MICHELINE CHEN

The house was as dark as it was dirty. The girls shielded their eyes after Hailey switched on the light. Plants and soil and books were strewn over the floor; plates were smashed everywhere in the kitchen. Shards of glass were scattered over the couch. Hailey was reminded of a museum exhibit depicting the aftermath of domestic violence. For twins Priya and Felix, it was home, yet it wasn’t.

‘Look!’ A flicker caught Priya’s eye.

The twins’ shadows linked arms and pranced on the table. They twirled around and around, kicking what was left off the table. The shadows drifted towards the shelves, where they tossed everything off.

‘That’s not nice!’ Felix lunged for one of the shadows. ‘Stop it!’

Felix felt a shove from one silhouette aimed at her ribs, causing her to crash into something with a crunch. Her sister helped her up, then the girls looked at the damaged item. It was a framed photograph – a moment captured with them and their parents on the patio. Felix grabbed the frame with her trembling hands while her eyes burned.

Hailey jumped over the table in an attempt to nab the shadows. The girls’ silhouettes hung from the chandelier’s shadow. The actual chandelier swung side to side. Hailey commanded her own shadow to do something, anything. Priya pulled her twin into a hug and whispered about paradise.

The shadows raised their connected hands above their head. In the blink of an eye, they ran under their arched arms and vanished.

‘Where’d they go?’ Priya’s voice was barely above a whisper, ‘I want to get them back.’

‘Besides your crazy dream of walking the plank, you mean?’ Felix interjected.

‘We need to go where I recovered my shadow.’ Hailey nodded at Priya, then motioned for her silhouette to backbend, ‘C’mon.’ 

The space between the silhouette and the floor shifted into a whirlpool of blue.

‘We have two days.’ Hailey grabbed the sisters’ wrists exactly when the three leaped through, ‘Shadows will fade if untethered.’

‘You’re telling us now?’ The twins screamed as they tumbled in every direction.

-

‘Where are we?’ Priya held her head between her arms to stop the world from moving.

Felix blinked at a half-buried treasure map on her hands and knees. Hailey swayed in the sand.

A melodic voice warbled, ‘The sea is nice, the sea is sweet, the sea is open for those without feet.’

‘Who – who’s there?’ Felix quickly glanced around their surroundings with a speed that did nothing to help her dizziness. Sand, water, and sky spun. And there were a couple of people blowing kisses at them from the sea.

‘Come for a dive, sweet cherry pie.’ The singsong voice was joined by a chorus, ‘We’ll give you the time of your life.’ Hailey stumbled towards the angelic singing.

Before she knew it, Priya found her legs moving towards the sea, one shuffle at a time. The sirens’ singing reminded her of a choir on Christmas Eve. Everything was warm and fuzzy. She wanted to hear them finish the song. Felix was saying something. What was her sister saying?

‘Hailey!’ Felix’s shout shattered the melody like a brick to a window, ‘Get Hailey!’

Their friend had water up to her waist. Priya broke into a run. None of them could swim, and if Hailey was completely submerged . . . Hailey looked at the sirens as if they were the only people on Earth. Priya wasn’t sure if they were on the planet. A siren sang a melody so low she couldn’t hear, yet it serenaded her friend further and further. The water rose to Hailey’s chest.

‘Snap out of it!’ Priya yelled, hands over her ears, ‘Don’t listen!’

Hailey’s chin was just above water level, a dreamy smile on her face. To Priya’s horror, the nearest siren enclosed fingers around her friend’s wrist.

Plonk. Plop. Splash!  A wave of water drenched the sirens. More rocks flew from the shore. Felix flung the stones within her reach. She didn’t hit any, yet they all dove into the water.

Hailey waded back to her companions, the enchantment broken. Priya drew a line in the sand between them and the sea.

‘What did they sing?’ Felix pressed.

‘They sang of my home.’ Hailey twisted her t-shirt, sprinkling droplets over the twins. ‘Before I arrived at the orphanage,’ she added. Hailey thought she was still in a trance, ‘There are others on the beach.’

‘Those aren’t people.’ Priya leaped up and hurried in that direction, ‘Those are our shadows!’

Felix followed suit as she dragged a disoriented Hailey along.

Priya’s breathing was a jagged saw inside her lungs. It was hard to find the shadows, yet she managed to do so by scanning from the corner of her eye. It was no different to chasing a mosquito. The slap of leaves against skin told her Felix and Hailey were behind as they barrelled through endless plants.

-

The girls stood in front of a gigantic tree with a door where a tree hole should be. Even if all three of them linked hands, they wouldn’t be able to wrap around the trunk completely.

‘Knock knock.’ Felix said, ‘Anyone in?’ As if in answer, the door creaked open.

Hailey felt that she stepped into a pocket of space carved from the world. The walls were the same colour as the floor. She shut her eyes once they hopped through the entrance. Priya’s eyes watered while Felix dug the heel of her palms in her face as they tried to make sense of it all.

‘Ow!’ Felix felt something jab her thigh. When she could blink, she realised she’d walked into a table edge. She watched as her sister stumbled inside a wardrobe and Hailey fell onto the carpet. The place was surprisingly furnished.

A cold sensation traveled from Hailey’s head to her toes. An empty jar dropped onto her shoes. She could feel water droplets slide down her body. When she looked up, she found out she’d pushed a door open.

Exhausted from travels, Priya decided to rest on the closest beanbag. Pfft! A sopping-wet Hailey choked on a laugh while Felix’s hand flew to her mouth.

‘Wasn’t me.’ Priya took another look at the beanbag. She’d sat on a small whoopee cushion, ‘Who put it there?’

Felix ignored her sibling, ‘Check out the kitchen island!’ Tiny wooden cups and two wheat bags filled with white powder.

‘A little sugar never hurt anyone.’ Felix delivered a pinch into her mouth. She spat it out immediately, ‘It's salty!’

‘It says—’ Priya read the bag label Felix took from, ‘—sugar.’

‘That was good.’ Hailey dipped her fingers into the bag labelled ‘salt’ again, ‘Think cooking fairies live here?’

‘Close,’ a small creature in a pointy hat suddenly latched itself on Hailey’s face, ‘except we aren’t fairies.’

Hailey let out a muffled scream as she tried to pull the tiny person away. As if on cue, a mob of porcelain-like gnomes popped out from unopened cabinets, behind the couch, and from the soil of a potted plant.

Many climbed up Priya’s leg while others tugged at Felix’s hair. The rest were throwing fists at Hailey wherever they reached.

‘Ouch! Cut it out!’ Felix tried her best to brush them. Where one fell off, two more scaled her like a mountain. Her scalp felt like a badly plucked chicken.

‘We want to locate our shadows!’ Priya squinted her eyes, ‘If you stop attacking us, we’ll leave.’

The gnomes came to a screeching halt, ‘Say what?’

A gnome directed the girls to follow the setting sun until the moon was visible, then to chase after the clouds whichever way they blew. So the girls set off for the second time.

-

‘Ahoy, me hearties!’ A commanding voice bellowed, ‘Onboard!’ The speaker was a man in a feathery plume hat. A chorus of  “aye” responded.

Priya, Felix, and Hailey frantically ducked behind the thing closest to them – a pile of shipping crates. Felix heard the sound of waves lapping the rocks. In the darkness, she saw several wooden docks leading out to sea. One of them was a pathway to a ship.

‘Check it out!’ Priya pointed. At the very top was a black flag with white crossbones.

‘Lower.’ Hailey nudged the twins, ‘Look who they’ve got.’

The sisters’ eyes widened. For struggling against the ropes that bound them to the mast were their shadows.

‘Don’t tell me they’re going to make our shadows walk the plank,’ Felix muttered. She opened one of the crates and climbed in.

‘Are you out of your mind?’ Priya hissed.

‘Hush.’ Felix counted the visible men prowling the deck, ‘How else are we supposed to get on that ship?’

Hailey crawled inside a nearby box as well.

A side of Priya’s crate fell outwards and she blinked from the sunlight. It was the next morning. She grunted as Hailey pulled her out by the arm. They turned to the third crate. It was already open. Felix greeted them in an oversized shirt, baggy shorts, and a moustache made from seaweed. Hailey stifled a giggle while Priya hid her shaking hands.

In no time, the girls strode onto the deck in pirate fashion. Hailey’s shadow slipped a dagger from a bearded man's bandolier. One swipe of steel and their shadows sprang free.

Priya felt a tingle at the nape of her neck. She whipped her head around and accidentally made eye contact with who she presumed was the captain. The man’s plume fell over his eyes. He blew it out of his face, ‘Blow the wenches down!’ Chaos erupted as a dozen pirates charged at them with swords out.

Felix hurled one cannonball after another. She knocked down several men like pins. Hailey climbed atop a pile of barrels and flung a fishing net onto the pirates. Priya picked up the dagger, she worked with her shadow to keep the nearest pirates at bay. Swords flashed and metal clanged metal.

‘All hands on deck!’ The captain blew the plume out of his face once again, ‘Capture these wenches!’ Even the pirates that were busy with their posts dropped everything.

Priya heard a whoosh. A sudden, blunt pain slammed into her side. She saw stars and fell on the edge of the deck. Priya watched in slow motion as a pirate swung with rope and aimed a punch at her sister. Felix flew through the air and she crash-landed next to her twin. Hailey was out of cannonballs.

Time unfroze as the pirates tore the fishing net off themselves and closed in, cornering the girls.

Priya trembled at the muskets pointed at them, at the pirates holding the cutlasses.

‘What now?’ Felix’s voice was squeaky. Her moustache had fallen.

‘We jump!’ Hailey saluted a couple of sirens in the water, the aquatic beings waved earplugs at them.

The three girls, shadows in tow, raced onto the plank behind them. They threw themselves off the piece of wood.

‘Land ahoy.’ Hailey piggybacked on a siren, ‘You guys want to go home now?’

Priya and Felix shared a grin, ‘Let’s stay here instead.’