✅ Younger Twin [NaNoWriMo2023]

7 - A Silent Night for Taylor

This bonus chapter is dedicated to John. Thank you for your support!

I hated that Mum and Dad got back as soon as they did. I'd wanted to spend more time talking to my sister, so that I could try to understand why she was willing to go through with something like this. I could only imagine how humiliating it must be for her, but somehow she had decided that she was okay with that.

It was still a new experience for both of us; there were so many changes at once. We'd spent our whole lives together, and knew everything about each other. There wasn't a single secret between us. But now I had to look down on her, and treat her as a little kid whose judgement couldn't be trusted. She would need my help with everything, and wouldn't be able to offer anything in return. I knew that this was what we needed to do so that we would have a family, but it was still a huge change. And for that matter, having a family was a change in itself. Having separate rooms was a change we would have to get used to. Not having friends in the building; the lack of a common room where we could hang out, and having a little brother would all be new to me as well.

A part of me wanted to yell that this was too much too quick. But I knew that it was something every kid had to go through when they got adopted. I would have to deal with it. But it would take me some time. And if I thought about protesting, I had to remember that Triana had wanted to continue with this. That was probably the weirdest thing: a reminder that I no longer understood everything she was thinking. Well, maybe the journal would help with that. Even if we couldn't talk any time, we would still be able to make a note of the things that mattered, and I would understand what was going on in her head.

I sighed; the sounds of movement downstairs had gone on too long, and I knew that I should go and see if Mum and Dad needed any help to put their shopping away. Maybe I should have made sure that Triana had something to play with, to keep her occupied while we dealt with everything. But she was moving into a room with Nik, and she didn't have any toys of her own yet. There was no choice but to bring her downstairs with me, and see what Mum and Dad thought we should do. Maybe she could borrow some of Nik's things to play with, but I knew that wasn't something I could offer without asking Mum and Dad first.

"Get everything you need?" I asked, coming out into the lounge. Nik seemed to have fallen asleep on the sofa, which meant the room was a lot less hectic than I might have expected.

"Yeah. You got settled in okay?"

"Yeah. Well, mine, anyway. We weren't sure where to put Triana's clothes. It's different when they're sharing a room, I didn't want to start moving stuff around without asking you. But I don't think it'll be such a big job. We didn't bring much stuff, really. We've always had each other, and material possessions don't seem to matter that much."

"We'll help you anyway," Mum said, and nodded to cut off whatever Dad was about to ask before he could even open his mouth. "Is Triana settling in okay? I know it can be harder for the little ones. At least Nik's asleep now, or they'd probably be causing chaos again. Is she okay? Do you think she needs a nap?"

I turned to look at my baby sister, and realised that she was yawning as she listened to us, her eyes on Nik. She knew he was tired; did the rules of the house mean that she had to imitate that too?

"She does look a little sleepy, but it's still morning. Maybe we'd be better off trying to keep them awake for now. She can get a nap this afternoon, but I don't know if it would be a problem to mess with her sleep cycle too much."

"You're right, of course," Dad said. "We should have encouraged Nik to stay awake in the car as well, but he's been such a handful all morning. He was causing trouble even before we met up with you girls, apparently. Could be that he knows that he won't have us all to himself now. So... better to let him sleep it off."