Adolescence

Chapter 2

We lived in a large old fashioned mansion, the kind with so many rooms most were left unused, the kind with enormous old paintings of unknown people concealing the wallpaper hidden beneath them. In unison we climbed the staircase leading to the bedrooms, leading to the one we still shared even now. We reminisced, remembering how scared we'd been of the long corridors when we were children, frightened of what may have been lurking amongst the shadows in the old mansion, we would huddle together for safety and security. We both laughed, though I secretly still feared sleeping alone in one of the antique bedrooms, one of the reasons we still slept together.

"I'm going to get changed in the bathroom" Rin informed me removing a nightgown from the dresser and hurrying into the en suite bathroom. I heard the metallic click of the lock as she locked the door. We used to change in the same room, I reflected. She'd been so modest lately, it was as if she didn't trust me anymore, she even locked the door now as if I'd given her reason to. It wasn't as if I spied on her, in fact I hadn't taken much notice of her changing, ever. She was my sister, why would I? I changed alone in our bedroom, I didn't really care if she walked in on me changing, it wasn't as if we'd never seen one another naked before, when we were younger we even bathed together (something Rin had insisted we put a stop to when we turned twelve).

Rin took her time, and I'd already been lying alone in the four-poster-bed for at least ten minutes before she emerged, both arms folded in front of her chest as if shielding herself from my gaze. Delicately she pulled the covers back so that she could climb in beside me, which she did while tugging the skirt of her nightgown down to cover her legs more. I gave her a puzzled look, wishing she'd explain her odd behaviour to me. She turned her body to face me and stared into my eyes, a soft smile upon her lips. I gathered her in my arms, pulling her head close to my chest and whispered softly to her;

"Goodnight my princess" a silly nic-name for her. I gently ran my fingers through her blonde hair, gathering a handful of it in my palm and feeling how soft it was.

"Goodnight my knight" She breathed quietly, already drifting off into a slumber. I stayed awake long after her breathing had slowed so that I could tell she was asleep. I couldn't help feeling like something had changed between us, or was changing. We'd always been so close, we'd danced together, played together, ate together, bathed together, changed together, slept together. Now things seemed different somehow. We didn't bathe or change together anymore, I supposed I could understand this, our bodies were both changing, and obviously Rin was more self conscious about this than I was. But now when we danced together, I kept having to stop. I would become light headed and embarrassed at the fact we were so close, yet now we slept together and it didn't bother me at all. I didn't understand. In a way it felt like we were drifting apart, yet it also felt like we were becoming closer...just in a different way. I ran my hand along her hip, feeling for myself where it curved out and in. It never used to do that. She moaned a little in irritation drowsily, still asleep, I was disturbing her so I stopped.

I was finally starting to fall asleep when the creak of our bedroom door jolted me awake again, in a sleepy state I groaned angrily, pulling Rin closer instinctively, protectively. I kept my eyes shut, wishing to ignore the source of the noise, and was slightly relieved to hear my father's voice.

"They really are adorable aren't they?" He whispered. My mother replied with an 'Mmm' sound, not wanting to wake us. I felt a hand brushing a loose strand of hair from my eyes, making me pull my twin even closer, a movement I couldn't help, I'd always been protective.

"He's protective of her isn't he?" My father's voice again. I hoped Rin wouldn't be woken up by his talking, and wished they would hurry up and leave. I suddenly realised that she too was awake, as the flutter of her soft eyelashes tickled my bare chest. That's right, it was most likely too dark for them to notice her blinking as her head was buried in my chest.

"I do wish he would button his shirt up more, he has no modesty I swear!" My mother commented on the fact I'd left my shirt unbuttoned right down to my stomach. Rin's hand reached for mine beneath the covers, and she squeezed it reassuringly. My mother enjoyed criticising my appearance, and often told me to be more modest, especially around my sister.

"It's too warm, the boy isn't causing any harm dear." my father defended me, understanding me more than my mother.

"He wouldn't be too warm if he had his own bed instead of sharing with his sister" I clenched my teeth, I didn't understand what my mother had against Rin and me sharing, we were twins, there was nothing wrong with it. As if being able to read my thoughts my father replied;

"They're twins I don't see the harm in them sharing." I relaxed, secretly grateful for my father's understanding. My mother sighed; knowing arguing with him wouldn't help. But obviously deciding to anyway.

"Look...they're getting to an age where it isn't...right for them to be sharing a bed, it would be different if they were both girls or both boys but...at some point they'll start to notice they're becoming different and become...curious...don't you think?" my mother seemed to have trouble approaching the subject with her husband, especially since she was speaking about us. I almost laughed, we'd already begun to notice the differences and it hadn't caused us any harm.

"What do you think they're going to do? They're siblings! Even if they aren't the same gender I highly doubt they would do anything, that's just wrong..." our father had raised his voice a little, anger apparent in his tone. What did my mother expect us to be doing?

"It isn't like we haven't taught them about...sex...they aren't children anymore, that much is obvious!" My mother paused, lowering her voice at the word 'sex', obviously contemplating how to finish this delicately. "I mean, it isn't like they have any friends they could talk about it with, they spend all of their time together, for all we know they might already have-" our father interrupted furiously.

"No! I've raised my son to be a gentleman, and I'll say the same for our daughter, even if they were curious they wouldn't turn to one another for the answers, if it bothered them that much they would start coming out with us to find suitable partners!" he finished in a speaking tone now, informing both our mother and us that he was displeased. Rin trembled in my arms, I squeezed her hand as she'd done to me, though I too was shocked by the conversation, how could they possibly think of us in that way?

"You're probably right, I am overacting but still...I feel they should start sleeping in separate beds, can we agree on that much? They're old enough now." Our mother attempted to persuade our father. With a low sigh, he mumbled the word 'yes', followed by;

"We'll discuss it with them tomorrow", before planting a kiss on our cheeks, and retreating from our room. We heard the door click shut, heard their footsteps becoming quieter as they left for their own room before summoning up the courage to say anything. There was an awkward silence between us, their conversation made us feel dirty, as if we had committed some incestuous crime by simply sharing a bed. Finally Rin spoke, echoing my own thoughts.

"I noticed..." She whispered timidly, referring to the differences between us.

"So did I, how could we not?" I questioned defending us, yet feeling useless doing so. She moved away from me, and my grip on her slipped, allowing her to do so. She was staring into my eyes again, searching my soul for an alibi, we were innocent, we hadn't done anything wrong.

"This could be our last night together, we should enjoy one another's company instead of reflecting on what they said, after all, we've never done anything wrong" I frowned, pulling her close to me again, feeling possessive of her. No one had ever threatened to take my twin away from me before, and now they had, I didn't like it.

"Okay" she replied simply, resting her head a little warily against my chest once more. I could feel her tears slipping down my chest; she hated the idea of sleeping alone as much as I did, but I was strong for her, and stroked her hair lovingly until she slept once more. Surprisingly now I was able to sleep, my anger had exhausted me so that I managed to fall asleep.