All I can do is stare at the girl in shock.
We stand there, just staring at each other. I know I've made it awkward, but how else am I supposed to react?!
The girl, Chuck, looks so much like me it's like looking in a mirror. The only difference is our hair and eye color. Our facial features are nearly the same.
We stand there for a couple more seconds before she nervously tucks her long blonde locks behind her ear.
"Uhm, I brought you a change of clothes. They're my clothes, but you should be able to fit them." Only when she mentions them, do I notice the stack of clothes in her hand.
Snapping out of my daze, I carefully take the pile from her. "T-thank you."
She nods once. "I'll let you get changed, just come out and I'll take you to the dining room." She turns to leave, but I yell for her to wait.
"Yes?"
"How old are you?"
She smiles, "I'm 20. You're 23 right?" We're only 3 years apart? I nod to her question. "Yeah. Um, how are you so calm about this?" The question blurts out before I can hold it, but she just shrugs.
"Simple. I've known about you my whole life."
That nonchalant statement freezes me to my core. She's known about me her whole life? How come I didn't know anything about her?
Before I can voice one of the many questions I have, the bodyguard from earlier knocks on the door once and pops his head in.
"Signora Chuck, Charlie needs your help with something." Chuck glances at me with a strange expression before looking back at the bodyguard. "Thanks Tony, I'm coming right now. Ellie, I'll be back by the time you get dressed, okay?"
I barely get the chance to nod, and she's out the door.
As soon as I'm alone, I run to the connected bathroom and throw up the food that I ate hours ago.
When I'm finished, I sit there on the black tile floor for a minute, trying to pull myself together.
This entire situation is too much to deal with. I normally would be suspicious about the whole sister thing if Chuck didn't look exactly like me. How could I be in denial about that? Heaving out a sigh, I get up and rinse my mouth out with mouthwash that's placed on the sink. It's weird that they have mouthwash, but not a toothbrush and toothpaste.
When I'm done, I go back into the bedroom and unfold the clothes that my sister brought in.
A large Thrasher hoodie with black, ripped skinny jeans and a couple of hair ties. I'm surprised considering Chuck was wearing a yellow shirt and white dress pants, but it's exactly one of my styles.
Plus I'm grateful for the huge hoodie, to hide my bump.
I'm 100% sure that the silver haired man knows that I'm pregnant, but I don't want anyone else to know. Truthfully, I don't even want him to know but it's out of my control.
I get dressed quickly and pull my shoulder length hair up into a messy bun. It's grown quite a bit since I've cut it, and I'm happy to get my long hair back.
I take a couple of deep breaths before, mustering up the courage to leave the room.
The large, and extravagant hallway catches me off guard. I stand there in complete shock at the fact that I'm probably inside of a mansion. Another thirty questions pile up in my head and I feel myself becoming overwhelmed.
When I finally stop gawking at the decor, I notice that I'm alone. Even that bodyguard, Tony, isn't around.
Chuck told me that she would be here, but she's not. I want to run to the nearest exit, but I know that wouldn't be smart at all. So I just stand there and pull at my fingers.
"Hey."
I jump harshly at the sudden intrusion and I turn around with a hand over my fast beating heart.
I stare at the tall, dyed blonde boy in complete and utter shock.
"Are you- I mean, are you m-my-" I can't even get it out, because of the incredulity of the entire situation.
He answers for me. "Am I your brother?" I nod. With no type of expression on his face, he answers the question I couldn't get out.
"Yes."
After that he says something else, but I've completely tuned him out. He grabs my hand and we start walking, but at this point I just want to go home.
I knew that this man was my brother because he looks exactly like Chuck and she looks exactly like me. I just didn't know how to say it.
How could I have siblings for my entire life, and not even know about them? Did my mother know about them? Are they my mother's children? Or are they... my drug addict sperm donor's children?
I want to leave so so badly, but I need answers. I need them now.
When I decide that, I take the time to look around. The man, my brother, is practically pulling me to wherever we're going, but I don't say anything.
Whoever these people are, they are extremely wealthy. The question is, how?
Chuck was nice and easily talked about us being related, but this man is the exact opposite. He is standoffish and acts like he doesn't really want to be around me. Even right now, his grip on my hand is harsh and tight and I realize he's trying to prevent me from running away. Does he know what I'm thinking? Or is he doing his job? Did he even want to tell me that he was my brother?
After passing extravagant hallway after extravagant hallway, the man leads me into a breathtaking dining room.
Once we enter the dining room, the man lets go of my hand and sits down at the long table. I stand there for a minute before reluctantly taking a seat in the middle of the table.
We sit in awkward silence for about 10 minutes until I get up the courage to talk.
"What's your name?"
He opens his mouth to answer, when he's interrupted by loud clacking heels and soon after a tall blonde woman emerges into the room.
"Charlie!"
The man, my brother rolls his eyes and turns towards the woman. "Yes Ana?"
The tall amazon woman scoffs and stomps her foot. "What did I tell you about that?! Call me mom!"
My brother, who I now know is Charlie, doesn't even bother to answer the woman who is most likely his mother. So that cancels out one of my theories. If Chuck, Charlie, and I don't share the same mother, then...?
I mentally shake my head. There is no way, no way that we all share the same-
I can't even say it.
The blonde woman sighs and turns her attention towards me. I put the terrifying thoughts to the back of my mind as she looks me up and down and wrinkles her nose. (Bri's interlude: this is a long ass run on sentence and I'm cringing as I'm writing it, but bear with me ;P) "Who is this?"
Charlie doesn't answer her, so I simply say, "I'm Ellie."
Ana basically ignores that I even talked and turns her attention back to Charlie. "Where is capo?"
Charlie just shrugs which visibily infuriates his mother. Instead of saying anything, she stomps her foot again, like a child and storms off. Charlie and I are left back in our silence.
It doesn't last long because Chuck suddenly bursts into the room, looking around frantically. When she sees me, she lets out a breath of relief and heavily sits down in the chair next to me.
"I'm glad you made it, but I thought I told you to wait for me?" I point to Charlie, not wanting to take the blame. "He brought me here, I thought you guys had swapped places."
Chuck narrows her blue-green eyes at Charlie who is looking around nonchalantly.
Chuck doesn't say anything further, she just glares at him.
At this point, I just want to go home. The way things are heading, I'm getting a bad feeling. I think I'm in shock, and I want to leave before I snap out of it.
I clear my throat. "You know, I think it's time for me-"
"Ah, we're all here!" I'm interrupted by the silver haired man from earlier. Immediately, intimidation has me sitting back down in my chair. It's not that I'm scared of him, but the look that was in his eyes when he shot those men showed me to never get on his bad side.
With Harry, when he would kill, his eyes would light up. He was fair, and he didn't kill without reason. With the silver haired man, aka Capo, his light brown eyes went completely dark. Cold, calculated, and numb. Sure, he had reason to kill those men, but the way he looked made chills of terror run up and down my body. Another thing is, this man can switch it on and off whenever he pleases. That's terrifying because how will you know when he would snap?
I don't realize that my name is being called, until literal fingers are snapping in my face. I blink and jerk back. "Huh?"
The silver haired man is sitting next to me and looks at me calmly.
When did he get next to me?
"I said piccola, I am your father."
I stare at him unblinking, then I look to Ana who is scowling at me. Chuck has a nervous half smile on her face, and Charlie is just sitting there with a blank look on his face.
I look back to my supposed "father".
"I don't have a father. He left a long long time ago to be with his other family. Drugs."
Plus, when I went through my mother's things and saw a picture of him, he didn't look like this man at all. He had thick chocolate hair, like mine, and a full beard and mustache.
The man looks at me with sadness. "I'm afraid that's not the exact truth, piccola."
Getting frustrated, I stand up abruptly. "So are you saying that my mother was a liar? You know what? This us ridiculous, I'm fucking leaving!" At this point, I'm fed up, confused, and hurt. I just want to go home and pretend none of this never happened.
I don't know where I'm going, but I storm off towards where Charlie and I came in at. No matter how, I'm getting out of this damn house.
"Sandy!"
The name stops me in my tracks. A sudden childhood memory bubbles up to the surface before bursting in my mind.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Ellie
(4 years old)
"You can't catch me!"
Giggling in glee, my small legs scurry as fast as they can across the park. Heavy footsteps sound behind me, making me squeal at the thought of being caught.
I keep running smiling and laughing the entire way.
"I'm gonna get you Sandy!"
"No you not daddy!" Just then I trip and fall into a pile of fall leaves. It doesn't hurt, but my daddy scoops me up anyway.
"Is my Sandy okay?" My daddy gently examines my arms and legs while I pout at him.
"No daddy, you caught me."
Daddy laughs, his light brown eyes twinkling. "It's okay honey, you'll catch me next time."
"But-"
"Baby! It's time for lunch, come on!" My mommy's voice interrupts me making me pout again.
"I don't wanna have a picturenic. I wanna catch you daddy."
"It's picnic baby, picnic." Daddy then puts his finger to his chin and thinks. "How about we eat lunch with mommy and then you can catch the both of us?"
I gasp in excitement and wrap my small arms around his neck. "Yes daddy! C'mon, let's go eat!"
Daddy chuckles and carries me over to where mommy is.
"I love you, my Sandy."
"I love you too Daddy."
︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
Ellie
(Present Day)
Warm tears stream down my face as I remember. Only my dad called me Sandy, no one else. After he left, I completely forgot about that nickname. I buried it down deep inside next to the anger and hurt. I turn around to look at the anguished man still sitting at the table.
The more I look at him, the more he starts to look like the man that left me. Left us. He's just older and gray now. Deep down I think I knew the truth, I just didn't want to believe it.
Denial.
"A-are you really my dad?"
He smiles sadly. "Yes. I am."
My tears fall freely and I try to suppress the sobs that are building in my throat. As I look into the eyes of my father, all I feel is that pain, betrayal, and anger that I buried.
How could he leave us and go off and have a family all on his own? I now look at my half siblings in a different light and jealousy takes root in my heart.
Everything is happening so fast and this is all too much for me to handle. So I can't really be blamed for what I do next.
To be continued...
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Ellie's Dad:
A lot happened in this chapter. Does everything make sense? Remember, Ellie's full name is Ellisandra. Sandra=Sandy, a nickname of a nickname lol
To recap, Chuck (caroline) and Charlie are Ellie's half siblings. Ana is Charlie and Chuck's mother. Capo (which is Italian for boss) is Ellie's biological father. We don't know his name yet.
Any ideas?
15 votes for the next chapter! ♡ (you guys are doing an awesome job on voting btw)