[October 13th 2019 - Sunday]
Amelia had woken up like every other day. She was greeted by Freja's small animal-like face as she slept next to her last night whilst reading stories as usual. Seeing her sister sleeping soundly brought the girl immense comfort as well as joy.
She slowly exits the bed being met with the chilling, tense breeze of an early Sunday morning.
[PING!]
Her phone chimed from her desk, making the girl's stomach churn.
"Hey Freya, can we meet today? Me, Holly and Grace want to talk with you."
It was Amelia. It was the first time any of them had bothered to message her in over a week. What could they possibly want to talk about?
"Yeah, sure. We can talk."
"Thank you Freya, meet us at my house at 2 PM."
"Hmm, okay."
She placed her phone quietly upon her desk so as to not wake the sleeping girl behind her. She stood there emotionless, not daring to propel herself into animation. The girl was captivated by her own thoughts, staring blankly into the lavender prints on the wall.
"Hey sis?"
A meek voice let out a mumble from the bed behind the girl, alerting her that her sister had woken up.
"Yeah?"
Amelia, still looking away from her sister, her response remains stiff, yet a quiver could be heard in her voice.
"Gimme a hug."
Amelia turns around to face Freja. The little girl is sat up and extends her hands towards her elder sister, signalling her over. She moves forward one step at a time as though her feet are glued to the floor; every movement feels heavier than the last. She fell into her sister's arms and being overwhelmed with emotions, she cried.
Freja cuddles the girl, aware of her misfortunes and pain. The stories she was told; the things her sister did to her and what she has to do, she knows of it all. All she can do is offer her a warm embrace. She does not know what made Amelia cry. However, she will always support her as long as she is here.
"Today is going to be a happy one. Don't worry sis."
"Ugh…What do you mean?"
Amelia, wiped her tears and peeked upwards now being face to face with the perky little girl.
"Hmm I can't say anything just yet."
"Really? Well…I will trust you."
Amelia's only real hope in this world is Freja. Her words are something that brings her some peace of mind.
Freja lets go of the now salvaged girl, releasing her with a big warm smile. Amelia smiles back, having fully recovered from her minor breakdown. The two got out of the bed and began doing each other's hair.
Freja's hair is quite long. Amelia had grabbed the hair products from the bathroom applying it to the young girl's hair. She began combing and brushing her hair through and putting it into a ponytail and catching it with a bobble. She then begins braiding the ponytail keeping it with hair bands at the base and at the tail end.
"You look cute."
Freya light-heartedly said to the young girl.
"Thanks."
The little girl was very pleased with how she looked giving a twirl in front of the mirror.
"Your turn sis!"
"Okay Freja."
Amelia sat down on the chair and let her sister do her hair up. Freya's hair texture was smooth and wavy and her hair was of medium length now. Her sister dampens her hair using a wave spray and scrunches her hair using her skilled little hands. It all comes together nicely to give her hair a more natural, wavy and curly bob. It's really unfair how good Freya looks the girl thinks to herself.
"Sis…You look way too good and I didn't even have to do anything."
"I know…"
"Well, I guess it is a big day after all."
"What did you say, Freja?"
"Nothing!"
A few hours had passed and now it is time for Amelia to depart. Freja went out with their mother earlier. However they did not specify where too. Her dad is currently out working a late night shift as he normally does.
"Well. I wonder what this conversation is gonna be about."
Amelia grimaces at the thought. She knows why they were so distant now and it was all her fault. Due to her own negligence, she had inadvertently caused her own trauma to bloom once again.
The girl leaves to go home for the first time in this world. She catches the bus unaware of what awaited her.
[Amelia's House - 2:02 PM]
Amelia arrives at the front door of her once familiar home. It's been over a month since she last stepped foot inside. She was feeling a little sentimental but quickly composed herself. She knocks lightly on the door, waiting patiently for someone to open it. About a minute passes before she knocks again, slightly louder this time. Once again, no response. Amelia pulls on the door handle realising that the door had already been open, chuckling to herself to ease her embarrassment.
Upon entering, she notices that the lights in the hallway were off and so were the kitchen lights. She peeks into the living room where she would assume everyone would be, only to be met with silence. She looks around the room and right before she is about to turn around to leave, she hears a loud popping sound followed by the sensation of something feather-like hitting her back.
"Surprise! Happy birthday!"
A collective of voices could be heard shouting appearing from behind her, causing Amelia to jolt.
"Ahh!"
The girl quickly adjusted her body to face the living room and in front of her were the amiable, cheerful grins she was used to seeing.
Grace, Holly, Amelia, Freja, her father and mother. They all were here in a room together, laughing heartily at the girl's reaction.
"Happy birthday Freya."
"Happy birthday Sis!"
"Happy birthday girl!"
"Happy birthday Freya! You should've seen your face!"
"Happy birthday Freya. Thank you for being a good friend to our daughter."
The girl burst into tears, overcome with intense emotions that she couldn't describe. Grace and Freja run up to her and hold her in their arms.
"It's okay Freya, we won't ignore you ever again. We promise."
Grace caresses the girl's head softly calming the girl down.
"No you guys shouldn't apologise, it's my fault."
The girl responds in a daintily manner which impresses Grace with how quickly Freya can flip a switch in her brain.
"I don't understand what ya mean but I feel just as much at fault as anyone else does. We shouldn't have treated you like that. Although, it was really weird."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I don't know. Your lil sis had called me and Holly telling us how upset you were and that your birthday was coming up and suggested we throw a birthday party. However, we wanted to keep it a surprise from ya self. We all know Holly can't keep secrets, so we tried to limit her interaction with you before the big reveal, but then something really weird happened."
"What happened?"
"We could barely remember who you were and when Freja called to ask us about you and how the planning was going, we couldn't understand why we had to do such a task for someone we barely knew. All those times you came up to us in the classroom and stuff it was as though you were being blocked from my mind. I asked Holly and Amelia if they knew you and they said no. So naturally, we didn't talk to you. But then again, I don't know what overcame us all to randomly forget about our best friend. We have no excuses. We are sorry and promise to never let it happen again."
"I…understand. Destiny is a dangerous thing."
"Agreed."
"Hmm?"
"Whatever you say, birthday girl! We have your gifts here by the way."
Grace points to under the fireplace, where neatly wrapped gifts stood. There were around 7 for the girl to choose from.
"Thank you all so much!"
Freya expresses gratitude letting her beautiful, radiant face gleam with excitement.
"We love you Freya! Anything for you girl!"
Holly goes for a hug, wrapping her arms tightly alongside Freya and although it was brief, she felt the love behind it.
"Open mine first."
"Okay, Sure! Which one did you get me?"
"The furthest on the right."
Freya quickly swooped up the gift in a singular motion off the marble floor unwrapping the gift to reveal a new pair of headphones.
"Wow! These are great. I really appreciate you Holly!"
Freya admires Holly's present, holding it up and analysing its features. Holly has a pleased look plastered across her face right now.
"Freya opens up mine now!"
This time, it was Grace. Knowing her it was most likely make up supplies or a hair product. The girl slowly unwraps her gift, leaving Grace suffering through the anticipation.
"Oh."
"Hey Freya, what is with that reaction? Does my present not appease you?"
"That's not the issue, in fact this is something I've always wanted to do with friends."
"Then why do you look so uninterested…?"
"Because I was expecting you to get me make-up but this is just… I have no words other than thank you."
Freya had pocketed Grace's gift in her handbag for later making sure she kept Grace's present safe. Grace sat back on the sofa with a smirk plastered across her face.
"Hey sis don't forget mine!"
"Okay Freja."
Freya scans for Freja's gift, locating the one with her name on it amongst the 5 left.
"To my dear sister Freya,
Happy Birthday big sis! I know times can be hard on you especially in such a dire time of need and vulnerability. However, you mean the world to me and have always been the light in my world. Even when we may be apart, I just wanted to let you know that I love you always.
Love Freja xoxo"
Alongside the heart warming message left by Freja was a box of chocolates and a cute teddy bear.
"Thank you Freja! Aren't you the sweetest girl in the world!"
Freya gives her sister a love tap on the shoulder.
"Hehe I am! I love you sis."
"I love you too Freja."
They hug showing their overarching affection for each other, causing the crowd watching the sight to admire the cuteness before them.
"Sorry to ruin the moment you guys but Freya it's time you open my present."
Amelia had tapped Freya lightly on the back to garner her attention.
"Sure! One sec…it's this one right?"
"Mhm."
"Okay lets see…"
Freya rips the foiled wrapping paper off the hard object revealing a book.
[Our final days before sundown]
It was a dystopian horror book that the girl never was able to read in the real world.
"Woah…Amelia thank you. I really enjoy reading, so I will gladly accept this."
"I know."
"Wait, how do you know? I don't think that's something I told you."
"Well when we weren't speaking, which I'm sure Grace explained to you why earlier, I saw you occasionally entering the library, which I frequent. You read a few books there. You also asked the receptionist if they had this book available and they didn't, so I thought I'd grab it for you."
"That's really thoughtful…Thank you."
"Of course! I'm glad you like it!"
Amelia swoops in to hug the girl before she could even react. She felt a bit shocked at the start but began to loosen up and embrace her back.
"Thank you for being a great friend Freya. I am sorry for leaving you like that before."
"It's all water under the bridge now. I truly am grateful for all this. It means the world to me."
"Hey you girls, let's all sit down and have the food me and my wife prepared, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!"
Amelia's dad, James, peeked his head in from the kitchen to let the girls know that the food they were cooking was all prepared to eat. They all sit down on the two grey sofas that are in the living room which to the girl feels very homely and reminiscent of old times. They all begin to chow down on their meals sharing stories of Freya to Amelia and her parents. They all laugh joyously as they conclude dinner time.
"Thanks for the food!"
The girls all sat around and finished up one by one, each expressing their thanks towards Amelia's mother and father.
"You are all welcome. Once again Happy birthday to you Freya. Thank you for coming over and sharing this great moment with us all."
Her mother was right. It was great. A feeling that Amelia had never experienced before. She never had friends care about her this much to set something up like this before. She knew it wasn't supposed to be her. It was Freya's special day. These people don't know that. They think the girl is Freya.
"Sis! Take me to the bathroom!"
"Oh you want to go to the bathroom? There's one on the right in the back area of the kitchen and there's one upstairs first door on the right."
Amelia's mother had pointed out for the two girls to let them know.
"Okay sis lets go!"
Freja drags her sister along outside the living room and into the hallway. Freya's expression darkens and becomes almost pitiful, breaking the facade she had put on the entire time.
"Sis? Are you okay? You looked like you were about to cry back there…"
"Freja."
"Yes?"
"Am I allowed to be this happy?"
"What do you mean? Of course you are!"
"But…Freya is not me. This wasn't my moment to have."
"You aren't Freya, that much is true. But you are you. You yourself are special and deserve to be celebrated. I love my sister dearly, more than anyone in the world. However, you have something my sister lacked. You are compassionate about others and above all selfless. You came here to solve your own issues and even though you didn't have to, you showed kindness to everyone that Freya failed to give. Did you see the smiles of everyone there? That alone makes you unique and I think that's great."
"Freja…are you sure you're 10 years old? You speak with such eloquence."
"I am the sister of a genius after all! She taught me a lot hehe. But, you are my sister too Amelia. I Love you."
"Thank you. Thank you so much Freja. I love you too."
For the last time today, the two girls shared a hug. From an outside perspective, they are inseparable. Hugging someone is an intimate action you give to the people you are fond of often to show affection or closeness. The two girls are Family forever but strangely enough, they aren't bonded by blood or by memories, but rather destiny.
"Let's go back inside the living room now!"
"Okay!"
The pair of girls are warmly welcomed back, being left space to sit next to each other. Amelia had spotted that there was still one more present left unopened under the fireplace.
"Hey Freya, aren't you going to open that?"
"Oh what? I had completely forgotten it was there, who got me this?"
"That would be from us!"
It was Amelia's parents. They had gotten the girl a present. They didn't know that the person they were giving a present to was once their daughter.
"Oh, thank you dad-"
Amelia had forgotten again. She wasn't their daughter anymore. But Freya, a complete outsider.
"Sorry I keep calling you dad. I know it's probably a bit weird but…"
"Haha! You know what Amelia we really do like you. You are basically a daughter to us already! You can call us mother and father if you'd like."
Amelia's mother had said that to her. She was family, even in an unconventional sense.
Amelia Christabel is a cry-baby. Someone sensitive to their own emotions and feelings. Often overwhelmed by the things around her. But, she realised something important recently.
She doesn't have to hold back anymore. She doesn't have to pretend anymore. She can cry, surrounded by the people she loves.
"What is something wrong, Freya? You know you don't have to if you don't want to. I'm sorry that we upset you."
"No…nothing is wrong. I'm just…I'm just…happy."
"Oh so you're happy? That is fantastic."
Amelia's mother came and gently rubbed the girls back. It was reminiscent of her past. When she was just a little girl who longed for the warm touch of her mother.
"It's okay. You can keep crying. Let it all out today, Freya."
The girl sobbed and sobbed until her eyes dried out. Finally calming down, she opened her final gift.
"It's a camera."
"Yeah, we wanted you girls to create memories with each other. There's no better way to capture a moment than with a camera, right?"
Amelia's dad said whimsically.
"Hey…"
"Yeah, Freya?"
Amelia's mother replied softly to the girl.
"Mum, Dad, Amelia, Freja, Grace, Holly. Let's take a picture together on this camera. To commemorate today."
Everyone looks at each other in agreement, silently nodding towards the girl. They get in position, Amelia and Freya stand side by side with Grace on the right of her. Holly and Freja are a bit shorter and stand in front of the rest of the girls. The girl's mother and father stand next to Grace just in frame for the photo.
"Say Happy birthday Freya on three!" One, two, three!"
"Happy birthday Freya!"
[SNAP!]
All in unison, their voices collide with each other, creating a beautiful harmony and a memory now cemented in her heart.
"Thank you. I love you all. Thank you for making today the best day of my life."
"We love you too, Freya."
Their smiles and happiness captured by the photo, will shine eternally as a moment of change in the girl's life. Family is the most precious thing to a person. Whether it be by blood or through companionship, everyone present reminded her that the greatest gift one can have is family.
[168 school days left.
Time taken: 34 days.
Second incident 1/2 completed [Family]
Resolution status: Happy birthday! Got close enough to the people around her, allowing her to see the beauty of friendship and most importantly, family.
Yet to complete: [Find the truth behind your dad's death.]