Athlete B

09. Lie To Me, I Dare You

Amelia had always been straight the point, so I don't know why her voice made me flinch. Maybe it had reminded me of someone from a long time ago, that even she didn't know. Teddy didn't know for crying out loud, and I had always told him everything. He knew everything, or he used to know everything. 

"Nothin'" I muttered, as I swayed a little, staring at the room that had changed since I had last been in here. The stars were still there, but everything else felt like it had changed, or maybe I had just forgotten what it was all like to be in here with someone that I had once loved like a sister, but now she was like a stranger. 

"You always go for a swim. Now, you are holding back. Never not wearing jeans and a jumper, when you used to say that jeans were uncomfortable. You always went for a swim, no matter the time of year, as we had to beg you to get out to eat. Avoiding certain conversations that you used to love, and isolating yourself, only coming out when you need to"

The obvious statements caught me off guard. I didn't know what to say or do. It was hard, when people could read you so easily. I don't know why I thought that going to the Wilson household would be easier to hide the person that I had become while they had disappeared. They had left my life, and to say it didn't hurt, was an understatement. 

"I don't know. I guess I have changed" was the only response that I could muster up at the moment. I didn't want people to find out just how ugly everything was underneath. People would run away and never look at me the same way, and I didn't want that. I liked the life I was living, with this small little lie. Plus, these people hadn't been my second family in a long time, so they didn't have the right, in my mind, to know just yet. 

I wasn't ready to tell them, would have been the better response. Everything had started to fall back into place, like they had never really left, and that reality wasn't knocking back down on my door every breath that I took in, but now, they were knocking on my door, asking me to open it back up to them, when I wasn't ready. 

I was far from ready for this conversation, but I guess we were having it, right here, right now. "Eve, we aren't going to hurt you. We aren't them. We want to help you. There is no need to keep fighting to hold your head high, you can keep it down" she murmured, pulling me close to her, as I hid my head in her chest, tears rolling down my cheeks. 

---

"Dinner is ready-" Teddy entered the room, rounding the corner, before he stopped in his tracks. I wasn't sure if it was because I looked different in his sisters clothes or that I was curled up under her arm, tears still streaming down my face. 

After a while, I had told her that I would tell someone, whether it was Hugo or Teddy, I promised I would tell someone about what had happened, so then she had said, to take our minds off everything, we could play dress ups. Obviously, I sorted through the clothes that would either show too much or not fit me at all, and I think she knew. 

She had then allowed me to wear this outfit, as I had only brought about three outfits, and two of them were already dirty and in need of a wash. So, she had given me a new pair of jeans, a long-sleeve top, and another sweater. I loved her for this, and the warmth that these clothes gave me. She even braided my hair for me. I felt like the little girl that she would carry around the house for no reason. 

For me being so small, she had always treated me like a little baby, even at the age of 5, she loved carrying me around. She loved it. I remembered the days when she would take her dolls out of the pram and put me in, and I would fit almost perfectly. Those were the days when I still had my own pacifier and nappy on, just like the other dolls did. 

"How about I bring you two up some dinner instead" Amelia unfurled herself, as she walked out, but not before whispering a few words to Teddy, and then he was climbing into bed with me. A movie was playing in the background, but I had completely forgotten about it, as the boy beside me climbed into bed with me, bringing me more comfort than he sister.