I opened the door, and found the smiling face of my twin sister staring back at me. Now, before I go on any further, I probably should clarify. I'm a guy, but I have a fraternal twin sister. We don't really look that much alike, aside from having black hair, identical blue eyes, and some people say we have the same ears or chin. (Don't ask me, people say a lot of weird shit when they find out you have a twin.)
"Surprise!" she said, throwing her arms around me.
"H...Hey," I replied, a little unsure, looking over her shoulder into the hall, hoping she'd brought a friend. Nope....no such luck.
She waltzed into the living room, shutting the door behind her, for the moment oblivious to my nervousness. "So umm...what's up?" she asked me, still smiling, but catching on that something wasn't quite right here.
"Uh, not a whole lot," I replied, glancing at the clock. I had one minute before the changes resumed, give or take, and boy could I feel it. I could feel the primal side of me start to regain its strength, and I realized if she was around when I changed, my wish would come true in quite a perverse form.
Kim could tell something wasn't right. I could see it by the set of her mouth, and by the concerned look on her face. "Joey," she asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's....complex," I told her, drawing a disapproving look.
She walked over to me, taking my hand. "Joey," she said, "Let me help you; you and me, we always stuck together, through all of the shit. Come on, how about you tell me?"
She wasn't lying. Like most twins, we'd been extraordinarily close all of our lives. We'd helped each other through numerous personal crises over the years, whether it was the death of our mother when we were 17, or simply something minor, like a bad breakup. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she was the most important woman in my life, nor that I was the most important man in hers.
Now, as my human mind began to really give way to the primal aspect inside of myself, I began to look at her as something more, potentially, and I was inwardly horrified.
She continued to stare at me, waiting for an explanation. "Joey..." she asked me, "Please, let me help you."