“Mason. What are you doing here?” My brother gently closed the door behind him, looking me over thoroughly.

I buried myself under my blanket, phone in hand, trying desperately not to cry my eyes out. The dimmed lights in my room reflected on the tray my brother held.

I sat upright, taking in the contents of the tray, giving off a little smile. “Is that what I think it is?”

He snorted in amusement. “You bet your depressed ass it is.” Mason made his way toward me, half-sitting beside me at the side of the bed. “Here.” He handed me a mini tray of ice cream and cookies. “I figured you’d need cheering up from the look on Mum and Dad’s faces.”

I heaved out a laborious sigh, taking in the delicious-looking ice cream. “And you figured you’d bring me the ice cream she bought us?” I looked at him quizzically.

He shrugged in nonchalance. “Doesn’t matter. Ice cream is ice cream.” He took a spoonful. “Crap!” He placed a hand over his mouth.

I let out a chuckle. “Should’ve thought that through.” He frowned at me, massaging his aching teeth. Taking up a crusty-looking cookie, I spoke. “Thanks.” I took a bite.

“I’m sorry what was that?”

“Oh shut up.”

We ate in silence for a few minutes. “Mavis, what did they tell you?” My eyes remained glued to my ice cream as I kept eating, ignoring him. “Mavis.” I took the last spoon of my ice cream, already missing it. “Mavis?” I continued with my cookies, still ignoring him. “You know I heard it all right?”

I looked up in annoyance. “So why pester me?”

“Because you’re my sister and I want to hear it from you.” He put down his bowl of ice cream. “I also didn’t exactly hear everything, just snippets.”

“I believe you came here to cheer me up. I don’t believe that includes reminding me of my problems.”

“Mavis just tell me, please. It’s not like you can avoid it forever.”

I gave him an irritated look, telling him all that our mother and father had dumped on my poor head. My brother stared wide-eyed at me, hands clenched in anger. “So their trademark is lying?! I mean look at me!” He stood up gesturing to his frame. “I’m supposedly a product of their continuous lies. They won’t bother telling the truth until they’re in a tight corner, huh?!” He headed for the door, yanking it open with much force.

“Mason!” I threw off the blanket, dashing after him. “Mason stop!”

My brother burst into the living room where our mum and dad sat, deep in discussion. I fumbled over the stairs, trying to catch up to him.

“Mason?” Dad looks up in confusion. “What’s the problem, son?”

Mason scoffed in disbelief. “Problem? Oh, I’ll tell you what the problem is.” He pointed an accusing finger at our parents. “You’re both liars!”

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“Mason!” Reaching him, I grabbed his sleeve, pulling him backward. “Mason what are you doing?!”

“Getting some answers.” He roughly pulled away from me. “You just love it, don’t you?! You freaking kept Mavis in the dark her whole life about who she is! How the hell is that fair!?” My brother seethed.

“Mason that’s enough!”

Dad stepped forward, a sad look in his eyes. “It’s alright Mavis.” He turned to Mason. “Go ahead.”

“Is all this some kind of joke? Our lives? You think you can just lie and get away with it?!”

My mother looked up, narrowing her eyes. “Mason, what is this about? Is there something you’d like to get off your chest son?” My dad spoke calmly, accessing my brother’s every move.

“Tell me then, when were you going to let me know that I’m not your child?” He glanced back at me, hurt evident in his eyes before steeling his features back to our father.

“Mason.” My mother stood up, more tears accumulating in her eyes as she moved toward my brother.

“Don’t.” He stepped back, raising a hand to stop her. “When were you going to tell me?!”

“Mason you are our child. Our son-”

“NO!”

“Mason, you will not raise your voice at your mother!” My father frowned in disapproval.

Mason chuckled bitterly. “But she’s not. She’s not my mother and you’re not my father!”

“Are you that blind, child?” Dad moved up to Mason. “If we didn’t see you as our own, do you honestly think you’d still be here? Cooking, eating, smiling, talking, and living with us?! Your mother was cursed, Mason!”

I let out an involuntary gasp, my hand flying to my chest in shock.

“She was cursed to never bear her child! She was cursed by her mother! The day your mother found you, was one of the happiest days of our lives. When her curse was finally broken and we had Mavis, why didn’t we kick you to the curb?! Why didn’t we abandon you?!”

Mason looked down.

“Why?! The fact you’re adopted meant absolutely nothing to us. To us, you’re just as important as your sister, because we see it that way. After all, you are our child!”

Dad looked back at me, then at Mason again, the wall lights reflecting the pain and disappointment in his blue eyes. “When we keep things from you children it’s only for your good! So that you may have the best lives possible! Do you know how difficult and overbearing life is? Of course not, because we are always there, far or near, doing everything to protect you!”

He turned fully to my brother. “Now listen to me, young man. Never in your life will you raise your voice at your mother or act ungrateful to her! Do you hear me?!”

“Yes, Father,” Mason mumbled, looking down at his feet before leaving the room.

~~~

The morning breeze whipped through my hair as I sat cuddled up on our front porch. The creamy-looking tea in my hands brought me comfort as I sipped it to my heart’s content, overlooking the damaged street and houses all around our home, the glass table in front of me reflecting the dimmed shine of the sun.

“Mavis.” My brother rounded the corner from the back of the house, approaching me. “Mavis come on. I said I was sorry.”

I took another delicious sip of my tea. “Please don’t ruin this moment for me, brother.”

“Are you going to keep avoiding me?” He squinted at me, being exposed to the rising sun. “Seriously?”

“What exactly are you sorry for, Mason?”

“Everything. Everything Mavis.”

I scoffed. “Please we both know that’s not an answer.”

“I’m sorry for breaking our….my promise.”

“And?”

He looked up, wondering what I was talking about. “Nothing?” I dropped my now-empty tea cup. “As I thought. Mason, I told you that I’m not from Earth, I told you I’m supposed to leave Earth soon, I told you I’m supposed to fight a guy who literally cannot be beaten, who’s mostly dead and is supposedly my uncle. I told you so much and what did you do? You ran downstairs to confront our parents, making everything about you and forgetting that I exist. Not to mention how you treated our mother.”

“Mavis-”

“I don’t want to talk to you, Mason. I don’t.”

Suddenly there was a wild gust of wind, it appeared, taking the shape of a mini tornado and blowing away everything in its path. Mason stumbled back, falling over his own feet as the glass table shook violently. I sat there nonchalantly, waiting for what was to come.

The tornado moved toward us, finally stopping in front of our house. How quaint. It dissipated, slowly revealing three….people?