WHO ARE THESE STRANGERS?
During dinner, I discovered that the other girl at the table was my twin sister", the one my dad took with him all those years ago, and the man was my father. The most confusing thing was that they said they never left.
I lost it and screamed that I didn't know who they were. My dad left with my sister when I was eight, and now I'm nineteen, and all of a sudden, we've been a nice little family all these years? This man wasn't my father, and the girl, she wasn't my twin sister. They spoke with such familiarity, and yet it all felt like I was watching a play, where I had no script.
My dad calmed me down, saying I took a great hit to the head when the box fell on me and that I'm just confused.
I'm confused all right... confused about what the hell is going on.
I know I haven't seen them in eight years, but I've got old pictures from when we were all together. My sister and I were identical twins, and I know that no matter how many years we spent apart, I would always recognize her. This person here is not my sister, and that man is surely not my dad.
I carry a picture of them around with me, a picture we took together, and I know - even with eight years added, they still wouldn't look like these people I'm staring at.
I reached into my pocket to bring out the picture I always carried around, but it wasn't there. The only other place it could be was under my pillow. I excused myself to go to my room.
I entered my room, and my heart started pounding in my chest all of a sudden. I reached under my pillow and pulled out the picture. I stared at the faces that looked back at me, and the only people I could recognize were my mom and the two strangers downstairs.
There was someone else in the place where my image used to be.
I started freaking out and touched my face. I immediately noticed how different it felt. I ran to the mirror on my side of the room and stood in horror at who looked back at me.
I was looking at my face... but it wasn't my face. It was a face identical to the strange girl's downstairs.
No. This can't be happening. This isn't me. I'm not me. I'm somebody else.
I paced the room with the mirror in hand, staring at the stranger that is me. The door opened, and my sister walked in, asking if I was okay. I replied that I was and went out the door for some air.
I told my mom and dad that I wanted to take a walk to clear my head, and they told me to be careful, but they also insisted that my sister go with me to look after me, since I was still recovering. I agreed in order to get out of there quickly and think of what to do next.
As soon as I stepped out the gate, I knew that the strange things weren't just happening to me - it was happening everywhere too.
The neighborhood looked like our previous neighborhood. The same people lived there, but everything and everyone was different. People who said hello as I walked by seemed to call me "Pam," but my name was "Sam."
My parents decided to each name a twin, and my dad had wanted us to have matching names. My mom wanted to name us after her parents, but Dad didn't think it was fair to him. They both decided to name us after one of their parents. My mom named me Samuel after her father, while my dad named my sister Samantha after his mother. In a way, the names were still similar.
I was convinced now more than ever that something was definitely going on.
I turned to my sister and asked her what her name was. She looked at me and said maybe we should go back home, as I seemed to be really unwell. I told her to humour me and just answer the question.
Her name was Agatha D - Diane.
Things just kept getting weirder. She said my name was Pamela D, and the "D" stood for Diaine.
One of the things I remember is that my parents gave us single names. No middle names, just one name each.
I asked my sister to let me take a walk on my own and told her we'd meet up at the same spot in an hour. Thankfully, she obliged, and we parted ways.