Not What She Seems

Clarification Sucks

  "#¥@$&!, please take good care of her. I can't risk him finding out that she's here." the woman said.
"I will, trust me. But one day I want her to see you again. I want her to be raised by you again." the other woman said, taking the baby into her arms.
"If it all goes according to plan." the other woman said, picking up the toddler who was running around the room excitedly. The toddler giggled and laughed and reached his hands out for his toy.
"Geez, did you drink some RedBull, #?$ ?" the other woman asked the energetic toddler.
"Well, are you going to raise him?" the woman asked.
"No, it'll be too predictable. I plan to give him over to #%¥$&@ later." the other woman answered, picking the toddler's toy off the ground and giving it to him to play with.
"Well, got to get going." the other woman said, putting the toddler on the floor.
"Go say goodbye to your sister sweetie." the other woman said. The toddler ran to his baby sister. The woman holding his sister put her on the floor for him to hug. The toddler ran and hugged his sister and gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran back to the other woman. The other woman picked the toddler up and carried him out of the room. Then, the baby girl started to cry. The woman stopped and turned around, then walked towards the baby girl, put down the toddler, and picked her up.
"Don't cry, beautiful. Mommy will be back sometime." the woman said, holding the baby girl, wiping away her tears, and kissed her on her other cheek and gave her back to the woman who was holding her before. As the woman walked away with her son, her eyes started to water and drip with tears. She quickly wiped them away. If you really, truly care about her, you have to let her go......

*****

Why.....do you love me?
And with that, I wake up. Birds chirp constantly and loudly. When the blurriness finally wears off, I see Rinold standing there, buttoning the last button on his shirt.
"Oh, would you look at that! Her Highness has awoken from her slumber. Shall I make Her Highness her royal breakfast?" Rinold jokes. I throw a pillow at him.
"Only if her highness can give his highness a makeover." I say softly with a smile.
"Absolutely not, you're old enough to make your own food." Rinold says, denying my offer quickly.
"Awww.....I was looking forward to that." I say, sad.
"Well, I have to go. I'll see you later." Rinold says, looking at his watch.
"Bye." I respond, waving goodbye as he leaves our bedroom. I hear him walk down the hallway. I wait a little longer to make sure he's gone. Then, I peek my head outside the hallway to make sure no one's coming. I sneak back to my room and freshen up, then head downstairs.
"Mom?" Ravamara asks, confused. Avarra walks out of the bathroom in sweats.
"Mom." Ravamara states, now she's very confused. Avarra high-fives me and slips a £50 bill into my hand.
"Good work. I didn't think you could pull it off." Avarra comments.
"I really wasn't even trying. I forgot where I was for like two minutes straight." I comment back.
"I take that compliment right back." Avarra says, picking a piece of bacon off a plate. I look at the bacon.
"One piece." she says. I quickly take two. She knees me in my stomach and I drop the piece of bacon. She catches it before it lands on the floor and puts it in her mouth.
"Can you not hear? I said one piece." Avarra remarks coldly. I lie on the floor for a few seconds, then bounce up.
"That hurt." I state.
"Really?" Avarra asks, shocked.
"Yeah. I'm getting rusty. I need to start training again." I say, walking towards the living room and plopping myself on the couch..
"Mhm. Your impression is getting better." Avarra says, purposefully sitting on top of me.
"Why?" I question.
"I thought I was going to land on your butt and it'll hurt but instead I landed on your legs." Avarra explains.
"Why? Just why?" I question again.
"I need my morning Netflix." Avarra tells me, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV.
"Ooh can we watch Once Upon a Time! I wanna see what happens next." I exclaim, excited. I jump up and manage to get Avarra off my legs.
"Spoiler: Everybody turns out to be—" I cut her off.
"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!" I exclaim, covering my ears.
"Suck it up." Avarra comments.
"Never. Ooh can we watch Empire then?" I ask.
"You act just like her. Even the way you sit." Avarra informs me.
"Really?" I ponder.
"Mhmm." Avarra answers. I hear a door open from upstairs and then I hear her.
"You're both the dumbest people I've ever met in my life." I heard her say. She sounded exactly like me.
"I have to go, actually. Dad'll freak if he found out I was here." I state.
"Why?" Avarra asks, curious. I laugh.
"Aymara, remember? She still doesn't know. He doesn't want me to put her in danger." I respond. I quickly leave before Yavara comes downstairs. I don't need to see her. Not now. I don't want her to question anything.
****Yavara
I walk downstairs with Relvin and Verlynn to see Ravamara looking confused. I look at the living room, then back at her, then back at the living room.
"What?" I ask.
"Two?" Ravamara questions.
"Two what." I state.
"Two moms?" Ravamara questions again.
"Sweetheart what're you talking about?" Mother asks, throwing away her plastic plate.
"There were just....." Ravamara states.
"Just what?" Mother asks again.
"Never mind...." Ravamara responds.
"Oh....okay then." Mom says, confused. Then, she disappears into the basement.
"So...what do you guys wanna do?" Relvin asks.
"Put makeup on you." We all respond in unison. Then, we all gasp.
"OOOH you'll look so cute with makeup on!" I exclaim.
"No. No. Absolutely not." Relvin says, backing away. We trap him in a corner and Verlynn runs to go grab makeup.
"WHY!!!!!" Relvin exclaims. Eventually, we finish his makeup and take him to a mirror.
"I look horrible!" Relvin exclaims.
"You look wonderful!" I exclaim.
"So cute!" Ravamara exclaims.
"To be honest, you look like Pennywise." Verlynn states. We all burst out laughing.
"He does, actually." I realize.
"Should we take this off before he gets rashes?" Ravamara ponders.
"We probably should." Verlynn answers. We take Relvin's makeup off and drench his face in water.
"So...what else?" Ravamara asks again.
"We all paint Relvin's nails!" I shout excitedly.
"Please no." Relvin says.
"Yeah! Since it won't go in evenly, on the last nail we all get a third to paint." I add.
"YESSSSS!!!!!" Verlynn exclaims. We paint Relvin's nails exotic colors like red and orange and purple and give them really cool designs.
"Are we gonna remove it?" I question.
"Nah." Verlynn and Ravamara answer in unison.
"Well, what do you guys wanna do now? It's only 14:12 (2:12 PM)." I ponder.
"Let's go to my house." Relvin suggests
"Isn't your mom home?" I ask him.
"Nah. She's out of town for the next month." Relvin answers.
"Also, there's something I need to give you there." Relvin adds. Before Verlynn can get any ideas, I quickly say something.
"Let's go!" I exclaim. I slip out our backyard door into the backyard and break out in a dash there.
"LAST ONE THERE HAS TO LICK RELVIN'S ARMPIT!!!" I exclaim while running. We make it to Relvin's house in five minutes using the shortcut. We enter through Relvin's back door and head upstairs into his bedroom.
"So.....now what're we going to do." Verlynn states.
"I don't know........oh. Let's go sneak around in my mom's room. I want to get back my favorite teddy bear from when I was 5." Relvin says.
"Are you sure?" I ask for confirmation.
"I'm sure. What could possibly be in there that could make us sick?" Relvin says again. We walk into his mother's room and snoop around. I pick up a Shakespeare book and see a folded piece of lined paper used as a bookmark in the book. I open it to the page and take out the bookmark and unfold it. Why? I don't know, I probably won't find anything anyways. It reveals about three paragraphs filling up the front of the page. I start to scan through the text and stop almost immediately. I shouldn't be reading this. This is kinda really nosy.
"Hey! I found it! My mom tried to hide it, but she failed! I found it!" Relvin exclaims. I close the drawer quick and turn around.
"Good, now we can go." I say, swiftly exiting the room. We're walking down the hallway when someone stops us.
"Hey! There you are, Relvin! I've been waiting for you to come back!" the voice exclaims. I turn around and see Erizah behind us holding Delilah.
"Oh, Erizah! When did you get home?" Relvin questions.
"Half an hour ago. Were you snooping around in mom's room?" Erizah asks.
"Maybe?" Relvin answers.
"Did you find anything?" Erizah asks eagerly.
"I found Butter." Relvin responds, holding up the teddy bear.
"Ooh really?" Erizah ponders, shocked. Relvin nods. Delilah giggles, extending her arms out towards the bear, eager to grab it.
"Well, I have been talking care of Delilah for like the past month now. You can make it up to me by taking care of her while I'm gone at the mall." Erizah states.
"What? No! You already have enough shoes!" Relvin exclaims.
"Yeah, but not enough shirts." Erizah argues.
"Well, I'll do it....if you can catch me." Relvin says slyly, then breaks out in a dash. Erizah chases him with Delilah. Relvin runs around the kitchen and into the living room. Erizah catches Relvin, who ran back to the kitchen, by the shirt.
"Ha! Caught you!" she exclaims, yanking him back by the collar.
"Fine." Relvin agrees. Erizah prepares to hand Delilah over to Relvin and Delilah starts giggling. All of a sudden, she throws up right in the middle of Erizah's shirt, then keeps giggling and kicking her feet.
"Y-You! This is the fifth shirt I've lost to throw up!" Erizah exclaims.
"I'm sorry." Relvin says, backing up against the counter.
"UGH! NOW I HAVE TO FIND A NEW SHIRT! THANKS A LOT, RELVIN, NOW I MOST DEFINITELY NEED TO GO TO THE MALL WITH TERRA AND SARA! NOW, YOU ARE TAKING CARE OF HER FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER!" Erizah yells, putting Delilah on the counter and storming upstairs. Relvin rolls his eyes.
  "Why is she so mood swingy? It was her fault anyways." Relvin comments.
  "That is true." Verlynn agrees.
  "Alright, let's go clean you up or bathe you or something." Relvin states, picking up Delilah and taking her to a bathroom. Delilah started splashing water everywhere when Relvin was trying to bathe her and got soap in Relvin's eye.
  "UGH! IT BURNS!" Relvin exclaims, trying to get the soap out of his eyes. Delilah bursts out in giggles.
  "Awww, she likes seeing you in pain!" I exclaim.
  "Doesn't everyone love seeing Relvin in pain?" Verlynn asks.
  "Oh yeah. Especially when you're putting makeup on him." I answer.
  "I can't do it, I quit. I'm done. No more." Relvin states, walking out of the bathroom.
  "It's not really that hard." I say.
  "Oh, really? If it isn't that hard, why don't you do it?" Relvin argues.
  "Okay then. If I manage to finish bathing her successfully without her crying or throwing a fit or getting soap in my eyes, you have to give me €50 AND buy me whatever meal I want from McDonald's. If she throws soap everywhere and I don't get soap in my eye I still get the meal. If I manage to do both, I get three months worth of McDonald's meals, which means if I order a meal today, that counts as one meal out of three months. If I don't manage to do one, you get a free kiss on the cheek." I suggest.
  "Deal. Wait what if—" I cut him off and a little blush is visible on my cheeks. I have to play my cards right.
  "TOO LATE." I shout. I walk out of the bathroom and look around for it. There it is. Delilah's blue rubber duck.
  "Your mistake was you didn't use this." I say, showing him the duck.
  "Where'd you find that?" Relvin asks.
  "Why should I tell you?" I immediately ask. Relvin doesn't respond. I give Delilah the rubber duck so she can keep herself entertained while I do my hair. I look in the mirror and undo my ponytail and all my hair falls down to my ankles.
"Wow. That is a LOT of hair." Verlynn comments.
"I haven't cut it yet. I'm supposed to cut it every 4 months because I grow hair crazy fast." I state, collecting all the hair and wrapping it in a messy bun. After doing that, I walk towards the bathtub where Delilah is splashing water all over the place excitedly. I take her out of the bathtub, clean her up, and dress her up in her clothes again.
"What are you—" I cut Relvin off.
"Ssh." I say. I warm up milk, put it in her baby bottle, and give it to her to drink. After a little bit, I take the baby bottle back and bounce her up and down slowly and use my knee to lower the chances of her throwing up on me. The whole time, Relvin stands there observing me, puzzled. Delilah's eyelids start to close slightly, then halfway, then they were fully closed and she sucks her thumb while sleeping. I take her back to the bathroom, undress her again, and put her in the bathtub and start to bathe her. When I get to her arms, I stop.
"Can I get her pacifier?" I question. Relvin hands me her pacifier. I remove her thumb out of her mouth and instead give her her pacifier. Next, I wash off her thumb and continue to bathe her until she was fully bathed. Then, I pick her up and place her in a towel and dry her and put the white onesie with yellow ducks Relvin picked out for her on her. I pick her up again and place her at my side.
"That's how you bathe a baby without any soap being splashed anywhere AND not get in your eye." I say softly, careful not to wake Delilah.
"That's not fair." Relvin argues.
"It is fair. You never said that she had to be awake. You just said she had to be bathed without there being a mess or any soap in my eyes." I respond, walking out of the room and walking upstairs to her nursery. I slowly and carefully place her in her crib and walk out of her nursery and close the door.
"Wow, impressive." Verlynn compliments, high-fiving me.
  "Should've been specific. There you go. Now you've learned your lesson. Have fun buying me McDonald's!" I state walking downstairs and opening the back door and smirking. Mmm. I'm already tasting those chicken nuggets with the large fries and root beer in my mouth. Relvin better get his wallet ready, it's cash time.