Natalia Hargrove was born in 1967, a half hour after her twin brother William Hargrove.

The twins were rather inseparable. Billy would protect the girl with his life and she would always be there for her brother. They had each others backs.

Life wasn't perfect, by any means, but whose was? For as long as they could remember, their mother and father had always argued. Sometimes Neil would say mean things to the twins too but it wasn't until they where eight that it became physical. The shouts became louder until the arguments turned into fights. Neil began to abuse his wife, but it wasn't enough. He would beat his children black and blue for any little mistake or inconvenience. Billy got the brunt of it, seeing as he would redirect Neil's punches from Natalia to himself.

When the twins were just ten, their mother couldn't take it any longer. She left, alone. One night she was there, the next morning she was gone. She left behind her two children to fend for themselves, to take her place.

Over time, the happy memories shared with the woman began to fade as the awful memories Neil created stuck instead, replacing the happy ones.

But there are a few happy memories that the twins clung to desperately.

——

"Yeah, that's right! That's right! You're doing it Nat!" a six year old Billy yells.

Natalia, who is stood up on the surfboard, grins widely at her twin brother who stands below her holding the board to make sure it doesn't drift away.

"I am! I am! I'm standing, Billy!" the girl squeals giddily.

"Well done baby," their mother calls from the sandy beach, clapping as she watches her two children together.

Standing on the beach in a flowing blue dress with a pair of sandals in hand and a white hat shielding her face, she smiles as the girl falls into the water giggling before the twins begin to splash each other, Billy still holding the board with one hand.

The blonde girl gets back on sitting down as the her twin brother sits behind her and the two paddle their way back to shallow water.

——

"Did you see us, mom?" a giddy eight year old Billy calls to his mother with his board under his arm before he turns round to check Natalia is still behind him.

"We rode the wave mama!" the girl skips, trailing behind her brother a little as she adjusts her grip on the large surfboard.

"I saw you, my little surfers," their mother beams at them before giggling when seeing Natalia trip, shaking sand from her blonde hair.

Billy rolls his eyes with a grin, picking up the girl's board himself and laying them in the ground where their mother is sat on a blanket.

The woman's blonde hair blows in the wind, her yellow dress swishing around her legs as she welcomes the pair with open arms to sit with her.

They sit together, watching the sun set over the waters before them, unaware of the fury waiting for their return.

——

"Woah, yeah!" the blonde woman cheers as the twins race each other back to the beach.

Surfboards in hand, Natalia and Billy run towards their mother, the water below them turning to sand as they get closer. They are neck and neck, gently shoving each other, until they are ten feet from their mother. Billy pulls back a little, slowing down to allow his twin to win the race.

When they stop in their tracks, they're both out of breath with huge smiles on their faces.

"Well done guys," the woman smiles fondly, kissing them both on their heads.

"That was at least seven feet!" Billy boasts.

"Yeah, it was huge," Natalia elongates the last word.

"I don't know what height it was but it almost gave me a heart attack," the woman exclaims.

"Ten more minutes?" Billy looks at her with puppy eyes.

"Please, mama?" the blonde girl pleads.

Looking at her children, Billy's puppy eyes and Natalia's nickname of adoration, the woman gives in.

"Yeah okay, ten more minutes," she agrees and the twins immediately have their boards in hand and are racing back to the water. "But any longer than that and dad's gonna be mad okay?"

"Yeah okay," Natalia calls back.

"Billy," the boy stops whilst her daughter is too far away to hear. "You two watch out for rip currents," she warns.

The boy nods before sprinting away to join his sister before she reaches the water. Unbeknownst to the twins, their mother stands on the beach biting at her nails nervously as her gaze switches between the sea and the direction of their house.

——

However, most memories do not hold such happy fondness but rather strike fear into the twins.

——

"Billy?" a ten year old Natalia knocks on the door.

Billy lifts his head from where he was lay on his bed upon hearing a weak whisper on the other side of the door. He looks at his bedside table and the alarm clock reads twenty past two.

He groans in annoyance but stands up to open the door nonetheless. When he reaches the handle and pulls it open, he is met with a teary-eyed Natalia causing any hint of sleepiness to vanish from his mind.

"Nat, what's wrong?" Billy looks her up and down, searching her for injuries, and is confused to find none.

"I had a bad dream," the girl mutters.

This made Billy even more confused, usually she goes to their mother for bad dreams.

"Mama's not here," she answers his unspoken question.

"What'd you mean she's not here?" Billy asks.

The girls face scrunches up as she visibly becomes more upset, "she's gone. So is the car."

"Maybe she and Neil went out?" Billy wonders aloud.

She shakes her head, "he's in bed."

"Well maybe-" he starts but is cut off.

"Billy, all her stuff is gone."

——

"It's your fault she's gone! Yours," Neil points at Billy before moving the direction to Natalia, "and yours! She would still be here if it weren't for you brats!"

Natalia is knocked over and falls to the ground. In attempts to grab the table to prevent her fall, she instead knocks over a beer bottle which smashes on the ground. She hisses in pain at the cut on her palm from the glass shards.

She looks up, expecting to see Neil's angry face towering over her, but instead she sees Billy stood in between her and their father. Neil shoved him but his feet are planted to prevent him falling, a loud smack is heard when Neil's hand then collides with his face. His head moves to the side upon impact but he doesn't move, he stands firm between the two.

He clenched his jaw to refrain from saying something that'll get him in further trouble.

——

Billy was grounded in his room, a chair propped up against the door on the outside to prevent him from leaving.

In the living room Neil stands tall, towering over his daughter.

Natalia stands with her hands clenched into fists so tight that her nails are digging into her skin, her lip was caught between her teeth and her eyes squeezed shut, all in attempts to stop the tears from escaping. All her energy going into not crying at this moment in time.

"Are you gonna cry? Are you?" Neil teases, bending down to her level. "Are you that weak, Natalia?" He spoke slowly as if talking to a toddler.

The twelve year old shook her head once, firmly.

He strikes her cheek, almost knocking her to the ground. Almost. But not quite.

She had planted her feet, like Billy had taught her.

"How about now? You gonna cry? Cmon." He stands up, a sly smirk on his face before he says in a voice loud enough for the boy to hear too from his locked room, "why don't you cry for Billy to hear, huh?!"

——

Other memories were more... bittersweet.

——

"William, Natalia, this is your new sister, Maxine," Neil introduced the twins to a younger girl with fiery red hair.

——

Billy hadn't liked her from the start and it was mainly because of one thing. Maxine had her mum, Billy and Nat didn't.

Natalia felt slightly different. She envied the girl, of course. Not only did she have a mother but her body was free of bruises and abuse, her skin clean from trauma whilst Natalia's was forever tainted with pain.

But at the same time, she was glad for this change. Because when Max and her mother (Susan) arrived, the beatings decreased a little. They were still there, yes, but not as much. In fact, for the first year of them living together, there was no abuse at all. But then Susan and Neil married, and it all begun again. Like a cycle.

Neil never laid a hand on Susan, and in return Susan didn't leave him like his first wife had. He never harmed Max either, to ensure that Susan wouldn't leave. But every time he felt the need to harm the redheaded girl, he would redirect the anger towards the blonde girl instead. She was the closest comparison.

Despite this pain, Natalia grew to tolerate the girl. She would even go as far to say she liked Max. She found herself enjoying having a sister, even if neither girls were very feminine or girly.

Billy, however, never learnt to like Maxine. To Billy, Max's occasional deviant behaviour was the reason for his twins pain. Her entire presence in his family just caused his sister more abuse. And whilst it was true, Natalia would always tell him that Neil would hit her regardless anyway so it doesn't matter. But Billy didn't care, his twin sister was in pain and it was because of Neil's anger. Because of their mother leaving. Because of Max's behaviour.

Despite this, he still wouldn't ever lay a hand on the redhead child, but that doesn't mean he doesn't say harsh things to her occasionally. He does, however, get into lots of fights at school. He has to let his anger out somehow.

To Billy, he thinks he deserves the pain, but Nat? She doesn't deserve that.