Part 1: Lissy
‘Welcome to Eisoptro’. I’d walked past the old, faded sign everyday, and today was no different. Just another long and pointless day in the monotony that happened to be my life. The sky was hazy and red as usual, with the last remnants of the latest sandstorm slowly fading away. I walked past the murky river which looked like pure mud, flowing towards the city. I wondered why everything was always so dull and dusty, but then again that was the law. The laws were there for a reason. I doubted that the laws would ever just exist for the sake of existing but I couldn’t imagine what the reasons were. We’d all heard the stories and fairy tales as we grew up, and we’d never known any different. I wondered what the world would be like if the sky was another colour, like blue, or if the rivers and lakes were transparent so you could see all the way to the ground beneath them. I had such a vivid imagination, but in a world so dull and boring, it was the only form of escapism I had. I’d always been keen on reading books, which I suppose must be where my imagination comes from. I was still pondering over this, when my phone rang. I looked down to see that it was my cousin Elle. We were as close as sisters – she was my best friend and we’d grown up together but lately she’d been acting strange and distant. I wondered what she wanted.
‘yello?’ I answered.
‘Lissy, I need to talk to you.’
‘you’ve finally decided to tell me what’s up then?’
‘yeah, but not on the phone. Can you meet me in ten minutes?’
‘I’m on my way to work, I can’t be late again.’
‘so call in sick. This is urgent. You know I wouldn’t normally ask you to miss work or anything, but it’s important.’
‘ok.’ I sighed. ‘I need a break from work anyway, its getting too stressful at the moment. Where are you?’
‘down by Sorrim. You?’
‘I was on my way to work. I’m just past the Eisoptro sign, by the river – I’m about 5 minutes from the bridge.’
‘ok, go over the bridge and get the bus to Sorrim, and I’ll meet you outside the park.’
‘ok, I just hope no one sees me if I’m meant to be off sick from work.’
‘just tell them you got called back to the enforcement offices again about your tattoo.’
‘I’m not sure how long I can keep using that as an excuse, but I’ll think of something. See you in 10.’
‘ok, and Lissy, I’m sorry about before.’
‘no worries.’ I hung up. It was so like her, to worry about the smallest things. She’d probably felt guilty that she’d been so quiet lately, and thought I was mad at her. She always felt guilty about the most insignificant things. She’d once been up all night worrying she’d upset me by accidentally telling my mother I was mad at her for something she’d said. My mother always knows when I’m mad with her and I knew Elle would never have said anything or interfered on purpose, but she just worried way too much.
I got off the bus and stepped out into the humidity and the red haze. The mud and dust in the air didn’t help much either as I choked back a cough. I didn’t usually bother with the dust mask because I felt claustrophobic enough as it was, just being on the bus, but the wind started to pick up, so I put the mask on whilst fighting back a coughing fit. As I looked up, I spotted Elle with her long curly blonde hair poking out from under her hat, and waved as I walked towards her. She tucked her face into her coat, and beckoned me under the nearest tree.
‘Lissy?’ she said a little nervously as she hugged me.
‘Elle, what's wrong?’ I could tell straight away something wasn’t right. She looked a mess, and she sounded upset and panicked.
‘not here, we need to go somewhere private. Lets go to the library, the basement should be private enough.’
‘ok.’ I didn’t want to ask any questions until she felt comfortable enough to tell me on her own. I noticed she had her left hand in her pocket as if her arm was in pain. She sighed as she caught me looking at her arm.
‘its not that bad, it just hurts a little. I’ll explain in a while. Lets go down to the Library basement where we can talk.’ Elle used to help out at the Library when she was a student, and she still used the basement sometimes when she needed to be alone.
By now I was curious as to what she wanted to talk to me about. I knew she was into her mysteries and conspiracy theories as much as I was, but I just figured I was letting my imagination get to me again. She probably just rescued a cat from a tree or something, and hurt her arm falling from the tree. And here was me thinking that she’d gotten involved in something stupid like drugs or something worse.
We barely spoke on the way to the library. I was so engrossed in speculating about whatever it was that was on her mind. I guessed that she was worrying about how to tell me whatever it was that she wanted to get off her chest. As soon as we got to the basement, she locked the door behind her, put a chair underneath it, and checked that no one else was around. When she turned back to face me, she removed her coat and sat on the floor. Just as I was removing my mask and my jacket she spoke.
‘Lissy, if someone told you a secret about me, but you were sworn to secrecy not to tell me, what would you do?’
She caught me off guard. ‘erm.. I guess it would depend on what the secret was and how important it was, and whether you needed to know.’
‘ok, well what if it was the other way around?’
‘ok, now I’m confused.’
‘Sorry, its just that its hard to explain, and I don’t even know if i’m doing the right thing. I don’t even know where to start.’
‘now I’m completely lost. All I understood was something about a secret.’
‘sorry, I guess I should start at the beginning.’
‘maybe that would be easiest.’ I agreed.
‘ok, well you know that about a month ago when Aunt Lucy died, and I helped my mother to go through her things?’
‘ of course. You know I would have helped if my mother would have let me, but she never liked aunt Lucy. She kept telling me that she was crazy, and that she’d only try and tell me crazy stories and upset me.’
‘well there was more to it than that. After Gran died, Aunt Lucy took over and became like a second mother to them both. My mother wouldn’t tell me what happened, but from what I could tell, it was over an argument or something that had happened when we were both young. Anyway, my mum went to the shops to clear her head for a while and I found Aunt Lucy's diary. I didn’t want to pry, but I was curious to see if there was anything about what happened, so I kept it. I forgot about it for a while, but I found it about a week ago when my phone fell under the bed. I was reaching for it when I scraped my arm on the corner of the metal box where I’d put some of her things that I’d kept. I pulled it out and started looking though the contents and I found the diary. I was curious to see what was written inside it, and at first it was nothing special, just old friends she’d seen, memories from when she was young, and stories about Gran, but then…’ she broke off. I noticed tears forming in her eyes, and she suddenly looked down at the floor and started fiddling with a thread on the belt of her coat.
‘then what happened?’
‘it.. well… I really don’t know if its right for me to tell you. It would upset you, and it would change things, and I don’t want to cause any problems!’
‘you worry too much! I really don’t see how anything in her diary could be so harmful, and besides why would I be upset by something in a diary?’
‘ok, but first I want to rewind a bit. You remember the stories and fairy tales we learned in school growing up? The ones that your mother didn’t like us to talk about?’
‘the stories about the twins? I never understood that. How could two people be born at the same time from the same mother? Its ridiculous! And even if it were true, I don’t see what it would have to do with the murky laws!’
‘well basically, the stories go that if two people are born at the same time, from the same woman then they are twins. The last pair of twins that were born were Ben and Beth Hudson about 60 years ago. When they were teenagers, they were playing a ball game of some kind..’
‘Tennis I think it was, and I know the story. They smashed a window near the garden pond, Ben dove into the water to retrieve the ball, and he saw another boy in the water who was drowning. He pulled him out of the water and it was a third twin – an exact copy of Ben. The water had cleaned a large chunk of glass that fell from the broken window, and it let his reflection out. Then his reflection tried to take his place and claim he was the real Ben, but Beth soon realised which boy was the real Ben because she saw the birthmark he had on his wrist was inverted on the imposter. Then they took the imposter away, killed him, and from that day forth, it was illegal to have any kind of glass within 10 feet of water, all water had to be so murky that you couldn’t see your reflection, the planes flew over the sky every night and day to ensure there was a sandstorm on the days when the sky was clear, and windows had to be covered in at least an inch of dust, and mirrors became illegal.’
‘the conspiracy theories give more depth behind the story, but yeah, that’s the gist of it. Anyway, you missed the part about the tattoos. Every baby born, has to have an asymmetrical tattoo on the inside of the right hand wrist and on the back of the neck, and all tattoos must point to the right, and the ink can be dated back to your date of birth because each blend of ink is unique to each day, month and year.’
‘what does this have to do with mum and Aunt Lucy?’
‘well you know you have a scar by each of your tattoos?’
‘so now this is about me?’
‘that’s what I’m trying to explain.’ She looked away, and suddenly dug into her bag. I wondered what the scars from the car crash that had killed my father and almost killed me too, had to do with any of this.
‘here.’ She passed me the diary. ‘I think you should read this. You would understand this better than if I explained things.’
‘Welcome to Eisoptro’. I’d walked past the old, faded sign everyday, and today was no different. Just another long and pointless day in the monotony that happened to be my life. The sky was hazy and red as usual, with the last remnants of the latest sandstorm slowly fading away. I walked past the murky river which looked like pure mud, flowing towards the city. I wondered why everything was always so dull and dusty, but then again that was the law. The laws were there for a reason. I doubted that the laws would ever just exist for the sake of existing but I couldn’t imagine what the reasons were. We’d all heard the stories and fairy tales as we grew up, and we’d never known any different. I wondered what the world would be like if the sky was another colour, like blue, or if the rivers and lakes were transparent so you could see all the way to the ground beneath them. I had such a vivid imagination, but in a world so dull and boring, it was the only form of escapism I had. I’d always been keen on reading books, which I suppose must be where my imagination comes from. I was still pondering over this, when my phone rang. I looked down to see that it was my cousin Elle. We were as close as sisters – she was my best friend and we’d grown up together but lately she’d been acting strange and distant. I wondered what she wanted.
‘yello?’ I answered.
‘Lissy, I need to talk to you.’
‘you’ve finally decided to tell me what’s up then?’
‘yeah, but not on the phone. Can you meet me in ten minutes?’
‘I’m on my way to work, I can’t be late again.’
‘so call in sick. This is urgent. You know I wouldn’t normally ask you to miss work or anything, but it’s important.’
‘ok.’ I sighed. ‘I need a break from work anyway, its getting too stressful at the moment. Where are you?’
‘down by Sorrim. You?’
‘I was on my way to work. I’m just past the Eisoptro sign, by the river – I’m about 5 minutes from the bridge.’
‘ok, go over the bridge and get the bus to Sorrim, and I’ll meet you outside the park.’
‘ok, I just hope no one sees me if I’m meant to be off sick from work.’
‘just tell them you got called back to the enforcement offices again about your tattoo.’
‘I’m not sure how long I can keep using that as an excuse, but I’ll think of something. See you in 10.’
‘ok, and Lissy, I’m sorry about before.’
‘no worries.’ I hung up. It was so like her, to worry about the smallest things. She’d probably felt guilty that she’d been so quiet lately, and thought I was mad at her. She always felt guilty about the most insignificant things. She’d once been up all night worrying she’d upset me by accidentally telling my mother I was mad at her for something she’d said. My mother always knows when I’m mad with her and I knew Elle would never have said anything or interfered on purpose, but she just worried way too much.
I got off the bus and stepped out into the humidity and the red haze. The mud and dust in the air didn’t help much either as I choked back a cough. I didn’t usually bother with the dust mask because I felt claustrophobic enough as it was, just being on the bus, but the wind started to pick up, so I put the mask on whilst fighting back a coughing fit. As I looked up, I spotted Elle with her long curly blonde hair poking out from under her hat, and waved as I walked towards her. She tucked her face into her coat, and beckoned me under the nearest tree.
‘Lissy?’ she said a little nervously as she hugged me.
‘Elle, what's wrong?’ I could tell straight away something wasn’t right. She looked a mess, and she sounded upset and panicked.
‘not here, we need to go somewhere private. Lets go to the library, the basement should be private enough.’
‘ok.’ I didn’t want to ask any questions until she felt comfortable enough to tell me on her own. I noticed she had her left hand in her pocket as if her arm was in pain. She sighed as she caught me looking at her arm.
‘its not that bad, it just hurts a little. I’ll explain in a while. Lets go down to the Library basement where we can talk.’ Elle used to help out at the Library when she was a student, and she still used the basement sometimes when she needed to be alone.
By now I was curious as to what she wanted to talk to me about. I knew she was into her mysteries and conspiracy theories as much as I was, but I just figured I was letting my imagination get to me again. She probably just rescued a cat from a tree or something, and hurt her arm falling from the tree. And here was me thinking that she’d gotten involved in something stupid like drugs or something worse.
We barely spoke on the way to the library. I was so engrossed in speculating about whatever it was that was on her mind. I guessed that she was worrying about how to tell me whatever it was that she wanted to get off her chest. As soon as we got to the basement, she locked the door behind her, put a chair underneath it, and checked that no one else was around. When she turned back to face me, she removed her coat and sat on the floor. Just as I was removing my mask and my jacket she spoke.
‘Lissy, if someone told you a secret about me, but you were sworn to secrecy not to tell me, what would you do?’
She caught me off guard. ‘erm.. I guess it would depend on what the secret was and how important it was, and whether you needed to know.’
‘ok, well what if it was the other way around?’
‘ok, now I’m confused.’
‘Sorry, its just that its hard to explain, and I don’t even know if i’m doing the right thing. I don’t even know where to start.’
‘now I’m completely lost. All I understood was something about a secret.’
‘sorry, I guess I should start at the beginning.’
‘maybe that would be easiest.’ I agreed.
‘ok, well you know that about a month ago when Aunt Lucy died, and I helped my mother to go through her things?’
‘ of course. You know I would have helped if my mother would have let me, but she never liked aunt Lucy. She kept telling me that she was crazy, and that she’d only try and tell me crazy stories and upset me.’
‘well there was more to it than that. After Gran died, Aunt Lucy took over and became like a second mother to them both. My mother wouldn’t tell me what happened, but from what I could tell, it was over an argument or something that had happened when we were both young. Anyway, my mum went to the shops to clear her head for a while and I found Aunt Lucy's diary. I didn’t want to pry, but I was curious to see if there was anything about what happened, so I kept it. I forgot about it for a while, but I found it about a week ago when my phone fell under the bed. I was reaching for it when I scraped my arm on the corner of the metal box where I’d put some of her things that I’d kept. I pulled it out and started looking though the contents and I found the diary. I was curious to see what was written inside it, and at first it was nothing special, just old friends she’d seen, memories from when she was young, and stories about Gran, but then…’ she broke off. I noticed tears forming in her eyes, and she suddenly looked down at the floor and started fiddling with a thread on the belt of her coat.
‘then what happened?’
‘it.. well… I really don’t know if its right for me to tell you. It would upset you, and it would change things, and I don’t want to cause any problems!’
‘you worry too much! I really don’t see how anything in her diary could be so harmful, and besides why would I be upset by something in a diary?’
‘ok, but first I want to rewind a bit. You remember the stories and fairy tales we learned in school growing up? The ones that your mother didn’t like us to talk about?’
‘the stories about the twins? I never understood that. How could two people be born at the same time from the same mother? Its ridiculous! And even if it were true, I don’t see what it would have to do with the murky laws!’
‘well basically, the stories go that if two people are born at the same time, from the same woman then they are twins. The last pair of twins that were born were Ben and Beth Hudson about 60 years ago. When they were teenagers, they were playing a ball game of some kind..’
‘Tennis I think it was, and I know the story. They smashed a window near the garden pond, Ben dove into the water to retrieve the ball, and he saw another boy in the water who was drowning. He pulled him out of the water and it was a third twin – an exact copy of Ben. The water had cleaned a large chunk of glass that fell from the broken window, and it let his reflection out. Then his reflection tried to take his place and claim he was the real Ben, but Beth soon realised which boy was the real Ben because she saw the birthmark he had on his wrist was inverted on the imposter. Then they took the imposter away, killed him, and from that day forth, it was illegal to have any kind of glass within 10 feet of water, all water had to be so murky that you couldn’t see your reflection, the planes flew over the sky every night and day to ensure there was a sandstorm on the days when the sky was clear, and windows had to be covered in at least an inch of dust, and mirrors became illegal.’
‘the conspiracy theories give more depth behind the story, but yeah, that’s the gist of it. Anyway, you missed the part about the tattoos. Every baby born, has to have an asymmetrical tattoo on the inside of the right hand wrist and on the back of the neck, and all tattoos must point to the right, and the ink can be dated back to your date of birth because each blend of ink is unique to each day, month and year.’
‘what does this have to do with mum and Aunt Lucy?’
‘well you know you have a scar by each of your tattoos?’
‘so now this is about me?’
‘that’s what I’m trying to explain.’ She looked away, and suddenly dug into her bag. I wondered what the scars from the car crash that had killed my father and almost killed me too, had to do with any of this.
‘here.’ She passed me the diary. ‘I think you should read this. You would understand this better than if I explained things.’