What is family?

Chapter 38

Arianna

"You were swapped with Angelina at birth.", dad said calmly.

Huh?

What?

What is he saying?

Swapped?

Birth?

Angelina?

I froze after listening to his words and it feels like my brain stopped working. There was complete silence. None of us spoke anything.

I wanted to think and process the information, but it's like my brain is not ready to accept anything, let alone think of it.

I am just looking straight blankly at nothing in particular. 

I was swapped at birth?

I was meant to be in Angelina's place?

No one ever knew about my existence?

I was never meant to be in that orphanage.

I was never meant to be adopted by those people who apparently were my foster parents.

I was meant to be here.

I was meant to be with my father.

My real father.

I was never meant to face the abuse of my foster parents.

I was never meant to go through that trauma.

I was never meant to bear the pain of loneliness.

I was never meant to suffer through the emotional breakdown and fear.

I was never meant to be an outsider in my own family.

I was never meant to go through anything that I have experienced in my fourteen years of life.

"You ungrateful b**ch!"

"You are very peaceful and beautiful just like mom."

"It's such a waste raising you!"

"You are beautiful, princess."

"Can you be useful at least once in your lifetime!"

"I can't believe I have such a beautiful daughter."

"You are just a burden and waste of space!"

"You are my sister. I will always trust you."

My head started spinning with all the thoughts from the past. My breathing got a little faster.

I lived a life not meant for me because my family never knew I existed?

Because I was swapped at birth?

All the trauma from the past started playing in my mind. All the insults I had to listen to. All the beatings I had to take. All the fear I had to feel. All the hurt I had to endure.

Everything kept playing in my mind.

The fear to go home.

The fear to go to school.

The fear to break the unreasonable rules.

Everything I felt in the past fourteen years kept flashing in my brain.

I couldn't breathe. It was getting harder. I felt suffocated even when I am sitting in the open air. I felt everything closing in around me.

I was on the verge of a panic attack. My hands started trembling slightly.