Not Alone
Chapter 14
Addison’s POV
I could hear the woman speaking on her phone as I woke up. The conversation was patchy,
with a few breaks at her end for their response. “No, I think she is fine, Dad. But she looks.
exhausted.” “If I need to, I will take her to the doctor when she wakes up. She is obviously
under a great deal of stress. She completely passed out when she saw me.” “Ana didn’t have
time to tell her about us, or she wouldn’t have been so shocked to see me. You don’t have to
worry. I am here now. I will take care of everything.” You don’t have to worry. Love you, I will be
home soon,” There was another longer pause as her father replied to her.
“Don’t worry, Dad, I will straighten everything out. Once I get things taken care of here, I will
bring her back with me,” she said before another pause as she listened to what he was saying.
“No, Dad, that was what Ana planned on doing anyway. She wanted to stay with Addison as she went to college at The University of Texas. I had already bought a condo and had it ready
for them to move in. I just don’t know if Addison is ready to live alone or not just yet. I will see
if Evan will give up the frat life to stay with her, at least for a little while. I have to go, Dad, she
is waking up. I am sure the shock was too much for her. I will call you and Mom later tonight
after I speak to Addison,” she said before getting off her phone.
She knew I was awake, so I did not need to pretend I was asleep anymore. I opened my eyes and was shocked again to see my mother’s face staring back at me. The tears blurred my
eyes as I croaked out, “Mom?”
I heard her try to hold back a sob before saying, “No, baby. I am your Aunt–your mother’s twin sister. I guess she hadn’t got around to telling you that I was coming. I was supposed to come
this weekend on Saturday to officially meet you and go to your graduation. ” She stopped
speaking for a minute.
I could tell that she was as upset about losing Mom as I was. I just didn’t know her, I had never met or heard of her. But I knew that she wasn’t lying to me. She was my mother’s twin. There was no doubt in my mind about that. I wiped the tears from my eyes with the arm of my hoodie. Once my eyes were clear, I saw the difference between them now. My mother had brown eyes, and my aunt had blue eyes. Other than that, they were the same. I was so glad I wasn’t alone anymore. I never knew that I had additional family members, but it was a great
comfort to me.
“My name is Alexandra, I am so sorry for your loss, Addison. I can tell you that you meant the
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world to your mother. But you are not alone anymore. You have me and your Uncle to lean on from now on. I have two sons, Bryson and Evan, who are dying to meet their cousin. You have grandparents who are chomping at the bit to meet you, too. Have you eaten today, Addison?” She asked. She was a take–charge type of woman, just like my mother had been. I can see
several similarities between them now.
I was a little overwhelmed by seeing who I thought my mother brought back to life, so I was still stunned. This was a lot of information in a short amount of time, but I knew she was telling me the truth. I guess that was the surprise that Mom had for me. Well, that and her having a twin sister. My mother was planning on coming with me when I moved to college. I was accepted to go to the University of Texas at Dallas. I have already decided on my field. I was going to go into design, like my mother. She encouraged me to pursue my dreams and wanted me to have a good education. She was just as excited about my next step as I was.
“I’m not hungry,” I told her quietly. It was the truth. I had been napping and then glaring at
Garrett most of the afternoon.
“Let me make you a grilled cheese. Do you like them?” my aunt asked me. I nodded at her, and she headed off into the kitchen, humming to herself. I don’t know if that was a comfort habit, but hearing her do it was very soothing. My mother also hummed while she was working on a
design.
I walked to the island and sat down on one of the stools. “So my Mom told you about me?” I
asked.
“Oh yes, Addison. She was so proud of you. She sent us pictures of you as you grew up. She told us all how smart you were when she visited us last,” my aunt replied as she melted butter
in the pan. She seemed to be just as good a cook as my mother. Not necessarily healthy, but
as I smelled the sandwiches cooking, my mouth started to water in anticipation. She was in
the pantry and came out with two cans of soup. Putting them in a saucepan to cook before flipping the grilled cheeses.
“I can see you have questions, Addison. I can also tell that you are struggling, Addison. We
will talk after we eat, OK?” she suggested. I nodded, as I had a lot more questions for her, like
where the guy who was with her went. But I could wait.
A few minutes later, a warm bowl of soup was placed in front of me, with a grilled cheese cut
diagonally. Tears sprang up when I saw it. It was just like my mother used to do for me when I wasn’t feeling well. She used to cut my sandwich the same way. It was a great memory brought back to me, and it brought back to the surface all the emotions I had tried to push down and suppress. I had to be strong, as I was alone. I hadn’t allowed my guard down. I haven’t been able to lose myself in my pain since yesterday in the Principal’s office.
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Something so small as a diagonal cut made me lose it. Everything suddenly hit me at once.
Losing my mother, being used, and then being assaulted. It was all too much for me to bear.
My aunt wrapped her arms around me and just patted my back, whispering that she was there
and would take care of me. It was hard to believe at first, but she was a comfort to me.
She calmed me down enough to eat, and between bites of her meal, she picked up her phone
to send out a few texts. I ate half the sandwich and some of the soup. My appetite had been
affected by the whirlwind of emotions I had been on since I lost Mom. I had just settled onto
the couch with a cup of warm tea from my aunt when there was a knock on the door. When
she opened the door, I saw Tandy and Russell Pearson standing there. I flinched without even
realizing that I had done so, but Tandy saw it.
“Honey, why didn’t you call me to pick you back up after taking your tests?” she asked as she
sat down next to me on the couch.
“I didn’t want to bother you,” I managed to tell her.
“I appreciate you calling me Tandy to let me know about Ana. I know that you have her final
wishes. Did you bring them with you?” My aunt was all business. I knew she probably saw my
reaction to them coming here. I loved them both, but after last night, I didn’t want to be around
any
of the Pearsons for a while.
“I did; here it is, Alexandra, Tandy said as she passed the folder over and looked back at me.
She knew this was new. I hadn’t acted like this when she took me to school this morning, but
she didn’t understand why I was acting this way. I would prefer it if she never knew, especially
Mr. Pearson. I might die of embarrassment if someone told them what had happened.
As my aunt looked through the three pages of paperwork, I could feel Mrs. Pearson watching
- me. I just focused on looking down at my tea or the floor. I didn’t raise my head. I didn’t want to encourage anyone to keep trying to speak to me.
“Russell, could you go back over to the house? I don’t want to leave the teens to themselves,”
Tandy finally asked.
“Sure. I will see you later, Addison. I am so sorry. Your mother was a nice lady. She is going to be missed,” he told me after he got up. I nodded in acknowledgment, but if I opened my
mouth, I couldn’t hold anything in. My emotions were right there under the surface, ready to explode. The match was lit and just waiting for something to light. I know he didn’t want to see that happen, as much as I didn’t want to fall apart in front of him. Once the door closed,
Tandy wasted no time getting to the point.
“You were doing better this morning, Addison. What is going on? What happened, and don’t tell me nothing happened. I will not believe you. I have known you your whole life. I know this
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is more than losing your mother. What is it? We can’t help you if you don’t tell us,” Tandy asked
- me.
My hands started to shake, and I couldn’t hold the cup anymore. She gently took it from me and placed it on the living room table. My sobs filled the room as I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around my legs. I didn’t want either of them to touch me. It was going to make it so much worse. I couldn’t see how either of them could even help me anyway. They just patted my back as I cried.
Neither spoke, but I could tell that they were both upset. I knew Tandy started texting, but I didn’t know who she was texting. I didn’t raise my head until I heard her gasp. I didn’t want to, but I raised my head to look at her. I could see she was watching the video that someone took of me. She stared in horror at her cell phone screen.
She didn’t judge me. She just passed the phone to my aunt, who growled in anger. The cat was out of the bag. “Who did this? Who would do something like this to any innocent girl? Addison, do you know who did this?” my aunt asked me.
I gave a slight glance over at Tandy before nodding. “Who was it?” my aunt asked. I could tell that she was furious, and someone was going to pay for doing it.
“I believe Tammy was the one who did it. She was mad at me, and she taunted me earlier,
waving her phone at me. It is impossible to prove. I know that no one will believe me anyway,”
I sobbed.
