Sky sat up and rubbed her head. “Have I been asleep?” she asked.
“Yes, darling. You’ve been out for quite some time.” Her mother said from the other room. The scent of eggs and bacon instantly make Sky perk up, and she stepped nonchalantly into the kitchen. While her mother’s back was turned, she attempted to swipe a strip of bacon. “No! Those are for breakfast! Get out of the kitchen and wait your turn like your brother Aiden over there.” Her mom said.
At the mention of his name, Aiden poked his head over to look in the kitchen. Sky sighed and went to sit down next to him. It was then she noticed that Aiden was stuffing bacon into his mouth, trying not to get caught with it. “You pig!” Sky laughed and threw a pillow at Aiden.
“What did you just say to your brother?” her mother demanded.
“Uh…” Sky stuttered, unsure of how to reply.
“She said she likes to eat pig!” Aiden said quickly, saving her. She shot a quick ‘thank you’ look at Aiden and he shrugged. Then their little brother James came marching down the stairs. He took one look at Aiden, and saw that there was still a little piece of bacon on his lap.
“MOM! Aiden and Sky are eating bacon!” he whined.
She and Aiden quickly shared a look of panic as they wondered how the brat knew that Aiden had eaten bacon. Then she spotted the piece of it on his lap and pointed to it. Aiden reacted quickly and ate it without even bothering to chew. Mom came out of the kitchen and began to scold them. “I thought I made it clear that that bacon was for breakfast you two!” she said threateningly.
“We know Mom! We didn’t touch your bacon, James just wants us to get us in trouble.” He lied smoothly.
“And why would your brother want to do something like that?” she demanded.
“Because he wants more bacon than us!” Sky said.
“Yeah! Besides, we couldn’t have taken it. You were in the kitchen the whole time! I never went in there, and you watched Sky the whole time. We didn’t take anything!” Aiden said calmly.
Their mom sighed and went back into the kitchen. Sky and Aiden drew in a sigh of relief, and James grunted. Sky climbed the stairs and motioned for Aiden to follow. Once they were out of ear shot from Mom and James, Sky asked her question. “How did you get the bacon without Mom seeing? More importantly, where did you learn to lie like that?”
“It’s not her bacon. I snuck out last night to crash at Dan’s house. He snuck some food up to me, and then I crept back home.” He said.
Sky frowned, “Then it’s a good thing you were able to convince her that you weren’t eating bacon. If she finds out that you snuck out, you’re going to be in deep trouble.” Sky said in a hushed voice. Aiden nodded and went into his room; Sky did the same and sat down on her bed.
She and Aiden were close, a lot closer than either of them were to James. She felt sort of bad that they tended to exclude him, but there was a really big age gap between her and James. James was only twelve, and was highly immature. Aiden was seventeen, and he’d already gone through with his revealing ceremony.
Everyone was made and given away to a family that had applied for a child. The first sixteen years of their lives were preparing them to become a functioning member of society. We each get a certain amount of traits that correspond with who we are. That part of us lies dormant until we turn sixteen and we find out who we really are.
It still felt strange to Sky to call her brother Aiden. Up until last year, his name had been Carter. Then the revealing ceremony came and he discovered his true name. Aiden’s new traits made him more laid back and expanded his memory. This made it easier for him to memorize things like places, people, jobs, and other such things. After you turn sixteen, you must stay in your parents’ house until you turn twenty. During this time, you are to be getting used to your new traits and abilities. You also begin training for the job that you are going to do for the rest of your life.
