MY NEW SISTER

By Rihanna Garcia

We just moved into our new house in Florida by the beach. We moved there to “get a fresh start” after our parents split up. I’m Liv, I’m 15 and have long brown wavy hair and green eyes like my dad. My sister Kylie is 10 and has short curly blonde hair like my mom. She takes after my dad and me with the green eyes, while my mom has brown eyes.  Although we had a lot of the same features we looked absolutely nothing alike. Even our parents couldn’t find anything about us that looks the same besides our eyes.

My mom was unpacking boxes and calling the truck with the rest of our stuff in it like our beds, tables, and couches to see if it was close. Turns out we would have to wait till Thursday. It was Monday which means that would be three nights of takeout on the floor, and “sleeping” on the cold hard floor. Kylie and I decided to go to the beach where we saw a girl building a sandcastle. Me, thinking nothing of it, I just smiled at her and kept walking. As I kept walking with Kylie, I looked back and the girl was gone. I figured she went inside because it was starting to look like it was about to rain, but the clouds quickly faded and the sun came back out. I remembered that I had to tell Kylie what the sleeping situation was. I began, “Kylie, so you know how the truck isn’t here yet?” she nodded slowly. “Mom said that it might not come till Thursday.” I said, waiting for a reaction. She just nodded but then started tearing up. Yup. Here comes the waterworks. She started bawling and asked through tears, “Why did we have to move here? Why couldn’t mom and dad just stay together??” she said. Of course the same question had been running through my mind since we pulled in. And no, I didn’t have an answer so I just dismissed the question as if I never even heard her.

The whole walk home she cried. I noticed out of my peripheral vision that the little girl was back but with a big bulky coat on. Wasn’t she hot? The sun was beaming, and even I was breaking a sweat. All day, that moment pondered in my head. I just didn’t understand why or how she was wearing a coat in this heat. I know it wasn’t my business, but somehow I felt very strongly that it was.

The next few days were the same: get up, go on my phone, go out with Kylie to eat, and look out the window to see the little girl making a sandcastle. We got up on Wednesday and went to our mom who obviously didn’t get any sleep. She asked, “Are you guys hungry?

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What do you guys want?” Looking stressed, she said, “No, we're not hungry. If we get hungry we’ll let you know,” I said forcing a smile and glaring at Kylie, so she would know to go along with it. She nodded and went to the living room. Then came back realizing there was no couch, and nothing to do even if there was a couch. “Liv!” she called out. I came over to her. She looked at me with her watery puppy dog eyes, then said in a whisper “I’m hungry.” “Me too,” I said, “Want to go get some food?” I asked. “I have forty dollars from my last two allowances.” I said. She nodded, and we went and told our mom we were going out. We got dressed and out the door we went.

 The farther out we went, the more I realized that the girl wasn’t there.

She’s there every day, and just by looking out the window, I knew her strange routine: (1) Go outside and build a sand castle at about 1:30 (2) Kick down the castle at about 2:15 (3) Get called in by a bald man with a long scruffy beard at 2:45. (4) Come out crying with a thick dingy coat at 3:15. That was the part that always got to me. I could never understand why she was wearing that coat. No matter what the weather was like, she always came out with the same dingy coat.

We went to Bert's Breakfast Burrow, which is the only breakfast spot I could find that wasn’t very expensive. I looked in and saw the girl from the beach. We made eye contact, but her eyes were so dull and emotionless I was almost forced to look away. I got a chocolate chip pancake with strawberries, bacon and hot chocolate, and Kylie got a waffle, bacon, and a water. We brought my mom back French toast with bananas--her favorite. As Kylie got ready to go sit, I paid and went out.

As I continued to walk, I turned around to see if the little girl was still there.  I noticed that her coat had a name on it. In faded red letters it said, ‘Carly’. I figured that it was her name. This time though, I got a good look at her. She looked about 7 or 8 and had brown curly hair and green eyes. She wasn’t very tall, and she kept looking at me with a pleading look. “Liv come on I see a table,” said Kylie interrupting my thoughts. “What were you looking at?” she said as we went to the table. I tried to cover up the truth; for some reason I felt that Kylie shouldn’t know. “Nothing just day dreaming,” I said with not even a glance at Kylie to see her expression. As we sat down, all of a sudden I wasn’t so hungry. I ate a little bit but saved the rest for later, and put it in the bag. “I’m done.” Kylie said, dumping her trash and hand motioning for me to get up and go with her. I got up and felt a harsh strike in my head. All I remember is turning around to see the little girl in front of me holding a doll and singing something, but I don’t remember what it was. The next thing I know I was sinking down to the floor.

I woke up with a terrible headache on a couch on Thursday. Upon awakening, I saw a fading picture of the little girl in our family picture, in my head. It was an old picture, [I could tell because I looked only about 8 or 9] yet Carly still looked the same. Not a day older or younger.  My mom was next to me. I jumped up looking for Kylie but got dizzy while trying to stand up.

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“Sit down Liv, you could get hurt even worse if you don’t rest,” my mom said through tears. “Where’s Kylie?”  I asked gripping to the counter in the kitchen, looking around not knowing where I was. I started feeling weaker and weaker by the second. My mom came running behind me. Then she grabbed me, and guided me to the couch from where I got up.

Kylie came downstairs, looked at me, and ran over to hug me. “Kylie be careful. Liv isn’t feeling too well,” my mom said softly. I looked at Kylie and starting crying. She hugged me. Then sat next to me softly playing with my hair. “What happened?” I asked in a whisper, but no one answered. “What happened?” I asked louder, my voice shaky. “Someone hit you in the head with something yesterday...” my mom said, coming over to me after seeing my confused blank face.  “Honey, do you know what day it is?” my mom asked concerned. I thought for a moment. “Wednesday” I replied, 100% sure I was right. When my mom started crying again, I knew my answer was wrong. “Do you know where we are?” she asked. “Florida?” I answered not so sure this time. She nodded as she pulled my hair out of my face. “Do you want anything?” asked Kylie, trying to help. “No” I said weakly. “I just want to go home,” I said.  My mom came over to say something, but I don’t know what it was because I already dozed off to sleep.

I was awoken to the sound of my mom arguing. I got up attempting to walk around. I still had a headache, but it was getting better. Kylie looked at me but kept watching TV. I heard a knock on the door and as I went to get it my mom stopped me. She was off the phone, and opened the door to see two police officers on the porch. One of which was a woman.

 By now I realized I was home and was slowly starting to remember what happened. “Hello miss, I’m Officer Douglas, and this is my partner officer Sanchez,” he said grumpily. Officer Sanchez spoke up, “We would like to speak to you and your family about the incident, and maybe ask a couple questions, if that’s okay with you” she said sweetly. My mom nodded and motioned for them to come in. They took a seat on the couch. I went up to my room, which was empty besides the bed that was now neatly made, and strategically placed in the way of the walk in closet. I tried to move it out of the way but felt a shooting pain go up my body. Then I screeched in pain and fell onto the bed.

My mom came running in followed by Kylie and the police. I was embarrassed so I blushed. I stood up trying to hide the pain but winced, which let them know I was hurt. My mom came over, but I already started walking down the stairs, right onto the couch where I put on my favorite movie: The Wizard of Oz.

The adults went into the kitchen. I heard my mom say, “She got hit and was in the hospital. They said she might have a concussion but they sent her home. She thought it was Wednesday, and she claimed she wanted to go home, when she was home.” After about 30 minutes they called me in. However, I wasn’t feeling good and was starting to feel dizzy again. I told my mom and she said, “I want you to at least try to walk.” I got up and everything got blurry. After a few seconds I was okay. I walked into the kitchen and sat on the counter. My mom glared at me, and motioned for me to get off the counter. I complied, and sat at the table in the kitchen.

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  Officer Sanchez started, “Do you remember what happened to you?” she asked. I replied with, “All I remember is a hard strike in the head, turning around to see a little girl singing, and falling to the floor.” She nodded, then she continued, “On a scale of 1 to 10 how hard was the hit?” “10” I said. “How about now?” she asked while she checked the time. “8” I replied. “Do you mind if we take you to the hospital just to make sure everything is fine?” she asked. It didn’t really feel like I had a choice. At the hospital, they sedated me so they could run some tests. I woke up still feeling drowsy. The doctor told me I was fine. I just would have pain and not to do any strenuous activities. I went home and decided to stay inside, but my mom said “Kylie, take your sister outside to get some fresh air.” “No mom! I don’t want to go outside!!” I said, tearing up in fear I could get hurt even more. Kylie grabbed my hand and walked me outside. I looked over and saw the girl. I went toward her and said “Hi. I’m Liv, what’s your name?” “Carly,” she said looking a bit frightened.  “Want to help me?” she asked. I sat down and helped her until that scary looking man called her in. She waved bye and that was it.

 I went back inside where I cleaned up, and decorated my room. Everything seemed unreal and it just made me feel better. “Liv! You have company, come down!”  I went down, curious to see who it was. As I got downstairs, I saw the little girl holding a doll that looked just like me. “Hi” I said looking at her up and down and forcing a smile. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go get us a snack,” I said. She banged the doll's leg on the door. As soon as she did, I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I thought I was just in my head, so I dismissed it. She giggled, which creeped me out. Then she said, “Want to go play?” I was scared so I didn’t answer I just nodded my head, yes. She thought for a moment then she ran right out the door into the woods. I ran out to follow her but my legs got so tired so fast. “CARLY! WHAT’S WRONG?? STOP RUNNING!!!” I said out of breath. I felt a hard bang in my head. I looked down and noticed that she had dropped the doll. My first guess was that it was a coincidence. Then all the moments ran through my head, and I realized it was a voodoo doll. How did she get it? Who knows? I picked it up and kept running.

After a few minutes of running, I saw a random cloud of smoke, and saw Carly’s coat on top of a picture of her that said, “You’re too late. You lost your chance. Tell mommy I said goodbye. I tried to get rid of the faker but got you instead,” and next to it a picture of my mom, and a picture of Kylie with a big red X on it. I took everything in and stood there a minute processing everything. I couldn’t believe she was gone just simply with a cloud of smoke. I just couldn’t accept the fact that she was a spirit. Then the other thing processed in my head. Does this mean Kylie isn’t my real sister? We’ve always been so close. I felt that nothing could change that. I couldn’t believe it. What happened to her that made my mom take Kylie? I just couldn’t understand what was going on.

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I picked up all the stuff that was left and began to run home. I was so confused, sad, and angry. My phone began to go off interrupting my train of thought. I didn’t feel like answering, but I picked it up anyway feeling that I should. “Hello?” I said into the phone “Where are you I’ve been worried sick?” I hung up and ran through the house door crying, “Mom how could you?” “You’ve been lying to me all these years!” she looked at everything “It’s not what it looks like!” she pleaded, “Let me explain!” she said, but it was muffled through her tears. She started, “I didn’t know it was her” she said calming down. “You were only 7 years old, and Carly had just passed away,” she stopped to take a breath. “I adopted--” she lowered her voice “I adopted Kylie and she seemed like the perfect child” “Wait,” I said. “What happened to Carly?” I asked uneasily. My mom sighed, “We were at the Statue of Liberty and she had just reached the top. She looked over the edge, and down she fell. I ran down but wasn’t fast enough. She drowned before I got there,” she said looking down in disappointment.

 She looked up, attempting to brush it off, “But back to my story,” she said. “I got Kylie and everything was perfect. We lived in a good house and had a perfect family. You seemed to not notice anything different so I didn’t tell you.” I felt all my anger ball up inside me, I did my best to hold myself back. “When I saw her, I didn’t recognize her, but then I saw her coat. I had bought that coat for her, and she never took it off. All year round she would wear it.” I nodded.

“She was holding a doll that looked like you, but I didn’t give it to her” she said looking a bit confused. She continued, “I used to sing her a song but I just can’t remember the lyrics.” I figured that was the song she was singing. I had stopped crying and now was furious. I packed all of me and Kylie’s stuff up. Then, we called the police and explained everything that had happened. Even though Kylie isn’t my biological sister we learned to just accept it.

 They took us to our dad’s house, but I noticed that there was a girl who smiled at me, and started singing the same song the other girl used to sing. She looked just like Carly. I got a little bit frightened, so I told the police. They said, they would make sure to keep an eye out. When I pointed out where she was, there seemed to be the same cloud of smoke, and again she was gone.  The police obviously didn’t believe me but didn’t say anything. They promised to check up on us every few days. “We’re safe now Kylie,” I said, unsure on if that was the truth or not. We walked into our dad’s house and that was the end. We lived happily ever after...for now…