Arika: The legend of the lost jewel

chapter 10

Eva stood frozen as the girl—Ellen—slowly rose from the bed, her movements graceful and deliberate. With each step closer, Eva’s heart pounded harder, confusion and shock flooding her senses. The girl stopped in front of her, her expression soft and filled with emotion. Gently, Ellen placed a warm hand on Eva’s cheek, her touch tender, as if they had known each other for years.

Eva blinked, trying to comprehend what was happening when she saw a tiny tear slip from Ellen’s eye, glistening in the dim light of the room. Without a word, Ellen pulled her into a hug—warm and comforting, yet so strange. Eva, overwhelmed and unable to move, let it happen, her mind racing to make sense of the situation.

Kyle and the healer exchanged glances, both unsure of how to break the silence that followed. Ellen finally let go, stepping back with a tearful smile, while Eva stood rooted to the spot, her confusion deepening.
“What is going on?” Eva finally managed, her voice unsteady as she turned to Kyle, searching for answers. “Can someone tell me what’s happening?”

Kyle took a deep breath, his expression pained but resolved. “She’s your twin sister, Eva. Her name is Ellen.”
Eva blinked in disbelief, shaking her head slightly as though trying to shake off the words. “Twin sister?” she repeated, her voice trembling.
Ellen nodded gently, her eyes shining with warmth and understanding. “Yes, Eva. I’m your sister.”

“No…” Eva took a step back, her breath catching in her throat. “How? How is that possible? It doesn’t make sense,” she said, her voice growing more frantic. “I’ve never heard about having a twin sister. How could something like this be hidden from me?”

Kyle stepped closer, his face filled with sympathy. “It’s a long story, Eva. One that we were never meant to uncover. But she’s real… she’s been out there this whole time, and we had no idea.”
Eva’s mind swirled with disbelief. She looked at Ellen again, her identical features, her gentle eyes. Everything about her felt both foreign and familiar at once. But how could this be true? How could she have a twin and not know?

Later that evening, the entire family gathered around the dining table, their faces filled with confusion and anticipation. The atmosphere was thick with questions no one seemed ready to ask aloud. Kyle, Eva, and even Ellen, who sat quietly observing, waited for their parents to break the silence.

Eva’s mother, clearly distressed, finally let out a heavy sigh. “Well… I suppose it’s time you all knew the truth,” she began, her voice filled with hesitation. “Twenty years ago, we found Eva at our doorstep. She was just a baby, no more than a few months old.”
Eva’s eyes widened as she stared at her mother, the shock of the revelation hitting her all over again.

“The only thing she had with her was a small notebook,” her mother continued. “It had her name written inside and a few notes that seemed to have been written by her real mother. At the time, we had no idea who she was or where she came from, but we couldn’t just leave her.” She glanced over at Eva, her eyes soft with love and guilt. “Mr. Robert—he’s always been our family friend—tried his best to find any clues about who her mother might’ve been, but he found nothing. It was like she’d disappeared.”

Eva’s father, usually quiet, spoke up then. “We decided to take her in as our own. We were on holiday in another land at the time, and it was easy enough to keep her arrival a secret from the rest of the children. We thought it was best that way.”

Eva’s heart pounded in her chest. She had always felt connected to her family, but now it felt like the ground beneath her was shifting, her sense of identity unraveling. She glanced at Kyle, who sat quietly next to her, and then at Ellen, who listened with a solemn expression, her presence now both familiar and foreign.

“We didn’t know she had a sister,” Eva’s mother added, her voice breaking slightly. “We never imagined that there was another child out there… or that you two were twins.”
Ellen nodded softly, her gaze shifting to Eva. “I’ve been searching for you for years. I never knew what happened to you, but I knew you existed.”

Eva could barely process what was being said. Everything she had ever known about her life was now called into question. She had grown up believing she was just another member of the family, no different from her siblings. But now, she realized her life had been a mystery from the very beginning.
“But why didn’t you tell me?” Eva asked, her voice shaky as she looked at her parents. “All these years… why keep it a secret?”

“We wanted to protect you, Eva,” her father said gently. “We thought the less you knew, the better. We were afraid it might cause more harm than good if you learned the truth too soon. We never imagined something like this would happen… that your sister would find you after all these years.”

Tears welled up in Eva’s eyes as she struggled to comprehend everything. The weight of the secret that had been just released, pressed down on her. And now, sitting across from her was her twin sister she never knew she had.
As the family sat in silence, processing the bombshell revelation, Eva’s mind raced with questions, but one echoed louder than the rest. Who was her real mother, and why did she leave them behind that too separately.