Chapter 1

From the shadows of the manicured hedges that ran around the perimeter of the Bourne’s large estate, two narrowing eyes filled with hatred and disgust watched Mr and Mrs Bourne envelope a teen girl into a hug before kissing her goodbye, just outside the doorway of their towering mansion.

Shifting silently in the shadows, the owner of those eyes, Sarah bristled at this ridiculous display of affection as cold, feral rage roiled in her stomach unpleasantly.

 Look at her, she has everything- a loving family, friends and you know she gets anything she ever wants …and what did you get? Sarah’s mind sneered at her.

The other girl, who was currently enveloped in the arms of one of the country’s wealthiest couples, was Sarah’s age but their lives were vastly different and that pissed Sarah off to no end.

Where Sarah was fighting to live and barely making enough to scrape by, this other girl was utterly spoiled all because she was lucky enough to have parents who wielded the kind of wealth and power that ensured the world would bend over backwards to please her, giving her anything she desired. 

These were the kind of parents Sarah had always fantasized about, but never dared to believe actually existed, on those cold nights when she was shivering under a thread-bare blanket and blowing into her hands for warmth, as her discomfort was completely ignored by the people who were raising her.

The warm, golden glow from the overhead lights that were placed artfully above the archway flooded the scene, illuminated the other girl who looked to be of average height, slightly curvy and dressed in what looked to be worn, expensive sweats.

She doesn’t even look special…Sarah thought sourly, her brown eyes narrowed to slits, a sneer twisting her mouth as the young woman returned the hug to each of her sharply dressed parents.

In contrast to the other girl’s comfy sweats, the elegance of the older couple’s formal evening wear commanded not only attention, but clearly stated their status in the pecking order of the wealthy and powerful.

They were obviously within the top tier of that food chain, Sarah surmised, enraptured by the prominent, bejeweled necklace that laid heavily against the woman’s delicate neck.

She watched enthralled as it, along with its matching earrings dazzled as the artificial golden light flirted with them.

It was only once the couple were ushered into their pristine, white 2022 Lexus LS and the luxury vehicle had driven down the smooth, paved driveway towards a huge, motorized, sliding security gate and off of the estate, that Sarah returned her gaze to the looming, white mansion standing so regally in the pale moonlight.

The other young woman had already returned inside, escorted by a short man dressed in a tailored black uniform.

What kind of wealth gets you a butler in this day and age? Sarah wondered idly as she slowly rose from her position behind the prickly hedge and stretched out the small kinks from being crouched down for so long.

There was a raging inferno of wild emotions rambling chaotically within her, as she took a deep breath, still stinging from that disgustingly fake display of love, yet her body felt deadly calm, as if her anger burnt dangerously cold.

Casually, she moved out of the shadows of the mansion, dusting off her black clothes, and stretching the kinks  further out of her body as she did.

A home of this size, expense and repute would undoubtedly have many, many technological surveillances around the estate, a fact she was actually counting on for the success of this crazy plan.

It really is a beautiful house... she thought, arriving at the same archway the other girl had been just minutes before and boldly ringing the doorbell.

It would look so pretty in flames.

Phase one of her diabolical plan was to simply enter the mansion and locate her target.

Easy Peasy.

In truth, she didn’t actually need anyone to open the door for her, after all she already had her ways of getting inside, but she thrilled at the idea of being welcomed and escorted in by an actual butler!

After two more pushes to the door bell, and just as she was sure no one was actually going to entertain her tonight, the big white door opened, revealing a short, robust man standing in the middle of the doorway.

His chest was puffed up, and nose high in the air, until he saw her.

His expression then transformed from haughty to dumbfounded, his mouth gaping like a goldfish.

That was the expression Sarah had wanted to see tonight.

“Ma’am? Didn't I just -I could have sworn you were upstairs!” he exclaimed, immediately welcoming her in.

Sarah only smirked as she stepped further into that warm, golden light, an abrupt contrast to the coldness she had been waiting in since sneaking onto the premises.

No sooner had he closed the door with a flourish, than a voice sounded from upstairs, the tone only mildly curious.

“Geoffrey, did Mom forget something?” asked the other girl.

Completely dumbfounded, Geoffrey spun around to face the newcomer, gaping from one girl to the other, his head swinging like a pendulum as he realized to his utter bewilderment that he was seeing double.

Several things happened at once, Geoffrey turned fully towards the girl upstairs; the blade of Sarah’s knife gleamed in the golden glow of this opulent home; the other girl’s eyes widened, mouth opened to scream a warning.

Too late.

Geoffrey froze, face contorting as what looked like searing, debilitating pain, corrupted his features, making his eyes bulge too wide, his mouth opened in a pathetic gasp and his face furrowed in belated horror.

Before he could even think to react from the shock of the first deep plunge of her knife into his rib-cage, Sarah thrusted the sharp blade into him  more quickly and powerfully, unerringly cutting into his vulnerable organs.

She grunted from the effort it took to inflict each malicious wound into the bulky man, but soon the pain and the damage done robbed him of all the strength in his limbs, his body finally sagging, becoming too heavy for him to manage.

Another thrust and slice of her sharp knife, this time right to his jugular and Geoffrey’s hand belatedly reached up to the fresh, bleeding wound before he fell over flat onto the floor dispatched, the last sound to reach his ears, that of a screaming girl.

Hot, dark blood poured from his body to stain the once immaculately polished floor.

“Geoffrey!” Katie screamed from the top of the stairs, her voice betraying her anguish and horror.

Sarah smirked evilly, eyes sparkling as she reveled in her handiwork, giving into the manic need to laugh, her shoulders shaking as more and more blood trickled out of his prone form.

She felt the high from the kill rush gleefully through her.

Her breathing erratic, adrenaline gushing lightning quick all over her body like the chaotic waves of an incoming storm, she bent over to eagerly confirm whether the butler’s face was in fact frozen in shock.

She hoped it would be.

Grabbing a fistful of his hair, she raised his head until she could see his face clearly, drinking in the wonderful cocktail of emotions now frozen onto his slackened face.

Fear, disbelief and agony were a horrific symphony to what his last thoughts and emotions had been when he realized what Sarah had actually done to him.

Satisfied with the sight, she let the head smack back onto the floor.

“Sad sack,” she chuckled. “Got murdered as a butler in this day and age. Pathetic.”

The echoes of another scream filled with fear and horror rent the air, reminding Sarah of the other girl.

The sharp knife’s long and broad blade dripped Geoffrey's hot blood onto Sarah’s hand where she held it firmly, sluicing down her arm to add to the growing puddle, the prone body on the floor was pumping out.

Still smirking, Sarah raised purely evil eyes up at her estranged twin.

Katie stood rooted to the spot -frozen- staring back at Sarah unable to even blink, mouth still opened as if ready to release another scream.

Tears were welling up in her pretty, brown eyes, widened as they were with shock, fear and pure disbelief.

Evil had infiltrated her once safe world and worst of all, it shared her face!

Her body visibly trembling, Katie could only stare in abject horror at the villain who had entered her home, and killed Geoffrey so ruthlessly right in front of her, leaving him in a pool of his own blood.

The room reverberated with the echoes of her screams as they locked eyes, and Katie was blasted with the malicious intent practically beaming from the other girl.

 They ensnared her.

Their icy fingers sapped her strength as they snaked up her legs and grabbed at her arms, trapping her, rooting her to the spot, her chest heaving as her heart beat so wildly it physically hurt her.

She wanted to move, but her body felt torn between wanting to run towards Geoffrey to check on him and the almost overwhelming, instinctive need to flee. 

Her lungs burnt with the effort of trying and failing to bring in more oxygen to fuel her terrified body. 

Katie was panting. 

She was hyperventilating and she was stuck.

Frozen to her spot as her brain struggled to process that this vile creature, who had appeared out of God knows where to wreck her world, looked just like her.

They shared a similar face, eyes, nose and mouth, but the other girl’s evil smirk distorted them, creating a macabre effect of the features Katie loved so much and spent a good amount of time improving upon daily in her own mirror.

Eyes locked onto each other for what felt like an endless eternity, Katie understood that this look-alike was definitely a threat. 

A threat with her face- her brain yelled at her loudly, on repeat. 

A threat who had murdered her butler like it was nothing.

 A threat who had invaded her home and suddenly Katie was knocked over by all the implications of what all of that meant.

This was not a simple home invasion.

 The fact that this other girl had her face,  had been welcomed inside and immediately murdered her first line of defence before he could even blink meant this was more. 

This was truly life or death.

 The powerful hold the other girl seemed to have on her, finally broke when she blinked and flicked her hand, Geoffrey’s blood splattering in small, dark red droplets around her while she clenched and unclenched her fingers experimentally, before slowly rotating her wrist as if warming up for something.

“Why did you do that? Who are you?”

Katie’s words were hoarse with her fear as she white-knuckled the stair railings as if her life depended on it. 

That railing was the only thing keeping her from collapsing onto the carpeted floor; her legs feeling as sturdy as a newborn deer while her knees were not only knocking against each other, but felt ready to fold under her weight.

She had no idea what her next step should be. 

 Fight or Flight?

 “I, Katie-” the murderess spat the word at her, “Am your sister, Sarah!” 

Katie shook her head. “No!”

“I -” Sarah shot her a seething glare, her knife gleaming with Geoffrey’s blood in her right hand when she used it to point right at Katie “-have been cheated, because of you! Now you are going to pay!”

Her growled words of hatred followed by the two steps she took in her direction finally propelled Katie into action. 

Without thinking, she flew away from the murderess still below the stairs, her flight instinct kicking in and immediately going into overdrive as her brain processed that there was a real, deadly predator coming at her. 

This was really happening! This was happening to her right now!

Luckily this house was huge and Katie had spent alot of time on her own exploring it; she knew all the nooks and crannies. 

She even had a safe space that she could hide in, where Sarah would never get to her, but right now, her mind was frazzled, cluttered by abject fear that made her feel completely disoriented and all she could do was run.

Oh God! She thought. This can’t be happening!

“Oh come now, sis,” Sarah’s voice floated towards Katie mockingly. “No one is coming to get you ... but me!” 

And with that Sarah ran to the stairs, launching herself up the first two steps, her footsteps quick yet muffled against the carpet as she gave chase.

Terrified, and out of time to get to her safe place, Katie instinctively did the only thing she could think of, running to her bedroom and making a beeline for her walk-in closet.

Crouched down in a dark corner of her closet, she slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her cries, and the loudness of her ragged breathing, but it was a huge task as she heard Sarah climb up the stairs in search of her.

It felt as if her heart had stopped beating for a moment, when suddenly, the house went quiet, and Katie wondered if Sarah was standing in the hallway, listening; alert to any noise that would signal which room she was hiding in.

The moment she heard Sarah opening a door, her breath caught in her throat and just like that the harsh implications of what was happening right now swept over her and she wanted to sob.

Sarah was coming to kill her. 

This was not a joke, not a prank, but real.

Her stomach churned and cramped uncomfortably, her legs hurt from where she had folded herself out of sight, her mind hypervigilant of the dangerous person who was currently plaguing her.

Katie didn’t know what to do; she was still in shock and her higher functions seemed paralysed by the strangling, horrific terror that was making her heartbeat in a painfully wild staccato, and her limbs weak. 

She wanted to curl up somewhere and pretend that this was all a nightmare, that once she awoke would disappear like thin smoke and everything would be normal again.

This can’t be happening! Her mind chanted, even as she heard Sarah call out menacingly to her again. A sociopathic predator playing with a terrified prey.

She was way too close now. Maybe back in the hallway, deciding the next door to open and room to explore.

Think Katie! She ordered herself, trying to get herself together.

She heard Sarah open up another, this one much closer to her room, causing her heart rate to speed up yet again and her body to freeze in anticipation.

Finally, as if called from a great distance, her self-preservation rose above the sea of her fear, realising that if she didn’t get herself together she would end up just like poor Geoffrey downstairs- lifeless on the floor.

That was not an option.

She took a deep breath. Then she took four more, in through her nose and out through her mouth. 

She needed a clear head right now.

A bit calmer, her heart beating just that bit slower, she asked herself a very important question, how was she going to get help without that psycho finding her?

Crouched down behind the big, white built-in island in her spacious walk-in closet, her eyes trained on the door, Katie’s brain was working a mile a minute trying to figure out how she was going to make it out of this insane situation alive.

Although her home was huge, featuring multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, and other luxurious rooms, like the gym, theatre and play rooms that should allow her to stay hidden for a while, she knew that it was actually only a matter of time before Sarah found her.

As it was, Katie could hear her opening and exploring the different rooms on the floor, calling out to her mockingly as she did.

She was being so loud and obnoxious about looking for her that Katie felt in her bones that Sarah was intentionally playing a sick game, either trying to rile Katie up or keep her shivering and scared until she found her.

Either way, it chilled Katie’s blood because no matter how she imagined the various scenarios, one thing remained constant- she had to get past Sarah in order to escape.

Feeling herself perilously close to hyperventilating again, she jolted when Sarah slammed another door, closer to her room. It made Katie close her eyes and rack her brain for a faster answer to her predicament.

Yes, she was terrified, but as she willfully calmed her breaths and forced herself to stop reacting to every little noise of Sarah’s making, she felt a different kind of cold descend upon her.

It was icy, thrilling and exhilarating.

As scared and crazy as this was, as sure as it was that Sarah had every intention of making good on her promise to kill her, Katie was not going to go down without a fight.

Her life was too valuable and she’d be damned if her story ended just like that.

She was not going to give up. She was not going to give Sarah the satisfaction of just popping into her life and viciously ruining everything!

Time was rapidly running out and whether she knew it or not, Sarah was incredibly close to finding her, and wouldn’t it be absolutely horrendous if she did before Katie could come up with a counter attack?

In her mind’s eyes, she unwillingly recalled the look of surprise and agony that had crossed over Geoffrey’s face as Sarah had repeatedly stabbed him.

The look of sadistic glee that had conquered Sarah’s face as she had wrenched the knife out of his back and locked eyes with her, was going to be burnt into her mind forever.

The girl with my face…it had been twisted in such malice. God!

Katie had no doubts it was exactly the kind of expression the other would make the moment she plunged her knife into her.

She could not let that happen.

Katie had so much to live for!

So much she wanted to experience and accomplish and she was not about to be taken out by some random doppelganger ,was she?

Of course not!

 Even as the appearance of Sarah filled her with hundreds of questions and made her worry that if Sarah was really her sister- twin no less- then, what else had her parents been lying to her about?

Still.

She was Katie Bourne and she had not come this far in this life to only come this far! There had to be a way for her to come out on top.

Her parents had drilled into her for as long as she could remember that she not only had a bright future ahead of her, but she needed to always claim her success.

She could be whatever she wanted to be, as long as she was the champion.

This situation could be no different.

Yes, it wasn’t the same as some of her educational or athletic competitions- the stakes were impossibly higher-, but Katie was nothing if not a fighter.

Katie was a winner!

The shawl of her calm confidence and faith in her undeniable ability to conquer and demolish all her competition settled around her body with the finality of a lake being frozen over.

Her fear, still palpable, was regulated to the anticipation which gripped her heart and the cold, calculating zone she always entered whenever she was properly analysing a situation for ways she could turn the tables.

As she thought about the events, she continued to take big, deep breaths, purposefully flooding her body with oxygen, clearing away the rest of her brain fog and doubts before focusing ruthlessly on a plan of action.

So Sarah said she was her twin. 

She said Katie had somehow cheated her and this was apparently the cause to break in, kill Geoffrey and play dangerous mind games with Katie.

That’s right!

Sarah had immediately killed Geoffrey, but although it felt as if she intended to hurt Katie, maybe Sarah also had questions for Katie as well. Maybe she intended to toy with Katie before she killed her…maybe her real goal here was to take over Katie’s life!

If that was true, then she needed to keep Katie alive to gather information from her to blend in better. 

Though that meant she wouldn’t immediately kill her, Katie felt sure a person like Sarah would not hesitate to torture her first.

Also Sarah had entered through their front door just after Katie’s parents had left. How could she be that bold?

Of course she had noticed the numerous security cameras, right? So why had she so blatantly walked in front of them all?

What was she actually planning?

With all of these questions, it was becoming clearer to Katie that whatever Sarah wanted, she had a pretty insane plan on getting it.

So what did that leave Katie with?

Lost in her thoughts, she stretched her cramp legs out in front of her and lightly thumped her head back against the padded side of her island.

If only she could find someone to help her!

Squeezing her eyes closed as she aggressively shook her head against the padded panelling, Katie thought of her parents.

She wanted to see her parents again; she hoped that she would be able to see her parents again, and it was then that the answer to her nightmare came to her-her mobile!

She needed to get her mobile and call for help! 

Why wasn’t that my first thought?! She scolded herself, amazed it had taken her this long to think of her mobile and abit embarrassed that she had been so focused on running away instead of getting help immediately...

Then she remembered exactly where her mobile phone was and why it wasn’t with her this moment.

A groan grumbled out of her and she wanted to bang her head against the island upon realising that retrieving it could alert Sarah to her safe-ish place too soon.

… but it would be worth the risk, she told herself.

As quietly as she could, Katie opened the door to her closet, praying for it to just open smoothly and with little to no noise and crept to the drawer where she had rested it at dinner time, before she had waved good-bye to her parents, who were on their way to one of her father’s obligatory cocktail parties.

Katie only allowed herself to feel a pang of regret at not going to that party with them. If she had, then she wouldn’t be here facing this psycho now.

There was a strict family time policy in her family where they could talk and spend genuine time with each other, which meant at least one hour without any disruptions, and they had to put away their phones.

 No exceptions.

Her heart was back to thumping a wild beat as she snuck her hand into the drawer to grab the phone. Jubilation and a dangerous feeling of  excited accomplishment at so stealthily grabbing her saving grace, exploding within her.

Immediately she silenced it, and frantically tried to darken the screen, knowing that the light would alert Sarah.

Heart beating a hundred miles a second as she heard Sarah drawing closer and closer, she painstakingly crawled back into her walk-in closet, shutting the door as quietly as she could before crawling once again into her safe space.

Cramped in the space as she was, Katie thought again of her family and her parents for a moment.

Too many thoughts, accusations, and questions buzzing around her head, as she tried to find the security number her mother had demanded she keep in her phone.

Was this the kind of emergency they had been warning her about?

Had they known all along that she had had a sister?

Did they know about Sarah, the killer with her face?

Chapter 4

Sarah had watched with pure joy as Katie jolted out of her frozen state when their eyes locked, only to turn and scamper away like a startled rabbit escaping a ravenous predator, in desperate need of finding a good hiding spot on the second floor.

The feeling coursing gleefully around her body only fuelled her already manically beating heart.

She should run. She should be fucking terrified. 

Watching the startled, spoiled bunny so desperate to get away, unleashed something primitively feral in Sarah and before she knew it, she was at the stairs, leaping up two steps at a time in pursuit of the retreating form of her estranged sister.

By the time she made it to the landing that stretched into a long opulent hallway with loads of closed doors on either side like a hotel, all that greeted her was the sound of a door hastily closing and the muffled sounds of someone trying to move quickly, yet quietly and failing miserably.

Standing there, Sarah took in more evidence of the kind of luxurious life her sister had been living and smirked. 

“Katie! Katie!” Sarah called, staring right at the door she knew Katie had sought refuge behind.

If Katie wanted to play, then Sarah would play too! 

Sarah could pretend she couldn’t hear her, or hadn’t seen where she had decided to run and cower behind. Sarah could play this game and pretend to explore the second floor, looking for her just fine.

She had always loved this game, enjoying that unique thrill of hunting down her prey, while they tried to blend into the shadows, scared of discovery. 

She always found them.

This particular game however, had much higher stakes than the ones she used to play as a child and if Sarah played her cards right, the rewards would be everything she had ever wanted.

She needed to be more strategic tonight, because this mission wasn't just about finding her prey, who she could already imagine huddled down somewhere in a dark room, shaking and terrified out of her mind as she should be. 

No, this was so much more and Sarah needed to not only isolate her, but keep her distracted and that much off-balanced until she got what she wanted. 

Stomp Stomp Stomp!

She purposefully made as much noise as she could, moving from room to room, smirking at the thought of how each stomp would make Katie quake. 

The knife clenched in her hand, still dripped smaller specks of the butler’s blood as she contemplated just how long she was going to indulge her sister in this cat and mouse game.

Sarah knew The Bournes were not coming home until late tonight, those charity type events they went to always went on for hours. 

She had watched them for a long while now, noting their routines, their habits and more importantly the protocols they had in place to protect their little ball of sunshine, and this was the exact thing she was counting on for her plan to be the success she needed it to be.

No matter what, there would be no help for her sister. 

“Katie! Let’s bond, sis! Didn’t you miss me? Don’t you want to get to know me?”

Sarah continued to randomly open doors, walking into the rooms and looking around, taking in the luxurious vibes and elegant furniture of each room. 

It amazed and amused her that none of the doors she had tried up here were locked as she simply turned each handle, one after the other and watched the door swing open widely, easily giving access to its secrets without so much as a squeaky hinge.

 It seriously boggled her mind how rich people were so lax about privacy in their own homes. 

Not that a locked door would be any good against her right now, but it was the principle of the thing. 

Were they really so sure no-one could break in? 

The arrogance!

She knew her sister lived in a fabulous home, she had done her research after all, but actually being here in this mansion, seeing it live and direct felt jarring and overwhelming. 

“Katie actually lives like this, huh?” she muttered, scowling. 

“This house is amazing! Your sister has been living like a filthy rat, while you’ve been living like a fucking princess!” 

The laugh that burst out of her was coarse and filled with undiluted anger, a bomb going off abruptly and loudly in the otherwise quiet area, before petering off into a glare as she really drank in the luxuriousness of her surroundings.

Her rooms did not boast of soft, expensive rugs, nor were spacious and so kept so immaculately clean as the ones she had seen in this luxurious house.

Everywhere her eyes landed around this and all the other rooms she had peeked into seemed to be a testament to how poor and deprived she had been living, in comparison.

How unfair her life really had been up until this point.

Pursing her lips, she sat cross-legged on a very expensive and plush rug, after taking her phone out of her back pocket with her clean hand.

She tapped on the screen to wake it up so she could activate the Trojan program that would allow her to access and control all the awesome tech that was running through this house’s veins.

 She had briefly thought about turning all the power off in the house, but eschewed the idea realising it would put an end to her game way too soon.

Rich people were very sensitive to too big changes like that and she had plans on spending some quality time with her long-lost sister.

 Uninterrupted time. 

They were going to bond!

She already had the cameras on the outside running on loop;  now she could override the doors and keep them locked until it was time for the Grand Finale of this play.

As she tapped confidently on her phone, she wondered if her sister had tried to notify any of the authorities yet.

‘She should at least be trying to call for help by now,’ she thought with a smirk, enjoying just how well everything was falling into place. 

While she was able to lock the doors and keep them locked, it was going to take a few more minutes for the software to be fully operational and enslaved to her phone, but that was ok, they had time.

Getting up from the floor, Sarah clenched the knife a bit tighter in anticipation, deciding to go track down her sis for real and have that heart to heart she had wanted the moment she had learnt of her existence. 

She exited the room and looked at the door she had heard Katie rooting around behind. Their game of hide and seek was about to be over.

It occurred to Sarah as she stood just outside of the door that Katie was definitely in her room hiding, squirming, and waiting for Sarah to burst through the door, murderous intent evident in her eyes, while she frantically attacked her with her weapon.

Sarah’s smirk turned into a dark grin at the image, her fingers idly playing with the knife and the residue of blood left on the blade.

Really, who was she to disappoint her sis?

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