Knowing Our Truth

Chapter One: What's the Truth?

AN: Hi everyone! This story is a sequel to "How Is This Possible?", which is crazy considering I started writing that when I was 15, and I'm 22 now. I hope everyone likes this sequel story! Upload schedule is at the bottom!

Hawthorne had lived a very successful 17 years, if he did say so himself. He was loved and happy. He'd never gotten into much trouble, got good grades, and did well at a couple different sports. All in all, he was living as good as a teenager could be.

He was super close with his sister, Rose. They were twins, and once you shared every birthday with someone, you tend to gain a closeness with that person. Rose was quiet in the ways he was loud, meek in the ways he was confident. More introverted than he would ever be. But that didn't stop them from being best friends. They spent most of their time together, balancing each other out. Rose was the yin to his yang.

His best friend was his cousin, Kai. They weren't blood cousins, of course. But he'd always considered his uncle Patrick and Luke to be his real uncles, so when Kai was adopted, he became Hawthorne's cousin, regardless of genetics. Kai was the definition of a computer geek. He loved comic books, and cartoons, and video games. Kai brought out the part of Hawthorne that reminded him he could be smart AND sporty, no matter what anyone had to say about him.

Hawthorne was also close with his dads. He knew the story of how River had given birth to him. He knew the story of Eli's violent past. And he knew he was loved by them both. Considering that he looked like River and his sister looked like Eli, Hawthorne never had a reason to question his family.

***

That was, until now. Hawthorne didn't know the girl who stood in front of him and Kai, or why she had felt the need to come up to them in the middle of the busy mall. It wasn't the first time a stranger had come up to him in public. His dads kept him pretty much out of the public light, considering the whole "pregnant man" thing. But expect creepy people to be, well.... creepy.

He wouldn't consider the girl in front of him to be creepy, though. In all honesty, she looked normal. She was pale-skinned, curvy in the right places, with long blonde hair that cascaded down her shoulders. Her blue eyes were highlighted by a thick wing of eyeliner above them. Hawthorne thought she could almost be described as pretty, despite not being his particular type.

"Can I help you?" He asked her, and she jutted out one hip.

"I didn't know you had other siblings." Her eyes looked Kai up and down, making the other boy shy away.

"That's my cousin. I'm sorry, do I know you?" He shook his head, trying to wade through the weirdness.

"No. But you should." She gave a humorless laugh. "And you didn't say no to the other siblings. Other than your twin, of course. I would've heard about your dad having more babies."

This wasn't the first time Hawthorne had been asked these questions. River was a spectacle for a while. But his dads had never had any more babies. River had told him once when they were approached that the uterus inside him gave him gender dysphoria, and he made the decision to remove it. So no more siblings for Hawthorne. Rose was plenty for him, though.

"Listen, whatever your name is-"

"Sierra."

"Sierra. I appreciate your interest in me, I do. But if you could please, let me have my day in peace." Hawthorne ran a hand through his messy hair.

"I'd love to, I really would. But I think you want to hear what I have to say to you." Hawthorne sighed and motioned for her to continue. "I'm your sister."

"Excuse me," he replied, incredulous. He had no other siblings, especially not one that was barely half a year younger than he was, by the looks of it.

"Well, your half sister. We share a dad. So I thought we should meet." She crossed her arms across her chest before sitting down beside him.

"Eli cannot be your dad." This girl, Sierra, wasn't even close to Eli. They had different body types, different hair, different eyes. Hell, she didn't even look close to River, and River couldn't get anyone pregnant to begin with.

"Eli's not your dad," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "A man named Kayson is. Or was, I guess. His body went cold in the ground when we were toddlers."

Hawthorne rubbed a hand down his face. "I don't mean to be rude, I really don't. But I have no idea who you are. No idea. And you think, for some reason, you can come up to me in the middle of a mall, and tell me my dad isn't my real dad. Some dead guy is." He shot her an unbelievable look. "You can see why I might not inherently believe you." He felt Kai start to shift behind him.

She sighed angrily. "Fine then. Don't believe me. I'm just telling you what I know to be true. Your dad and my mom fucked some douchebag 17 years ago, and he fucked off, and now we're here. That's all I know."

"And how on earth would you know that?" Kai finally spoke up.

"Because I run around that old neighborhood. People know and people talk. Kayson might be dead, but his influence was strong." Sierra looked Hawthorne in his eyes. "It wasn't until my mom told me about you that I started listening."

Hawthorne's mind was reeling. He knew there wasn't a lot of reason for this girl to be lying to him. What did she have to gain from it? But he also knew that his dads loved him, and would never lie to him. Eli had been there since the beginning. Not to mention that Rose was Eli's clone.

"Look. I'm not going to sit here and listen to this. I know my life and I know my dads and I know my family. So Sierra, it was nice meeting you and I hope you have a great day, but I'm done talking to you."

She shot out of her seat, huffing. "Here. Just take my number. When you find out I'm right, call me." After putting a small piece of paper into his hands, she disappeared into the crowd.

"What a fucking weirdo," Kai whispered.

"Yeah," Hawthorne agreed. And that was the end of it.

***

Except it wasn't. Hawthorne couldn't help but let what Sierra had said run around in his brain. He let it consume him in every way it could. It distracted him at soccer practice, it interupted his study time, it peaked its head into every part of his life. Hawthorne knew it was stupid to think about. Some stranger shouldn't be able to unsettle him like this.

"You okay, Thorne?" River asked him, ruffling his already messy hair.

"I'm fine, Dad." Hawthorne sighed. "Just thinking."

"Wanna share your thoughts?" River prodded, but Hawthorne shook his head. "I've never seen you so pensive. Are you feeling well?" A hand found it's way to his forehead before he could shoo it away.

"I'm okay, Dad. Really. Just stressed about some exams and the next big game."

River kissed him on his forehead. "You'll be great as usual, my love. Don't sweat it."

Hawthorne loved his family. More than anything. He always felt like he was lucky to get along so well with all of them. And he couldn't stand that some random girl could shake the very core of that. It felt disrespectful to even entertain the thought of having a different dad.

But the truth was, Hawthorne was noticing every little thing now. He didn't look like Eli, not in the way his sister did. He looked like River, but built differently. Something he'd always contributed to sports. He was the only one in his family to wear contacts, also. When the eye doctor had told him how bad his eyes were, Eli had joked that some bad gene must've been passed down.

All those little jokes and quips were adding up in his head. He stared at himself in the mirror. Eyes that mirrored his dad's, hair a slightly sandier color. When he turned his head and saw his crooked nose, he cringed. He was the only one to have that one. He sighed deeply. He needed to get to the bottom of this.

Knowing Our Truth upload schedule

Chapter 2 - 10/6

Chapter 3 - 10/9

Chapter 4 - 10/13

Chapter 5 - 10/16