he first thing you noticed about the girl sat on the railing outside the school was her hair - it hung in soft curls down her back, the red-gold strands glistening in the afternoon light. Her skin was flawlessly pale, her soft green dress was well tailored, and cut to emphasise her slender figure, and short enough to make her legs look longer than they actually were. She was 5'4" barefoot, and considered that she needed all the help she could get. Her eyes were presently hidden behind large black sunglasses, so it wasn't possible to tell that her eyes were bright sapphire blue, framed by long dark lashes. Caitlin was beautiful, though she didn't believe it. She believed that she was mildly pretty, but her sister was the beautiful one. Her father always told her she was beautiful, but he said the same to her sister, and to her mother, so Caitlin was of the opinion that his comments were biased. It was difficult growing up surrounded by beautiful people. The one feature she admitted was beautiful was her smile - and that was because it was her mother's, and her sister also had it. She and her sister shared a lot of features - in fact they were identical twins, which really made the question of who was more beautiful irrelevant.

Caitlin was waiting for her sister to emerge from school - they had different classes this year, which meant finishing at different times. Caitlin had spent the previous 40 minutes reading one of her sister's novels beneath a tree, but the bell had tolled, and she had moved to their customary waiting place to meet her twin before they walked home together.

While she was waiting, a girl who looked somewhat like a doll approached. She had lightly tanned skin with a smattering of freckles, large dark brown eyes, framed by long dark eyelashes and straight dark hair cut to her shoulders. Jessica was tiny - she had tiny hands, a tiny waist, and a height of 4'9" - which was as tall as she would ever grow. She wore a white dress which was the match of Caitlin's in all but colour, but accessorised it with a large turquoise necklace. Jessica was exotically beautiful - and another reason Caitlin felt only mildly pretty.

"Hi, Cait. Meg is coming," Jessica greeted Caitlin, settling herself on the railing beside her cousin. "She had to collect an assignment from De-Gaz."
"I'm not in any rush," smiled Caitlin, lifting her sunglasses so those brilliant blue eyes could peer at her cousin.
The smile Jessica returned matched Caitlin's exactly - their mothers were sisters, and the smile had been passed from mother to daughter for at least 5 generations.
They were approached shortly by a girl wearing a deep blue v-neck top and black skirt. She wrapped an arm around Caitlin's waist, and they silently pressed cheeks, identical eyes looking at Jessica. The only differences between the girls were their clothing, jewellery, and length of hair. Megan's hair had been cut to chin-length, where it fell in soft waves around her face. There was one other difference between the girls, though it wasn't apparent from looking - Caitlin was left handed, Megan was right handed - though both were able to write with their other hand; it was a skill they had learned early to fool their teachers.
"Hi, Jess," Megan smiled, releasing her twin and moving to sandwich Jessica between them. "How are you and Jimmy today?"
Jessica smiled and looped her arms through those of her cousins. The three girls were close - though there was 18 month's gap in their ages, they had been brought up together, and attended school together from the very beginning. It meant that now, though all three girls were in their final year of high school, Jess was 19, whilst the twins were 18.
"I am coping. Jimmy's gone fishing with your Dad," Jess smiled. "I think they're going to talk about whether he really wants to be a doctor or not. He's been a bit overwhelmed."
"Maybe we should cheer him up," suggested Megan, with a wicked grin, which was immediately matched by the two girls on her left.
"I'll let you know if he's not cheery when he gets back," Jess promised.

James was Jessica's older brother - older by two years - and where Jess was tiny, James wasn't - he was 6'2", and lifted weights in his spare time. His hair was short brown waves, and the girls flocked to him. He had been "big brother" to all three girls, and they loved him to pieces, though they would never admit it - only tease him mercilessly.

The remaining child in the family was Caitlin and Megan's younger brother - Malcolm. Mal was 16, with brown hair cut to mimic James', and muscles to rival - Mal had idolised James from the start, and the two were like brothers. Mal was 5'11", and the only one of them who was dating - his current girlfriend was a pretty blonde year 11 student, whose name the girls hadn't bothered to learn - they would be surprised if he was still dating her in 3 weeks time.

The girls walked slowly towards the twin's house, chatting. At the turn off to Jessica's house, they paused.
"Think Mum will be home?" Jess asked.
"No, she'll be at ours," Megan replied certainly.
"How can you be sure?"
Caitlin lowered the sunglasses again.
"It's today."
"Today? You mean because of... Dad?"
"Yeah. Today is 4 years since Uncle Darryl... left," Megan replied. "Aunt Jade will be with Mum."
"Yes, but not at ours?" Jessica asked.
"Well, could be... but more likely to be at ours, don't you think?" Caitlin replied, hugging her cousin.
"Well... Probably."
"Come on, let's get home. It won't take long to get to yours if they're not there."

The girls walked past the white picket fence on onto the deeply shaded veranda. The herb garden in the front let off sweet smells as they brushed past it, and the house was cool after the heat of the afternoon after opening the heavy wooden door. The girls went up the stairs first, to their bedrooms, where they deposited their books and bags.

Caitlin's room was painted green, and had deep forest green trimmings and fittings, and light pine furniture. Megan's room was purple, with blue trimmings and fittings, and white furniture. Both rooms were neat, though Caitlin's room had more art supplies, and Megan's more books. Jessica left her bag by the door, and went into the kitchen, followed by Caitlin, but Meg paused and went into the darkened lounge room.

"Meg, my love."
"Hi, Aunt Jade."
Megan sat next to her aunt on the couch, and cuddled up close.
"Where's Mamma?"
"Kat's making tea. I just came in here to... look."
Megan looked up at the wall, where the portraits of her parents hung, forever 19 and 25, looking at each other in adoration. Then followed her Aunt's gaze to the photographs - Jade, Kat, Darryl and Marc. The four had been together for longer than they had been apart, until the day came when Darryl was taken from them.
Meg tightened her arm around her aunt.
"It's okay, Aunt Jade."
"Ah, Meg, I miss him so much."
Meg swallowed hard, and tried not to cry as her aunt struggled to contain her sorrow. Moments later, Caitlin appeared in the doorway in response to her twin's distress, followed by Kat, who was appearing for the same reason. Jessica followed them both, guessing where they were going, and moved quickly to her mother's other side. Jade wrapped an arm around her daughter's shoulders. Caitlin moved to her sister's other side, and wrapped her arms over her twin's.
"Jess, love," smiled Jade, pressing her cheek to Jessica's head. "I'm sorry, my loves. I didn't mean to upset you."
"It's okay, Mum," Jess replied. "We miss him too."
"I know you do, my darling. Should we go into the kitchen and have some tea?"
"Are you okay, Aunt Jade?" Caitlin asked.
"I will be, my love."
The four stood in a circle for a moment as they hugged.
"I love you, girls."
"We love you too, Aunt Jade," Megan replied, touching her Aunt's fingertips.
Jade squeezed Jess' hand, and the girls let go of their mother and aunt and moved into the kitchen as Kat wrapped her arms around her twin.
"Are you alright?"
"Ah, Kat. My heart breaks again every year."
"I know."
Kat held her twin tightly, trying to protect her against the pain.
Jade swallowed, hard.
"22 years together, 18 years of marriage, all over in an instant. Just after our 40th birthday. We would have been married 22 years next week."
"I know, darling... I know. And you know... I've hexed the bastard that killed him until I'm blue in the face, but it doesn't bring him back. It will never bring him back."
"I know it doesn't. God, I wish it did," Jade sighed.
"It was a terrible, terrible accident," Kat said, remembering.

Malcolm had been away on camp, and the girls staying at Jade's house. And yet, she had woken, suddenly, four years ago today at 2.30 in the morning, feeling like her heart was breaking, and knowing something was terribly wrong. She had scrambled out of bed, grabbed a robe, and dashed out of the house even before her husband, Marc, was fully awake. She had run all the way to her twin's house, and feared the worst as soon as she saw the police cars parked out front. She had dashed up the path, fumbled at the lock, pushed open the door...

"Jade?"
She paused, feeling for her twin.
She was in the kitchen.
Kat dashed past the startled young policeman, and wrapped her arms around her twin, who was sitting woodenly at the table, hands holding a cup of tea, but shaking so hard it was sloshing over the edge.
"Jade, darling, tell me, what is it? Where is he?"
At the last, Jade lowered the cup, clutched at Kat and wailed in despair. Sobs finally wracked her body as Kat held her. She cried so hard she couldn't breathe, gasping and gulping to get enough air, and Kat knew the answer to her question even before Jade managed to gasp out, "He's dead, he's dead, he's gone, he's left me... Why didn't I see it?"

It had been a case of mistaken identity. Darryl, Jade's husband, had been walking home from the pub, when a group of youths had shot him, thinking he was a member of a rival gang, rather than the steady engineer he actually was. Someone woken by the shots had called an ambulance, but he was already dead by the time it got there.
Marc had arrived with Kat's overcoat and shoes, and he spoke to the police officers, thanking them for coming, and showing them out. He had gathered the quilt from Jade and Darryl's bed and wrapped it around his wife and her sister, who had sunk to the floor, Jade cradled in Kat's arms.
Then Jessica had come down the stairs with the twins, their arms around her, as she asked what was wrong, where was daddy? And Marc had told them, as gently as he could, holding his daughters while they held his niece, while his wife held her mother. James had slept through the lot.
Jade, James and Jessica had moved in with Kat, Marc, Caitlin, Megan and Malcolm for two weeks following the news. But then Jade had pulled herself together, and they moved back into their house to attempt to continue their lives around the gaping hole Darryl's life had filled.

"They murdered him," Jade said, sharply, breaking Kat's trail of memories.
"Yes," Kat agreed. "But it was an accident."
She sighed, brushing Jade's hair back from her eyes.
"Come on, the girls need us."
Jade sighed, straightening her shoulders.
"They're good girls."
"Yes, they are. Wash your face, first," Kat suggested, and left Jade to move into the kitchen.
Jade looked once more at the photographs, then went to wash her face and have some tea.

Jade and Jessica stayed the night with Kat, Caitlin, Megan and Malcolm. At about 2 in the morning, Meg woke up and moved to the window, looking down into the garden. At first, she didn't see it, but then it moved, and she recognised her mother, at the back of the garden, standing by the Oak tree she and Marc had planted when they married.
"Is it Mum?" Caitlin asked from the bed.
"Yes," Megan whispered back.
"What is she doing?" Jessica asked.
"Standing by Dad's tree."
"Do you think she's doing something for Mum?" Jessica whispered.
"I don't know."
"Should we do something to help her?"
Caitlin considered Jessica's words, but eventually shook her head.
"I don't think Mum would be doing anything for Aunt Jade. And even if we did a spell or something to help her... she probably needs this night to release the pain. She's so good the rest of the year, she needs to grieve some time."
Jess nodded, and Meg lowered the curtain and returned to bed.
"I know you're right... But it's hard seeing her hurting."
"We know, Jess."
The three girls curled up together, hugging and entwining fingers, and slept again.

The morning showed no trace of the previous night's distress - Jade and Kat made breakfast, Malcolm left early for swimming training, and the girls dressed for school. "There is a camp coming up," Jess brought up, while they were eating.
"Oh?" Jade asked, curious.
"Yeah," Caitlin added. "For 15 people, to the place you and Mum grew up."
"Why would they want to take you there?" Jade asked, puzzled.
"We're going to the mountains there."
None of the girls missed the swift look between Jade and Kat.
"It's for the advanced environmental course we were interested in," Meg added. "We'll be studding the trees and the wildlife up in the mountains for two weeks."
"It sounds like it will be interesting," Kat commented, neutrally.
The girls waited, while Jade and Kat had a silent conversation.
"Well, as long as it's well supervised, I don't see why you shouldn't go," Kat said eventually.
"We want to know more about it though," Jade added.
The three girls tumbled over themselves, explaining about the trip and what it entailed, and what it would cost, and by the time they were walking to school, they had a cheque and three permission slips.

"What do you think they were discussing?" Jess asked as they walked to the office to put in their slips and money.
"I don't know. Something they didn't want to talk about anyway."
The slips and money handed in, they girls walked towards their lockers.
"I wonder who else will be going?"
They giggled, and speculated as they walked to class.