#3

“My niece”, he says looking at me in total shock for a while then smiles and comes to hug me, “I can’t believe you are here”, then he pulls away from the hug and looks at my face, “you look just like your mother... that’s without your red hair”, and laughs a little. Huh?” oh how I wish she was here to see you". What the fuck is this guy talking about? My mum is right here.

“But my mum is right here”, I say in a matter-of-fact tone as I gesture towards mum, who was sitting beside me with her head bent. I wonder why she isn’t trying to clear the air and set her ‘ boyfriend ‘ straight.

After hearing what I said, he looked at me a little confused then he looked at mum, who was avoiding having eye contact with him ‘like what is up with her', I thought.

Alcmene then looks back at me again then at mum, before his eyes widen, he looked like he just made a very shocking discovery.

“you didn’t tell her,”

“Didn’t tell me what?” I asked, ‘what didn’t mum tell me ‘

Mum sighed and then looked at me, “Amaris”

“mum”

“there’s something I’ve been keeping from you, something very important, but before I tell you, I want you to forgive me and know that I did it to protect you.”

“mum, what is it”, I asked her, kind of scared of what I’m about to find out. What could she be hiding from me that could make me hate her?

Mum stared at me for a while. She looked like she debating with herself whether to tell me. Before she dropped the bomb, “I’m not your biological mother”.

What she said doesn’t hit me and I just stared at her,

trying to process what I just heard.

Did she just say that she’s not my birth mother? No! no! It can’t be true, it must be a joke, right? It must be.

But as I look into her eyes, I saw the fear, guilt and sadness in her eyes, and at that moment it hit me. She wasn’t joking. She is not my biological mother.

“what do you mean by you are not my biological mother?”

“Amaris, I’m sorry, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you”, she tells me, almost crying as she grabs my hand and I pull away. I could tell that she was really sorry, but I didn’t care at that point.

How could she keep something like that from me? Was what she even told me about my dad true.

“Did my dad die in an accident? I ask her. “.... No”, she says.” Amaris let me..."

“How could you? How could have lied to me all these years?”

“I did it to protect you, Amaris, please just...” I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t stand there and look at her and listen to her. All I had found out from her was just too much for me, so I ran out of the room and didn’t stop running until I was out of the house.

How could she keep such a thing from me? I ask myself as I fall to my knees, crying. I remember when I asked her so many years ago and she lied to me even then.

It was in third grade. The kids in my school were always making fun of me because I looked different. Because I had orange hair which was very curly and full and I had big grey eyes and I was fat, which made me look different and weird. So, they would tease me, say that I was ugly, and I looked nothing like my gorgeous ‘mum’ who had beautiful long blonde hair and pretty blue eyes.

And would ask me if she was my real mum? So I would go back home each day and cry myself to sleep until the day mum came back from work and found me crying.

FLASHBACK...

“Ama, Ama, Amaris”, Jadis called out as she searched for Amaris. It’s been almost one hour since Jadis came back home from her shift in the hospital and she had not seen a sign of her in the house. She searched her room, the garden, living room and kitchen, but she wasn’t in any of those places.

As she leaves the kitchen, she hears little sobs and sniffles coming from the pantry in the hallway. so she opens the pantry door and finds little Amaris sitting on the floor, crying.

“oh my goodness, Ama! What’s happened? Who made my little baby cry,” Jadis says as she sits beside Amaris

Amaris says nothing, but shakes her head sideways.

“Ama, don’t lie to me. Something must have made my beautiful princess cry”. Jadis says to her as she lifts Amaris’ head and cleans the tears.

“Mum, don’t lie to me. I know that I’m not beautiful. You only say that because you love me and you are my mum.”

Jadis stares at Amaris in total shock, “Ama”, she whispers, loud enough for Amaris to hear. “what makes you think you are not beautiful? “. Amaris doesn’t respond but lowers her head to the ground. “come on, Ama, you know you can talk to me”, Jadis says as she raises Amaris’ head again, “please talk to me “

“The kids in my class are always calling me ugly, they always say I’m fat ‘sniffles’ that I have ugly orange hair that looks like a pumpkin,” Amaris says and starts crying again, “they even said that I might be ‘sniffs’ adopted because I look nothing like you and I’m ugly”.

“oh my...” Jadis exclaims. She couldn’t believe how cruel little kids could be this day, especially to her sweet little girl, “mum”, Amaris calls out in between her sobs.

“I’m not adopted, right? mum, please tell me I’m adopted, please tell me you are my real mum” Amaris says as she cries to Jadis, “please.”

She knew she wasn't Amaris birth mum, but she saw her as her child and seeing Amaris like this broke her heart. She knew she could not tell Amaris the truth now because she isn’t ready yet to know the truth/story of her origin because of the harm that could come to Amaris if she acts on it in the nearest future before the time’ future before the time as right and the wrong people finds out about it.

Jadis picks little Amaris from the floor and places her on her lap. She wipes the tears on her face and makes Amaris look at her straight in the eyes and says, “Amaris of course I’m your real mum, just because we don’t look doesn’t mean that I’m not your mum. it just means that you took more of your dad’s features”.

“But you told me dad was very good looking. If I look like him, then why am I so ugly.”

“Ama, you are not ugly. Just because you look different from the other kids at school doesn’t mean you are ugly. It means you are unique, beautiful in your own way and let anyone ever make you feel otherwise.”

“do you understand?”

“‘sniffs’ yes mum”, Amaris says. She wipes her eyes and smiles at her mum.

“good, that’s my girl,” Jadis says smiling back at her, “now let’s go wash you up and then we’ll go get some ice cream”

“Okay, mum,”

END OF FLASHBACK