A long time ago, long enough that the memory had blurred around the edges and lost its color, there were two boys. Twins in fact.
James and Peter, although they came into the world together the brothers were as different as night and day. James came first, confused, angry, and scared he wailed loudly into the night. Peter followed quickly after excited, curious, and joyful he didn’t cry at all instead he giggled and reached for his crying brother who rather swiftly calmed down.
After that, they were inseparable, no matter what crazy adventure Peter decided to go on James would be a step behind making sure his brother was safe. In fact, they were so close together that they were often mistaken for each other
One incident in their youth, an adventure Peter called it, was their exploration of the fireplace. James was rightfully concerned that they would track the ash across their house and earn the ire of their parents but once Peter made up his mind there was no convincing him otherwise.
So the twins crawled on their hands and knees to investigate the dark depths of the fireplace. James had been right to worry, as they were both quickly covered in ash and Peter’s crow of discovery sent a swoosh of black ash into the air.
They must have made quite the sight for their parents, nicely dressed and on their way to a party they stopped and stared in horror. With stuttered angry words their father yelled and grabbed the closest boy — James — by the ear.
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“Peter! What have I told you about getting into trouble!” James tried to interject, he wasn’t Peter after all but his father was already caught up in his rage and wouldn’t hear a word.
Looking around for his mother James hoped she would intervene, surely she recognized him, surely she knew he wasn’t Peter and would tell Father the truth. But the finely dressed woman only covered her nose with a handkerchief and turned away.
When they were born and placed in her arms swaddled in soft blankets, she hadn’t felt the warmth she was told mothers received from holding their newborn babes, in fact, she felt rather disgusted and that wasn’t proper at all so she ignored them from then on and decided the boys must have been born deficient and disliked them because of that.
James struggled in his father’s hold as the man yelled loudly and tried to find his brother — There! Peter stood by the window and seemed to be watching something, it must have been fascinating as he was fixated on it, the sounds of his brother pleading for help and his father’s yells didn’t even make him twitch.
This was just one incident of mistaken identity in their youth, often it was Peter going on an adventure, causing trouble, and his twin being blamed for their mischief. Curiously Peter always seemed to be at the right place to get out of trouble, James had once asked about how he did it, and his brother had shrugged and told him, “I listen to the fairies.”
Right, the fairies. That’s another thing about Peter—he had always been able to see the mischievous beings, they loved the boy, leading him to treasures and getting him out of trouble. James had never been able to see them, Peter said it was because he was boring.
Although their childhood was hard, their parents cold and cruel, it was also filled with adventures, laughter, and the bond of two brothers. It seemed as though it would always be so, but that wasn’t what fate had in mind for them and at the age of 10 their lives were forever changed.
