The Jabberwock

                  The days were rather normal, just like any other. The twins, Mason and Kayla, were both happy and joyful. They lived with their parents Mark and Marria. Life was good, the twins had just become freshmen in high school and were starting to fit in and making new friends at their new school. Kayla was more introverted than her twin brother Mason who was considered an extrovert and outspoken. The twins went to school together, it was their first day and they were nervous, especially Kayla. Within hours Mason had already surrounded himself with a group of friends with whom he laughed freely with, while Kayla on the other side had one friend who she was opening up to. After school Mason was with his friends talking about joining the basketball team for their school.

                “I should join the team, I could help us win!”

 Mason said to his friends which cheered him on, Kayla on the other hand enjoyed writing and was talking to her friends about her writings.

                 “I don’t think my writings are that good enough to join the school’s writing blog!” Kayla said to her friend, Erika. “No! Your writing is amazing! You should definitely join the school’s blog,” Erika shouts in excitement. 

                After school the twins walked home together, they were both playing around with each other. Both Kayla and Mason were laughing full heartedly. Once they got home Mason went out with his friends to go play basketball while Kayla stayed inside continued her writing for submission to the school’s blog. The twins’s mother, Marria, was downstairs cooking dinners for their family while the twins’s father, Mark, was out at work. After a while the twins were both inside the house and their father had arrived home, their mother had set the tables and they ate together as a family, like they usually do. After dinner the twins went upstairs to their own rooms, Mason was on the phone with his friends while Kayla went back to her writing. They all went to do their own things, their father was relaxing on the couch watching something when it switched to their favorite show.
              “Mason! Kayla! Our show is on!” Their father shouts from the couch, the children run down to grab a nice seat on the couch, Mason jumps over the stairs while Kayla walks down the stairs slowly with their pet cat, Mr. Kitteres, in her arms. They were both happy to spend time with their father and watch their favorite show together. 

                Meanwhile, their mother– Marria– was putting her shoes on to go on her walk. She walked by the living room where Kayla, Mason and their father Mark were glued to the TV screen; she laughed to herself before she walked up to them to pet Mr Kitteres.

                “When are you guys NOT watching this show?” she said sarcastically before she walked to the door about to leave the house.

                “It’s interesting!” Mason shouted while laughing, “you should join us mom!” Kayla follows behind. “No, I’m going on a walk to get some fresh air. I’ll be back before it’s time for bed.” 

               With that, their mother left the house. The twins and their father resumed their show and were deep into the new episode. Mason got up to get a snack for their show while his twin sister and their father remained on the couch watching the show.

               “Pause it! Don’t watch it without me!” Mason shouts from the kitchen, he gets a cup of water and a snack and comes back to the living room to continue watching the show. 

               “WHAT?! The murder was–” one of the characters in the show that they were watching said… before they were cut off by a news outlet suddenly coming onto the TV. 

               “Breaking news. There are now zombie-like-creatures which have been taking the appearance of loved ones to get close to you. Stay safe and lock the doors. Don’t let–” 

                 The news reporter was cut off by a knock on the door. The twins’ father got up to get the door. “Who could that be at this hour?” Their father Mark got to the door, 

“Oh hello-”

                 They hear a loud commotion at the door but the twins brush it off as a big package that was brought to their house.

                “What was that?” Kayla asked her twin brother  Mason who replieds “oh, I think mom bought a package, I think it’s a drawer or something, maybe that’s what that loud sound was” 

              He shrugs it off, Kayla was about to get up and check what was going on but her brother Mason talks her out of it.

                “Dad can bring the package in himself, he wouldn’t want you to help him with it.” 

                Later their dad” came back and shut off the TV. “Go to bed,” he commanded, dismissing the twins. They didn’t even get to finish the show. “It’s late, and you two have school tomorrow.” The twins reluctantly went up to their rooms and got ready for bed. 

              The next day the twins woke up a bit late for school, their mother Marria, had yet to come home after her walk last night. The twins were in a rush and didn’t pay attention to their mother’s absence. Their “dad” was outside gardening, Kayla was confused since their dad never used to garden, he even said it was ‘effeminate,’ but Kayla didn’t have enough time to confront her “dad”.

               Later, while the twins were at school, Kayla was walking to class with her friend Erika. 

                ”So have you ever submitted that thing you were writing?” Erika asked. “No, but I’ll try to finish it tonight or something.” Kayla responded, “but I do have to give the characters names? What should I name them, Erika?” Kayla asked. “OH! Name one after me!” Erika said while laughing. 

               Meanwhile, Mason was with his friends in the courtyard. “Dude! When are you going to join the team?” one of his friends, Anthony, asked. “Try-outs are next month, we should all join the team,” his other friend Daniel said. 

              After school, Kayla went home to continue on her writing while her brother Mason went with his friends to a field to play basketball. Their “dad” was in the shed outside in the backyard of  their house. 

            Later, at 8pm when Mason came home from hanging out with his friends at the basketball court while trying out for the basketball team. His sister Kayla was sitting in the living room writing her story for the school blog. 

           “Since when was dad into gardening? I thought he said it was ‘girly’.” Kayla asked. “He is?” Mason replied. “I didn’t notice that… is that why he’s in the shed?” Mason continued.  “Maybe we could go check it out,” Kayla offered. “Yeah we should.” Mason said.

            Just as the twins had gotten up and were heading towards the shed, Kayla opened the door to the backyard and was walking towards the shed that their ‘dad’ was in. They were stopped by a knock on the door. Kayla reluctantly went to go open the door, Mason followed her to see who was at the door. 

            “Who could this be?” Kayla asked as she reached for the door knob. “I don’t know, maybe mom is finally coming back home after her walk…” Mason replied “she was out all night and this morning I didn’t see her” Kayla said. 

             Kayla opened the door to reveal a police officer standing outside at the door. The twins looked at each other in confusion while the police officer looked a bit nervous and worried. 

            “Does someone by the name of Marria Wilson live here?” the police officer asked while fidgeting with a card in his hands. The card looks to be an identification card, their mother’s identification card. 

             “Yes, she’s our mom.” Mason said, worried that something might’ve happened to their mother. “An accident happened last night and your mother… she was sadly killed during the accident.” The police officer said as he handed their mothers identification card to Mason “What…” “This can’t be.” The twins said in denial, they refused to believe that their mother was dead, not like this. 

                “I’m sorry kids, but is your father here? Or is there an adult here in general?” The police officer said to the twins, Kayla turned to go call their father but he was already standing behind them with a wicked smile. 

                  “What seems to be the problem, police officer?”  the twins’ “dad” asked, still with that weird smile which made Kayla look at him weirdly. As the police officer told their “dad” what had happened their dad’s face changed and he looked worried. 

                  Soon the police officer left and their “dad” shut the door. Kayla was sitting on the stairs still in disbelief, despair and disarray, as her “dad” turned his back to the door he was heading back to the garden with that same creepy smile that she had noticed earlier. 

                   Kayla went up to her brother who was sitting on the couch staring into the abyss. “Mason, dad is acting really weird, did you see the way he was smiling when the police officer came?”  Mason finally snapped back into reality and looked at his sister. “What are you talking about? Why would he be smiling at this? He looked hopeless to me.” he said while leaning back onto the couch. 

                     Kayla knew she wasn’t imagining it, she saw it with her own two eyes… or was she actually hallucinating? But whatever she saw she knew it was very unusual for their father; the smile, the gardening and the fact he wasn’t watching their favorite show with them which they always did everyday after around 8pm. 

                    “Dad! We should watch our show!” Kayla said as their “dad” was out gardening, he was pulling a large brown bag which looked to be a sack of dirt so Kayla didn’t think much of it. “Yeah it’s been a while. We have so much to catch up on.” Mason chimed in as he was walking down the stairs. “What show?” their “dad” asked, both twins were looking at each other in confusion. 

                   “The show we always watch,”  Kayla said as she looked at her brother to say ‘I told you so.’ “Maybe the loss of mom affected him badly… you’re imagining things Kay.” Mason added before going back upstairs to his room. 

                    That night was a Friday night so they didn’t have school the next day, Kayla waited till everyone was either asleep or had gone upstairs for her to go outside to see the garden their “dad” was suddenly so obsessed over. Just as she was about to open the door to the shed and finally see why their father was always hiding in there their ‘dad’ was right behind her. “Shouldn’t you be in bed already? You have school tomorrow, get to bed.” her father said. She felt like she had to check what was going on behind that door that was so secretive that she couldn’t see. She felt as if something was off about their dad, he never kept secrets yet now he has tons of secrets he’s hiding.

                    She reluctantly went upstairs to her room and took a break to continue her writing for the school blog before she would head back downstairs to see what secrets were being hidden in that shed. She finished her blog before she finally remembered  the shed in the backyard. She went to her brother Mason’s room to see if he was awake and sure enough he was.

                    “Mason, dad is acting weird about the shed and I’m going to check it out… I got caught and told to go to my room but I had a weird feeling that I had to check what’s in it.” Mason put his phone down and sat up and asked, “And what do you want me to do?” Kayla entered the room and closed the door behind her so their “dad” wouldn’t hear them. “I need you to be on the look-out and tell me when dad’s coming towards the shed.” 

                    The twins came up with a plan, where Kayla was going to check out the shed and the possible secrets that were being hidden in there while Mason kept lookout and distracted their father if he were to go to the shed while Kayla was in there. “Ok, it’ll take like five minutes, I’ll hurry out.” With that Kayla rushed to the shed, she opened the door and looked around. Soon Mason heard a scream, he was recognised the scream, it was his sister Kayla’s 

                  “What?!” Mason rushed to see what was going on with his sister, “what’s going on?” He asked now with some panic in his voice. Once he got to the shed his heart dropped, he was left speechless and frozen. It felt like an eternity, while they twins were too busy focused on the shed they didn’t know that their ‘dad’ had caught them. “What are you two doing awake at this time?” 

To be continued…