DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710180327

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   93 lines

AFTER WRECK, TENN ADJUSTS TO LIFE WITHOUT HER TWIN

Emily McLaughlin knew something was very wrong.

Something was wrong beyond the confusing thoughts that rang through her battered head; beyond the painful bruises marring her body; beyond the void in her memory that couldn't link the drive home from Tallwood High School with the stark sterility of the emergency room.

Annie wasn't at the hospital with her. That was wrong.

Annie - Emily's 17-year-old twin, constant companion and best friend - should've been with her. That morning, they had left for school together. They were driving home together. They were always together. But Annie wasn't there.

For a day, Emily didn't know why.

``That was the toughest thing I have ever had to do in my life,'' said her father, John McLaughlin. ``I told her directly that her sister was dead.''

For a week, the specter of responsibility for last week's horrific crash that killed Annie Jo McLaughlin has hung like a fog. Some witnesses gave conflicting accounts of what happened at the intersection of Indian River Road and Lynnhaven Parkway. The police only knew for certain that someone drove through a red light.

But after a newspaper story last Saturday, six other witnesses called police investigators. They said it wasn't Emily's fault.

Thursday, police charged the 53-year-old Norfolk man whose truck hit the twins' car with causing the crash.

Emily's father never doubted her. But sometimes, Emily doubted herself.

``I'm glad it wasn't my fault,'' she said. ``I couldn't have lived with myself, if it had been my fault.''

In 17 years, Annie and Emily had been apart only for one weekend. Annie was part of Emily, and Emily of Annie. They shared clothes, friends, secrets.

When they were younger, they took a test to gauge their sameness, and their score was as close as researchers could measure.

``The bond was so sacred,'' Emily said. ``We knew everything about each other. It was always having a friend, someone to play with, someone to talk to.''

They even went to a national twins convention in Twinsburg, Ohio. Twice.

Still, Annie was the freer spirit of the two. She'd sometimes threaten to pierce her nose and navel, but never did. The hollow threats were more for shock value than anything else.

Annie liked studying psychology and government at Tallwood. Her mother said Annie wanted to be a policewoman or criminologist.

The twins' parents have made their careers within the Virginia Beach School system, and it is from there that they've drawn a sea of support. John McLaughlin was once named the city's Teacher of the Year, and his wife was once honored as Brandon Junior High's top educator. Now, John McLaughlin teaches at the Career Development Center and Carol McLaughlin teaches at Tallwood.

Sympathy cards have arrived at their home by the baleful. The mailman gave up stuffing them into the mailbox and instead brings the heaps to the front door.

John McLaughlin describes those who've helped his family as ``angels.'' Without them, he said, his family wouldn't have made it through the most painful hours.

There was a police chaplain who comforted Carol McLaughlin, who happened upon the crash on her way home from Tallwood. She recognized the blue Toyota by its license plate and stopped. The chaplain kept her from the crash scene.

There was a Navy chief petty officer who comforted Emily and held her head. There were the rescue crews who worked so frantically, the medical staff of Virginia Beach General Hospital, the school system's teachers, administrators and students, and the witnesses who came forward.

``I am so impressed that people do care enough to get involved,'' he said. ``My daughters were in an accident, and people stepped forward to assist them, and as witnesses. Their involvement is encouraging and comforting.''

Emily hasn't returned to school, yet. Her body is still healing from the crash, and her mind from the loss. She expected to graduate side-by-side with her sister, ``but that won't happen now.''

Emily was the better driver of the two, and Annie always let her drive. When Emily was learning to drive with her father, they motored many times through the same intersection where the crash happened.

``There is no question in my mind that Emily was driving the car safely,'' he said. ``It's peace for me to know that. They were wearing their seatbelts, and the doors were locked. That didn't save Annie, but it kept Emily from being more seriously hurt.

``It just wasn't to be that Annie would live.''

But part of Annie will always live, the family said. The family donated her body's organs, and memorial contributions in her name are being accepted by the Kempsville Volunteer Rescue Squad.

``She was a quiet, sweet, warm and caring person,'' Emily said. ``She was nice to everybody. She was beautiful on the inside and out. She was a genuine and good person.

``It's like a part of me is gone.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

NHAT MEYER\The Virginian-Pilot

Emily McLaughlin, 17, sits next to a picture of her twin, Annie,

held by their mother Carol. Annie died last week after a truck and

the twins' car collided. Witnesses have blamed the truck. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITY

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