when you were my father

valentina

The five of us all stand in the living room. Somehow Brian and Micah dragged our mother to her bedroom and laid her down to sleep comfortably. Not having anything to say, we've all just been standing here, ignoring the questions forming in our minds. I know I'm not the only one with a million crazy questions, but something's stopping me from saying any of them.

"Who are you?" Isla suddenly asks. She turns her head to look at Valentina. They frown at each other, I can't tell who's mocking who.

"I'm Valentina."

"We know that, our mom said that. But she also said that you're her daughter. I don't see how that's possible. We're the only children she has." I say, gesturing to Micah and Isla.

"I don't know who you are, but I know that she's my mother. I traveled to find her, and I didn't know about any of you." She tells us calmly, something about her is just so familiar.

"If you're her daughter, where have you been all these years? Why weren't you just living with us?" Micah questions. The three of us are being somewhat overly agressive, but in my opinion we have the right to. This girl's here claiming to be our sibling, and that is absolutely insane. Right?

"It's hard to explain. I just know that I am her daughter and Brian Reyes is my father." She announces.

"Brian Reyes..." I whisper to myself. Brian, like the boy who's standing here with us. Reyes, like my last name. "Brian Reyes," I repeat, louder this time. Turning to Brian I realize why I found the "no problemio," that he said to me earlier so familiar.

Neither him or my siblings seem to pick up on it though.

*********

"How did that door come down?" Micah asks, realizing that the door's on the ground, completely out of the doorway.

"I knocked it down." Valentina tells us straightly. Nothing more of it.

"Right, and where were you all this time?"

"I was at a school. A top-secret school. I can't tell you about it." She says cooly, restricting the information she was telling us. I'm trying not to care about her, but the way she talks and acts and moves just seems so cool. Like how I always imagined having an older sister would be.

I can't hold in what I figured out any more, "Micah, Isla-" I began, but before I can finish I see that Isla is mainly dashing out of the house. "ISLA?" I scream after her, but she keeps running and soon disappears from sight.

I dash as fast as I can after her, everyone else following me.