The Forbidden Side

Lizzie

Lizzie was worried.  She had waited a whole day, and there was still no response from her triplets.  Maybe they had made it past the Patrollers.  Maybe they were at the door right now, about to knock. Lizzie knew it was a silly thought, but she ran downstairs anyway.  She opened the front door and looked outside.  The sun's rays light up the town.  Trees danced in the breeze.  The sky was cloudless.  She hoped her triplets would come home, so they could see the beautiful sights Lizzie saw everyday.

        "What are you looking for?"  A sweet voice behind her asked.

        Lizzie jumped.  "Hi, Julia," she said.  "I'm looking for Erin and Adam.  I thought maybe they'd be coming home by now."

        "Oh," Julia said.  "But I do not think it would be possible for them to piece together the missing parts of their lives that quickly."

        Lizzie looked at her sneakers.  Her sister meant well, but sometimes she could be a real downer.  She looked up and Julia was gone.  She closed the front door and walked around the first floor.  She ran into her mother in the kitchen.  "Mom," she asked, "if we know where they are, why can't we go into Home and get them?"

        "For two reasons," her mother answered.  "One, they are supposed to find their way home by themselves, and two, we are not welcome there."  She untied her apron and hung it on the door.  "Want a snack?"

        Lizzie shook her head.  "Do you have a power, Mom?"

        "You're grounded."

        Lizzie punched the pillow she had hung on her door for what seemed like the two-hundredth time.  "Why doesn't she talk about it?"  She growled through clenched teeth.  "She can't ground me for asking a question."

        "She most certainly cannot," a robotic voice said.

        "Julia, please stop sneaking up on me," Lizzie whined.

        "Sorry, but some say the more questions you ask, the smarter you are."

        "Then you must ask a lot of questions."

        "No," Julia answered, and Lizzie could see tears in her eyes.  "I am not intelligent, I was just born that way."  She spun on her toe like a ballerina, sending her long, blond hair every which way.  She walked out of the room, and Lizzie had a feeling she would not come talk to her much anymore.

        Lizzie thought back to what her little sister had said.  That Erin and Adam couldn't have pieced together their past quite yet.  Lizzie couldn't believe it.  She'd given them pictures and memories, why couldn't they figure it out.

        But, Lizzie thought, I have to imagine how confusing it would be if all my life, I thought I was one person, then later I figure out that I'm really someone else.

        Yes, Erin thought back.  It is confusing.  Especially when you don't even know exactly who you are.

        "An answer!"  Lizzie jumped up from her chair and ran through the upstairs hall, running into Justin, who, no surprise was running around as well.

        "Watch it," her little brother yelled.  "That's the second time today!"

        "Sorry."  She helped him up.  "But I just got a reply from Erin and Adam."

        "What's they say?"  Justin asked, jumping up and down.

        "Nothing definite, but I think they want us to go into Home and rescue them."