Silent Emotions

3. Tickle fight!

"But you're Ken," I stubbornly said. Like a child not believing Santa Clause was a work of fiction. He rolled his eyes and slowly walked closer to where Austin and I stood.

"I'm not," Ken shrugged with a sad smile. "Austin," I turned back to meet my best friend. Slowly, the puzzle pieces started to crumble down to a different picture. Ever so slowly, I started to question my own parents, family, and even myself. If he was not who I thought he was all along, who really was he? Does that change all the years of us being so close we were practically like siblings?

"You- you're still Ken to me," I strongly put. Ken's face scrunched to a very much hurt look before he sighed, "Emma.. how many times do I have to say this-"

"No!" I held my hand out, trying to explain. He jolted back a little not expecting me to raise my voice. Ever.

"You're Ken. No matter what your real name is, you're Ken. You're the Ken who read me bedtime stories when mom and dad weren't home. And you're the Ken who stood up for me when I couldn't back when my bullies tormented me. You'll always be my older cousin Ken to me."

Taking a deep breath, I continued on. "But I will respect your decision on whatever the fuck it is you plan to do. If you want me to call you by a different name, fine. If you want to meet your real parents, I'll even drive you myself. But don't ever doubt the fact that you'll always be my cousin. Just because you found out you weren't really from auntie and uncle doesn't mean you're no longer a part of our family."

I felt his sturdy body crush me in a hug, his face buried in the crook of my neck. My hands clung onto the back of his sweater. Austin stood by, swatting away whoever dared to ruin our moment. I could feel my shirt getting soaked in his tears but I didn't mind. After a while, Ken composed himself and broke the hug.

"I.. uh. Where do I even start?" He said with eyes sparkling with tears. He strongly fought to keep the remaining tears he had to not be shed. While Austin and I waited for him to fully explain the whole thing.

"We can start by moving somewhere more private," Austin signed as he motioned to the door. I nodded in agreement already leading them out and picking out my favorite spot under the bleachers. We walked out of the gym and over to the bleachers. Once at the spot, we plopped down on the cement and waited.

"Mom would always warn me not to go to the attic. She always said something about how there were too much stuff. And I could knock stuff down and make a mess," Ken scoffed. His eyes glazing over as he remembered that one day he found the truth.

"I had a project to do for school. It was to find baby pictures, which was a mistake on my part." He winced, closing his eyes tight. His eyes opened once again looking down on the cement as if it were interesting.

"Everyone was too busy so I dug around the whole house. Every one of my pictures were of me already past 5 years old. And most of them actually had you in it," he smiled a little. It was for a second, but it was there. "So I tried the attic. I thought 'Fuck it, if mom found out, I'll just win her back with my famous pouty face," he gave a dry laugh. None of us laughed, we listened intently.

"That's when I found this old dusty box. It had a doodle. A little scribble of a ninja with stars."

"You loved to draw ninjas," I uttered out. Austin nodded, "You taught me how to draw them too."

"I opened it out of curiosity and found baby pictures- of me. But what really bugged me was this one picture of me when I was around five. There was this woman hugging me in the picture. She was beautiful. Had blue hair," Ken's eyes broke away from the ground to meet mine.

"The back said 'Mommy loves you baby!' How can I not question that?" He asked.

"I.. I don't know. Nobody told me anything-"