Gifted Liars

Chapter 1

"Mum!" 

Tessa grabs her vibrating alarm clock from her bedside table and jumps to her feet. The blanket drops onto the floor as well as her homework from last nights studying. 

"What is wrong with you Tessa?" Sandra looks concerned as she walks into Tessa's room and looks around at her messy room. 

"What's wrong with me? what's wrong with me? what's wrong with you?" Tessa looked at her Aunty, Sandra, who is looking at her absent-mindedly.

 "That's it! I've had enough with you, Tessa. Take everyone's dirty clothes in the laundry." 

"When I yelled for 'mum', I didn't call for you, I want my real mother." Tessa puts her hand through her bed-ragged hair and sighs. 

 "Have you forgotten what I told you? Your mum left you here when you were five because she felt she couldn't care for you. She has four other children."

"She could have left one of the other cowards here, why me?" Tessa runs over to her bed and digs her face into the pillow and sobs which sounds like an eternity of not crying.

"I feel you, Tess. Here's your coffee and make sure you come into the kitchen in thirty minutes. We have a family meeting."

"Can I at least talk to my mum?" Tessa looks over to Sandra and sees tears well up in her Aunty's eyes. Sandra turns her back and closes the door behind. All Tessa wants is to find her mother for herself. She has never been let out of the house. She was always home tutored but she never understood the syllabus. 

Tessa collects her books from the floor and puts it on the table. She grabs the blanket and neatly folds it and stores it away in her closet. She grabs the book on her table and walks over to her desk where Sandra left the coffee. 

"Natural superpowers are said to be scientifically proven to be false but this could be an understatement. " Tessa reads out and sips her coffee carefully. Tessa reaches out for the file on her printer and takes a newspaper out. Tessa reads out the bold headline of the newspaper, dated last month. "Myths or the truth". She intently clings onto the newspaper and puts it back in its location. 

"This has to be true. Supernatural powers are real. My father was a powerful scientist that used magic to invent his creations." Tessa drinks the remainder of the coffee and puts her book neatly under her bed cover so that if anyone comes to snoop into her things, no one will find it. Everyone here in the house thinks that Tessa is a bit abnormal like her father. They keep telling her that her father has found a new family. But Tessa knows they're lying. 

Tessa walks out of her room and goes downstairs with the coffee cup and heads for the dining table where Sandra's family is watching the footy show. As she walks over to her Aunty, she makes eye contact with Sandra's husband, Steve, who snarls as she goes past him. Next to him are his twin daughters, Leah and Lila that wave at Tessa. Next to them is there oldest brother, David, which is 15, the same age as Tessa. He smirks at Tessa but she doesn't respond to him. 

"Tessa sweety, can you be a dear and put these plates on the table?" Sandra softly smiles and continues washing the dishes."

Great, Tessa thinks to herself. She walks over to Sandra and collects the plates and gives it to everyone seated at the table. Steve looks at Tessa and then looks back at Sandra and looks back at her. 

"What's happened to her, love?" Steve looks at his wife, carefully trying to study her.

"To Tessa? Nothing, she woke up frantically as she thought she lost her book." Sandra looks at Tessa and smiles. 

"Who's hungry for some food?" Just then Grandma Erica enters the room from watching a cooking show on the T.V in the living room.

"I have a few new recipes up my sleeve. But I think poor Tessa wants the old Granny's galaxy cake." Erica goes over to the oven and takes out two delicious-looking dishes. A chicken salad and chicken curry and puts it on the table in front of them. She goes over to the fridge and takes out a cake. The cake had black fondant all around, with white edible glitters around portraying stars and a wand with a witch and a wizard on top of the cake. This cake was Tessa's all-time favourite.

"Grandma Erica, why don't you make something special for us? It's always whatever Tessa wants." David looks at Erica and crosses his arms. 

"But I though chicken curry is your favourite?" Erica gently asks.

"Not anymore, it's jelly and ice cream."

"David, you have to tell me what your favourite meals are or else I won't know what to make for you?"

Tessa smiles at Erica and says thank you. After finishing the dishes Sandra serves the meals to everyone and they all eat.