Chapter 20: Past Misunderstandings

*BAM!*

My decision to break down the door, turned out to be correct one, with me soon being inside Amelia's room.

But the loud sound I created didn't originated from the collision with my original target.

This sound rang out when I hit the floor after Amelia opened the door for me.

"Fucking rug! Who put it there?"

I layed on the ground, holding my arm which cushioned most of my fall. While doing so, I took my eyes away from my own arm, shifting my gaze to the room's entrance.

Amelia stood next to the door, holding its handle. She watched the whole turn of events, from me charging into the room, to me falling down, which showed disbelief on her worried face.

We locked eyes, trying to find each other emoties.

Her's showed concern for my health, and I don't know what she saw in mine, but she sprinted in my direction.

With little space separating us, Amelia arrived at my side in mere second.

She crouched, before reaching out with her shaking hands, hesitant not to hurt me any further.

I simply let her inspect my shoulder, with a smile creeping on my face.

Amelia touched few places, trying to see if I will feel pain, but when she didn't find such spot, she decided to ask me about my state.

"Where does it hurt? Do we need to go to the hospital?"

"I got you."

"What do you mean?" Amelia didn't understand my answer, she keept searching for potential wounds, not caring about it.

Before replying to her, I let go off my shoulder and got up, with her line of sight following me all the way up.

After standing on my feet, I dusted myself off, before explaining the whole situation to her.

"I fall intentionally."

"But. Your shoulder." Amelia ignored my words, she was solely focused on my supposed injury.

Knowing that I need to do something else to get her attention. I gently tugged the hand she had on my arm, signaling for her to stood up.

She complied with my gesture, trying to see what I wanted to say.

"Amelia, you don't need to worry. Such a little fall can't hurt me." I puffed out my chest to make my point even more clear.

Amelia had mixed reactions up to this point, but me showing off encouraged her to reconsider my previous words swiftly seeing through my fake accident.

This realization made Amelia furrow her browns, after which she unloaded all of her anger by punching me in the 'injured' shoulder.

It didn't hurt, but it signalized the real start of what to come, Amelia having an outburst.

"Why would you do that? Do you know how inrespossibe that was? What, if you really got hurt?"

Amelia didn't hold back any of her accumulated thoughts, she was unloading out like crazy.

Eventually her breath run out, which gave me and opportunity to speak my own piece. I knew if I let it slip, I won't be able to fulfil my goal.

"I wanted to trick you." I didn't beat around the bush, I told her the truth.

In between her deep breaths, Amelia replied.

"*Inhales*Exhales* Why? *Inhales*Exhales*"

"For you to act exactly like this, to show your real feelings and not just a facade."

This made Amelia stop for a second, with her breath slowing down.

I waited for it to return to normal, and began to explain the main reason I was there.

"After the last time I was almost certain that you were only pretending, but to confirm my theory I decided to test it for the second time."

After hearing that, Amelia started frantically looking around, trying not to look me in the eyes.

"And, as I suspected. it was true. Now, I only want to know why? What made you put on an act?"

Suddenly, Amelia gazed at me, which let me see her conflicted expression. She was anxious, ready to escape this encounter if a chance presents itself.

While we stood like this, Amelia's legs started to shake. It seemed like the wait stressed her way too much.

Not even a minute later, she jumped onto her bed and hid herself under the cover.

Seeing what just occurred left me speechless.

(If she wanted to escape, why wouldn't she run through the open door?)

It seems like a simple idea, but the thought of having this conversation must've made Amelia think irrationally, or maybe she consider her bed a safe place.

I knew I had to approach this subject carefully, to even have a chance at finding out the cause of this whole situation.

I slowly walked up to this bed, sitting down on the edge of it.

Feeling my movement, Amelia raised her covers just enough to peek at what I was doing.

When she saw me so close by, she immediately shot down the little hole she created, hiding deeper in the hideout she chose.

I paid it no mind, knowing that forceful approach won't work.

"You know, it the past we were inseparable... As twins we explored everything together. We shared the same room, we slept together, we eat together and if we didn't see rach other for more than 30 minutes, we cried until we reunited."

While saying all of this, in the corner of my eye, I saw Amelia quietly poking her head out.

"We were causing all kinds of mischief, and when someone caught us, we said 'You will never catch A&A'" this memory made me chuckle a little "This is what we called ourselfs Amelia&Alexander, an elusive duo."

Each sentence resulted in Amelia slighting her head further and further out, intentionally listening to what I had to say.

"We stayed this way for years, soon reaching our 9th birthday. It was such an exciting time for us. We were supose to go to the school for the first time, meet new people, attend classes together, it was a new adventure for our's unstoppable duo."

I turned to Amelia's hole, but like I suspected, she hid before I could she her face.

Not discouraged, I continued "I remember the sleepless night before our first day. We spent the whole night talking about our plans and expectations, but they all soon come crumbling down."

After saying that, I looked down at my hands. And when I started talking again, sadness was evident in my words. "That day marked the beginning of our fall out."

"I remember your sweet smile, when we entered the school together. It let all of my accumulated stress and fears, vanish. I just knew that I wasn't alone."

Those weren't my memories in the first place, but while saying all of this, it felt like I was the one who lived through them.

I really felt the fear, the excitement, the joy and the despair that followed the past.

I didn't need to pretend, I said my next words with sincere pain.

"We returned home happy, telling everyone that we can't wait for the next day of school. We even gone to sleep early, just to wake up faster."

I sighed " But after another day in school, something changed. You suddenly shut yourself in your room, didn't speak to anyone and... left me all by myself."

I raised my voice, not able to control my emotions "Tell me, Amelia. Tell me why you left me when I needed you the most?"

"I was scared." I heard a faint whisper, concealed by the fabric that separated us.

"Scared of what?.. Do you know how hard it was for me to suddenly live without you by my side?"

"It was the same for me. I felt like my world was crumbling down when I couldn't talk to you." Amelia talked louder, letting me hear her words clearly.

"Then why? Why did you abbandoned me?"

I stared at the cover, seeing it fly into the air.

Amelia burst out from the inside, letting cover fall behind her back. With it now gone, the last barrier separating us disappears.

"I was scared of losing you! I saw how quickly you gained new friends and thought that you will forget about me....With them becoming a new part of your life."

"Friends?"

(Alexander had no friends...Wait, did she mean... his bullies?)

Now I know why Amelia and Alexander's relationship turned cold. They didn't hate each other, it's not the case.

On that fateful day a pair of twins crossed the main gate, they were nervous and at the same time happy for the second day of school.

Their first two lessons were normal, well as normal as they could be for energetic tweens such as them.

They tried to endure this boredom for some time, but Alexander's patientce quickly run out. He couldn't sit still and asked his sister to explore the school together.

Amelia was tempted to follow her brother's plan, but she knew it will bring more problems, than it's worth it. She disagreed, after all she was the responsible one in their duo.

Unfortunately Alexander didn't share his sister viewpoint. He raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom.

As obvious as it is, he escaped the lesson and started wandering around the school's building.

He explored few places, avoiding every person he came across, worried he will get send back to this boring place.

After seeing the main building, he didn't have enough. He wanted to explore more, soon heading to the school's yard.

From there he stumbled upon another place, one he should have never found.

The back of the school, also known as a place for hooligans to hang out. There he meet Derek, his main bully.

This unpleasant meeting turned out to be the turning point in Alexander's life. He got out unhurt, that is if you consider insulting, laughing and robbing him as a non violent thing.

He got accompanied by them to the canteen, they thought that him seeing his money being spent in front of him will be fun.

On their way to make Alexander more miserable, Amelia spotted them. She was angry at her brother for skipping class, but after seeing him she only wanted to ask if he was alright.

She waved at her brother, signaling him to come over. She wanted to check on him and to scold him after making sure he wasn't hurt.

Alexander of course saw his sister waving at him, but he also realized the potential danger she could get into. He didn't want for her to experience the same fate as him, so he averted his gaze.

A lot of emotions must have been going through Amelia's brain at the time. She could have been sad, maybe even angry, but she for sure felt betrayed.

(It was a misunderstanding on both sides. Alexander just wanted to protect his sister, and Amelia wanted to make sure her brother was safe.)

It could have simply been resolved much earlier, but neither of them tried talking to each other. They closed themselves in, not sharing their problems with anyone.

It stayed like this for years, eventually turning Alexander's pain into anger, which he vented on his own family.

(I hate idiots like Alexander. I can understand his pain and suffering, but it was only when he was still young.)

Alexander turned 16 this year, making it 7 years without asking Amelia anything about that day. He never bothered to do that.

(For fuck sakes. He was a man, at least this is what he told himself. It's not hard to reach out first, especially after all this time.)

I could insult him for much longer, but I rather prefer to repair something that really matters. I let my mind clear itself and looked at Amelia with gentle eyes.

My change in demeanor made her look at me with slight caution.

"They weren't my friends."

"Yes? So, who were they? Why did you spent so much time with them, if they were strangers to you?"

After hearing her words, corners of my lips slightly raised "I wouldn't call them strangers, after all there is no one else you know better than your enemy."