"What?" I asked as I laughed nervously. This girl really was nuts.

"Get out of there now," Kat's voice said in my earpiece.

"Stop it! Give that back!" There was some static while Matty Boy took back whatever it was Kat took from him. Then his voice said, "Yes, I think that will do. Come on out."

But I ignored his voice and listened to Renee as she spoke. "You don't remember. I can't tell you anything until you take one of those." She nodded to the pills in my open hand and I closed my fingers around them.

"I'm not just taking some random pills, Renee," I said as nicely as I could without freaking out.

"I didn't expect you to." She sighed. "Just wait 'till you're ready."

"Get out of there!" Atlanta's voice said.

"Ready for what?" I asked. The voices of the people in the other room was getting annoying, so I tore the earpiece out of my ear and stuffed it under my leg to block out the tiny protesting voices that emanated from it.

"I already told you. Now go. They're probably yelling at you to get out. They think I'm crazy." Renee's voice didn't sound sad; it was just a matter of fact.

"But-"

"Just go." Her hypnotizing eyes bore into mine, staring me down. Normally, I would have stared right back, but I was too confused and nervous to argue. I stood, grabbed the earpiece, told her goodbye, and walked out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as the door clicked shut behind me, the other door opened and Atlanta, Kat, and Robyn all poured out, Matty Boy trailing behind them.

"What was that all about?" Kat asked.

"Sister?" Robyn was saying. "She really believes you're her sister?"

"That girl really is crazy," Atlanta decided.

"I know you all want a chance to talk with her, but given that she thinks she related to everyone, I think it would be best if you all went home." Matt's voice was bossy as he spoke, trying to regain his composer from the incident with the earpiece. "Give me that earpiece, please." He held out his hand and I threw the thing away from me. It was giving me a headache, and my head was already swarming with questions.

"Where did she get that necklace?" Robyn was asking me. Like I knew!

"We'll look into it," Matt promised.

"What was with those pills?" Atlanta said as Matty Boy pushed us down the hall.

At the mention of the pills, Matt stopped pushing and said, "Oh, yes. We'll have to run some tests on those and see how she got them. If you'll just give them to me." He held out his hand again.

I could feel the tiny tablets in my fist as I held my hand above his in a fist and let the pills drop one by one.

"Thank you," Matthew said. "Now, I am very busy, if you don't mind. Go away."

~~~~~~~~~~

I was peppered with questions I didn't know the answers to all the way home. "How did she get those pills?" "Where did she get that necklace?" "How did she know we were telling you to leave?" But I ignored all the questions and walked home in silence. When Robyn and Atlanta bade us farewell and went in the other direction, Kat was silent the rest of the way home. I knew that she knew I needed some time to think. But I also knew that she would interrogate me further after I had time to think things over.

No matter what, I kept my hand in a tight fist, scared that if I let go my sanity would go with it. So far, I just felt... odd. I didn't really feel anything. It was an eerie feeling. Like someone was watching me.

We walked through the door to our apartment and before Kat could even draw breath to question me, I walked down the hall, dashed into my room, and locked the door. As soon as the lock clicked into place, I lost it. I started to shake from head to toe. I began to pace back and forth like the world depended on it.

I had felt numb before, but now I felt panicked. Renee couldn't be my sister. Robyn was my only sister. Sure, she had a different surname than me (Snow), but that didn't mean anything, did it? I mean, everyone here just... appeared. And it wasn't like the older siblings named the younger siblings. When we came, we all already knew our names and our families...

Lyra's words came back to me: "There's no bills or money or a currency of any kind, but we all know what it is. There's no parents or vacations, yet we all know what they are. We don't know how we become families, and there's no government, but we all know what they are, yet again. We never have any droughts or food shortages or anything, but, surprise, surprise, we all know what they are and their effect on people."

Could Lyra have been on to something? Could our entire lives be just one big lie?

I sat down on my bed, trying to calm my racing heart. As I sat, my eyes turned to my fist, my knuckles white from holding on so tight. Gently, I uncurled my fingers and stared at the one, gleaming pill I had kept. I didn't know why I kept the thing; it was kinda just an impromptu thought.

I stared down at the tiny pill and wondered if I should take it. Then the reasonable part of my brain, which mostly remained dormant, seemed to say: Are you crazy? That's girl's a psycho! If you take that you'll probably die!

Yet, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was sincerely trying to help me remember something. Obviously she thought it was important. I decided to hide the pill for now and ask Matty Boy about them after the results came back in.

 I walked to my closest and pulled out an old vial that used to hold gumballs. I popped open the lid and slid the pill inside before stashing it away behind my mess of T-shirts and jeans.

Kat knocked on the door and her voice said, "Rhea? It's time to eat."

"I'm not hungry," was my immediate reply.

"Too bad. Come out."

"No."

"Come on. You're going to have to at one point or another," she said.

"And why do you say that?" I called to her.

"Well, for one, you don't have a bathroom in there."

I looked around, even though I knew she was right. I would have to go sooner or later.

Sighing, I unlocked the door, and after a few more deep breaths, I twisted the knob. Kat stood there, her hazel eyes searching my face. Kat had a way of reading me like no one else. I knew she would understand what happened better than most.

"Come on," she said. "I made some bacon potato soup."

At the mention of this delicious food, my mouth started to water and I followed Kat into the kitchen where she poured herself a large bowl of the stuff from a huge pot on the counter and handed me one of my own.

"Do we have chives and basil?" I asked as I slipped the first bite into my mouth. It was blissful as the cheesy soup slid down my throat, warming me from head to toe.

"Look in the cupboard," she said as she dipped her spoon into her bowl.

After fetching the spices and dipping some of each into my bowl, Kat and I ate in silence. It was kinda awkward, but for once, I didn't try to break the silence; my mind was still whirling.

I was just adding in more basil to my second bowl when Kat spoke up. "Do you believe her?"

I looked up at her, but her eyes were fixed on her food as she spun the spoon around in it. We both knew who she was talking about, so there was no point in asking.

"I don't know, Kat," I admitted. "The logical part of my brain says that she's a crazy psycho trying to figure out who she and that she made up this whole world in her head where I'm her sister; but some other part of me feels like... Never mind. It's crazy."

"Some other part of you feels like it could maybe be true?" Kat looked up at me with a questioning gaze in her eyes.

I looked down at my food and nodded. Great. Now my best friend would think I was the crazy one.

"Well, I guess that makes two of us." My head shot up to look at her, and she was looking right back.

"You mean-"

"A little," she admitted, talking to her  bowl again. "I mean, it does kinda make sense. You two look like you could be related. And Cal did mistake her for being you. I mean, I totally-"

"Crazy," I agreed.

She nodded. "But, it would explain that. And the necklace she had... I thought only you and Robyn had charms like that."

"I did, too," I said.

"Where did you guys get those charms again?"

"I-" I stopped. Where had we gotten them? "I don't know," I said slowly. "We've just always had them..."

"Well, we know one thing," Kat said as she scooped up a bit of potato.

"And what's that?" I asked.

She looked at me. "I thought that would have been obvious," she said. "We know that there is something about the girl that change our lives- whether for better or worse, that's yet to come."

Little did I know that her words could not have been more true.

Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update! I also want to apolozie for any grammar or spelling errors. My mind is in a thousand places this week. What do you think is going to happen? Please let me know the following:

Favorite character:

Favorite chapter:

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A character you'd like to see more of:

Any suggestions in plot changes:

Feel free to speak your mind on these. Say whatever you want!! I won't take anything personally!