Not What She Seems

Tell Me the Truth

  "Aww, baby girl, why are you so antsy to move?" the woman said to the baby girl, who was kicking her feet and giggling uncontrollably. The baby cooed. Then, something attracted the baby's attention. The baby started to cry and kick and flail all over.
"Awww, what's upsetting you, beautiful?" the woman asked, looking behind her. The woman noticed a picture that was taken with a friend at a Halloween costume party. The woman was dressed as a witch and the other woman a ghost.
"Oh, are you scared? They're not real. It's okay, it's okay." the woman assured the baby, trying to soothe her cries. The baby kept on crying. Then, in the middle of the baby girl's fit, the baby's hands started to get increasingly hot. The woman notices the sudden increase in the baby's body temperature.
"Hot. You're getting really hot." the woman said, quickly putting the baby on the bed. Now the baby's eyes were an icy blue, instead of their usual hazel.
"He.....he wasn't lying. Not that I thought he was, but he was right. You are special. I'm almost sure you're The One too. You're—you're just like me." the woman said, astonished. The baby calms down and her tears slowly stop. The woman picked back up the baby and spun her in the air. The baby bursts out in giggles.
"I-I love it! Finally, we aren't the only ones alone in this world like this! You are too. This makes me so happy. You make me so happy. I promise I'll take good care of you, beautiful. I'll take good care of you, my beautiful, precious #%?!$&." she says, smiling. The woman's expression was now brighter than before, and she didn't even think that was possible. For every moment she was around this beautiful, precious, happy baby, she was always as happy as she could possibly be.

*****

I'm jealous. Yavara has the perfect life: she has rich parents, amazing siblings, amazing fighting skills, is smart, talented, and is beautiful. I even heard that she has a pet dog that gets its nails done AND wears designer clothing. All I have is a dog, a freakishly annoying younger brother, a baby sister, and a sister who I've never even met before. I'm not that talented in anything except fighting. I'm not pretty like her. I'm not freakishly smart, like her. I never wore an exclusive limited edition £2,000 dress to my 8th grade graduation and I never wore a £1,500 dress to my 8th grade dance. I never was the top fighter in the whole district. We both have parents, siblings, good fighting skills, all of the major stuff. Why is she more skilled than me? Why is she so strong? I may act like she's nothing but a peasant to me and I may act like I hate her, but I actually don't. I'm just....jealous. I try to act all tough and trash talk her so I can intimidate her. So I can convince myself I'm better than her. But she's too nice. Too sweet. Too compassionate. Every time I try to get her to snap, it backfires and she responds in this sweet voice. I mean....I guess I should be grateful for what I have.
  "Target spotted. Now get sprayed!" Tankil, my younger brother, says. He squirts me with a water gun filled with fruit punch.
  "Tankil, really? Thanks a lot. Now I need to change my shirt." I say irritatedly.
  "Well sorry....." he says quietly.
  "Well you can apologize next time by not spraying me with fruit punch again." I snap back, storming back into my room. I change shirts and walk back out of my room and grab myself some chips.
  "Ooh chips...can I have some?" I hear someone ask. Oh. How could I forget about the most annoying of them all, Daymon? Day mom's my older brother.
  "No, leave me alone, I'm not in the mood." I snap back instantly.
  "Well geez.....sorry for asking." Daymon mumbles. I walk back to my room and lie down on my bed.
Yavara.....why can't I swap places with you?
****Yavara
"Yavara, wake up, love." I hear Relvin say.
"It's not even, like, ten yet." I whine, turning the opposite way.
"No. It's 10:30." Relvin responds.
"Fineeeee." I mumble. I roll myself to the edge of my bed.
"Alright, here's the better solution." Relvin states. He picks me up and opens the door to the bathroom. Then, he grabs my toothbrush, puts toothpaste on it and pure water on it, then uses his right hand to splash water all over my face. He shoves the toothbrush in my mouth and smiles.
"There we go. Now to use your arm to move the toothbrush." Relvin instruct me.
"Shut up and go eat." I reply.
"Okay then....." he answers, leaving my bedroom. I sigh and start brushing my teeth.
"You're irritating, but I still care about you." I mumble. I finish brushing my teeth, wash my face, and head downstairs.
"Oi." I say, plopping myself on the downstairs couch. Mother plops herself on top of me and sighs.
"I'm so tired." Mother complains.
"Get off of me!" I shout.
"Man...this pillow is very uncomfortable." Mother says, scooting on top of me a little more. I start to chew on her hair.
"Huh, apparently pillows have lips too. I think this one's chewing on my hair. Maybe if I just give it a little kick it'll stop." Mother states. She elbows me in my shoulder.
"UGH. THAT HURTS!" I shout again.
"Maybe I just need to scoot up a little." Mother thinks aloud she sits a little and I get a gasp of air. She bangs her head against my forehead and I scream.
"THAT HURTS!!!" I scream.
"Avarra, you're obviously lying on it wrong, how dumb can you be?" Mavaro points out. She lightly pushes mother off me and jumps on top of me.
"DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW MUCH YOU WEIGH?!" I exclaim.
"Ohh. I'm so stupid! I should've did that!" Mother realizes.
"Meh, this pillow is put as comfortable as before." Mavaro complains.
"PLEASE! SOMEONE END MY SUFFERING." I scream. Mavaro gets off of me.
"Uh-oh. You're not a pillow." she says innocently.
"I think you guys broke all the bones in my body. Do you guys know how much you weigh?" I ask, irritated. Mom shrugs.
"No, not really. Maybe 125, 135. Who knows. Your father can still lift me without really using any strength, and he stratus at about 200, which means clearly I'm below 200. And you haven't died yet, which means I'm clearly below 160." Mother states.
"I'm probably like 115." Mavaro answers.
"I don't know.....all that Buffalo Wild Wings is really piling up there, Mavaro." Mother jokes.
"Shut up. If anything, I still weigh less than you, which means I can eat as much Buffalo Wild Wings as I want." Mavaro remarks.
"Okay...." Mother mumbles.
"What? Ew....stop being a creep." I hear Ravamara say from upstairs. Mavaro smirks.
"Ew. I know what you're thinking. Absolutely not." Mother responds.
"Mhmm....sure...." Mavaro says sarcastically.
"We were never dating." Mother responds defensively.
"Uh-huh.....sureeeee. I have to go, actually." Mavaro says, picking up her phone and bag.
"So you can go hang out with your girlfriend?" Mother jokes.
"No. I told you, we aren't dating." Mavaro replies, irritated. She looks through her phone and puts in her pocket.
"Oh....because......" Mom says, glancing at me.
"That and mom's making pancake bites." Mavaro answers, walking away.
"What? I want some!" Mom exclaims.
"Then you'll have to come....." Mavaro states.
"Ahh I'll be fine without them. Then again, maybe I'll just steal yours." Mother responds.
"That's not happening." Mavaro says, leaving.
"Just wait and see.....sweetheart." Mother mumbles. Ravamara walks downstairs with Markus. I jump over the couch and walk into the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Markus asks.
"Huh? Nothing really." I answer. Except now I'm almost 100% Mavaro is my real mother. I think.
"Oh." he says. We sit down and finish eating.
"So what're we going to do?" Verlynn questions.
"Don't know." Relvin answers.
"Ooh! I heard the district fair started today. We should go!" I suggest.
"Hmm.....okay then." Relvin states.
"The fair is crazy overpriced, though. It'd be like, $80 for all of us to even enter." I state.
"Wait, be right back." I say. I dash upstairs into my bedroom, change, and grab my phone. Verlynn looks at me, confused.
"Alright. I got money, why don't you go.....oh.....oh I didn't think that through." I realize as I look at Verlynn.
  "Mmm, it's okay. You can have some of mine." I state, dragging Verlynn upstairs and into my room.
  "Some what?" she asks, sounding miserable.
  "Clothing. If you can fit it." I answer.
  "I probably won't." Verlynn comments.
  "Mhmm....true point. But you would probably fit Gevora's." I comment. I drag her down some hallways to Gevora's room.
  "Won't she be mad at you?" Verlynn asks again.
  "Nah. Our allowance gets bigger as you get older, and Gevora is the oldest out of all of us. Her allowance is big enough to buy her quite a lot of clothes, so she probably won't even notice you're wearing her clothes until you tell her so." I explain.
  "Hmmm.....okay then." Verlynn murmurs. I toss her some clothes and two pairs of shoes.
  "Keep it." I say.
  "Are you sure? This is an incredible amount of clothes." Verlynn asks again, worried.
  "I'm sure. If anything, five shirts, five pants, and two pairs of shoes are too small, but we don't have all the time in the world to pick out clothes." I answer.
  "Thanks." Verlynn says.
  "Don't mention it." I respond. I wait for Verlynn to change into an outfit, then we head to my bedroom.
  "Here's a bag you can use to carry your clothes. You can keep it." I state, handing her a duffle bag.
  "Woah, how'd you get this? Isn't this quite expensive?" Verlynn asks, shocked.
  "I asked for it for my 12th birthday. It's fine, I have like, two more. My mother won't care, either. She knows I'm smart enough to make logical decisions like this." I tell her.
  "Okay then, thanks again." Verlynn states.
  "No problem." I respond. Relvin opens my bedroom door.
  "What's taking you guys so long! We're ready to go!" Relvin exclaims.
  "We're going....we're going." I say, walking out of my bedroom and heading downstairs. Everyone else is dreamy and talking when we arrive downstairs.
  "Alright, are we going?" Ravamara asks.
  "I think so." Gevora answers.
  "Well, let's go then!" I exclaim, excited. We head outside and head to the fair.
  While at the fair, Ravamara, Gevora, Markus, Relvin, Verlynn, and I rode all the fun and thrilling rides while giving Savara and Allister more mild rides. We also managed to win two goldfish and £700 because both Maj (who joined us at the fair) and Relvin won a hot dog eating competition and it was £350 for one person, which means we all got £100. Relvin later won me a giant polar bear with a white hoodie that says "25th Annual National District Square Fair" in black and wore white shorts. After we did what we wanted to, we ate burgers and fries and then shared four giant elephant ears amongst the eight of us, which means one half of an ear per person, for dessert and took some to go. Then, we headed back to my house, but Maj went to his own home. We talked for a bit, but then Verlynn and Relvin went to go hang with everyone else, so I am left alone in the room.
  Someone knocks on my door, which snaps me back to reality after absentmindedly scrolling through my phone and eating an elephant ear for so long. I stop for a second, then, before, I could reply, Mavaro opens the door.
  "Oh right, your mother wants her charger back." Mavaro states. I hand her the charger. Funny how she says "your mother" but she's probably my real mother.
  "Also, elephant ear piece. Now." Mavaro demands.
  "Fine. But if I give you one, you have to answer this question honestly." I bargain.
  "Fine. Whatever." Mavaro says, taking the piece of elephant ear out of my hands. I glance at the door to make sure the door is closed.
  "Tell me the truth. Are you......my real mother?"