Control Me

2

I make it back to the capital of Unity well past my training schedule. I was supposed to be here hours ago, but I spent that time saying my own version of a goodbye to Emi.

I did, however, manage to slip a special made hb ring on her finger while she slept. It was connected directly to mine which meant anytime we thought of each other and wanted the other to know, we'd just tap the side of the ring and send out a pulse. It'll come in the form of a heartbeat, only mine and hers. I know it's kind of lame but it was the best I could do in such a short time before my departure.

I stare at the gold ring deep in thought, the sharp cursive of our initials beautifully intertwined.

I crack a small smile just as my door bursts open. I glance to the side to see Eden and Elliot barging into my room and just like that my smile disappears. I swear the two act as if they've never heard of knocking or privacy. I cannot count how many times I've kicked them out just for them to come right back in like they own the place.

"What the hell? We've been looking everywhere for you." Eden signs with her hands. She frowns, crossing her arms over her chest with narrowed eyes.

Eden hearing still wasn't the best and just a couple years ago it started to decline again. Dad made her a new hearing aid and sometimes she forgets to wear it. We still use sign language just to keep her in the loop. I've gotten so used to doing it that sometimes I don't realize I'm signing when I'm speaking to other people.

"Where were you?" Elliot asks, as Eden comes over and flops down on my bed.

I shrug, standing up and moving towards my drawer to pull out some clean clothes. I planned to shower before I broke the news of my leave to mom and dad. I wasn't really sure of how they were going to take it. I was partially nervous but I wanted to get this over with soon.

The quicker I left the better things would be.

"Out." I reply dryly.

"You missed training." Elliot points out as he sits on a chair adjacent to my bed. "Dad's pissed and mom is worried."

Eden props herself up on her elbows and I look between us triplets, noting all of our differences.

Eden looked exactly like mom when she was younger. From her mocha brown skin down to the beauty mark on her cheek. Most people found it to be uncanny because it was hard to tell them apart. If not for Eden's obvious youth and the fact that mom had a daughter most people would easily mistaken them for one another.

Elliot on the other hand was a perfect mix of the two, light brown skin and even lighter brown hair. His eyes are blue with twinges of brown around the center. He has freckles on his cheeks and like me stands two inches shorter than dad. He was the only one out of us triplets that actually looked biracial. Many questioned the fact that we were triplets. It was hard to see past three singularities that looked almost nothing alike.

Me, I was a carbon copy of dad. I had his eyes where in certain lighting looked blue and in others, gray. I even had his freckles and jet-black curly hair. The only difference between me and him was the fact I didn't have a scar going down my face. Other than that, we looked exactly alike.

I hated it though because at every corner of my life I was constantly being compared to him. From my looks all the way down to our similar personalities. Sometimes when I looked my dad in the eyes it felt like I was standing in front of a mirror. My brother and sister knew how much I hated being compared to him. I was my own person, yet everyone acted as if they couldn't see past that.

"I'm going to talk to them in a minute, I just had some stuff I needed to do." I tell them, sifting through my drawer to pull out a freshly laundered shirt and some jeans.