She opens the letter she had found in James’s case. Her name is scrawled on the outside of the envelope and she recognises it immediately.
‘Dear Kirsten,’ it says, in her abductor’s handwriting. ‘When you find out the truth you won’t believe that we loved you, but we did, in our own way. It’s terrible to want to tell you the truth, because it puts you in danger, but the truth will out, I can feel it bleeding out of me already, and it’s better if you are warned. Your foster father, my pretend-husband of thirty years, heard us talking on the phone just now and—
Maybe he thinks they’ll spare him, but I know differently—
I don’t have long – I know they’ll be here any minute – who is to say no one else has confessed… I can’t be the only one who feels like this. Festering, about to burst.
The details aren’t important. Please know we truly believed we were doing the right thing.
This is important: What you must know is that I have now compromised the cell and if you don’t move now you will be removed from the program – killed.
My God, what have we done?
Once you are safe, contact ED MILLER in Melville. He is my life partner & soulmate. We’ve been together for 26 years. He doesn’t know anything about GP, I spared him that much, but has a packet of info for you. Everything you need to know about why you were taken. You need to read this to understand why we did what we did.
You need to get rid of the tracking microchip (embedded in your scalp). You need to move countries. Just get on a plane, fly anywhere, for now. You need to do this without letting the police know. And you need to do this immediately. They will eliminate everyone in our cell, all seven children that were taken. Enclosed is a list of the others. I am sending this and a duplicate to the only other person I (shouldn’t but do) know in the program, Betty Weil (Barbara). I have given her your address. You can’t trust anyone in the GP, but I had to take the chance. Warn them too, if you can.
Kirsten, one of them is your twin brother.
I’m sorry. Truly. We chose you because you were special. You were all special. God forgive me, and God help you. RUN.’
Kirsten’s brain stumbles. All she can see on the page are the words ‘taken,’ ‘twin brother,’ and ‘RUN.’ Kirsten’s watch rings, snapping her out of her shock. It’s Keke.
‘Hey Cat,’ she says, ‘how are you doing? Hey, never mind. You’re alive. That’s the most important thing.’
‘Yes,’ says Kirsten. ‘I guess so. I’m inside—’
‘Whoah! Don’t tell me where you are.’
‘Of course. I’ll buy a ’sposie.’
‘Good.’
‘You got anything for me?’
‘Ready for your rather interesting day to get a bit more… interesting?’
‘Impossible.’
‘What?’ says Keke.
‘What?’ says Kirsten.
‘What do you know?’ she asks.
‘I need a moment,’ says Kirsten, trying to think straight. ‘You go first.’
‘So FWB Hackerboy Genius found the other person on the list.’
‘Where is he? Jo’burg? Do you have an address?’
‘How did you know it was a he? And get this, you were right, he was born at the same clinic as you.’
‘I know,’ says Kirsten.
‘Wait, what?’
‘Just carry on,’ says Kirsten.
‘While Marko was hacking into some illegal tax shit to find his address, I checked the other names on the list and they – you – were all born at the same clinic.’
‘What kind of clinic was this?’
‘That’s exactly what I thought, so I looked into it, and according to Google and the National Health Authority it never EXISTED.’
‘It never existed.’
‘Correct.’
‘So… I was born to a mother without a uterus in a clinic that never existed.’
‘Er… correct,’ says Keke. ‘In other words—’
‘In other words,’ says Kirsten, ‘she was not my mother and that is not my real birth certificate.’
‘It looks like it, yes.’
‘I was kidnapped,’ Kirsten finally says, too quietly for Keke to hear. Snatched. Abducted. Keke was talking again, Kirsten tries to tune in.
‘… but I have a feeling this is just the beginning. It’s clear that someone will do anything to keep whatever this is, a secret. Get that disposable phone and we can meet up. We can look for this guy together.’
Seven people on the list, all with forged birth certificates. The first four on the list: dead. Five, Six, Seven alive: orange, pink, green (Grapefruit Skin, Baby Toe Pink, Camouflage).
‘Kitty Cat? Hello?’
‘No, it’s too dangerous. Stay where you are and keep looking.’
‘Will you at least phone James? I’d feel much better if he was with you.’ James had hidden the letter from her. Kirsten ignores the question. ‘You’ll bump me this guy’s co-ordinates?’
‘Yebo. Watch yourself!’
For a moment the danger fades and the realisation glitters before her: She has a twin. Unbelievable. But hadn’t a small, lonely part of her known all along? She thinks of the letter. ‘RUN’ it said. Fuck that, she thinks, fuck running away. She was going to find her twin.
Seth reaches his building. He hasn’t received anything from Alba so he waits outside, sure that he’ll get the go-ahead soon. Hyper-aware, he arrives at his block at the same time as someone else so is immediately on his guard. He still has a few bullets left in his gun, which is cold but reassuring against his palm. He keeps his head down, his hood up. Slips into the camouflage of pedestrian traffic, but the creep is headed straight in his direction.
He feigns nonchalance, flicks his safety off. The person is getting closer, closer, and Seth’s finger travels to the trigger. When the person is a metre away Seth finally looks up and is ready to fire.
There is a blast of light, and his mind scrambles to work out what has just happened. Has he been shot? Did he shoot? He doesn’t remember pulling the trigger. But no one is hurt and there is a shock of a beautiful woman in front of him: a haunted look and a shaved head.
‘Seth Denicker?’ she says, breathless.
‘Who are you?’ he asks. They have never met but he feels as if he knows her. Kirsten’s body is vibrating. This man’s face, his presence, shakes her, she feels like she has walked into an electric fence. As she looks into his eyes, she knows that it is true.
Seth is paralysed by the magnetic field of this familiar stranger.
‘I’m…’ she starts. Could it really be true? But she knew it was, without a doubt. Every bit of her could see it, taste it, feel it.
You are my parallel life, she wants to say. I have always felt your existence echo in mine.
‘I’m your twin sister.’
Journal entry
6 December 1988
Westville
In the news: A limpet mine explodes in at the Department of Home Affairs in Brakpan. Bangladesh is devastated after the cyclone of December 2nd – 5 million homeless and thousands dead.
What I’m listening to: Patti Smith’s Dream of Life.