Two-Faced (2 page)

‘I’ll put a call out,’ the second man said, heading for the door. ‘See if there’s a doctor nearby.’

‘Monday’s child, fair of face,’ Queenie intoned, lounging against the freezer cabinet and munching toothlessly on a chocolate biscuit she’d just liberated from a packet on the shelf behind her. ‘Least it’s not gonna take after its mum, eh, Kim.’

‘Don’t be tight,’ someone scolded, with a snigger.

But Kim was beyond caring. This was her first baby, and the pain was worse than anything she’d ever experienced before in her life. And it wasn’t just confined to her privates, which felt as if they were being ripped to shreds from the inside out; it was everywhere.

‘It’s moving,’ someone yelped disgustedly as the slippery, blood-soaked head began to slide out. ‘Oh my God, that is re
vol
ting!’

Just as the baby’s shoulders began to slither into view, a doctor from the local surgery rushed in, along with a midwife who had been in the clinic at the time the call had been put out for assistance. Pushing the ambulance crew aside, she took control.

‘It’s a girl!’ she announced seconds later, bringing cries of ‘
Aaahhh!
’ from the crowd as she helped the squirming newborn into the light and gave it a quick look-over.

Kim’s pain had momentarily eased, but when it started up again, even more intense than before, she screamed.

‘It’s only the placenta,’ the midwife informed her matter-of-factly – scaring the hell out of her, because she hadn’t been to any of her antenatal classes and hadn’t known that you gave birth to
that
as well.

‘I don’t think it is,’ the ambulance man murmured, gesturing with a nod towards Kim’s vagina. ‘It looks like another one to me.’

Another gasp from the crowd – another excuse to stare at Kim’s gaping hole. And there, amidst the blood and gore, was the unmistakable fluff of a second head of hair.

‘Ooh, twins.’ Queenie sucked an ominous breath in through her gums. ‘You’ll have double trouble now, eh, Kim?’

Kim wanted to tell her to shut the hell up, and to stop calling her by her name as if she knew her when she didn’t. And she wanted to tell the ambulance man he’d made a mistake; that there couldn’t possibly be two babies. But the words wouldn’t come. Then, mercifully, the gawping faces began to dissolve as darkness descended.

Feeling herself drifting away, she caught snatches of words floating to her through the fog.

Haemorrhage . . .

Emergency . . .

State of all that blood . . .

Dead for sure . . .

But the screaming voice coming from inside her own head drowned them all out.

It couldn’t be twins – it just
couldn’t
! She wasn’t even ready for one, so how the hell was she going to manage
two
?

PART ONE

1

‘I need a fiver,’ Mia said, hurtling through the living-room door and clicking her fingers expectantly.

‘Yeah, and I need a rich man,’ Kim replied, squinting at herself in the mirror through the smoke curling up from the cigarette clamped between her teeth. ‘But I ain’t getting one.’

‘Mum,
please
.’ Mia flapped her hands in exasperation. ‘Me and Laura are going to the youthy; I need it.’

‘It only costs fifty pence,’ Kim reminded her, frowning at a fresh batch of grey hairs. Twirling one around her finger, she yanked it out – although she didn’t know why she bothered, because it would only come back tomorrow with friends in tow.

‘I can’t go with fifty
pence
,’ Mia scowled. ‘Everyone will think I’m a right pauper. What about drinks?’

‘I haven’t got it,’ Kim told her, reaching for her lipstick. ‘Not enough to give you both a fiver, anyhow.’

‘Who said anything about
her
?’ Mia flicked a dismissive glance at her sister, Michelle, who was curled up on the chair by the window, reading. ‘She’s not even going.’

‘If you are, so’s she,’ Kim informed her, stubbing her cigarette out and picking up the hairbrush. ‘I’m off to bingo.’

‘Aw,
mum
. I don’t want her to come. No one even likes her.’

‘Tough. She’s not stopping in by herself – not with that peeping Tom still hanging about.’

‘Like anyone’s going to perv over a minger like
her
.’

‘Do I have to go?’ Michelle chipped in quietly, wishing they’d stop talking about her as if she wasn’t even there.

‘For God’s
sake
!’ Kim barked, slamming the brush down on the ledge. ‘You’re either both going, or you can both stop in – and that’s that!’

Muttering a curse under her breath, Mia stomped out of the room.

‘You’d better not have said what I think you just said, lady!’ Kim bellowed after her, the threat in her voice diluted by the fact that she made no move to follow.

Tutting when a door slammed above, she lit another cigarette and glared at Michelle. ‘Why are you still here?’

Reluctantly closing her book, Michelle made one last plea to be allowed to stay at home. Kim’s reply was a warning stare; the kind that said
if you don’t get your arse out of here right this minute
 . . .

Heeding it, Michelle ran upstairs.

The house was a small run-down end-of-terrace in one of the few remaining streets in Moss Side which hadn’t yet been earmarked for renovation. There were two bedrooms, one marginally larger than the other, but Kim had claimed that one for herself, so the girls had to share the remaining shoebox. And the older they got, the harder it became to manage the tiny space – although it wasn’t from lack of trying on Michelle’s part. She was constantly cleaning up after Mia, who was the complete opposite, and scattered her things around as if Michelle had no right to expect a share of the wardrobe, the drawers, or even the floor.

Coming into the room now and seeing Mia’s clothes strewn about, and wads of dirty cotton-wool balls and unlidded tubes of make-up littering the dressing table, Michelle sighed.

‘That better not have been aimed at me,’ Mia warned, her eyes flashing spitefully in the mirror as she applied another coat of mascara.

Michelle knew that her sister was just looking for an excuse to start a fight so she kept her mouth shut and reached into the wardrobe for a cardigan.

Watching as she pulled the misshapen woolly on over the equally baggy jumper she was already wearing, Mia said, ‘Er, I don’t think so! You’re not coming out in public dressed like that with
me
.’

‘It’s cold,’ Michelle murmured, and climbed up onto her bunk, hoping to snatch a few more minutes of reading time before their mum turfed them out.

‘I don’t give a shit,’ Mia retorted icily. ‘Get changed, or you’re dead.’

Ignoring her, Michelle propped her head on her hand and flipped the book open. But she hadn’t read a word before Mia leapt up and set about her, tugging at her hair with one hand and punching her with the other.

‘Why do you always have to go everywhere I go? You’re like a smelly fucking dog I can’t get rid of!’

‘It’s not my fault mum won’t let me stay in,’ Michelle protested. ‘I don’t even
want
to go.’

‘She’d have let you stay if you weren’t such a little mardy arse!’

‘Stop it!’ Michelle cried, her cheek stinging from a sharp slap.

‘Or what? You’ll burst into tears and get me
wet
?’

‘I’ll tell mum!’

‘And what’s
she
gonna do? She hates you as much as I do, you stupid bitch.
Everyone
does, or haven’t you figured that out yet?’

Struggling to contain the tears, Michelle squeezed her eyes shut. There was no point arguing when Mia was in this kind of mood; she’d only get nastier.

Satisfied that her words had pierced the bubble of niceness that Michelle floated around in, Mia dropped back down to the floor. She despised her sister; resented that she was forced to share a bedroom with her, never mind a
face
.

Not that Michelle was anywhere near as pretty, because she wasn’t. And that wasn’t just Mia’s opinion, all of her friends thought so, too. They were supposed to be identical, but having the same features didn’t make you
look
the same. It was what you did with those features that made the difference, and Michelle didn’t have a clue how to apply make-up or straighten her hair properly. Still, that was her lookout. If she spent more time reading fashion magazines instead of the soppy novels she borrowed from the library, she’d know that this was the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth. And these days, girls didn’t sit around waiting for Mr Right to sweep them off their feet – they got their faces on and went out hunting for Mr
Wrong
, because that was the only way they were guaranteed to have a bit of fun. But with all the personality of a damp dishcloth, it wouldn’t matter
what
Michelle looked like. She was never going to be as popular as Mia, and no boy was ever going to want her.

Downstairs, the doorbell rang, and their mum’s voice floated up to them as she let the next-door neighbour in.

‘All right, Pam, love; I’m just waiting on the girls.’

‘They’re not gonna be long are they?’ Pam replied in her usual bellow, which echoed off the walls in the small hallway like a foghorn. ‘Only the bus’ll be here in five, and I don’t want to miss getting me card for the national.’

‘You hear that?’ Kim yelled up. ‘There’s two thousand quid riding on this, so get moving!’

Smoothing her hair down as best she could with her hands, because Mia was using the brush and there was no way she would hand it over while she was being awkward, Michelle climbed off the bed and headed for the door.

‘Er, where do you think you’re going?’ Mia demanded, stepping in front of her. ‘I thought I told you to get something decent on.’

Michelle gritted her teeth, pushed her sister out of the way and trotted down the stairs. She didn’t see why Mia was so bothered about what she was wearing, anyway. It wasn’t like they’d be
seen
together. Mia would disappear with her friends as soon as they got through the door.

‘Mum, you’d best tell her!’ Mia said, marching after her with her hands on her hips.

‘Tell her what?’ Kim asked, gathering up her keys and cigarettes and putting them into her handbag.

‘That she’s not coming out with
me
looking like
that
! She’s a tramp!’

Glancing from Mia, with her immaculate make-up, short skirt, midriff-exposing top and stiletto heels, to Michelle, in her jumper, cardi, jeans and trainers, without so much as a hint of lip-gloss to brighten her pale face, Kim gave a little twist of her lip. ‘You do look a bit of a mess, Shell.’

‘Oh, leave her alone, there’s nowt wrong with her,’ Pam chipped in, sick of the way Mia and Kim always sided against Michelle. Gazing steadily back when Mia flashed a hateful look her way, she shrugged. ‘Well, she’s the double of you, so if she’s a mess, what does that make you?’

‘She looks
nothing
like me, and only an idiot would think she does,’ Mia spat, giving Pam a dirty look before turning back to her mum. ‘Make her get changed, or she’s not coming.’

‘Sorry, love, it’s too late,’ Kim said, pulling her coat on. ‘I’m already pushing it.’

Making a strangled screaming sound, Mia stamped her foot. ‘Why are you
doing
this to me? You’re ruining my life!’

Kim ignored her and ushered them both out, saying, ‘Don’t bother coming back before ten, ’cos me and Pam are off into town after bingo. And Eric’s got a job on, so he’ll be a bit late.’

‘Oh, right, so I’ve got to hang around in the cold like a dickhead,’ Mia complained. ‘Don’t you think it’s about time I had my own key?’

‘When you’re fifty, not fifteen,’ Kim called back, already heading off towards the bus stop.

‘What about my money?’ Mia yelled after her.

Sighing, Kim stopped walking and took three pound coins out of her purse.

‘What am I supposed to do with
that
?’ Mia grumbled, snatching them. ‘God, you’re so tight.’

‘Oi! Quit talking to your mam like that,’ Pam scolded. ‘And think yourself lucky, ’cos you’d get nowt but a slap if you were one of mine giving me that kind of lip.’

‘It’s got nothing to do with you,’ Mia informed her tartly.

‘Don’t be trying your nonsense with me,’ Pam warned. ‘You might get away with it with your mam, but you ain’t treating
me
like a divvy.’

Irritated with Pam for interfering, Kim took another pound out of her purse and pushed it into Mia’s hand. ‘There, now go.’

‘Ooh, she’s spoilt rotten, that one,’ Pam chided, incensed by the sly grin that Mia flicked her as she walked away. ‘And you wouldn’t let the other one get away with it, so why do you put up with it from her?’

‘Do I tell you how to bring your kids up?’ Kim shot back huffily, setting off for the bus stop again.

‘You’re a born fool,’ Pam grumbled, catching up with her just as the bus came around the corner. ‘And you’ll have no one but yourself to blame when she turns round and bites you in the arse.’

Drawling, ‘Yeah, whatever,’ Kim stuck her hand out.

Mia’s friend Laura was waiting at the end of the road. Tutting when she saw Michelle, she said, ‘What you bringing
her
for?’

‘Had no choice,’ Mia muttered, linking arms with her. ‘But don’t worry, she knows what she’ll get if she doesn’t stay out of my way.’

Michelle wrapped the cardigan tighter around herself and followed as they set off down the road. Hearing them whispering and sniggering, she guessed they were bitching about her – as usual. And she knew she shouldn’t let it get to her, but it was hard not to sometimes. Identical twins were supposed to share some kind of supernatural bond, but she and Mia couldn’t be more divided if they’d been born on different planets.

Still, you couldn’t change who you were, and Michelle had long ago accepted that she was never going to be as beautiful or bubbly as her sister, so she got on with her own life as best she could, and left Mia to hers.