Illusional

Mom's here!

December 23, 8:56 AM

Me and Marleigh were the first ones to wake up in the house. I grabbed my phone, used it as a flashlight, and we searched for any anomalies around the cabin, because anomalies usually appear when everyone is asleep, but strangely, we didn't find any. Both of us thought this was odd, but of course, both of us knew something was coming, although none of us had the energy to keep our guards up, so we went back to bed. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean we were trying to go back to sleep. We didn't want anyone, or anything, trying to attack us while we were asleep.

    I think the other guys knew we weren't really asleep. Roughly 7 minutes later, they woke up because they kept hearing me and Marleigh whispering back and forth to each other (so as to keep ourselves awake while in a resting position) which created a bit too much noise for them. Fortunately, they were quick to forgive, and Zachary ultimately decided it was time to get up for the day.

    It turns out there was an anomaly. I don't know how one could be present within a 7 minute span, though. The anomaly in question was, in fact, my mother. And she wasn't dead, either; she was alive. She was with my dad, and they were both kissing each other in the bedroom.

"Uhm, hello." I said quietly as I stepped foot into the bedroom.

"Mom" gasped as she saw me. Now, I put quotes around the word "Mom" because I didn't exactly believe it was really my mom.

"You've gotten so big! Hey, sweetie!" She gave me a big hug, and wouldn't let go. "How are you? It's been years since I last saw you."

    "Hey, mom! It's good to see you, too!" Of course, I remained suspicious, but I sounded quite genuine when I said that.

    "Are you in high school yet?"

    "Yep! I'm currently in my sophomore year."

    "Oh, that's great, honey! I missed you so much! I wish I could've seen you grow up over the years!" She stopped hugging me.

    "Me, too..."

    Marleigh burst through the doorway. "Mason, is everything alr-" Right about when she paused, she saw Mom and stared at her with an empty expression. Of course, a couple of seconds later, said emptiness was filled. "Mom!"

    "Marleigh!" And mom went to hug Marleigh. "Oh, I missed the both of y'all so much!"

    "I missed you, too!" Marleigh exclaimed. "Where have you been? I thought you were dead for all of these years!"

    "Well, I was... I suffered and died from a heart attack. I'm sure your dad told you all about it."

    "Yes, he just told me yesterday all about it." I said.

"You died from a heart attack?" Marleigh questioned.

"Yes, I did."

"How are you still alive, Mom?" I questioned her.

"Uhm... I'm not sure. Come to think of it, I have absolutely no memory of what happened during and after my 'death'."

"Why were you gone for so long?" Marleigh asked.

"I don't remember why that happened, either."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "Anyways, Mason, are you still into journaling? I would remember looking at all of your lovely pictures and sketches when you were young." Mom said. Well, I'm pretty sure she wasn't my mother.

No!

She's fake!

There's no way she could've got in the cabin!

"Yes, Mom. I'm actually in the process of making a new journal! Right now..."

She squealed with excitement. "Can I see?"

I figured that for as long as there are anomalies in the cabin, I might as well test her to see if she knew anything about it. But on the other hand, if she does know about the anomalies, and is in fact one of them, who knows what will happen to this journal.

    So I responded, "I'm still working on it."

    "Oh, that's fine. Can I read it anyway?"

    "But I want to wait until it's done to show you!"

    "Please, Mason?"

    "Not yet!"

    "Okay, then. And Marleigh, do you still take gymnastics?" Mom asked her.

    "Yep! It's become so enjoyable over the past decade!" Marleigh answered happily.

"I'm so happy to hear that!" Mom responded back. "So, how is school going for the both of you?"

Me and Marleigh of us simultaneously said, "Good."

"Has your dad been treating you right?" Mom asked. Me and Marleigh chuckled nervously.

"Kids, can you step out of the room for a second?" Dad asked us.

"Ok." I said back.

"Yeah, sure." Marleigh also said back.

    "Can we talk, Marleigh?" I asked her.

    "About what?"

    "About Mom! You don't find anything suspicious about her?"

    "Of course I do! But... as much as how strange this all is, I deeply miss her."

    "She's probably trying to get in your head. You know how I responded to her seeing my journal. I knew what was inside, and I did not want her to know! Don't fall for it, little sis..."

"But... she's so... loving towards us! You don't understand, Mason. She was gone for 8 whole years. Don't you think it's time to reconnect with her now that she's here?"

    "That's not our mom. You know as much as I do that nobody can get in or out the cabin."

    "I think we should just try to give her a chance. Not everything has to be evil. The way she hugged me was just like how Mom did it."

    "Since when have these anomalies helped us?"

    Marleigh paused, trying to say something (that's probably not even true) but nothing coming out.

    "Though so." I said after a couple of seconds. "Look, just don't get too attached to her, okay?"

    "Okay, I understand." Marleigh answered.

"However, to make ourselves less suspicious, let's make sure to spend a lot of time with her. She thinks we haven't seen her in years."

"You're absolutely right." Marleigh agreed.

Then the bedroom door opened, and Mom came out, looking at us both with a smile on her face.