Soul sisters: ‘You look familiar…’
Could the stranger in the next room be my longlost twin?
Tapping out a message on my phone, I grinned. Can’t wait to meet you, Grace. It was September 2020 and I was moving from my home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, to start my Drama degree at Birmingham University.
I’d been allocated a student flat with six other girls, and been given their contact details.
Grace Castle was from Tunbridge Wells.
We’d hit it off on Snapchat, messaging non-stop.
We even arranged to move in the day before our other flatmates.
Days later, walking into my new flat with my mum Tanya, then 56, and dad Steve, 52, I saw a figure in the kitchen, her face hidden by a cupboard door.
And as she turned her head, I froze.
We both gasped. Stared in disbelief. ‘You look like me,’ I squealed.
‘And you look like me,’ Grace replied, shocked.
Mum, Dad and Grace’s parents couldn’t take their eyes off us.
‘You could be twins,’ my mum said.
It was true! We were almost identical, with our blonde curls, fair colouring and heartshaped faces.
Our eyes were even the same shade of blue.
‘It’s like looking in a mirror,’ I murmured.
I’d heard everyone in the world has a doppelganger – someone unrelated to them who looks exactly alike. Well, I’d just met mine! We had shared pics on Snapchat, but always used funny filters.
Unpacking, Grace and I kept glancing at each other.
Then, chatting about our birthdays… ‘Mine’s 15 March,’ I said. Grace’s mum gasped. ‘Grace was born on 16 March,’ she said.
She was a year older, but this was getting spooky! When the other girls arrived, they were so confused. Kept mixing us up. Then, getting ready for our first night out, I walked out of my room as Grace appeared and our flatmates did a double take.
‘Did you plan this?’ one asked.
We were both in red tops, beige jackets and blue jeans.
Neither of us had mentioned what outfit we were planning.
Were we psychic, too?
Snapping selfies with Grace at the bar, we realised we looked even more alike in the photos.
We were seeing double – and not because of the booze.
Over the weeks, we got to know each other.
Grace, studying Criminology, was quieter than me.
Preferred playing sport to drama club.
But we both loved watching old films on Netflix, shared a quirky sense of humour. Would laugh for hours. Especially during lockdown when we had to stay in and attend our lectures online.
I shared some pics on TikTok and people compared us to the long-lost twins from The Parent Trap.
You should get DNA tests, they joked.
Maybe we will, one day, see if we’re actually relatives. That would be twin-credible!
Our parents think it’d be fascinating to see if there’s a genetic link, too.
With Grace, now 20, I haven’t just found my ‘twin’.
She’s a mate for life, too.
We were seeing double – not because of the booze!
‘UNI MIX-UPS!’ Grace, 20, says, ‘My parents did a double take when Amy walked in to the kitchen! Now people at uni know us better, they don’t mix us up so much, but just recently I posted a picture of me online and Amy thought it was her!