?” That fact in itself was pretty unnerving. Kosei had lived there for a long time. To say something like that made her feel strange about her meeting with the lolita outside.

“At night there are always a vast amount of moths that fly around the house.”

“Moths?” What did he mean by that? Moths always gathered around house lights. It wasn't all that odd.

“Yes, and at all times of the year even when the insects are gone. There are odd lights and a strange silence that surrounds that house. It feels like a funeral as if someone had died and the moths came to mourn the dearly departed,” Kosei couldn't get the images out of his head. That little orange house was depicted in a much more grim light in his mind. What was supposed to be cheerful and bright was merely a warped perception to him.

“But it seems so cheerful in the daylight. Suroriya is a little weird but she seemed nice enough,” Prada didn't want to be too judgmental. After all, she wanted to come over for tea. If she was completely uninterested then she wouldn't have bothered to make such a gesture.

After giving it a little more thought, an idea on how to handle the situation popped into his mind. “I have a good idea. Let's have a party tonight and invite her. Besides, my sister, Aze is coming over and a party would be just the situation to meet each other.”

“Your sister? What's she like?” Shana asked from her position, seated on the stairs. She had actually come back a few moments ago, but she didn't want to interrupt their conversation.

Kosei turned to the red-haired girl, “she's a painter. She's coming home from France, where she's been painting portraits of the rich.”

Kosei's family kept getting cooler and cooler. Shana never knew he came from a background of such diverse and talented people. “Wow, how cool. I wonder if she'll show us her paintings,” she could hardly contain herself, and hoped that his wonderful sister would entertain them with a few paintings of her own, or possibly do a live portrait.

“There are a few of her works in the basement. I'll have her get them for you. The party will start at six. Be sure to get ready and we'll meet on the patio outside at dark. Dress formally,” Kosei instructed the two girls. He would get the invitations sent and have his staff call those who would be invited.

“What about getting ready?” Shana didn't have anything to wear to such a formal event. There was no way that she could get a dress in such a short amount of time, and even if she did it would fail in comparison to the rich around her.

“I'll have the maids take care of that.”

“Maids?” Prada questioned.

“I call them when my house needs cleaning but I'm sure that they'll do this for me as well. What do you say?” They didn't need to worry about anything. Such small things would be taken care of.

Both of the females decided that they would go off in search of something to wear for the party.

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After a couple of hours of looking through countless ball gowns, the two had finally picked their perfect dress. Prada had chosen a beautiful black, Victorian style dress with layers of black and white ruffles that cascaded to the ground with white ball room gloves that extended to her elbows. The dress hugged her bust line and a single, frilly strap flowed over her right shoulder. Prada chose a more simplistic look, a bright blue evening grown that hugged her curves and tied behind the neck. She accessorized with fingerless, black gloves and pearls on her wrists and around her neck. They examined their articles of clothing in the mirrors, pleased with their selection.

“This will be great,” Prada couldn't help but smile to herself as she fixed her bun.

“I hope so,” Shana on the other hand, was a little more nervous.

“Did you send the invitation?” Prada turned to her friend with an inquisive look. It was her job to make sure that their friend next door got her invite.

Shana nodded. “Yes, I put it in her mailbox.”

Her friend clasped her hands together. “Great! All we do now is wait.”

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Suroriya neatly tore the top of the envelope open, revealing the contents within. It was a simple card with raised detail work of roses around the edges. The font was scrawled and beautiful. Her cold eyes scanned across the words. `So…I'm going to get to go to Kosei's after all.' The lolita put the card back into the envelope and glanced to the bird on her shoulder. “What do you say we do a little partying, Q-chan?”

“Party! Party!”

“I'll go find an appropriate dress for the occasion. It would be rude not to make an impression on our neighbors,” she knew of the perfect dress for such a party.

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She arrived on time as she was known for doing so many times in the past. When she walked into the ball room, everyone took notice of her, even though she wore a simple black dress in contrast to the luxurious ball gowns that surrounded her. For a woman, she was tall- a good six foot and with a body of model caliber. Blue hair, the same shade as Kosei's hung board straight in her bob cut, and eye shadow, the same color as her eyes adorned her face along with striking red lipstick. Her guests heads turned to acknowledge her as her brother stood before her, welcoming her with a formal bow.

The two shared a friendly embrace and pulled back, staring into each other's eyes. “It's good to see you as well, Aze. Please, come in. This party is in your honor.”

Aze put a hand to her chest. “A party in my honor?” Her voice poured out in the same velveteen of her brother's, although the pitch was young similar to a high school girl's, “I have such a kind brother.”

Suroriya silently walked over from next door. She was clad in special attire for the situation - a kurololi dress with black stockings, gloves, a lace encrusted umbrella, black hair bows and a little top hat that rested sideways on her head. As she strolled past the window she was bathed in yellow light and turned her head to peer inside. `What's this?'

Before she could become too enamored in the festivities at hand, the lolita was called over by Prada and Shana, who glanced up from their glasses and took notice of her. They waved and gestured, which put a damper on her investigation but she decided to research her sighting at a later time. She waved back and walked over to the two, greeting them.

“Glad you could make it,” Prada was excited to see that she had made it to the party.

“For sure,” Shana agreed.

“Glad to be here. It's nice to get out every once in a while.” Suroriya knew that was a lie. She only came here because it was of personal benefit to her.

“It's a beautiful night, isn't it?” Shana questioned, taking a large inhale of breath and stretching with the arm that wasn't holding the wine glass.

A strange look crossed Prada's face as she pointed to a nearby tiki torch in the front yard. “Hey, look at that.”

A cloud of drably colored insects that could be either interpreted as butterflies or moths gathered around the light in droves. It was an eerie and abnormal sight. One by one, the tiki torches were consumed by these winged insects.

“That's a lot of moths!” More than Shana had ever seen at once place. It was as if they were migrating by night.

“Lot of moths!” Q-chan repeated her sentence from his perch on his master's shoulder.

“They say that a moth's worst enemy is a flame. Moths are attracted to the light and will fly directly into a flame and die. It would seem that cats aren't the only living things that can be killed with curiosity,” Suroriya remarked, making the event seem more like a mass suicide than a harmless gathering.

At that moment, Kosei walked up with Aze to his right. He began to speak but was cut off mid-sentence as he realized just who exactly his mystery guest had been. “Hello every-“ He was petrified. All he could do was stare ahead at the spiral-haired girl.

“Is there a reason you stopped in mid-sentence?” Suroriya was taking great enjoyment in this moment. Now he had finally recognized her, and he couldn't be more afraid. That fear in his eyes gave her great satisfaction.

`Her…' Aze knew exactly who she was. Just looking at her made her stomach churn in disgust and fear as flashbacks of that day reeled through her head.

Kill her.

Aze's mind was a maelstrom of thoughts.

Stab her.

She continued to plunge the knife in and out of the girl's body whose similarities to Suroriya's were striking.

Make her pay. Make her pay for everything.

She laughed in delight as more blood coated her arm and splattered on her body with each strike. The frayed strands of her sanity vanished into extinction.

DO IT! KILL HER!

Thinking was beyond her. Her body acted as horror filled orange eyes looked up at her.

Kill her and make these urges stop.

The girl didn't even have time to make sense of it all due to how sudden the attack was. Aze let out a shrill scream that was more like a banshee screech as the knife dug into the girl's body over and over again, beating the fluids from her veins and projecting them into the air with a terrifying artistic display. Her victim gurgled as her blood hemorrhaged from her wounds. Aze continued to laugh hysterically as the floor was coated in scarlet. Finally, the last blow collapsed her chest, ending her life once and for all.

Taking her blood, Aze would construct the most important masterpiece of her life.

“Do we…know each other?” Kosei was certain it was her, but how? How was she standing there before them? How did she find them?

“I'm your neighbor but other than that, I don't know what you're talking about. I've never met you before in my life,” Suroriya couldn't help but allowing the slightest amused tone to escape her lips. The situation was laughable. How dare they underestimate her ability to seek them out.

Aze clutched her brother's shoulder, visibly displaying shock and fear. `Liar…There's no mistaking that face.' The girl's bloody visage and glazed over eyes stared back at her in the recesses of her mind. `That's undoubtedly her! Open your eyes, Kosei!'

Golden eyes cast a casual stare at the blue-haired artist. “Do you have something that you'd like to say?” Those words ripped Aze's soul in half effortlessly.

“How-“ She began but Shana cut her off.

“Hey Aze, Kosei told us that you were a painter. Could you show us some of your paintings?” Shana's curiosity in the subject only made the painter tenser than she was before. Visions of that fated moment repeated themselves, but she had to play it cool. She had already let her paranoia show. Another slip would be more than suspicious.

Suroriya smirked in amusement. `Still a painter, are you, Aze? I wonder if your hobby still includes macabre scenes.'

“Sure, I'll go and get them,” Aze smiled quaintly, hiding the fact that she felt like puking in a public place. Like hell she was going to let anyone come down to the basement. There were things in there that shouldn't be seen by the eyes of the masses.

`Now is my chance.' Suroriya casually slipped away into the crowd without the notice of the two chattering girls. Aze would be alone in a far off setting from the party. If there was any time for her plans to work, none was as perfect as this one.

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Aze opened the basement door and stepped down into the darkness, carrying a kerosene lamp that coated the room in a milky light. She slowly made her way down the steep stairway, trying her best to keep her balance in her black heels. The dust particles in the air were illuminated like a fog a she walked around in search of some of her old paintings. `It's been a long time since I've been down here.' She noted at the thick layer of dust that covered various forgotten items in the room.

“Huh?” Aze stiffened up as she noted movement to her right. Whirling around she shone the light at the source of the movement, only to reveal a couple of drab looking moths fluttering about. She sighed in relief. `Just a few moths…as to be expected. It is dusty down here. Now, to find some proper paintings.'

She began to rummage through old portraits, flipping through the stacks that lay against the wall after she uncovered them from their clothed shroud. The moths on the wall watched her, judging her every action through silent eyes.

“I've got to get some good ones for them. I want them to be impressed,” Aze smiled to herself as she covered up the stack and walked by a strange chair that she'd never seen before. Casting it a momentarily look of perplexion she wrote it off as being one of Kosei's picture props and kept walking.

Suroriya watched her, sitting in the chair quietly, concealed in the darkness.

Aze pulled the cover from a large portrait. It was the one she had painted in blood. The one of the girl who looked like Suroriya's mirror image. A heavy sense of dread an anxiety washed over her. `Copperia's Death…that painting…'

“I wonder what people think just before they die,” Suroriya spoke up, causing the artist to gasp and turn, the two pictures she held in her hands crashed to the ground in a clatter, stirring up the accumulated dust on the ground. The lolita sat on the prop chair, that was now close to her and facing her. Suroriya had one leg crossed over the other; gold, emotionless eye bore down on her. Moths fluttered around her in droves.

“What in the hell are you doing down here?” There were no noises made. Not even the slightest sound of the chair being moved or footsteps, so how did she achieve sneaking up on her without her noticing in a room that was completely silent? Was she so careless that her thoughts consumed her into never noticing?

She was a fool.

Suroriya held up her invitation with two fingers and flipped it over, “I was invited, of course.”

“Kabushi Suroriya, so what? Do you have an alias now?” Aze questioned. She had never heard that name before in her life.

Suroriya tossed the card carelessly to the ground and got up, walking towards her. “I'm not going to tell him my real name. You should be glad that I think you to be smarter than that.”

Aze was visibly shaking. She backed up, not letting the deranged lolita get any closer to her than she had to. “How did you find us? I thought you were dead.”

“Maybe you should check your jobs before you decide that they are finished.” Suddenly, the orange-haired girl stopped on a patch of discolored boards. “That must be her.”

“What?” Aze let out in nearly a whisper of fear.

“She's under the floor boards, below your feet. I remember that spot well…to this very day, the images and pain reel through my thoughts. They must do the same for you, Aze.” She couldn't play stupid. Aze knew exactly what she was talking about.

Red lips formed a scowl as miserable blue eyes stared at the girl before her, “I'm over that. It happened a long time ago. I was crazy and I'm on medications now. It's in the past and there's no bringing her back.”

“Tell me, Aze, have you ever heard the myths about twins?”

Where did that topic come from?

“What are you talking about?”

“They say that twins have an uncanny psychic connection. Stories have been told that when one of the twins was hurt, the other feels the pain. If one gives birth, the other will feel contractions. There have also been cases where twins have been separated for many years and reunite to find that they have had lovers or children with the same names. They share one fertilized egg, which separates as they are being formed. They have a spiritual and mental connection. Even now, Copperia still connects me from the beyond,” It was a truly unique aspect of twins that Aze couldn't hope to comprehend. No matter how she tried to tear them apart, they would always be together. Copperia begged for vengeance and Suroriya was going to give her that dying wish.

Copperia murmured softly in a tone that only she could pick up. She relayed an account of events to happen in the immediate future, like a sportscaster relaying the events occurring mere seconds in the future. Sometimes, she was increasingly noisy but Suroriya reveled in merely concentrating in able to hear this phenomenon that served as invaluable. This is why this moment wasn't a surprise to her. Copperia allowed her to relate to people with greater ease, to understand the world's questions and actions.

Anyone could achieve this that had a twin. It was merely a matter of noticing.

“You're crazy if you think your dead twin talks to you. You should be in the psych ward,” Aze argued. She needed medication, but this spiral-haired psychopath needed therapy beyond comprehension.

Suroriya frowned. “Don't be a hypocrite, my dear. You reap what you sow.”

“There's no way in hell that you'll kill me. It's bad enough that I'm living with this. We used to be such good friends,” Aze would have rather those times remain. She would rather live in the days where the murder never happened. The days of old, the days of peace, the days where she had a somewhat normal life.

“I would choose to think that the two of you split up because of artistic differences. You see, she saw herself as alive and you saw her as dead.”

“It was an accident. I didn't mean to-“ Hysteria overcame her with that phrase. Aze's blood coursed through her veins and destroyed her from the inside out. Copperia's face reeled through her mind, staring at her through that bloodied visage. Those eyes. Those glazed over eyes haunted her. They pierced her soul.

“Even now she speaks to me. Can't you hear her? She's beneath your feet, calling to you with her still-beating heart. Can't you hear it?”

As if by queue the heartbeat pulsed in her brain. The direction of the sound was as if it was coming from the floor. Aze covered her ears as her pupils shrunk to the size of pin pricks. `That sound! What the hell is it? What's going on?' Her thoughts raged as the images played over and over. Copperia's body, lying dead on the floor as she painted a portrait of her as if she were alive in her own blood. The first stroke was red and vibrant, the perfect shade of scarlet. Those dead, glazed eyes stared at her with conviction.

“Stop…” The artist's voice quaked.

Suroriya placed her hand to her ear. “Can't you hear the sweet melody?” In her other hand, a small music box with a crafted horse began to play the Carousel Waltz, Copperia's favorite song.

“The Carousel Waltz…” Blood splattered her body, bathing her in its warm sensation as the crazed look on her face drove her deeper into insanity.

`This will be my masterpiece! I shall call it -The Death of Copperia! It will be my greatest work! And yet…' Aze held up her blood tipped brush, her head cocked violently to the side and a grim smile plastered on her face. `…it will be painted entirely from the victim's blood.'

`These thoughts…' The Carousel Waltz continued to play, assaulting her mind with those sickeningly happy tunes.

Why couldn't it just stop?

Aze grabbed the sides of her head and thrashed around. “These wretched memories…they've haunted me since I've killed her. This is why I take medications, to help me get rid of the vivid hallucinations. I thought my life would go back to normal until she showed up. Why? Why is this happening to me?” Stepping backwards, she bumped the blood portrait and whirled around. Aze's heart was slammed against her chest as she stared into the painting's eyes in horror. “Get away! Just get away from me!” She screamed as tripped over her dress, bumping into Suroriya, who dropped her umbrella on the ground.

The end of it caught between the slats, protruding upwards. Suroriya grabbed it and thrust it into Aze's back. Her body let out a violent pop as it burst through her chest and popped open, splattering the floor in blood and ichor. She let go of it before any blood could touch her hands.

“Perhaps this will do until I kill Kosei. She had it coming to her, after all.” Picking up the portrait of her twin sister, Suroriya heard the body slam into the floor. “This is the last remaining piece of my other half. Even if the memories are morose, I still want to cherish them. Copperia and I both share this blood…this blood that was spilled so carelessly by a lackluster, pitiful artist whose works could never compare to your artistic talents. Perhaps that coward Kosei will hide his sister under the floor as well.”

On the floor, moths gathered on her body, crawling along the bloodied surface and engorging themselves on the sweet nectar of her blood.

“You don't deserve such a privilege,” Suroriya spat as she made her way back up the stairs with her covered artwork. `They shouldn't find her body for a while, since they are expecting her to look for her horrid paintings. This should give me enough time to make a getaway and show back up unnoticed.'

The look on her face hardened with determination. `You'd better watch your step, Kosei. My plan has been put into action and soon you will be my next victim.'

…To Be Continued

NOTES: The moths drinking Aze's blood fall into a specific category of moths known as Calyptra, who are known for drinking the blood of vertebrates. They are actually very interesting if you wish to do the research on them. This story is heavily based on them as well as blood butterflies who are known for doing the same thing. Searching for vampire moth, or vampire butterfly should give you some interesting links.