Reality

Prologue

Before she could flick the lights on, she was pushed forward. Someone shut the door and the room was left in darkness. She couldn't even begin to think what had just happened when the lights turned on. At first, she couldn't see clearly and thought it might have been her imagination. But when she let her searching eyes lie on the kitchen doorway, her brother was grinning at her.

It's been ten years since they last saw each other, and he plays a trick on her!

"Jeremy!" She gaped at him in surprise.

"I'm back, sister," he said.

She noticed immediately there something sinister about him. Then he frowned and lunged at her.

She woke up panting and bolted upright into a sitting position, in shock. Realizing that it was a dream, she looked at her bedside clock and read 5:30 AM.

For five minutes, she just sat there in silence and remained in deep thought as she finally prepared herself for the usual morning orphanage routine. She would need to bring her book with her after brushing her teeth and combing her hair. For half an hour, everyone would just read in the living area as breakfast was being readied. But today she wasn't in the mood.

She walked downstairs into her brother's old bedroom that was still vacant and looked at what she had always seen when she first came in: his mirror. The reflection wasn't of her, but of him. She was completely sure that her brother was dead. Why would she dream and daydream about him all of a sudden, see him appearing so real?

A scraping noise of the door being closed startled her. She looked behind her and there he was again, his mouth pulled into that same grin in the dream. She did not want to see what would happen next.

However, instead of jumping at her, he suddenly brought her into a tight hug and had the door open at the same time. Two adults came in, one a woman and the other a man. It wasn't a strange married couple who was coming to adopt her. They were here to take her back as their biological daughter... and all she was able to do was hold onto her brother as she poured out all the locked emotions she held inside into one longing weep.