Not What She Seems

First Day Back

  "You claim you love your sister?" the girl's father asked.
  "I don't claim. I do." the girl responds.
  "Well, then, %#?!$@, since you say so, have you seen—or felt something just....off? Something that makes your fingers tingle?" the girl's father questioned.
  "N-No." she responds. The father chuckles.
  "Well, then. You're quite a liar. If you truly love her not matter what. If you truly felt anything for her, that would've happened. It hasn't." the girl's father states. The girl frowns, not understanding. What does he mean? She thinks.

********

  The morning bell rings and Mrs. Ardlock (ARD•LOCK), my homeroom teacher, walks towards the center of the classroom. Everyone immediately quiets down.
  "Good morning, class. Welcome back to school. I don't really see any new students here....." Mrs. Ardlock states, scanning the rows of students. Everyone else's eyes fail to meet her gaze as she scans the rows of students. Then, she stumbles across me. She stares at me. I meet her gaze. Then, she moves on to the next person. She just finishes explaining what's going on today when the bell rings. I move on to the next class and then another and soon, lunchtime rolls around. I grab my food and sit down next to Ayra.
  "Oh, hey! Why'd you leave so early yesterday?" Ayra asks.
  "Because your brother is a weirdo." I state.
  "Ouch. That hurts, ya know." Ayra comments.
  "Too bad. I don't care." I respond.
  "You hurt my feelings. Anyways, there're rumors spreading about your roommate. They say that her right hand was crippled, deformed, ruined, and now it's fixed. Perfect. Like it was never crippled." Ayra shares. I take some of her chicken and eat it.
  "Could be surgery." I reply.
  "I searched it up. To get that type of surgery done, you'd have to have your hand in a cast for 2 months while doing very little movement in that hand. There is not enough time for her to get that off." Ayra explains. I knew there wasn't. After all, my mother is a doctor. She told me all about it, even though it wasn't used in her particular job. I've already came to my own conclusion. There's only one other person I know who knows this and would somehow find a way to fix her hand and have it working that quick, but let's not go yet.
  "Mmm. Interesting, but I don't care. I'm not going to get into rumors and drama on my first day of school." I reply.
  "I still can't believe you have a Junior as your roommate and you're in 7th grade." Ayra says.
  "It's not that cool. She just stays in her room all day and only comes out for food and drinks. Yesterday was the first time she's even seen my face. Said I looked exactly like her." I state.
"You look like your roommate?" Ayra asks.
"No—No, I'm sorry. I meant she said I looked exactly like my sister. Her aunt." I clarify.
"Woah woah woah. Wait a minute. So, technically, you're her aunt?" Ayra questions. I nod.
"How old is your sister?" Ayra questions again.
"I don't even know. It's not like I can ask her, too. That's just a bad idea." I answer, eating more of my food.
"Well, I guess it is. Your family is a hot mess, you know that? It would probably take 2 WHOLE fantasy books on Padwatt to explain your whole family tree." Ayra states.
  "Don't be stupid. It's three at least for both sides of the family." I reply.
  "You're right. So, this sister of yours, how come you don't say her name?" Ayra asks.
  "Fine. You wanna know her name?" I ask. Ayra nods.
  "Persephone (PER•SEF•ON•E). Or, if you want, Persegeia (PER•SE•G•UH). I wouldn't call her that though, she'd snap at me for telling you so because we were just making fun of her at the time. So I'd just call her Persephone." I answer. That's a lie.
  "Persephone is a very pretty name. Isn't that a Greek goddess?" Ayra asks.
  "Yes. It is." I reply, finishing my meal. Ayra finishes hers, too. We both get up and put our trays at the cleaning window and sit back down.
  "This day is going by so fast!" Ayra notices.
  "I know right! Lunch is almost over, though." I say.
  "Yeah. I know. After lunch, what classes do you have?" Ayra inquires.
  "Um...in order it's Social Studies (World History), Science, English, and Math." I reply. Ayra gasps.
  "That's my order too! What type of classes are you taking?" Ayra asks.
  "All advanced. Well, I'm actually taking 8th grade honors math." I respond.
  "Me too! We have so many classes together! It's going to be great!" Ayra exclaims happily. The lunch bell rings, signaling the end of lunch. We head to our next classes together and soon enough, the rest of the day is over.
  "Are you enjoying it here?" Ayra questions me.
  "Yeah. Seems like a really nice school. I'll really enjoy it here." I say, smiling.
  "Uh-oh. Don't look now. Here comes your roommate." Ayra points out.
  "I don't care. Let's go get some chicken wings and pizza." I say, my French accent almost showing.
  "That sounds really good." Ayra comments just as my roommate and another girl pass us. My roommate, out of the corner of her eye, looks at me, then quickly diverts her attention back to the girl she was talking to.
****Yavara
  "Yavara. You saw that girl, right? The girl with the black hair and brown eyes?" Verlynn asks.
  "Yeah. What about her?" I ask.
  "Doesn't she look...familiar?" Verlynn asks again. I make a mental comparison with her to everyone I can think of.
  "Nah, not really. Wait...she does kind of remind me of Emarina." I answer.
  "Mhmm. Does she remind you of anyone else? Maybe even...your mother?" Verlynn questions.
  "Yeah. She kind of does." I reply.
  "So.....?" Verlynn says, trying to get me to say what she thinks.
  "No. I don't believe it. There isn't a reason why, I just don't." I reply back.
  "Okay then, maybe I should drop this whole thing. Let's just go to our dorms in peace." Verlynn states. So we talk about everything except for Verlynn's theory until we come to my dorm.
  "Yeah. Well, you have to go, I'm rooming with Amorae since they swapped you." I explain. Verlynn frowns and pats me on the shoulder good luck before going back to her own dorm. I open the door to my dorm and see Amorae and her friends chatting on the couch. They all look at me with a disgusted look. I ignore them and close the door. Then, I walk over to the kitchen and open the fridge to find my sandwich missing and realize that Amorae ate it. I sigh, closing the fridge, and look in the cabinets for the can of corn beef I put up there. I manage to find it, get 2 eggs and 2 bowls along with the sandwich maker and make myself a corn beef with eggs sandwich. I put it on a plate and throw away the napkin I was using and take it to my room. Finally, I sit down on my bed, ready to binge watch Netflix on my laptop.
****"Her"
  "Those chicken wings were really good." Ayra comments.
  "I know, right?!" I exclaim.
  "Alright, I have to go. See you later?" Ayra asks. I nod, waving her goodbye as she left my dorm. Jus then, my roommate comes out of her room.
  "Alright, I've given you your little free time. Now, tell me how you know my name." my roommate demands.
  "The same way you know your name. You just do." I reply, throwing away the box of chicken wings.
  "How do you even know who I am?" Verlynn asks.
  "I just know." I reply again.
  "What's your name?" Verlynn asks again.
  "Sage." I answer.
  "Sage......" she says, waiting for a last name.
"Angel." I respond.
"Well, Sage Angel, do you know my mother?" Verlynn questions.
"Yes." I say, looking through my bag for my ID.
"And what are you to her?" Verlynn inquires, sitting down on the other couch.
"What do you mean?" I ask, still looking in my bag.
"Are you like her little sister, cousin, what are you?" Verlynn explains.
"Nonexistent." I reply. I don't have to turn around to know Verlynn's face is coated in confusion.
"What do you mean "nonexistent"?!" Verlynn asks, completely confused.
"I mean she doesn't know I exist." I explain. I finally find my ID. I place it in the front pocket of my backpack so I won't forget it.
"And why doesn't she?" Verlynn pushes. Wow. She was right. Verlynn does ask a lot of questions. I sit down in front of my laptop, deciding which game to play.
"Because no one bothered to tell her. Everyone thought she'd still be mad, so no one bothered to tell her anything. We didn't want to remind her of how this little 5-year-old gets to do all these amazing stuff now that she's out of the hospital and everyone's so happy while your mother is still stuck babying a 12-year-old because her hand is completely ruined." I say. Verlynn winces.
"What would she say you are to her if she knew you existed?" Verlynn questions.
"Based on her current knowledge, she'd say I'm her sister." I answer.
"And how old are you?" Verlynn questions again.
"How old do I look?" I question back.
"12."
"Wrong. Im 10."
"Just 10?"
"Do you want me to be 90?"
"No..I mean you just seem quite young to know this."
"So you want me to be 90. Got it."
"No! I just....I don't get it."
"Don't get what?"
"Why everyone except for my family knows all these facts!"
"Such as..."
"Your sister never did anything bad, not on purpose anyways."
"Uh-huh."
"And my mother hurt your sister."
"Badly."
"Badly?"
"She never told you all the other times your mother has hurt my sister?"
"No."
"There's the time your mother threw a rock towards her, thinking she would catch it on reflex, but instead left 3 broken ribs and a nasty scratch around the side of her stomach."
  "And what did your sister do in return?"
  "Nothing. Tried to hide it, actually. When she got caught, she'd lie about it. Same with the other bruises and cuts she got. Not all from your mother, of course."
  "That's weird, why would she still hide it?" Verlynn asks.
  "Thats what I asked Avarra. She never told me why." I reply.
  "Huh." Verlynn thinks aloud.
  "I mean clearly she didn't hate her enough to change your middle name so it's not Arlene anymore." I state. Verlynn raises an eyebrow, but skips over it.
  "At first, I thought Avarra was the witch, but now I realize I had it all wrong. The thing is....something's still off about Avarra. Why's she acting so secretive? Is she even human? I just....don't get it." Verlynn says. Then, I hear a knock on the door. I quickly disappear behind the kitchen counter while Verlynn opens the door.
  "Oh, where's your roommate?" I hear a girl ask. I realize it's the same girl from earlier.
  "Went to the bathroom. Anyways, what're you doing here?" Verlynn asks.
  "It's rib night." I hear the girl say. Verlynn gasps.
  "Say less. I NEED to be there so I'm first to get to the ribs." Verlynn states.
  "I'll be waiting, see you in 30." the girl says. I assume Verlynn waves goodbye and hear her close the door. Then, I stand up.
  "Don't think you can stay here, you're coming with me." Verlynn quickly says.
  "I know. I wanted to come, anyways." I respond. Verlynn goes to her room to go dress up and 15 minutes into her dressing up, I leave.
****An hour later
****Verlynn
Yavara and I talk while walking up the driveway to her house. I'm still concerned about Sage. She just disappeared. I can't let Yavara know, though, so I play along, acting happy and fine. Yavara unlocks the door to her house, letting me in before closing it behind her. The sweet aroma of ribs and barbecue sauce fills the air. My mouth starts to water.
"I'm hungry." I hear a familiar voice say. Sage. Sage Angel. Just then, Sage walks into the room.
"I'm hungry." Avarra mocks.
"Can you stop mocking me?" Sage asks.
"Can you stop mocking me?" Avarra mocks again.
"Mom!" Sage shouts.
"Mom!" Avarra shouts from wherever she is.
"Avarra's mocking me!" Sage shouts again.
"Sage exists!" Avarra shouts.
"Ouch. You win. I'll get you next time, though." Sage comments, not even paying attention to the fact that I'm here. Then, she turns around and sees me.
"Oh! Took you so long! I've been here for like, 45 minutes!" Sage comments again.
"Hey! I found Harold!" I hear Avarra say. Sage shivers.
"No, please. No. No Harold. Harold is dead. It's not Harold, throw it out!" Sage tells Avarra, her voice reflecting how scared she is.
"Come on, come pet Harold." Avarra says, walking out from where she was. I notice a strand of white hair tucked behind her ear and buried under red strands. Stress? No. That hair is too white to be stress. It's as white as Emarina's hair. What does this mean?
"Ew, no. A....Avarra, get that away from me." Sage commands.
"Touch it and I'll throw it out." Avarra offers. I look to see what's in Avarra's hands when I see a giant tarantula appear, one of its legs on Avarra's finger.
"Ew! No. Please, Avarra, throw it out." Sage begs. Avarra sighs and opens the door to the porch and places it on the floor.
"Bye, Harold." Avarra says as the spider crawls away. Then, she closes the door. Later, we eat ribs and relax before we decided to spend the night here and go to bed. We pulled out the blankets and filed into Yavara's room and we all stationed ourselves, even Sage, who, sadly, refused to tell me anymore info. It's late at night and everyone else except for me is sound asleep. It takes a while, but soon enough, I fall asleep.