I'VE GOT MY EYE ON YOU, tyler galpin

14 / the truth

In the storm, I stay clear

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"I know you want to hear this, so I'll just go ahead and say it," Nancy said as she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down next to Alice. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Alice furrowed her eyebrows.

"For being a bitch, I guess," Her aunt sighed heavily. "I was mean and distant with you after what you did, but just so you know, ever since you moved out, I missed you. Like, a lot."

Alice smiled and tilted her head at her kind words. "I'm sorry too, I wasn't the best either." She looked down at her hands and fiddled with her fingers. "Can I ask you something though?"

Nancy sipped her tea and smiled. "Sure."

"Were mom and dad both normies?" Alice curiously asked. 

Clearly knowing this question would come up someday, Nancy sighed and prepared herself for it. "You're different because your mother and I are both different."

Alice quickly shook her head. "I don't think I'm different, I'm just asking."

"Yeah, I know you probably have figured out your powers by now, it was about time," Nancy leaned against her seat. "They warned me your powers should come out by the time you're eighteen. I never asked if you got 'em though, thought it would be weird..."

The more Nancy talked, the more Alice began to grow confused. "Wha-how does...just answer the question, okay? How and why are you and mom different? And why did you never tell me? Don't I have the right to know that?"

Nancy moved in closer to her. "Your mother and I's parents were both outcasts - one was a hyde, and the other was a hypnotist. When such two people have kids, one gets one power, and the other gets another one's."

"How do you know which one gets whose genes?" Alice asked.

 Nancy shook her head. "You don't. It's how nature puts it. Your mother ended up getting the hypnotist genes from your grandfather - her dad -  while I..."

"The hyde genes?" Alice tilted her head.

Her aunt nodded. "Yes. Even though your father was a normie, your mother wasn't. That's why you got your hypnotist genes from your mom, but you're also half-human." Nancy could see how distraught Alice looked when she found out the truth. "How did you find out about your powers?"

Alice didn't turn to look at her. "Tyler. I accidentally used them on him and...I didn't understand what I did at first."

Nancy carefully watched if there would be any change in Alice's face, but there was none. "No one would."

A silence set in.

"Is that why my parents didn't want me?" Alice spoke up, her voice quivering at the end.

"No, honey, god no," Nancy moved over to her with her chair and wrapped her hands around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. "Your father loved you with all his heart, he said you were his new will to live. But your mother was afraid you would have bigger powers than her and your dad would favor you over her."

"What?" Alice looked at her. "That's so fucked up and...and childish."

"It is, honey. But that doesn't mean you're fucked up." Nancy brushed a piece of hair out of Alice's face. 

"Why haven't I ever seen you as a hyde?" Alice asked. "Are you too old to...?"

"What? Honey, how old do you think I am?" Nancy asked, making Alice chuckle. "No, it's just something you would want to hide from others, that's why it's called the hyde."