Chapter 2: The Gift Card

Warona declared herself officially sober once the haziness disappeared.

Happy so, she sat cross-legged on the floor and began to go through the countless birthday cards and gift boxes.

She almost laughed when she noticed a certain box at the corner. Pink and as big as her study desk; nothing else screamed Celine so much. Feeling how light it was on her hands, Warona doubted if it was worth her time opening it. For all she knew, there could be nothing in there. Celine and her pranks. Curious, she pulled it open only to find another box inside of it. Typical. Oh, and another one inside of it again. She rolled her eyes, aware of the game that she was being played. She made a mental note to make Celine pay for exhausting her so much. Six boxes weren't so easy to unwrap, you know. Also disappointing, because all she found inside was a tiny card with the words 'Happy birthday Ronnie!'.

Fifteen boxes later, Warona finally had her hands on the presents her parents gave her.

A pair of fancy heels from her father with a 'Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world. For Daddy's little princess, I love you' note.

And a blue scarf from her mother.

'To Mommie's jewel, may the Lord grant you all that your heart desires', she read the after-note.

She had an ounce left of strength so she went through a few more anonymous boxes only to stumble upon a pink envelope containing a bunch of strange photos inside.

A set of photos that made Warona's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

Two smiling girls in graduation gowns grinned to the camera on the first one. They looked like twins. Faces glowing with contentment and their eyes, soulful.

You could say they've never been happier.

Warona had never seen them before.

The same girls were on the second photo except that they weren't alone this time, they were with Warona's parents. Sitting close together on a couch, Riegel and Hans on either side of them and a black dog on their feet. Lovely smiles and all. On the third photo, they looked younger. They were on a boat; one of them holding Riegel's hand and Hans had his arm around the other.

'Me, my husband, and our amazing beautiful daughters on vacay. June, 2005', it read in hand-written words.

The word 'daughters' made Warona's stomach churn. If anyone was Riegel and Han's daughter, she was sure it was her. Only her.

As much she wanted to think about the possibility of her parents having other kids before her, she couldn't take the idea of them being liars. They never lied to her.

The girls' eyes stared back at her and Warona felt her heart sink at the striking resemblance they had with her father.

Still, she didn't let her thoughts wander that way. Danger zone.

She checked the envelope but there was no sign left by the sender. Nothing. Whoever the sender was, she wanted to know their motive. The pictures were like a half-written message. Questions hanging in the air.

But again, she didn't want to care.

She felt she shouldn't.

But that didn't sit well with her either, she needed answers. And maybe closure?

This was one of those moments where she seriously despised her curious nature.

As much as she resented drama, her body demurred to let the matter go. She had once read somewhere that you should trust your body not your mind, for the body loves itself.

Warona wasn't sure what that meant.

She put the photos back, pushed the envelope under her pillow, and shut her eyes.

---------------------------------------------------

At noon, Celine broke into Warona's bedroom window, ruining her best friend's siesta.

"Dude, what the hell?!", Warona shrieked at the sudden invasion.

Celine stumbled a bit before throwing her bag on the chair and taking off her fancy glasses.

"Good afternoon to you too, ready to celebrate your birthday's boxing day?", Celine smiled her cunning smile before opening her bag and pulling out a pink flash disk that Warona recognized as the one with the 'Must watch with my Bestie' movie list.

"My what day?", her brows furrowed in confusion.

"You heard me", jumping on the bed next to a tired Warona.

"And why the hell can't you just use the door like a normal person?"

"Maybe because I'm not a normal person. I'm extraordinary, remember?", sitting up and playing with Warona's hair.

"That still doesn't answer my question, Celine", smacking Celine's hands off her hair.

"What can I say, I'm an adventurous bitch", shrugging with a playful smirk.

Warona rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, what are you up to today, princess?", Celine asked.

Warona knew what that meant. That wasn't Celine being interested in Warona's bland daily schedule, that was Celine saying 'I got this whole day planned out for us and you have no way out because you're going to have to get used to being stuck with me.'

In other words, they were going to make a mountain of popcorn, buy a lake of coke, and binge on movies. Not like Warona had anything better to do. So far, the idea of a certain envelope with pictures inside it still lingered at the back of her mind and if she was being honest with herself, she could use some distraction.

"Birthday-boxing day, here I come", Warona said out loud before Celine hit her with a pillow.

For a second, Warona was glad it wasn't the one with the photos under it. She really wasn't sure if she wanted to tell the other girl about that. She cursed, and the pillow fighting match began.

"Race you downstairs!", Celine shot out of nowhere after throwing her pillow on Warona's face. The two tackled each other down the stairs, giggling like idiots.

"I won!", Warona shouted, hoping over the last step on the stairs.

"You really are survival-for-the-fittest, huh?", Celine joked but still ouched on her toes. Warona had stepped on her, unintentionally.

They made popcorn, went out to buy a crate of coke, and settled on the couch with the fluffiest blanket they could find. By the time Warona's mother was back they had watched a quarter of Celine's pink flash drive.

"You two better tell me you haven't been doing nothing all day", Riegel closed the door behind her after walking in, her six inch heels clanking on every step she made.

"Hello Mrs. Sylvester", Celine greeted.

"Hey Mom", Warona got up to hug her mother.

"Evening, you two future successors of my Hotel business company", Riegel kissed Warona's cheek, pulled off her coat, and glared at the girls. Celine sat up straight, trying to look useful but ending up making the situation more amusing than Warona could handle.

"Mom, for the last time- we won't kill your business-"

"It's hard to believe that when the only effort you put is on watching TV and throwing good parties. I might reconsider the job offers I gave you, y'know", standing akimbo, eyes skimming a fiddling Celine. "Plus you don't look like an ideal assistant CEO for my daughter if that's what you're trying to portray, Miss Paulson."

Warona couldn't hold it any longer, she laughed.

"Are you corrupting my daughter, Celina?"

Celine's eyes widened in a mixture of confusion and hurt.

"First off, it's Celine. And no- For the love of God, Mrs. Sylvester! Why the heavens would I corrupt your daughter?"

"I'd like to hear the answer to that too.", Warona chuckled.

"Nothing, just suspicious", Riegel undid the first two buttons of her shirt and sighed like she was breathing for the first time. "Sometimes I feel like you two signed a 'forever lazying around together' contract-"

"That's actually a thing?", Celine looked more hopeful than surprised, making Warona laugh again.

"Mom, you look tired. How about you go get some rest, mh?", Warona took her mother's hand and led the way upstairs.

"You're such a sweet heart but-", Riegel smiled.

"And that's my cue to go", Celine marked, getting up and trying to find where the hell she had thrown her shoes. She quickly gave up and pulled on Warona's boots at the door.

"You're leaving?", Warona was silently disappointed.

"Yep, it's almost 10pm by the way, my mom's gonna be worried", she kissed both of them goodbye, flabbergasting Riegel with the sweet gesture before disappearing out the door.

"You have a really nice friend"

Warona wished her mother would've said that before Celine was gone.

"I thought you thought she was lazy", Warona sighed.

"That's a minus, but it's always the pluses that count"

There was a moment of silence afterward, both of them staring at the door.

Warona couldn't help but think about the pictures again. How could she ever get them out of her head? It was like they were following her around wherever she went.

"Your father won't be back till late, said he got some stuff to finish", the mother broke the ice.

"Okay but- I needed to ask you guys something."

Warona couldn't believe she was going to do this.

"Go on, you can just ask me"

"Okay, but gimme a sec", leaving for her bedroom.

She pulled the envelope from under the pillow and went out again. Her mother was not at the stairs anymore and before she could look anywhere, Warona heard sounds from the kitchen. She followed.

Riegel was fixing dinner like her usual self.

"Mom, you don't have to cook anything. You just got from work, cut yourself some slack and go rest-", worried.

"Just some noodles, no big deal."

"If you're hungry we could just order takeout"

"I'm not even hungry to begin with, I just miss homemade food", sighing in defeat.

"Then let me, I'll cook for you", Warona smiled.

"Thank you, sweetheart-"

"No need", still smiling. "I love you, Mom."

"I know, you're mommy's precious jewel remember?", beaming back. "Now what's with the envelope?"

Warona bit her lips, pulling the pictures out and laid them on the counter.

"Who are these girls, Mom?"

A simple question that made her mother's face contort in some kind of horror. Warona could swear she heard something snap.

"Where'd you get these?", Riegel grabbed the photos quickly, wearing an expression that Warona couldn't name. Confusion? Shock? Anger? Could be all three.

"Who are they?", she sure hated repeating.

"Nobody, j-just kids we met in the boat-", the tone of her voice had changed, edging to anger, as if they weren't just casually talking a minute ago.

"It says 'our daughters' at the back", Warona ignored the morsel of unexpected fear she had felt. Riegel didn't even bother to check the back, she ripped the photos into pieces and threw them in the dust bin. It happened so fast Warona couldn't believe it.

"Where'd you get those?", Riegel's face stoic and solemn, tone curt. Warona had never seen her mom so ... nervous? pissed? It's like someone else had worn her mother's body.

"It was one of my birthday presents", staring emptily at her mother.

"Who sent it?"

"I don't know, it had no note."

Her Mom stared at her for a while before nodding. And then she switched back to her normal self. The beast had ghosted out of her mother's body. What was happening?

"Can you make me some fruit salad too?", Riegel had sighed before asking that.

As if nothing happened, she was back at dinner. As if she hadn't just had a panic attack over a bunch of photos.

Warona gazed ahead, trying to figure her out but failed.

"Okay", she agreed, even though she didn't feel it anymore. She knew she shouldn't have asked. Now curiosity succumbed her and she knew what came after that wasn't going to end well.

At least the cat had nine lives, Warona didn't.