Twins of the Land and Sea

Chapter Two

Hey, I'm Nia, I live in Hawaii, about half an hour away from the beach. The weird thing is that I have never been anywhere near the sea. Mom says that it is dangerous, she must honestly have a really bad phobia of it. I am rarely allowed to go to the beach and I am most certainly not allowed within 10 meters of the water or on a boat. I guess I am just lucky that she lets me follow my passion for swimming at the school pool, I suppose it is slightly different to the ocean.

I have loved to swim since, well, forever. Apparently I learnt to swim before I could walk. There is just something about the water, it is almost as if it calls out to me, being in the water is where I feel the safest. I know, it doesn't make any sense.

I currently hold the record for the fastest swimmer in Hawaii, apparently I am a phenomenon and have been the saviour of my school's unsuccessful swim team. My favorite swimming stroke has to be the dolphin kick, it reminds me of mermaids and 'The Little Mermaid' is my all-time favourite Disney movie. Swimming is my whole life, my present and my future. I get good grades in all of my subjects but they just come easy to me, all of my time and effort goes into my swimming.

My swimming takes up that much of my time. I have never really had a chance to make a big group of friends. Sometimes I begin to think that maybe if I made more of an effort and made some more friends it would be better, it can't hurt to try. But then I always end up changing my mind because all I need to do is see how the populars act at my school to know that I would never fit in there. I don't need loads of friends, I have my close friend Charlotte and that should be enough for me.

My 18th birthday is today, I would love to say that I was having a big birthday party but to be quite honest, I have very few friends and I feel less like celebrating with the news of my father's illness. He could have months or years left but I honestly don't know what I would do without him. He has backed me through everything and would do anything to protect me. He is also the love of mom's life, she would fall apart without him. They are the perfect couple and are each other's strength with me as their motivation. Cheesy, I know, but it's the truth. My family is like a machine, we need all the components to work.

I look over at the clock, it is 08:00am, I'm so glad that it is Saturday and I didn't have to wake up early for my birthday breakfast this year. I climb out of bed and throw on my leggings and an oversized hoodie before going down the stairs and emerging into the living room, where my parents are sitting on the sofa drinking their morning coffee.

"Happy Birthday sweetie!" They half shout as they see me coming through the archway. Dad puts a big mug of hot chocolate in my hand. This isn't just any mug of hot chocolate, it has a mountain of whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate pieces, with one of those wafer straw stick things that I always forget the name of.

I sit in the middle of my parents on the sofa as I drink, giving myself a cream mustache just as I do every year. At first they just sit staring at me with the proud look that I'm sure all parents must give their kids, then all of a sudden they snap out of it as they always do and dad leaves the room. He comes back 5 minutes later after fetching my birthday presents from their so-called 'secret' hiding place in the cupboard under the stairs.

They smile at me encouragingly as I reach for the present on the top of the pile, it is the smallest and contains a new charm for my Pandora bracelet, a mermaid, more specifically Ariel. The next present down is Flounder and the one after that, Sebastian. This year my parents must have spent a fortune! Pandora charms aren't exactly the cheapest birthday present going and I have just opened three with another three presents to go.

The next present that I open is a new journal, it is blue with my name on the front in a beautiful pink lettering. I have been getting journals each year for my birthday ever since I learnt to write, each one different from the last. It is my way of writing down my emotions when I don't know how to express them to others. This has been especially important to me since the anxiety and depression set in when I was in my first few years of High School. I was bullied for being a freak and a fish.

Next I open a Parker pen with my name engraved on the side. I have been looking at these pens for years but have never had the money to buy one. The final present from the pile is wrapped slightly differently with an envelope attached to the front with 'Open this envelope before the present' written on the front in my mom's amazingly, neat calligraphy writing.

"Before you open it we just want to tell you that we are really proud of you and that we love you, we always will," mom whispers as she pulls me in for a hug.

"Thank you, especially for everything that I have already opened. How did you manage to afford it all?" I reply louder so that my dad can also hear me.

"We have been saving all year, it is your 18th birthday it needs to be extra special," says my dad as he puts his arms around me and mom pulls us into an even bigger hug.

I open the envelope and pull out a letter, the letter reads as follows:

Dearest Nia,

Happy 18th birthday beautiful, you are the best thing that has ever happened to us and we want to thank you for that. You have made our hearts bigger and you brought joy to our lives just when we needed it the most.

Now that you are 18 you need to be told the truth, we cannot keep hiding this from you because you will find out eventually, whether we tell you or not. There is a reason why you don't have brown or black hair and why you have blue eyes rather than hazel or green.

On the night of your birthday there was a big storm, a storm unlike any other and you were washed up on the shore of the beach. It was clear that you were only a matter of hours old but your parents were nowhere to be seen. You were found by a couple who were on holiday in their beach hut and they took you to the local police station. This was back when your father was a police officer. That night he brought you home. We were to be your temporary foster parents whilst they searched for your biological family. After a year the search had been pulled, your parents, we believe died in a shipwreck. By this point we had fallen in love with you and you fit right into our family, you were the daughter that we could never have ourselves, so we made the decision to adopt you and have not regretted it for even a single second.

In the box is a necklace, it is a silver locket, shaped as a shell with an 'N' engraved onto the front. This is the only thing that you had when you were found. We kept the initial, 'N', for your name with the intention of giving you the necklace when you were old enough to know the truth. We know we probably should have told you sooner, but we wanted to protect our baby girl, you will forever be our baby girl.

Lots of love,

Mom and Dad

xxxxxx

I open the box and see the necklace. It is beautiful, and apparently the only thing that I have from my biological parents. I know I should be sad or something, but I am just grateful that my parents are the ones to have adopted me. They have never made me feel unloved or out of place. I have always had my suspicions about being adopted, or switched at birth, but I have never brought it up, have never needed to. My parents are right here in this room, I love them and they love me, that's all that matters.