To ysabetwordsmith‘s prompt. Names from here

It happened once in a generation, or maybe twice – twins born on the cusp of the day, so that one was born to a sinister day, and one to a bright day. The one born to the sinister was taken away, to be raised by others born in the night-days. The one born to the bright-days lived in the light.

Those given to the dark lived apart from those in the bright, their business, their life, their whole existence separate. The twins were the only connection, echos who could, if they wished, cross the line.

They did, of course. The dark existed, if not solely, than primarily to vex the day. And the children of the dark who could do so directly joyed in causing trouble, in pretending to be their twin, in creating havoc and chaos. It was the way of the world.

Ava and Ella were born like any other dark-light twin pair, Ava to the night of a sinister day, Ella to the morning of a bright day. They were themselves born to a day-side twin, and so it was their mother’s sister who took Ava away, into the shadows of the sinister world. And so she raised Ava to be an evil twin, as her sister raised Ella to be a good twin.

Something was wrong about the pair, right from the beginning. Ava favored her right hand, spent as much time as she could under bright lights, and preferred light clothing to dark. Ella shunned the sun, ate with her left hand, and chose clothing the color of blood and mud.

Their mother and foster-mother watched them with concern. Some children went through these phases. Some could be corrected, some could not. The only answer, in most cases, was exile. There was no changing when you were born, to the bright or the night. The sisters did not wish to exile their children, and so they attempted to correct them.

“She won’t wear white.” The day twin put forth a token struggle as her evil twin tied her up. “She reads the forbidden writings.”

“She likes pink!” The night twin wriggled as her sister captured her. “And she writes love poetry.”

“We got them right, I know we did.” The day sister had locked her evil twin in a prison cell, and had begun to undo her hacking work. “I marked Ava’s wrist as she came out.”

“We got them right.” The night sister chained her twin back in the cell she had just escaped from. “But what if the doctors didn’t?”

Next: The Dark and Light Mirror (LJ

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