The Other Half of Me: Part Six

Trauma had a way of sneaking up on you when you weren't paying attention. During the weeks we were waiting for the DNA test results I had repeatedly awoken most nights drenched in sweat after dreaming of being run over by a semi or a bus. I was also a nervous wreck walking through parking lots, and eventually it got the point of having to wait until a front row stall had opened for me to use in order to not have to walk behind parked cars. It was getting a bit out of control.

Sarah and I had also been spending a lot of time together during those weeks, both at my apartment and at her house. Her brother James spent a lot of time away from home, especially when I was around. He didn't take well to not knowing he had a sister that supposedly died and then came back to life. I couldn't blame him, though. It was a pretty creepy idea that someone could accidentally switch your live baby sister with a dead one.

About 3 weeks in to our wait, Sarah and I were vegging out the couch, eating some cheese puffs and watching The Price is Right.

“Plinko is the bomb,” Sarah said, while shoving a puff into her mouth.

“What do you think of Drew Carey over Bob Barker? Yay or nay?” I asked.

She sucked some cheese dust from her thumb. “Meh, he's okay. But I'll tell you this, when I was a kid, we used to pretend a chewed up piece of gum on a straw was Bob Barker's microphone and we'd introduce the next game.” She broke into laughter.

“For real?” I giggled back.

“Yeah, and Drew? He doesn’t have that same panache Bob did. I don't think kids today pretend they are Drew Carey doing anything, much less the host of this show.” She was cracking up.

“You do have a point there. I will say he was kick ass on Whose Line Is it Anyway? I think that was his best gig.”

Sara grabbed her straw and put a cheese puff on it and used it as a microphone. “Where the lines are made up and the points don't matter!”

I doubled over in laughter. “There needs to be a home version of that game!”

“Oh my god, Ryan Stiles is so hot!”

“Right?!”

Our laughter was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

I got up from my seat and put the bag of puffs on Sarah's lap. “I'll get it.” My slippers made a scratchy noise as I crossed the wooden floor.

The doorbell rang again just as I was opening it. “I am right here.”

“Sorry ma'am, you have a letter you need to sign for,” said a mailman I had never seen before.

I perked up once I realized what it could be. “Oh, thank you. Where do I sign?” I asked as I took the pen-like stick from his worn fingers.

He pointed to the small space on his machine for me to sign and then handed me the letter as I gave him back his stylus.

“Thank you,” I replied.

“You're very welcome, Ma'am. Have a great rest of your day.”

“Who was it?” Sarah called from the couch.

My hands shook as I looked down at the letter that said it was from Delta Laboratories. “The mailman. He brought our letter Sarah. Its here.”

“Oh my fucking god! Are you serious? Bring it here! Don't open it yet!” She jumped up on her knees to look over the back of the couch in my direction, knocking cheese puffs all over the floor.

I smiled at her childish behavior; it was refreshing. Then I ran as fast as I could and threw myself onto the couch next to her.

“Is that it? It's already here?”

“Yep. Looks like it.”

We both sat there for what seemed like forever, staring at the envelope as if it was the Holy Grail or the lost map to the City of Gold.

“What do you think? Should we open it?” I asked.

For once Sarah was quiet.

“Well?” I prodded.

“I—I just don't know. What if it says we're not sisters?”

I felt the weight of her words clearly, because I wondered the same thing. “What if we are?”

Sarah slowly nodded. “What if we are? What will change?”

I furrowed my brow in thought. What would change? Anything? Nothing? Everything? “I don't know.”

“Well, for one, you'd have a mother. And a brother. And an actual twin sister. Rather than just being newly formed BFF's, we'd share our DNA, our blood.....our, souls.” The last word she said as eerily as if we were telling a scary story.

I laughed and smacked her in the arm. “Nerd.”

“Ha! Soul sisters! We could tell everyone we're like the movie Twitches and have magical powers and shit.”

“For real Sarah, what about your mom?”

“What about her? She doesn't have magical powers.”

I rolled my eyes. “What if the test is negative. It would be like her losing a child all over again. Can we put her through that?”