Parallel Lies Chapter 06
My new mother’s name was May.
She drew the curtains so the sunlight fell only on the floor instead of across my face.
Before she touched them, she always looked at me first. “How is this lighting, dear? Is it comfortable? Oh, should I dim it a little more? Does it make you uncomfortable if I stand here?”
A lump formed in my throat. I realized she was not doing this to win me over. She genuinely wanted to make things easier for me.
My new father’s name was Rutger. He filled a bowl with soup before placing a spoon beside it. “Easy now. It’s still a little hot. You used to have stomach problems whenever you got anxious, so it’s okay if you can’t finish it. Just take as many sips as you’re comfortable with.”
I picked up the spoon. My wrist ached, and my hand trembled. I took a sip and felt the warmth slide down my throat into my empty, aching stomach. It hurt.
Rutger handed me a tissue, but he did not ask why I was crying. He simply said, “Take your time, sweetie.
We’re in no rush.”
That afternoon, they brought me home. There was no welcome banner or cake waiting for me. Instead, a pair of pale-blue slippers greeted me.
May gently nudged them toward my feet and said, “We’ve been saving this pair for you.”
I slipped them on and realized they fit perfectly.
My room was upstairs. The walls were covered with certificates from my math decathlons. My
notebooks, cards, and workbooks were neatly arranged on my desk. In one corner sat a cat collar. Its bell had been polished until it gleamed.
A sharp ache tightened my chest.
“You cried for a really long time after Orange passed away,” May said quietly, her voice wavering. “So… we adopted another cat in its honor.”
She opened the window. A cat darted in from the yard and rubbed itself against my legs. I lifted it into my arms and felt its warm fur beneath my palm.
My shoulders began to shake again.
Rutger looked away to hide the tears gathering in his eyes. “I’m just glad you’re back, Amelia.”
May came into my room carrying some medicine.
I immediately sat up straight, but she stopped at the doorway and watched my reaction. “You don’t have to take it right away, sweetie. It’s just something that’s good for you. The doctor said you tend to have severe stomach problems whenever you’re anxious.”
That familiar lump rose in my throat again. Back in the home I was supposed to have been born into, Amy always complained that I was overly dramatic and too emotional whenever I got sick at night. Yet this family remembered that I struggled with stomach problems and that I got startled when people stood too close to me too quickly.
My phone lit up. A new notification from the other world appeared on the screen.
[Connection from Origin World unstable. Do you want to examine it?]
I tapped the notification, and a video opened.
Rosamund sat curled up in the corner of the couch with her hands pressed over her ears.
Amy waved a white dress in front of her anxiously. “Come on. This was your favorite when you were little, remember?”
Rosamund shook her head. “No! I don’t like how the fabric feels against my skin! It hurts!”
Amy froze in bewilderment.
“Has she always been like this?” Roger asked.
Rosamund looked up and answered for herself, “Yes! Always! You just don’t remember!”
She pointed at the candles on the coffee table. “I don’t want them lit. The flames are too bright. I’m scared of them!”
Amy stood there, at a loss for words.
Caelan watched from the doorway, his face pale.
Rosamund shrank away from him. “Don’t come any closer! I can smell Amelia on you!”
The words hit him like a bolt of lightning. He staggered backward.
May stepped over and draped a blanket around my shoulders. “Would you like me to turn it off?”
I shook my head.
Rosamund suddenly looked straight into the camera as though she could see me.
“Amelia, if you can hear me…” she said softly. “Don’t come back, okay? These people always think any expression of pain is just us being difficult.”
