Splicing of Changes (Editing)

Chapter 2

"Who are you?" One of them asked.

"Why are you here?" Another one asked at the same time. Did they practice this shit or something?

I look at them, turning my head on either side. Now that they are beside me, I can see that one of them is a little older than the other. Also the younger one has light sky blue eyes, exactly like me and Tori. Weird.The older one has dark green eyes which are sparkling with curiosity right now. This makes me snort. They are curious, alright. They both try to imitate me too. Producing an unnatural sound, copying my snort, I presume. I tilt my head, they both do the same. I turn my head to the left to see the younger one, when the older one comes running to this side and keeps staring at me. Weird. I narrow my eyes at them, they try to do the same as well and fail. This makes me laugh, a little alerting someone. I hope Tori. I mean I did hear her voice before, but I have yet to spot her. Shaking my head, I take a bite out of my toast when I hear footsteps again, and this time when I look back at the tiny humans, they run towards my sister Tori. I keep looking at them. Who are they?

Before I could ask Tori, the older one calls out, "mommy." I half expected her mother to come out from somewhere, but when I see Tori react to that name, my eyes widened. Wait what? My sister is their mother. I mean, I understand the younger one, and I share many similar features, but still. Wait this means I am their aunt, and my parents, as in, our parents are their grandparents. Did Mom and Dad even know they had grandchildren? Did Tori ever tell them? This is bizarre. Not only did I find Tori living in this place, possibly living her best life, but he also has children and never even bothered to tell me, us. Did she even remember me? Did she care that she left me behind? Did she ever think about that sister who dreamt of reuniting with her for the past twelve years? Pathetic I know, but the thought of once again finding Tori had me going and enduring all the shit storms that I have faced. Seeing Tori again, made me push through all the sadness, but did she even remember me? Considering she has kids and I had no idea about them, I doubt that she remembered me, or missed me as much as I missed her.

The elder one pulls Tori's hands, "Mommy, there is a stranger in our house." The younger one hides behind them.

Tori lifts them up swiftly, exactly how she used to lift me up, and puts them on the high chairs. I remember how she used to be with me when I was 4, and she was there with me. I remember her putting my food on the place, cutting it into small bite-size pieces, and smiling at me, ruffling my hair while I ate. And now I see her doing the exact same thing with her kids. It makes me feel weird. I do not know how to describe what I am feeling, but it ain't normal. I still try to give her a small smile. Tori, my sister Tori, is a mother of two. Hard to believe. Almost as hard as us reuniting under these circumstances.I try to look for someone else in the house, but I see there is no one except us. Huh, where is their father? I keep my mouth shut though. I am a guest, and I cannot just barge into her life and demand answers, even if that is exactly what I want to do.

"Morning Kris. Sleep well?" Tori asks, smiling at me, while placing the water glass in front of the kids.

"Morning Victoria. Yes, I slept well." I replied curtly. I do not know how to interact with her. I am not free, I mean I barely know this woman who is technically my sister. How strange is that? Also, if I was not sure that it truly had been twelve years since we last saw each other, the presence of the two kids proves it.

I like to always keep my emotions in check. I try to. I am sort of trained to have the poker face always. Dad insisted on teaching me that. He was an interesting man. I loved my parents, but they had their quirks for the lack of a better word. They were weird and not your typical loving parents. They taught me some pretty weird shit, including maintaining my poker face. It helps, though most of the time. I mean I can never really call them normal, since they behaved as if I was their only daughter, as if Tori never existed. Her pictures were removed from our house, her room was changed to make it a storage room. Nothing ever showed anyone who is not family that Tori, their elder daughter, existed. I never had a sibling after the age of four. I was taught that too, so no one in school knew. When I say no one, I mean no one. Not even Aaron, who is or was my boyfriend. Not sure at the moment. I was not allowed to talk about Tori, or ask questions about her. And when they saw that family gatherings meant I would like to ask about Tori, they stopped taking me to them. Soon, they turned from once every three months to once a year and, lastly, I rarely saw anyone who was not Mom or Dad or their business partners, because lord help them, they swarmed our house every alternate day. I remember the last time I attended a family gathering. It was not me who brought up Tori but my aunt. The same aunt who refused to take me in. I remember Dad getting angry and storming out and Mom all but pulled me behind her, as we rushed out of there. It was not a huge thing, she just asked if anyone knew what Tori was up to. That's simple, yet my parents behaved like someone burned their house down. I mean in a way, I guess she did. After all, their house was built on a lie. A lie that showed they always had one daughter, me.