Chapter Text
Abigail POV
The house buzzed with a quiet kind of joy—peaceful, steady, and full of life. Everyone was busy, but in the best ways possible.
I sat cross-legged on the living room floor with Sammy, who was six, both of us coloring. She was working on a dragon breathing fire—except instead of destruction, she’d drawn a birthday cake under the flames. “See,” she whispered proudly, “he’s lighting the candles.” I grinned as I nodded. “Yeah, that looks great, Sammy.”
Tommy, ten years old and loved to learn, sat nearby on the couch, nose deep in one of Dad’s architecture books. He’d borrowed it this morning, asking questions about blueprints and measurements which dad was happy to share.
Mom was in the kitchen, humming as she made lunch, and Dad was in the dining room, finishing up an online project for a client. The rhythm of our home was simple, sweet, and for the first time in a long while, it felt nicer than usual.
Tommy and Sammy aren’t their full names—Thomas and Samantha—but those are the names they prefer, and we stick to them. They’ve only been with us for two months, but it’s been the best two months of our lives.
But to me, they aren’t my adopted siblings. They’re just my siblings. My little brother and sister. And I love them.
Mom and Dad always said they wanted to adopt—two, maybe three kids, if the right situation came along. But they were clear about one thing: if the children were siblings, they’d never be separated. Family shouldn’t be pulled apart. Before adopting Tommy and Sammy, they asked the woman at the front desk if the kids had any other siblings. She told them no.
But something never quite added up.
Sometimes I’d find Tommy crying silently, wiping his face with the sleeve of his hoodie when he thought no one was looking. Or Sammy would suddenly burst into tears at something small—a commercial, a song, a certain word on the TV. And every time, Tommy would rush to her side, whispering something to calm her down.
When Mom or Dad asked what happened, Tommy would just shake his head and shut down for a couple of hours.
And sometimes—only sometimes—I thought I heard Sammy whisper a name. A name that I could never make out all the way.
It took a while before they called our parents “Mom” and “Dad.” Tommy took a month and a half before he felt ready, and when he finally said it, both my parents cried on the spot, hugging him like they never wanted to let go. Sammy was a little quicker—five weeks, maybe—and their reaction was just as emotional.
It took even longer for them to call me their sister. They only started doing it recently. Sammy calls me “Big Sis” now, always with a grin that melts my heart. Tommy doesn’t say it to my face, but one day when I picked him up from school, I heard him tell someone I was his big sister. That was enough for me.
They mostly call me Abbie. And I’m okay with that. I’m just glad they’re here.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling—something was wrong.
“Abbie?” Tommy’s voice was small at first, barely louder than a whisper.
I hummed in response, still focused on the dragon Sammy was coloring while I helped by coloring the grass green. “Yeah, buddy?”
“Mama lied.”
My hand stilled. I looked over at him, and his face was twisted with something I rarely saw—confusion, anger, and hurt all at once.
“What do you mean?” I asked gently, setting the crayon down.
“She lied,” he repeated, more forcefully this time. “She lied to us!” His voice cracked as he became louder, and he rubbed his sleeve across his eyes in frustration.
The sudden sharpness in his tone made Sammy flinch. Her lip quivered before a sob burst out of her, and she crawled into my lap. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close, gently rocking her to soothe the tears.
Mom and Dad appeared in the doorway within seconds. Dad took in the scene with a furrowed brow, while Mom instinctively moved toward Sammy and me, gently rubbing Sammy’s back trying to comfort her. Dad crouched down in front of Tommy, his voice calm and steady.
“Hey, hey, slow down, buddy,” he said, placing a careful hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “What happened? What do you mean she lied?”
Tommy looked up at him with tearful eyes, his hands balled into fists at his sides. “You guys said we’d stay together. That we’d all go to the same home. But we didn’t. You left her behind. You left Charlie!”
Charlie?
The name hit the air like a spark, and everything went still. Mom’s eyes widened slightly. Dad blinked. I felt Sammy’s breathing catch against my chest.
Mom walked over slowly, her voice soft and gentle. “Sweetheart, who’s Charlie? Is that your best friend? We can go visit her if you want.”
Tommy shook his head hard, his face scrunching up before the tears came all at once. He collapsed into Mom’s arms with a broken sob, clutching at her shirt.
“Not— not best friend!” he cried, his voice raw. “You left Charlie!”
Mom held him tightly, rocking him gently as she rubbed circles into his back. “Oh, honey… breathe. Just breathe for me, okay? You’ll make yourself sick like this. I need you to calm down so we can talk about it.”
Tommy nodded shakily, burying his face in her shoulder. Even from where I sat, I could see the steady stream of tears sliding down his cheeks.
I looked down at Sammy, who had gone quiet in my lap. Her wide, teary eyes were locked on her brother.
“Sammy?” I whispered gently. “Do you know who that is?”
She didn’t answer with words. She just gave a trembling nod before curling into me, little hands fisting in my shirt as she began to cry silently. Her shoulders shook, and my heart ached with how small she felt in my arms.
Eventually, the tears wore her out. She sniffled a few more times, then went still, fast asleep against my chest. Dad stepped in quietly and carefully lifted her from my arms, murmuring something soft as he carried her upstairs to bed.
By the time he came back down, the room had quieted. Tommy had calmed some, though his cheeks were still damp and his eyes red-rimmed. He sat beside Mom on the couch, leaning against her with a tissue in hand, sniffling softly.
And though no one had spoken for a while, the question still hung heavy in the air.
Who was Charlie?