Black Allen

"I can't believe it's really you!"

I was so confused. The long guy dragged me with him and what's weird is I wasn't trying to stop him – I don't know why but I just let the stranger drag me calling me names I wasn't familiar with. I creased my brows at his grip on my wrist, trying to come up with conclusions of why the guy just called me Black. I couldn't figure out if he's being racist because of how my complexion is but I wasn't anything near a black person. I was rather fair for someone who came from dirt.

"Guys!" The guy yelled as we approached a group of five people - all facing the opposite direction. One guy has his hair cut clean at the back, one had short hair and was slightly darker than the others, the other had brownish wavy shoulder-length hair, one had her hair up in a ponytail, and the other girl had her black hair fall down to her back gracefully.

"Where did you go, Grei? We were literally about to— Oh my God, Black!" They all turned to us and I was surprised when they were all familiar faces I've seen before. I was shocked than relieved that it's them. My eyes widened as they ran to where we stopped walking.

"Ally?" I say under my breath as I examined her somewhat different look. Ally never talked about liking her hair short but here she was, hair cut inches before her shoulders. I never realized how hair can change someone's look so much.

"I saw her on the other street a while ago." The tall guy, Grei I believe, explains. "She looked lost – like a child who lost her parent."

She looks at me with a wide smile as she wraps her arms around me jumping not so high in excite. She pulls away and gives me a light punch over my shoulder with her brows creased. "Where have you been? Why did you think leaving would be nice to the ones you left to wonder?!"

"Right, girl. You are so MIA, you missed so much." This man... "I already stole Jacob from you by the way," G-George? As in George that Donna likes so much? Why is he talking so... weirdly? Jacob, who? I can't even describe how I'm feeling right now. I was literally standing in front of the winner from The Voice and he's talking to me casually like we've been friends before. "Kidding! Don't give me that look, bitch! You know I'm not stealing your boys just because you always steal mine and girl, you stink. Ever heard of showering? Like, are you homeless now too?" I let his words process in my head for a while. The brutality of his talking was high compared to how I imagined him to be and he doesn't talk like a normal guy.

"He's just messing with you. It's actually me who stole Jacob. He said he never really liked you, you know." Margoue?

"Don't believe them, Black. I stole Jacob." Short-haired Donna suddenly pulls Margoue to the back. "They're just jealous because he replaced you for me and not them." She laughs but I couldn't bring myself to laugh at this situation where I'm just straight up confused of what was happening before my eyes. This Jacob guy – I didn't know.

"Guys, give Black a break. Besides, we definitely need to celebrate!" Ezreal exclaims but she was dressed differently. She looked, rather, boyish with his lousy pants and white loose shirt. She's not even wearing big bangles and huge earrings like how she usually dresses.

I gulped and gave everyone a glance. What in the world is happening? Why are they calling me Black? Why are they talking to me again after saying all those things about me behind my back? What? I shook my head stepping away from them in horror.

"Black," Ally steps closer to me but I step away from her. "Black, are you okay?"

"Why are you talking to me again? Why do you all look so..." I give everyone a glare. "Different now? Why is Albane different now too? Why is it so clean? Why is everything like this? Am I really in Albane? Why is everyone dressed up so nicely?"

The six of them looks at each other in confusion. "Because it always have been like this?" Ally replies unsurely. "You're acting weird. Are you okay? Maybe you need to rest for now. You should go home. Your parents have been so worried looking for you. I bet they'll be glad to see you back."

I walked away from them out of caution and tried to figure out the streets. Now that Albane looked absolutely nothing from how I last remember, it was difficult to find my way back to the house. I passed by unfamiliar buildings but a familiar pathway. I reached a certain street I was nervous to proceed but my feet had me controlled and led my way towards the block where I used to live.

It was different now. The house that was standing before me was white and the garden outside had a selection of different bright-colored flowers. The grass were so green and they looked like they were freshly watered and cut in a certain level. Everything about this place is lively and unlikely. Did everyone in Berklin move and those who took their place completely changed the city to a point that one can barely recognize the place? I couldn't even see a single litter scattered anywhere. Back then, the entire paths were covered with thick greasy black oil that nobody seemed to care.

Suddenly, the door swung open and a man in his white round-neck shirt steps out. When our eyes met, I realized they were eyes I've known before. "B-Black..." I couldn't believe my eyes. It was my father. But his hair was neatly gelled up to one side, and his shirt was tucked in his pants. Before I knew it, he was already hugging me. "Black, thank God you're okay. We've been worried sick. Where have you been?"

My chest squeezed tight and I couldn't breathe well. My father was hugging me for the first time and it felt - nice. I never really knew that a hug from your father was better from any normal person there is. It felt special and warm. When he pulled away, there were tears in his eyes and I can't help but tear up as well. My heart felt longing even if I wasn't sure why everything was suddenly perfect to me. This was the life I've always wanted to have and it's here.

He pulls me with him inside the house and shouts, "Cecile! Cecile! Black! She's here! She's home!"

Home. If the house looked nice from outside, it looked better inside. The first thing that welcomed me was the beautiful staircase that leads to the second floor. At that, a woman runs down the staircase with a panicked look. When I saw her, my heart raced. Mother.

I was terrified that even I, stepped back in horror. I wasn't sure what was happening but my head was clouded with terrible thoughts about my mother even if she looked completely different from my memory. Mother never wore long floral skirts like these, or elegant white tops that go with it.

"My child." She wraps her arms around me and softly caressed my back like what I expected from my mother before. Her warm touch was very soothing and comforting - very motherly. The type that would make you fall asleep in her arms – the type that would easily tell you how important you are without verbally saying it. "Where have you been, sweetie? I thought we lost you and I will never forgive myself if something bad happened to you."

God knows how confused I am right now but if this was me, waking up to this from a coma was the best thing that ever happened for the past fifteen years. I could just cry out of happiness right now because having my parents like this was something I wished for since the day that I was born.

"Black!" I turned and saw Mint running towards me and she looked - different. She had no piercings on her nose and no signs of ink anywhere under her skin. She jumped into my arms and gave me a tight hug. "It's so nice to see you again!" she exclaims before pulling away from me. "You have no idea how boring it was with Blue all the time. She's no fun. Like she's the real definition of boring in my dictionary. Do you know how much scolding I get for not doing chores that you she's supposed to do?!"

Mother and Father chuckles at this.

"Blue?"

"It's not nice to talk bad about people when they can literally hear you Mint but your apology's accepted for the sake of sisterhood." I turned to the other side and saw someone I wasn't familiar with. She smiles and walks closer to where we were all reuniting. "It's nice to see you again, Black."

Mint was teasingly mouthing everything Blue said.

I was still so confused but the people I was with right now are people that I felt like I didn't know by memory but by heart.

"Your sister, here, just passed her licensure exam!" Mother said.

Sister? My older sister's not dead? And her name's Blue? Since when did they know that she's not dead? Was she taken away from us when she was still a child and another family took care of her just like what happens in dramas? Why did they lie about Blue dying before?

"Stop bragging so much, mom. It's starting to feel embarrassing." I studied her face. She definitely looked more like my father. Her face was round and her eyes were round like his. Her bangs were nearly covering her entire forehead and her black long hair was falling down her shoulders.

Mother slaps her in the arms. "How can I not be proud of my daughter when she did so well? I would have it on radio if I wanted to. I would post up a huge tarpaulin just so everyone's aware that my daughter's a licensed nurse already."

"That's embarrassing, mom. Please don't," I let out a small chuckle.

Everyone looked so happy like their smiles never seem to fade – like it was a fixed part of their self and the way their eyes lit up when they talk to each other was so magical without the words Abracadabra. It didn't even bother me now that everyone was calling me Black because I knew, deep inside my heart, that this is the family I've always wanted.

"And you need to stop making it obvious that Blue's your favorite, mom. I'm not saying anything before but it hurts sometimes you know," Mint crosses her arms but my parents just laughed it off like it wasn't a big deal. If everything was normal right now, she could have received a great hard slap from my father but no. They were not sensitive at all. They weren't like normal.

I looked behind when I felt my father's hand rest behind my back. "Are you hungry, sweetheart? We were just about to take some snacks. We should have a meal to celebrate your comeback and we need to know where you've been."

"I—" Right now, it was unbelievable that I was watching the family I always dreamed of and I couldn't ask for more. Whatever was happening might be the most confusing thing in the world but this is the life I've always wanted and I wish this never ends. "I'd like that,"

We were all sitting and facing each other in one table, eating and laughing together, when mother suddenly chokes. I stood up from my chair and grabbed a glass of water for her to drink. Everyone looks at me confused and I wonder but not ask. "Are you okay? Do you need more?"

"No, dear." Mother shakes her head. "I'm alright now, thank you."

I nodded and went back to eating.

IT was night time and if my mother didn't lead me to what they say my room was, I wouldn't have guessed. It's just like how I always wanted my room to look like only now, it was really mine and I was in it – I felt every little object inside without my hands passing through them - a confirmation that I wasn't hallucinating or delusional. The lavender wallpaper, the fairy lights hanging up in the bed, the enormous closet, it was almost as if everything wasn't real to me but they were and I wasn't just imagining things that I wish I had – I feel them with all my senses.

I took a step closer to the study table and saw a family picture - there was mother, father, Blue, Mint, and I in the park. Everyone was smiling except me. I looked like I was frowning and I'm not sure how my face got in this picture.

If I was in a coma and I woke up after ten years, it would have been impossible for me to be there, in the picture, with my eyes open and on top of all, un-aged. I don't remember getting into a car crash to possibly have amnesia as well. What exactly happened when I saw that bright light from Mrs. Dee's office? I need answers and I need to solve it myself if not with someone else.

Walking around the room, I came across this bag lying on top of the bed. I sat softly on the mattress and it slowly eats me down. It was so fluffy that I just wanted to jump on it but I didn't want to ruin its perfect form right now so I endured and stopped myself from doing it. It looked too gracious to touch.

I opened the bag and saw one notebook, two pens – in black and red ink – a crosswise paper, a pouch and an identity card. I pulled it out to further understand what I got myself into. Flipping it over, I was shocked to see my face in the identity card but my name wasn't Violet Allen. It was Black Allen and my hair was bright green dipped with violet ends. Now it made sense that people mistook me as Black because I looked exactly like her without the hair color and the heavy eyeliner.

I went to the bathroom and I see a clean white sink and a toilet, and a glass framed shower stall. There was a towel hanging by the rack and when I reached for it, I see Black's name embroidered in the lower left side of the towel. "Who are you Black Allen,"

Waking up from the side of the street wasn't clean at all. I was dirty and I had a lot of mud smudged all over my legs. Being the ignorant I was, it took me an hour in the bathroom trying to figure out how I would take a shower. Normally, it's just a bowl and a bucket but everything here were things I've only seen from a store.

After the shower, I wasn't sure where Black kept her night clothes so I had to open all her cabinets which I find amusing because one cabinet were full of canvases, bucket of paintings, brushes, and a few closed boxes. One had a great amount of different kinds of shoes, one was entirely dedicated to fancy clothes, and the other had the clothes I was trying to find. Looking at her massive closet room, I realized that they were much more new and beautiful that the ones I owned – far more than decent than mine.

I pulled out a pink shirt and white shorts from her boxes of worn-out clothes. As I was sitting by her vanity area, looking at myself in her white round mirror with lights that went with its frame, I can't help but envy Black's life. I don't have any idea how we look alike and how our families look similar to each other but I was living what seems to be her life right now. I might be a thief for stealing hers but somehow I was convinced that I was sent here for a reason.

When I was lying down her comfy bed, I was just spacing out, staring at her dim white ceiling and her twinkling fairy lights. Am I in the future? Is Black the future me? Why am I Black now if I'm in the future? But if this is the future, why am I still young? If not, who is Black? And why does she look like me and everyone she and I both knew? Everything was so magical that even I can't explain.

Knock. Knock.

My eyes divert to the door and see Mint peeping through the small opening of my door. I wasn't even sure if I'm legally allowed to call everything mine now because I wasn't the person they were living with but I wasn't going to pass the chance of having this life. I am not Black Allen. "Can I sleep here tonight?" she asks. "Blue hates having people in her room and my room's scary when I'm alone."

I rose from my bed and smiled nodding making some space for her in the bed. "Sure,"

She walks inside and that's when I see her already carrying a bear that looked like it was Pooh from what I often see as a child, and two fluffy red pillows. One was printed with Iron man's picture and the other had a small round head and some small hands – also Iron man. She jumps in the bed with me so I tuck her in my comforter. We were both silent and facing up as she hugs all her pillows. "Black?"

I guess the only way to survive now is to really live my life as Black. "Hm?" Until I figure everything out, I'll play the role of whoever this person was.

"Why'd you run away?"

I hear her say. I just gulped. Black ran away? I don't see any reasons why she would run away. Her life's great compared to mine.

"Mom and Dad were so worried. They had to pay a lot to find you but they never did until they stopped and lost hope. We thought you already died."

I can't even respond to what she was saying. "I—"

"But it's good that you're back. Mom and Dad won't have sleepless nights now that you're back. You have no idea how tough they've been through just to search for you." She says. "It's the first time though,"

I turned to her wondering.

"It's the first time you made me enter your room. Well that goes for everyone I guess. You never let anyone step inside your room before including mom and dad. You'd even yell at me if I touch your door knob."

"Did I?"

She turns to me frowning. "Did you get amnesia? Is that why you were gone for so long and you didn't know where to head back home? Did another family adopt you? Did aliens take you?"

I chuckled. "No, no. Let's just say I don't remember everything after waking up from a nightmare." Because I really did come from a nightmare and if this was a dream, I never want to wake up ever again.