Free Tweedledum and Tweedledee by Willow Rose Page A

did not appreciate the fact that she had to sleep with her parents. Both of her parents snored and she had no privacy. Her mother was always checking in on her and monitoring her time on her iPad, telling her to not spend so much time on Facebook. She would say something insanely stupid like:
    "Young people today never stop to smell the flowers."
    It annoyed Francesca immensely. Everything about her old parents annoyed her and sometimes she imagined running off. Just take off and live her life. She couldn't wait to be old enough to leave home.
    But it was still so many years away. She wasn't sure she could wait that long. How was she supposed to survive her teenage years locked up with these old people while all her friends went to parties, drank their first beers, and hooked up with boys? It had already started. And she was already an outsider. Having to say no, I can't come over and over again eventually made people stop asking. Most of her friends had sympathy for her situation, but some didn't understand why she didn't just do it anyway . Why she didn't just sneak out at night when the old people were asleep.
    "They'll never know," her friend Ada said. "They'll never find out."
    But up until now, Francesca hadn't dared to do anything like that. She was afraid of her dad's anger if he found out. He always thought of her as his pretty little girl who would never get herself into trouble.
    "Being the daughter of a well-known surgeon brings responsibility," he always told her.
    He wanted her to go into medicine as well and she was still finding the courage to tell him it wasn't going to happen. He had retired years ago, and now he had cast all his expectations for the future upon his daughter.
    "Look at those hands," he would say and grab her by the wrists. "Look at them. They're made to hold a scalpel. Look at how steady and delicate they are. They're just perfect. You are going to do great wonders in this world, my daughter."
    Francesca liked that he had high hopes for her, but she knew she would never be able to live up to them. Especially not when she was dreaming about becoming a writer.
    Francesca tried, once again, to fall asleep, but it was hard. She was sleeping way too much on this trip, since she had to be in bed so early. She wasn't tired at all. Finally, she got out of bed and found a pamphlet about the cruise-ship. She had heard there was a nightclub on board.
    Francesca looked at her sleeping parents. The ship rocked slightly as it speeded up, probably trying to catch up from the many hours of delay.
    They'll never know , she heard her friend Ada say. They'll never find out .
    Francesca felt a thrill in her stomach as she made her decision. She went to her suitcase and found the dress she had brought with her, just in case she ever had the chance to go out. She never thought she would actually get to use it.
     

23
    April 2014
    T HE MAN WAS HAPPY to realize the ship was finally leaving the port. He felt the movements and heard the well-known noise from the engines close to his lower deck cabin. It was like music to his ears. That meant the police had left the ship and he could pick up his project where he had left off.
    "There is much to do, Deedee," he said, while carefully placing the needle on his skin. He closed his eyes and bit down as the needle went through his shoulder.
    Oh the pain. The excruciating unbearable pain .
    Yet it was nothing compared to the pain he felt on the inside of him, deep within his tortured soul. Feeling the pain on his skin as he sewed through the open and infected wound made him somehow feel better. Like he was finally paying his dues.
    When he was done, he looked in the mirror.
    "Dashing," Deedee said.
    The man tilted his head and smiled. Blood was seeping from the holes in his skin. The infected areas were pounding. But it was all worth it. Finally, he felt whole again.
    "That we are."
    "Busy night ahead."
    "I know. Better get going." The man was sweating heavily in pain as he