Not What She Seems

Could It Be?

  "He'll be curious and want to see his child, what should we do then?" the woman asked, holding the baby.
  "I don't get it." the man said.
  "He'll know her name, #%*¥@$, what should we do? I don't want anyone besides me, you, and her to know." the woman said.
  "We use her middle name." the man suggested.
  "Well then, that was a quick and easy solution. Now would you put C—I mean #%€~$&@! to sleep please?" the woman asked kindly, giving the baby to the man.

*****

  "What do you mean he's your kid?" I ask.
  "What else could I mean? Maj is my son. Avarra must've not told you. I was the one who gave Maj to Armeniah for her to take care of, so that way if Maelo finds Yavara, he still has to find Maj, which'll be hard for him to do considering the fact that someone will tell." Mavaro says.
  "I can't believe it though. It's really you! How? I thought you were dead." I question, hugging her.
  "I'd prefer not to say how." Mavaro answers.
  "Wait—do you know what Avarra was going to get me for Father's Day?" I ask.
  "Can't really tell, all I can say is that if she found it earlier, it would've been on time for Father's Day. Although, it's not really a Father's Day present, more of a old item that both of you can laugh back to." Mavaro states.
  "Oh. Really?" I question. Mavaro nods.
  "So....where is Avarra?" I ponder.
  "Don't know, somewhere. Can't really tell you that, either." Mavaro responds.
****Yavara
  "Has she cracked?" Relvin asks.
  "No, not yet." I answer.
  "Huh, interesting. It's been like ten days and she still hasn't cracked. I'm proud of her." I state.
  "Yeah, me too." Relvin agrees.
  "Well then, maybe I can trust her." I think aloud.
  "Don't call it too soon." Relvin warns me. I smile.
  "Trust me, I won't." I say, kissing him on the cheek and leaving the room. Relvin soon followed.
  "What took you guys so long?" Verlynn asks, pacing back and forth in front of my bedroom door.
  ""Nothing, we were just talking." I answer.
  "Well....I never really got a tour of your house...." Verlynn says.
  "Oh, yeah!" I say, realizing she actually didn't.
  "Well, I kind of can't. You just have to learn as time goes on." I respond sadly.
  "Why not?" Verlynn questions.
  "I just can't." I answer.
  "Can't Relvin give me the tour then?" Verlynn ponders.
  "No, this isn't my house and if they don't want to give you a tour, I have to follow that." Relvin says.
  "Why not, though?" Verlynn ponders again.
  "Because I just can't, okay?!" I exclaim. Verlynn appears shocked.
  "Oh....sorry, I just......I need to go." I say, quickly disappearing down the hallway.
  "What did I do? Did I upset her?" I hear Verlynn ask.
  "Just......Yavara, wait!" Relvin shouts, calling for me to stop.
"Yavara....wait, what's wrong?" Relvin asks.
"I just need a break, okay?" I tell him before I start to walk faster.
"Why?" Relvin questions, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Because I just do, okay? Relvin, I love you but why are you so persistent? Just go hang out with Verlynn or whatever." I suggest, picking up my pace again.
"Fine." he says, then he realizes what I said.
"Hey! I am not persistent." he says defensively.
"You very much are. Now go, please." I say, pushing him lightly. He walks away and leaves me alone. I walk down some hallways and don't bother to keep track of where I came from. I want to get lost. The longer I'm lost, the more time I have to cool down. Eventually, I enter a hallway I've never seen before. I have no clue where I am. I turn right and hit a dead end.
"That's weird...why would there be a dead end?" I ask myself. The paint on the wall was white, but then there was a tiny black dot to the right about halfway down the wall. I press it and the wall opens up, like a hidden door. A hidden door? Why is there one here? I think. Then, I hear a voice.
"I think I'm getting used to this." I hear someone say. The hallway the hidden door leads to is dark. They sound a lot like mom, but her accent.....it's a much stronger French accent than mother's.
"Can I turn on the lights? I'm gonna run into something." I hear mother ask.
"Huh? Yeah, sure, whatever." the other woman answers. Perfect, now I can actually see who mother is talking to. I think.
"Yavara." Verlynn whispers, putting her hand on my shoulder. I jump.
"Ssh, look." I say. She peeks behind the door with me. Mother turns on the lights, and what I see I don't understand at all.
"Duplicates?" Verlynn asks at a whisper. Identical? Identical twins? Since when did this happen?
"Well, I'm stuck. Rinold knows." the other woman says.
"What do you mean "he knows" like he knows for sure or he knows but he hasn't proved anything?" Mom asks.
"Like he knows for sure. Quizzed me and everything." the woman states.
"Man, one job. One job you had to do and you failed!" Mom exclaims, sighing afterwards.
"I did not fail. Mavaro never fails!" the woman, Mavaro, says.
"You know you've truly failed when you refer to yourself in third person." Mother states.
"Just shut up, okay?!" Mavaro exclaims.
"It's fine though, he was bound to find out eventually. But now we can't really switch anymore." Mother states, sad.
"Even though I hate to admit this....you were right." Mavaro says, sad.
"Yeah, you bet I was! "Ooh let's put foundation over the fourth mark!" I said. "It would be fine!" you said. "Trust me, Rinold is creepier than ever now." I said. "There'd be no problem. You and I both hate it when people get too close to us." you said. "No. Rinold is more stubborn than ever now!" I said. "Avarra, I'm sure it'll be fine. He shouldn't touch me." you said. Well guess what? I WAS RIGHT AND YOU WERE WRO AND IM GONNA RUB IT IN YOUR FACE FOREVER SO SUCK IT." Mom says, boasting about her being right.
"And I thought my mom was irritating like that." Verlynn mouths.
"Nah. Soon enough, you learn that no one could be as irritating when it comes to them being right as Avarra Cyvaira." I mouth back. Verlyn snickers.
"Geez, 15 years later and you're still an irritating person." Mavaro states.
"Oh, would you look at the time, we need to go before he finds us." Mom says, looking at the time on her phone.
"FOUND YOU." Dad says, barging in on cue. Mom sighs.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Dad exclaims. Mom gets up and starts walking towards the hidden door. Quickly and quietly, Verlynn and I slip away from the hidden door and dash out of the hallway. We make it back to the kitchen where everyone is talking and we're completely out of breath.
"Oh.....my gosh. You wouldn't believe what we just found out." Verlynn says, gathering more energy to speak.
"What? What is it?" Markus asks, looking up from his phone. We both try to explain at the same time but our words come up in a huge bunch of rubbish.
"Ksjsiwoqns seh eh wuesesssw wowslas keeekdod DUPLICATES!!!!" We exclaim.
"Hold up, hold up, hold up. I couldn't understand a word you just said." Ravamara says, confused.
"Mom.....has a....twin!" I manage to say between gasps.
"An identical twin!" Verlynn adds.
"They've been switching in and out." I soon add.
"An identical twin? This sounds ridiculous." Gevora say, snickering.
"We're not lying. They were talking in some mystery hallway, and dad knows too!" I exclaim, sitting down on a chair.
"I mean, it does explain why there were four marks instead of three." Markus reasons.
"And her odd behavior." Relvin adds.
"Gevora, why would I run off to some mystery hallway which is probably filled with mystery chainsaws that could pop out of the ground any minute and come back and lie to you? I wouldn't be out of breath if I was lying to you." I reason.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I hear dad ask.
"It doesn't matter." Mom responds.
"It does matter! It does!" Dad exclaims, coming down the stairs.
"No, it really doesn't. But you wanna know what does matter, sweetheart?" Mother asks dad.
"What?" he asks.
"Close your eyes." Mom says, directing dad to one of the kitchen cabinets. She opens one of the top cabinets and pulls a polar bear wearing a blue tux with white ships on it and a matching pair of blue shorts with white ships on it and had a sailor hat on it.
"Don't you just love me. Don't you wanna hold me." Mom says in the most seductive voice I've ever heard. Dad opens his eyes.
"Where did you find this?!" Dad exclaims.
"When we switched I found it hidden deep, deep, deep in a closet." Mom answers.
"I thought your mother threw that away!" Dad says.
"Nope. Barry the bear is indeed alive." Mom says.
"What is that?" Verlynn asks.
"It's my favorite stuffed animal from when I was like, 5." Mom replies.
"And you kept it?" I question, shocked.
"No, my mother took it from me and said it "went to Bear Party Island where bears relax and party and there's an unlimited amount of boats for Barry to drive."." Mom responds. Gevora starts laughing.
"And you believed that?" Gevora asks, still laughing.
"I WAS 6 OKAY?!" Mom exclaims, defensively.
"Yeah, and you were a very, very, very gullible 6 year-old." I state. Dad starts laughing all of a sudden.
"Yeah, yeah laugh all you want at least I didn't believe that if you swim deep enough, you'd actually find Ariel and there were actual talking crabs on beaches." Mom remarks.
"Hey! You promised!" Dad exclaims.
"I didn't promise nothing." Mom says, sitting down on the living room couch with Barry. Mom sighs.
"What? You need a freakishly handsome man to binge watch Netflix with?" Dad says, obviously talking about himself.
"Yeah. Well, I guess I'll just have to call Frayke then. But he's been acting like a real a** lately." Mom says, scrolling through messages on her phone.
"Hey!" Dad exclaims.
"I'm kidding." Mom responds.
"And if you put me on a scale of 1-10, I'd be a 10, right?" Dad asks. Mom looks up at him and snickers.
"Oh, yeah, you're definitely a 10." Mom says sarcastically.
"You married me, I have to be a 10!" Dad exclaims, sitting on the same couch as mom.
"No, you don't actually." Mom states, scrolling through more messages.
"Yes, I do." Dad argues.
"Alright, one yes one no. Mavaro, reason with me. If you date or marry someone, does that mean they have to be a 10?" Mom asks. The woman I saw in the secret hallway sits up.
"No, not really." Mavaro states.
"See?!" Mom says.
Flashback:
"Who told you that sweetie?" Mother asks.
"You did, remember?" I answer, looking up at her confused.
"Mommy needs to go make lunch, it's getting late." she says before quickly leaving my room. I look at the time. The digital clock reads 14:08. It's not late. We eat dinner at 19:00, so why is 14:00 late?
End of flashback
No. No way. No wonder mother reacted that way! It was never her that told me that, it was the other woman, Mavaro. It was a dream. It was a dream and that Mavaro woman was in it. Wait a minute, Maj said he had that same dream, except what she told him was different. Why did we both have this dream? Could it be? Maj said that following that dream, he also got the ink drawings on his hands. Is it because.....we're siblings? Could it be because.....she's our mother?