The Difference Between You and Me

Chapter 5

"Good evening everyone, welcome to another youth meeting here at Open Bible Church of the Living Christ," the youth coordinator greeted all the teenagers who were seated on the lawn in the church yard.

"I want to extend a warm welcome to those of you visiting with us for the first time. I do hope you have a good evening. This is your chance to meet a new friend as we socialize and fellowship together. "

Ammie rolled her eyes at this. She always wondered why her mother forced her to attend these meetings. They didn't help her in anyway and everyone there was just full of it. They wore their designated superhero capes well, pretending to be nice, friendly, and all holy while hiding and drowning who they truly were.

"Ammie, I see you brought a friend. Why don't you introduce her to us, "Miss. Grieves smiled

"Do I have to?" Ammie asked

"Well no, but we would like to meet her, taking into account this is the first time you've ever brought someone along with you. So, I'm guessing she must be special, and I'd like you to tell us a little bit about this special friend, "Miss Grieves explained

You are doing too much now Miss Grieves

Ammie mentally face-palmed herself and stood up, "good evening. My name is Ammie Brians for all who don't know, and this is my twin sister, Annie Brians, "she gestured to Annie as she too stood up and waved to everyone. Everyone clapped and offered warm smiles for some reason and Ammie sat back down then pulled her sister, who was still standing there and waving to sit down as well.

"I didn't know this was some kind of support group and I just stood and told everyone I was suffering from a terminal illness," Ammie whispered to Annie, to which Annie responded by swatting her arm.

"Well now, what a surprise. It's nice to meet you Annie. It's really good you are here as we will finally get to see Ammie socializes with someone in her age group, even if it is someone she already knows. Because she doesn't talk to the teenagers here, only the old folks are blessed with her charm and whimsy. "

"Really, why not?" Annie asked aloud, looking at Ammie

"Because old people are genuine" Ammie grinned at her sister, then whispered, "And because all these teenagers are pretentious"

"Don't say that Annie. If I didn't know better, I would say you haven't given them a chance to warm up to you? " Annie scolded her sister

Before Ammie could respond Miss Grieves spoke up, "okay guys, it's icebreaker time!"

The group of teenagers erupted into murmurs but all stood up anyway ready to participate. That's one of the only things Ammie admired about them. When they came to meetings, they were ready to be involved, volunteering themselves so no one paid attention to her or dared to volunteer her until,

"Alright, let's start with..." Miss Grieves paused to pretend to look around the room then, "Ammie!" she said excitedly

"What ?!" Ammie shouted in shock

"Are you crying?" Jackson asked but already knew the answer.

She quickly wiped the tears that escaped her eyes when she saw that her brother was staring at her with a worried expression. Ammie never understood why people always asked that question when the answer was staring them smack in the face. Was it to be sure? To see if the person wanted to talk about it? No one wants talk about why they are crying in the midst of crying. It's just never a good time.

Ammie thought that whenever a person asked that question they were either asking to get yelled at or trying to make the person crying feel worse by asking them to remember and talk about the reason for their tears. The best thing to do is sit beside the person in silence, they will be more grateful for the gesture rather than you inquiring about their problems.

"No, what do you want?" Ammie snapped at him feeling annoyed that he disturbed her thoughts and slightly melancholy that she was thinking about her sister again. She remembered that day when she invited Annie to youth meeting with her and Annie scolded her for not being open and friendly with people who are kind to her.

"Mom asked me to call you. She's out on the patio. " Jackson spoke up.

"Thanks, tell her I'll be there in a minute," she nodded and with that Jackson ran off in his usual high-spirited self.

Ammie sighed. She wanted to stop having these flashbacks and memories because it didn't make sense anymore. Annie had forgotten about her since the day she left after that summer and nothing has changed since then. Maybe that was the universe's big plan all along for her to forever live apart from her twin and it was time now for her to accept the dreadful truth and live with it. Because no matter what there was no moving on. People never really move on from things they want to, the memory is always there. Because, life is just a nightmare that you don't really wake up from.