Secret Sister

Amela was happy to finally be home. She stepped through the door, bags in hand, wearing a green dress and beige sun hat with pink heels. After years of traveling, she’d finally returned to her house. The one with bare walls and bare cupboards, except for a jar of expired peanut butter. She picked it up and laughed, thinking back of the time she first left after making a peanut butter sandwich. She set the jar down and dialed her mother’s number into her phone.

“Mother? I’ve made it home safely from my flight. Would you like to come see me?” On the other line, her mother said, “Yes, dear. We have much to discuss.” Amela shook her head, agreed on a time with her mother, hung up, and began to unpack. 

Suddenly, the door burst open. A woman with the same black hair and blue eyes as Amela stood there, in the doorway. She wore a black shawl over a blue shirt and beige leggings. Her face had no makeup, and her shoes were a vibrant orange shade. Jewelry was spread on all parts of her body, and her hair was in a mess of tangles. However, she wasn’t alone. Beside her stood a man, with hair black as the night and a passion for silver jewelry.

“Who are you? And why do we look the same? And who is that man?” Amela slowly backed away from them as they inched forward. While doing so, she slowly slipped her phone into her hand and dialed 911, not clicking the call button.

“My Lord, Father! Mother never told Amela about either of us! She’ll hear it, all right. Amela, I’m your twin sister, Abel. And this is our father, Mac.” Amela gasped, and dropped her phone. She stood there for minutes that seemed like hours, and couldn’t seem to move. 

After a while, she finally stated, “Why should I believe you?” Abel looked at her, pointing at herself and to Amela. Their father stood, not breaking eye contact with Amela.

Without hesitation, Amela walked outside and refused to come back in, no matter how many times they pleaded. That was, at least until she needed her phone.

As she walked through the door, she saw that Mac and Abel had a glimpse of hope in their eyes, however, it didn’t last long after she walked back out.

Hesitantly, she dialed 911. Abel saw and begged her not to, so she called her mother instead. When she answered, Amela said,

“Mother, something has happened. It’s urgent, you must come now.” Before her mother could even answer, she hung up.

Around an hour filled with more begging to go inside passed, but Amela held on. She didn’t know these people. And besides, why would they come now? To be fair, if they knew she’d been traveling, then they came at a terrible time. Amela just wanted to unpack and rest. But if they didn’t, it’d been six years since she’d been at the house! It was quite great timing for them to come that day. When her mother finally arrived and saw the two people, she nearly fainted out of shock.

“Mother, who are these people? And more importantly, hy did you feel the need to hide them from me? If these people truly are my family then why would you do such a horrid thing?” Her mother, Ree, was silent. Then, she finally spoke.

“They’re not lying. In fact, I’m still married to your father legally. We didn’t have enough money to finalize the divorce. Although, Mac and I have grown closer as you’ve travelled. And, Abel is your twin sister. I just couldn’t bear you to find out.” Amela looked to Ree with tears in her eyes, seconds away from all the emotions she was feeling exploding out of her mouth. She wanted to yell at her mother, but also wanted to know why she hid Abel from her. What reason could be good enough?

“Mother, why have you done this? You’ve likely ruined my life by doing this to me. I don’t know why you thought that it was okay, and why you thought that I didn’t need to know, and even why it was a thought in the slightest. That’s my sister, who I should have grown up with, who I should’ve been there for, who should’ve been there for me, who I should have loved, who should have loved me, and who I should have known! And that there? That’s my dad! I should have had a dad, but you lied to me and told me that I had no father and I had no siblings and it was just you and me!” Abel and Amela were both in tears while Mac was close to it.

Amela was not prepared for what her mother said next.

“I was bribed to lie to you. You wonder why I’m rich, why I live in a mansion? Because I got paid twenty million a year to lie to you so you never find out the truth. And, well, I suppose that didn’t work out.” Amela looked into her mother's eyes. Not one glimmer that’d hint tears were coming.

“Who was bribing you?” Ree was silent. Deep inside, she wanted to tell her who it was forcing her to keep such dark secrets. But, alas, she couldn’t.

“I can’t tell you, or anybody else. I’ll be…” Ree thought for a moment. “Reprimanded.” Amela pulled at her own hair our of pure anger and frustration. She finally told her mother,

“You need to tell me now or I will report you to the cops.” Ree shook with fear, pleading that she wouldn’t call, that she wouldn’t dare dial the number, that she had to find the heart not to rat her out. Regardless, she picked up her phone. As she dialed the three numbers, her fingers shook. She couldn’t bring herself to make the call. As her mother showered her with thanks, she told her to tell the true story. And so, she gave in. Her very own grandma bribed her very own mother to keep her father and sister a secret from her because she simply hated children. One was more than enough, if not too many. Ree had seven brothers and two sisters, so her mother was sick of it. She didn’t want to care for the other one, and if Amela knew about her father then she’d eventually find our about Abel.

After Ree finished the story, Amela excused herself to the bathroom. She knew that her mother was lying. Trying to be quiet, she made a call she wanted nobody to hear. 

“911, what is your emergency?”