Freedom - Nicole Khatchadourian

Two

Eva became pregnant when we were about ten years old, I think. I can never remember how old Celia was.

Eva spoke to Kev and I about it, and she was probably disappointed with our reactions. We knew why she needed to have another kid. She needed a child she could learn to love, as it was obvious to her and to us that she would never love us.

I'm sure Kevin would agree with me when I say we hated Celia from the very idea of her, let alone when we met her. She was small, pink and quiet, and all she seemed to be able to do was lay there. Yet Eva was a ready overprotective of her, when she barely even spoke to us.

Celia grew up, and she was useful for just about nothing except to get us drinks from the sink. And she kept going around saying we were her friends, so she was a bit retarded.

We were sixteen when Kevin thought it would be fun to kill off her stupid pet hamster. She had been very attached to it, and to see Eva try to explain why it wasn't coming back was pretty amusing.

He drowned it in the kitchen sink, and the next day when Eva was washing the dishes, she found it.

We were outside playing swing ball with Franklin when she looked at us, and we both caught her eye at the same time, smirking, before we went back to the game.

Later that day, I told Kevin my hilarious plan to see how Eva would take something that she couldn't outright blame on herself. To put it shortly, we 'accidentally' got some of the drain unblocker in poor Celia's eye, and when Eva came home she was devastated. She knew it was us, but she couldn't prove it.