I always felt that my twin, Chad, was an indigo child. Of course he always went around telling everyone he was anyway. All of our friends thought it was cool that he could “sense the dead.” Our mother, on the other hand, thought he was making it up, or it was weird.
The two of us were called simply “the twins” by her, and weren’t acknowledged by her side of the family much. They thought that because we listened to a different type of music and dressed different from their ‘scholars’ we were unacceptable.
My dad on the other hand, was perfectly fine with Chad’s gift, he thought it was awesome, so did my aunt Sarah, we still sit around and tell ghost stories to this day. But I have to admit, sometimes I would get jealous of him, because I too, thought it was cool.

When we were younger I would get angry when we came across something really good or really scary, and he would clam up, and act like he didn’t have a gift at all. I would say “come on Chad! Talk to them or something!” And he would just mumble something under his breath, like ‘you do it’ or ‘just shut up!’ He always told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. But one night it was my turn to be the ‘special’ twin.

We were juniors at the time, really into the whole punk thing, we dressed the part and listened to bands no one had ever heard of, and thought that was the best way to be. We had the same friends and always hung out. If you don’t believe in the ‘twin connection’ just ask some of our friends, sometimes our ability to finish each other’s sentences got down right freaky, some people thought we could read each other’s minds but that’s not true. Of course it didn’t help that we spent almost every waking hour with each other. So anyway, one of our friends, Courtney, told us we have to do something cool this Friday, her idea of cool was going into one of the town’s many ‘haunted’ houses, and using Chad as a guide. He was so into it, he even convinced some of them that he could SEE ghosts, let me tell you that’s not true, he can feel them and that’s about it. I didn’t want to go, spending the whole night in a cold building, with nothing to do but wait for something to happen, was not my idea of a ‘cool’ Friday night. But I went along anyway, because Chad convinced me, and told me he’d make Nathan come along, this kid who I had a huge crush on.

So Friday night came and we got all prepared armed with flashlights, candles, lighters, and a camera. Five of us piled into Nathan’s car, it was Nathan, Chad, Courtney, Sam and me. We pulled up to this nasty old house, it needed a paint job and the roof was sagging in. I thought ‘no way.’ But we went in and sat down, it was cold and the floor was damp, we waited there for a long time, and besides squeaking floor boards, nothing happened, a whole lot of nothing for 3 hours, bored, Nathan spoke up, and said “This is stupid.” We all agreed, “I know a house that is truly haunted, but it’s like an hour away.” He said, and with nothing else to do we decided to take the hour long drive into New Hampshire to go to his alleged haunted house.

Getting there was fun, I forgot about being scared and we all just laughed and sang along with our favorite songs. Around 12:30 Nathan told us we were right down the street, and it all looked okay, there were normal houses on either side of us, and the street was lined with lights. Over all it felt safe; until we stopped in front of a dark house with an old rusty gate. The house itself didn’t look that scary, besides over grown grass, the only thing I could spot that was wrong with it was the busted windows. Oh yeah, and that I was petrified of it. I took one look at it and wanted to run away.

Everyone was standing around smoking talking about the legend of the house and all I could do was stare at it. I felt like there was something inside watching me. It was bad.
Any who, a girl supposedly killed her whole family with her fathers gun, then turned it on herself, no one knew why, she killed her parents, 2 brothers, and 3 sisters. I didn’t care, however, because I was so scared of it, it didn’t look as bad as the first house. It didn’t look bad at all, I was just terrified, a feeling that I would never like to feel again. So trying to play it cool, remember I was lusting over Nate, I said, “you know what, you guys go in, I’m going to take a nap in the car, I’m really beat.” Yeah, no one bought it, and before I knew it I was walking though the door of this house that made me want to cry.
They were all walking around; you could hear the broken glass crunching underneath their feet, and every time they would turn to look at something I would try to run for the car. But each time someone caught me and I would say, “Oh, I wanted to check that out.” But Chad insisted that we stay together. Then my ears started to ring, and there was this weight on my chest that grew heavier and heavier with every step. Soon I went from playing it cool to close to crying, pleading with my friends to let me go, but they would always grab my me and say there was nothing to be afraid of, Chad even held my arm, tight, to keep track of me. They wouldn’t let me go, I felt like a prisoner, I didn’t care who was there I was so overwhelmed with this feeling, I was horrified of it, I hated it I wanted to leave, even if that meant going to the car by myself.
Then I got my chance, for one moment he let go of me, and I ran as fast as I could, down the stairs and out the old door. I stepped outside, jumped down the steps and tore through the gate, I already felt much better, but something told me it wasn’t over. I waited 5 minutes for someone to come out of the house to stay with me, or, my worst fear, to bring me back in. But no one came, trust me that was not a stealthy exit, I made a racket. But no one came, I figured they were busy digging up ghosts and did care if I left. So I sat down on the sidewalk, and for about 15 minutes put my head up against the car, and just stared at the house. (I was afraid to turn my back on it) I could see my twin and friend’s flashlights wander around the bedroom on the right side of the house, their shadows casting eerie silhouettes of them, I laughed and was extremely happy I was not up there. The light disappeared and reappeared in the bedroom on the left side of the house. I felt so much better I was going to find a rock and throw it at the window, to try and scare them. So I started to get up and I heard Chad scream the most horrible scream you could ever hear. I stood perfectly still, and watched the light disappear. It was dark and quiet. “Oh, sh**t!” I said out loud, I didn’t know what to do. Then all four of them came running at top speed out of the house, Chad first, and just stop right in front of me, staring. “Hey, are you guys okay?” I said, kind of freaked out. Then they all ran into the car took their seats and as soon as the last door was closed they were off at about sixty down the street.
We were on the highway to get home and no one spoke, now feeling left out, I wish I was there. I sat in the back, in the middle and every now and then Chad would turn around and just looked at me, I felt weird.

Soon we were at Sam’s house, and he went around turning all the lights on. We sat down in the kitchen and I got everyone a drink. They were so out of it they didn’t even say thanks. We all sat down around the table, the silence was killing me. Finally, I burst: “Come on you guys, what happened up there, are you guys trying to freak me out or punish me for running out?” They looked even more scared, Nathan’s mouth dropped, and Chad said: “when did you leave exactly?” I told them when they went into the bathroom I booted it. “Oh my god.” Courtney said, near tears. “Why? Why what happened? Tell me.” I asked. “No.” Sam said firmly, “it will freak you out.” “Come on, I’m not a baby! TELL ME!” I yelled. “It was you,” Chad said in a whisper, “it wasn’t you, but it looked like you, and I didn’t even know it.” Wow, I was confused, so then everyone started talking at once, probably trying to make up for lost time, ‘it looked just like you’ and ‘it talked to us’ were just some of the things coming out of their mouths. What they told me was this: I never left. I was with them the whole time, in the bathroom, and in the right bedroom. But I had shut up, I wasn’t complaining anymore, in fact I didn’t say anything, Nathan even asked me if I wanted him to take me outside (in fear of me being traumatized) but I just shook my head no. Then they crossed the hallway and went into the left bedroom, where by accident Courtney shined her light across my face, that’s when Chad turned and looked at me, he was across the room because I had stopped trying to flee, he screamed and started freaking out. Then “I” slowly walked backwards into the shadows, with a smile on my face, the others were confused, but scared enough not to wait and followed Chad outside, where they saw me, and went from being confused to scared.

It did freak me out, I wish they didn’t tell me but it seemed like talking about it made them feel better. I don’t know what that thing was that posed as me, but I’m not going to find out, and trust me I am not jealous of Chad anymore. That night had enough contact for me! I’m happy not feeling what Chad is going though, but I do feel bad sometimes, his gift seems like a curse, but maybe it will come to good use someday.

Submitted From: Charlie, Massachusetts, USA