Super Smash Bros. - Severed Ties [Book #2]

Chapter 14 - Strangers Again

Once I walked through the door, I began a quick tidy up of the place so my parents wouldn't see that I had friends come over. They weren't much for the idea of having people come into our house.

I emptied the bin with all of Pit's feathers and food scraps, and threw it in the garbage bin out the front. Two bright headlights pulled into the driveway, as I was about to walk back inside. My parents and sister smiled and waved, and all of a sudden I wanted to bury myself under the house. I was finding it difficult to bring myself to tell my family what I had decided.

The three of them hopped out of the car and we all walked in together. "Cleaning the house for us, Ingrid? Well aren't you just the best," dad said as he looked at how neat the living room was all of a sudden.

"Oh, it's just out of the goodness of my heart." Mum wasted no time in starting to prepare dinner, whilst Jayla helped me set the table. My dad even decided to help mum cook dinner that night, which was a very rare occasion if I recalled correctly.

We all sat at the table as we dug into the roast lamb sitting before us. It was quiet, which made my unsettling thoughts speak louder in my head. I tried blocking them out, but I couldn't hold them back any further. I just wanted to get this agony over and done with.

"I think we should all go in the living room."

"Could it wait? We're all still eating-"

"It's urgent. I need to talk to all of you about something." Mum and dad exchanged looks as the three of them slowly stood up and walked into the living room. "You might want to sit down."

"What's going on, Ingrid? Is something the matter?" Mum concernedly asked.

"Uh, yes and no. Just let me explain." They sat in front of me on the sofas as I stood up in front of them. I felt like I had stage fright, and I couldn't do anything.

"Well Ingrid? We're waiting."

I took a deep breath, and searched my mind for the right words. "Last year... when I wasn't here? ...I found my family."

"Your family?"

"Like, your birth mother and father?"

"Not exactly them, not yet. I found my brother." Mum and dad's eyes narrowed, and Jayla just sat there looking into space.

"How do you know that he's your brother?" She was right. How did I know that he was my brother? I couldn't say that I had this crazy flashback of my childhood playing in some garden with him.

"...I just knew, mum."

"Ingrid, that's not good enough. You can't just 'know' that it's him. What if he's really a stranger and is trying to kidnap you?"

"Mum, he's not like that."

"Does he show any proof that you two are related by blood? Does he have any documents or anything he could show you?"

"He gave me this necklace I'm wearing-"

"But you don't know that, sweetheart. You found it when we found you!"

"Dad, I didn't 'find' it! It was always with me!" The conversation was going nowhere, and soon escalated back to an argument that I would usually have with my family in the past.

"So what are you going to do? Are you going to live with him?" Dad asked, almost like he was threatening me to make sure that I would say the right answer.

"...Yes, I am," I said firmly. Jayla looked at me with big eyes, about to cry like a young toddler.

"You won't be until we meet him," mum said. I knew that this talk was going to be hard for everyone, but I didn't think it was going to be so aggressive