The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories by James D. Jenkins

Author:James D. Jenkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Valancourt Books
Published: 2020-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

Translated from the Dutch by James D. Jenkins

Ariane Gélinas

Twin Shadows

For many years, the horror world in the French-­speaking Canadian province of Quebec has been dominated by Patrick Senécal, a prolific novelist sometimes compared to Stephen King (though apparently only one of his novels has so far appeared in English). Recently, though, horror fiction in Quebec has begun to grow into more than just a one-­man show, as evidenced by the 2017 anthology Horrificorama, which features stories by fifteen Quebecois horror writers, including the one featured here. Multi-­award-­winning author Ariane Gélinas (b. 1984) has published five novels and numerous short stories, some of the best of which, including the following tale, were collected in Le sabbat des éphémères (2013). The publisher of that volume describes Gélinas’ work as existing at the crossroads of the Gothic and the fantastic, with forays into science fiction. The author’s first publication in English, ‘Twin Shadows’ is an eerie tale that fits squarely into the Gothic tradition, a story about two sisters with a strange secret living in an isolated mansion. It will surely leave readers wanting to see more from this talented young author.

Time passes in slow motion in the silence of the sleeping house. That’s what I used to repeat to Floriane when we would talk, after dark. I grew used to these conversations, which broke the monotony of my anonymous existence. The rest of the time, I felt only the coldness of our vast residence, which had become familiar to me over the years. Only my sister deigned to look after me, often discerning my presence when I was hidden in the darkness of a hallway or lurking in a corner of her bedroom. And since we were identical twins, she possessed an innate ability to anticipate my intentions, predict my reactions.

Her devotion to me had been remarkable during our early youth. It is true that, unlike Floriane, I did not have the benefit of our parents’ attention, nor anyone else’s. Aside from their concern when they would catch her talking to me after midnight, they ignored me, letting me wander alone through the corridors of our centuries-old home, built well away from the city.

To keep me close to her, my twin decided, shortly before we turned five, to arrange her closet to suit me. Although I had always made do with only a little space, she insisted on removing her clothes from the closet, preferring to put them in her dressers. Our parents were surprised at first by this whim, which they came to consider as a simple childish caprice. Floriane kept only the metal rod, from which she had noticed I liked to hang, upside-down. She had laid several cushions on the floor, where she would come to lie beside me almost every night. She would wait until our parents had reached their room at the other end of the hall. She would then slip in to the back of the closet with a thick blanket to keep warm. I would let go of the bar to join her on the pillows, even though their comfort meant nothing to me.

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