Last One Standing (wattys2017) (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

If You Ever Come Back

I shivered in the corner of the small booth in the middle of Tiffinay's, my back sweaty against the leather of the seat.

Aliyah's voice was a faint, quiet chatter in my ear. My chest felt as if it were retracting, my skin crawled. It had only happened once before in my life, but I knew without any doubt that I was in the midst of a panic attack.

The three adults at the table didn't seem to notice my squirming, my quickening breaths, my shaking hands as I reached for the dewy glass of water.

When I was able to sooth my breathing back to normal, I lifted my head and met my Richard's intense stare.

I held his gaze for a few minutes, my mind wrapping itself around a solid reason for him staring at me so intensely. Finally, I lowered my eyes and stared at the cold mug of hot chocolate in front of me.

"What? What is it? Why do you keep looking at me?" my words cut into Aliyah and Anne's conversation, sending the entire table in a bout of silence. My grandfather curled his fingers around the handle on his coffee cup.

"You look so much like her." he whispered, a longing in his eyes. "My little girl."

Anne didn't look too pleased with her husband's confession, but her eyes soon fell on me for the first time since I'd come in a half hour ago.

She was beautiful; an elegance that couldn't be learned radiating off her. Every little thing, from her gentle way of speech to her mannerisms were elegant. Her hair was platinum blonde, making it difficult to distinguish her graying hair from her natural hair color.

"I remember the day you were born." Anne spoke to me directly for the first time, eyes everywhere but me. "I went to see you in the nursery while my daughter slept. My first grandbaby, I refused to believe I was a grandmother." she kept her eyes trained on the basket of breadsticks in the middle of the table.

"You were so small, no bigger than a bread loaf. My babies weren't ever as small as you were, I was terrified when I saw you. There was a ventilator next to yours as well, one that was holding your brother." my lips began to stick together as I tried to force them apart, Aliyah's hand taking mine under the table.

My grandmother brought her hand to her mouth and held it over for a moment before dropping it back on the table.

"None of my brothers-" I started, but the look in her eyes silenced me in seconds.

"You were both premature and he was so sick, Alexis. Your mother was scared when they explained it all. When you were released days later with my daughter, your brother was left in the hospital."

I wanted to throw up and cry at once, to throw my hands over my ears so I didn't have to hear Anne continue. No matter how hard I tried, my entire body remained stiff and I couldn't open my mouth and try to respond in any way.

"Evan never left the hospital." she shut her eyes, her lip quivering, "He never got to leave and experience the world. He still sits there, day after day, counting his days until his time is finally up. He wonders where his mother is too, Alexis. He wonders if he has any siblings out in the world with his mother." I bowed my head, feeling tears rising to the surface of my eyes.

"I'm a twin?" I could barely get the words out coherently.

"She left you with your father, then left us without so much as a goodbye. Because of your father. Your father ruined my daughter's life, he ruined my grandson's life, he ruined ours. There's no way in hell I'm going to allow him, or you, into my life again." she was staring at me bitterly, but the look began to fade when I lifted my head up and met her eyes.